The Value Of A Newsletter In Hard Times

You know you are doing something right when 11 of the next 13 days booked are from past guests who read your newsletter.

That was the case last week when many short term rentals in Victoria Australia are struggling with bookings due to a combination of short-term shock from bushfires and cessation of Chinese visitors after the coronavirus problems.
Four of five bookings for my Sea Zen rental were from past guests who read my newsletter, but I have to work at it.

Fine tune
I find it’s a good thing to ask guests about the newsletter, to check you’re getting the content right. I asked a guest who had just booked how he finds it. Is monthly too often?

He was enthusiastic, “No we always love reading it, we really liked the series you did on the local animals, that’s why we’ve come, and we are keen to try the new walk that you mentioned in a previous newsletter.”

A newsletter really works and provided you make content interesting, monthly is not too frequent.

Be different
Last month I tried something different.
I organised a flash mob event at the local cafe. A local celebrity stood up and started singing.  By arrangement a few locals joined in and in minutes the cafe was rocking.
I captured it all and put it up on a YouTube video that got 7000 views within a week.

Of course I featured it in last month’s newsletter with 12% of the readers clicking the video. You can see it here.

Repurposing newsletters for SEO
I usually put these newsletter stories on my website, so it provides rich material for Google.
You can read the stories on the website here.

Be a fly on the wall
If you aren’t too sure about how this works, the kinds of things to talk about, and how to make bookings easy, you can become a reader of my Seazen newsletter.  Sign up free here, and you can unsubscribe at at any time.

Start your own newsletter
Find out how by reading the three Chapters on newsletters in my book Vacation Rental Mastery.  You can buy a copy on Amazon here.  These three chapters explain the free platform to use, typical stories and layout, and a list of 20 topics.

It’s never too late to start your newsletter.