Marketing Cost

[Cbz]

How much do you all spend marketing your B&B directly?
I am spending 0, nothing, nil!
The only marketing price that i pay is the commission taken by booking sites which is fine since they are taking money out of a confimed booking.

 

[Joey Camb]

I was super lucky put my card in for a competition for a 1/4 page spread in the Tourist Info Brochure mainly cos I know the TIC people and went to chat to them at the trade fair cos I felt sorry for them as no one else was and I won! worth £500! it is hilarious! So we are doing that, twitter, blog, web site (£50 a year which is a bargain) I network locally when I can and do a lot through Freecycle which is where you give away things to people that you no longer need.its all done via email but they have to come pick up. It is a genious way to have a clear out and make people who would otherwise never have heard of you find you. For example we use small jars of jam so have tons of small jars so they go to a lady who makes her own jam, the chap that supplies us with honey re-uses them and another lady works with a charity making lotions and potions. cost me nothing and saves on rubbish and the environment. I also try and attend relevant networking events, We advertise in one magazine for a specific event costs about $30 and fills the whole place. Am considering a magazine for an event in August cost about $40. I also contribute to the discussion sections on trip adviser when I can contribute something useful.

 

[Generic]

I was super lucky put my card in for a competition for a 1/4 page spread in the Tourist Info Brochure mainly cos I know the TIC people and went to chat to them at the trade fair cos I felt sorry for them as no one else was and I won! worth £500! it is hilarious! So we are doing that, twitter, blog, web site (£50 a year which is a bargain) I network locally when I can and do a lot through Freecycle which is where you give away things to people that you no longer need.its all done via email but they have to come pick up. It is a genious way to have a clear out and make people who would otherwise never have heard of you find you. For example we use small jars of jam so have tons of small jars so they go to a lady who makes her own jam, the chap that supplies us with honey re-uses them and another lady works with a charity making lotions and potions. cost me nothing and saves on rubbish and the environment. I also try and attend relevant networking events, We advertise in one magazine for a specific event costs about $30 and fills the whole place. Am considering a magazine for an event in August cost about $40. I also contribute to the discussion sections on trip adviser when I can contribute something useful..

We use Craigslist Free when we have stuff we want to get rid of. When I buy matching sets for the beds, some of the companies give me these 200 thread count sheet sets, but to me they feel like muslin, I gave them away to the first person who can come and pick them up. Given away some tube TVs that way. Used bathmats, etc. You would be surprised what people will do for some holey towels.
Our local tourist bureau, the collects 3.5% tax on my rooms, won't even advertise my existance unless I pay them an extra $605 a year and $75 processing fee. Plus they want to list me under the word "hotels" which I don't want. And they want to list our email address for the spammers, no form. Oh and that gets me on the site, but buried deep. Other B&Bs have told me that they don't even get enough bookings from that to cover the $605 a year.

 

[Joey Camb]

I was super lucky put my card in for a competition for a 1/4 page spread in the Tourist Info Brochure mainly cos I know the TIC people and went to chat to them at the trade fair cos I felt sorry for them as no one else was and I won! worth £500! it is hilarious! So we are doing that, twitter, blog, web site (£50 a year which is a bargain) I network locally when I can and do a lot through Freecycle which is where you give away things to people that you no longer need.its all done via email but they have to come pick up. It is a genious way to have a clear out and make people who would otherwise never have heard of you find you. For example we use small jars of jam so have tons of small jars so they go to a lady who makes her own jam, the chap that supplies us with honey re-uses them and another lady works with a charity making lotions and potions. cost me nothing and saves on rubbish and the environment. I also try and attend relevant networking events, We advertise in one magazine for a specific event costs about $30 and fills the whole place. Am considering a magazine for an event in August cost about $40. I also contribute to the discussion sections on trip adviser when I can contribute something useful..

We use Craigslist Free when we have stuff we want to get rid of. When I buy matching sets for the beds, some of the companies give me these 200 thread count sheet sets, but to me they feel like muslin, I gave them away to the first person who can come and pick them up. Given away some tube TVs that way. Used bathmats, etc. You would be surprised what people will do for some holey towels.
Our local tourist bureau, the collects 3.5% tax on my rooms, won't even advertise my existance unless I pay them an extra $605 a year and $75 processing fee. Plus they want to list me under the word "hotels" which I don't want. And they want to list our email address for the spammers, no form. Oh and that gets me on the site, but buried deep. Other B&Bs have told me that they don't even get enough bookings from that to cover the $605 a year.
.

Thats why we stopped advertising with the local TIC about 4 years ago and the price was about $600 wouldn't have advertised except it is free! Thing is I was there about 2pm and there was only about 5 cards in the draw and you have to be an accommodation provider and it finished at 5 so I figured I was in with good odds!

 

[EmptyNest]

Hey if you are 100% full...then why market? If not, then you need to market in some way. Whether it be with your web site, Facebook, Twitter, Join the local Visitor Center or other some such association. If it doesn't matter to you, then don't worry. But I can't believe you don't market...afterall...you are a business correct???

 

[Cbz]

Hey if you are 100% full...then why market? If not, then you need to market in some way. Whether it be with your web site, Facebook, Twitter, Join the local Visitor Center or other some such association. If it doesn't matter to you, then don't worry. But I can't believe you don't market...afterall...you are a business correct???.

I am not running 100% full, even though i just got 3 rooms. Our place is away from the city centre & for most domesitc travellers, city centre is the only point of interest
I do have a website, but i don't spend anything extra for getting listed in paid directories, apart from the commission based bookings. And ours is not a region of word of mouth advertising or even advertising with local tourist centres. If i do that, people would most probably start expecting a free stay!
I just started off by advertising on lots of commission based/free websites & their affiliates. I don't even have a booking engine on site! Only an email and phone number, so it's mostly manual bookings for me. The ones from British Red Cross & more recently, from UNESCO came via e-mail.
I got a facebook page, but that's just for the heck of it; updated maybe once in 15 days or a month. I don't use twitter. Like to keep my life as simple as possible.. I realised i am losing touch with friends and family, with reality in general, if i devote too much time on twitter n' facebook etc... Chatting with friends, only on facebook, is not good sign esp when all live within a 4 Km radius!