What is the marketing strategy of Airbnb?
Getting attention for your first Airbnb listing is not rocket science. There are many time-tested ways to make your vacation rental business work, even if you’re starting out with only one unit. Below, you’ll discover all the pertinent details about how to leverage the power of a seven-pronged Airbnb marketing strategy that can make your vacation rental goals a reality. After taking care of those seven tasks and assuming you enjoy a successful initial run with Airbnb advertising, you’ll be ready to tackle the challenge of becoming a Superhost and rev up the profit potential.
7 Steps to Promote an Airbnb Listing
There are seven basic parts to any effective Airbnb advertising strategy, and all of them are about promoting your listing. It’s important to leave nothing to chance. In other words, create a bare-bones listing first, and then hone it as you create an overall Airbnb marketing plan. Here are the details:
Use ONLY High-Quality Pics
Make no mistake: In the competitive vacation rental marketplace, photos are a huge piece of the success puzzle. You’ll need high-quality shots taken by a professional. Make sure each one shows off at least one aspect of the property that makes it unique.
If you can’t hire a pro, make certain to use the right lighting and staging to make the space look comfortable and inviting. If the photos are top-notch, people will make reservations. But the opposite is also true: Less-than-great pictures will sink an Airbnb business faster than a heat-seeking torpedo.
Get Your SEO Act Together
There’s no way around it: Property owners must optimize listings, so the large search engines can find them. If you want to be seen in a competitive market, you must play the SEO game or hire someone who knows how to play it well.
When writing descriptions and titles, use relevant keywords based on what people are searching for. Terms like “oceanfront cabin with a hot tub” and “quiet studio near convention center” are examples. Your goal is to make the listing show up in search results so more people will find it and, hopefully, make a reservation.
Leverage the Power of Social Media
Many owners shy away from social media because they feel that it’s too complicated. It’s not, so have no fear. But, if you need to hire someone to tackle the task, that’s fine, too. Use platforms that get billions of collective daily views, like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, to show people what the property looks like. Consider making a short video walk-around of the unit. Use your very best photos. Spend time engaging with people by responding to their messages and comments.
Employ Flexible Pricing
Setting prices for Airbnb units is not like selling candy bars, where one price is the norm. Instead, be willing to adjust your rental rates based on circumstances like seasonal events, major holidays, local happenings, and weather conditions. Keep an eye on what competitors are doing so that you can remain in the sweet spot for pricing.
Earn Excellent Ratings & Guest Reviews
Do whatever it takes to encourage every one of your guests to leave a positive review on the Airbnb website. These ratings are not just window dressing. They are the crux of every owner’s credibility.
Step one is giving the very best service possible to everyone who rents. Consider adding a few personalized touches, like gourmet snacks or welcome notes, in every room. It’s okay to ask guests, either during the stay or after departure, to leave a review if they enjoyed their stay.
Run Promotions
Owners who run special offers and frequent promotions tend to get more bookings. Consider giving discounts for early-bird reservations and last-minute “flash” deals during the slow season. Many hosts have found success by offering price discounts to guests who stay for more than just a few days. Experiment with different approaches until you hit on a few methods that work in your market. Consumers love deals and discounts, and offering them is a smart way to attract attention to a listing.
Create Attention-Grabbing Listings
Invest time in writing the words that will become the property’s official listing. Aim for an attention-grabbing paragraph that details all the things that make your unit stand out from the ordinary. Perhaps it has an ocean view, is near a major shopping district, or includes a hot tub. It’s okay to be persuasive, but you must also be honest. Guests abhor feeling misled, so be fully transparent at all times.
Strive to Become an Airbnb Superhost
Aiming to become a Superhost will supercharge your marketing efforts like nothing else. Keeping that goal in the back of your mind will provide the incentive to succeed, not just in the initial phase of being a vacation rental owner but in the long haul.
While it can take up to a year, realistically speaking, to achieve Airbnb Superhost status, the benefits are well worth the effort. All first-time owners should include the goal, “Become a Superhost,” in their initial Airbnb marketing plan. So, why even bother becoming a Superhost in the first place?
Airbnb Superhosts get tons of amazing benefits that lead directly to higher occupancy rates. Consumers who are searching for a safe, clean, comfortable place to rest their heads at night tend to book with Superhosts, who enjoy high visibility in online searches. Thus, if you aim to become one, you’ll need to learn how to build the trust that is symbolized by the Superhost designation. Here’s how to get from day one to elite status in under a year:
1
Book at least 10 paid guest stays. If you don’t meet that goal, then you’ll have to post at least three reservations that amount to 100 or more nights of guest stays.
2
Within 24 hours of receiving guest inquiries, you must respond to them, and you must respond to at least 90% of all stay-related inquiries.
3
Maintain a cancellation rate below 1% by being meticulous about screening prospective guests and employing a booking system that keeps cancellations to a bare minimum, preferably zero.
4
Focus on cleanliness. If you don’t, there’s no way to book any repeat stays, get 5-star ratings, or keep the cancellation rate low.
The Most Important Factor: Cleanliness
No matter how great your marketing plan is, and regardless of how many guests you attract during those first few months of running an Airbnb business, there is one make-or-break factor that lurks behind your efforts toward long-term success: cleanliness. You can do everything else right, but if the units are not fresh looking, great-smelling, and 100% clean, guests will not return. And even worse, they will not leave positive reviews.
The solution? Team up with an experienced, trusted cleaning service like MaidThis. By investing in excellent cleaning services, you can set your units apart from others on Airbnb, get to Superhost status faster, and build an independent hosting business that delivers income year after year.
MaidThis matches you with expert cleaning teams that do it all. The maids you hire are vetted, background-checked, fully trained, bonded, and experienced. They specialize in doing quick turnover cleaning for Airbnb hosts. You’ll enjoy the peace of mind knowing that each one of your guests will arrive and walk into a space that is as clean as can be.
First impressions like that are worth their weight in gold for Airbnb hosts. Contact MaidThis to find out about instant booking, special offers for repeat customers, and their iron-clad satisfaction guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you promote Airbnb?
Knowing how to promote an Airbnb listing separates successful vacation rental owners from those who struggle to break even or turn a small profit. As described in detail above, the system includes using excellent photos, writing great descriptions, setting a flexible price, getting 5-star guest reviews, leveraging SEO tactics, using social media, and offering special deals at the right time.
How do I attract customers to my Airbnb?
Getting those first guests can be a challenge, but successful Airbnb owners use lots of different tactics in addition to the ones listed above, like partnering with local businesses and online travel agencies who are willing to show your ad for free or for a reasonable price. Build a simple but attractive website that features all the great characteristics of your property. Participate in various community events to get your listing in the public eye.
How should I begin marketing my Airbnb?
Step one is to create an eye-catching listing. In addition to all the other steps of effective Airbnb marketing noted above, the crucial beginning stage should focus on the listing. Invest time, effort, and funds to make it perfect. As for the unit itself, be certain that it lives up to the listing’s description and photos. That means having the property professionally cleaned, so your first guests will walk into a space that is “as described.”
