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Family Friendly B&B's featured on
#1 searched family website |
Family Travel Guides is Lanier's sister directory (12 years online and in print), currently #1 referred website in Google for "family lodging" rated #1 family travel website in a tie with Disney's website by Access.
If you consider your property a "family friendly" B&B and want to market to this ever growing niche, contact Vivian Sturdavant directly at 707-763-2116 or by email at vivian@travelguides.com.
We look forward to sharing your B&B property with our family readers.
Mention Promotion: FTGMAY3109 to receive 50% off your annual listing fee if a current member on LanierBB.com.
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A Step by Step Guide to Effective
Email Marketing
by Stu Carty, Regional Development Director
Constant Contact
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Email marketing is a vital communication tool for many businesses, especially businesses like B&Bs, inns and small hotels that rely so heavily on a great reputation and lasting relationships to grow the business.
Step One: Develop a Good List
To meet your current guests' needs and to grow this audience, it is important to have a solid, permission-based email list. This might sound like an arduous task, but you can cultivate your list and can keep it growing in both size and value by following a few simple guidelines.
To view a sample of a Lanier B&B Travel Newsletter, using Constant Contact's service, click here.To learn more about Constant Contact's emailing services for small businesses, click here. |
Featured B&B Cities:
Powerful Destination Marketing
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Our twice-monthly B&B Travel Newsletter goes out to thousands of opt-in subscribers, recommending cities, things to do, what to eat and so much more. Our most recent issues featured these U.S. destinations:
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Google's Travel Trends and Greening your B&B
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Dear Innkeepers,
What a week! Hoping between two conferences, I had the pleasure of presenting at PAII on "Greening your B&B" and Eco-Tourism. I then attended TravelCom as a delegate (a leading travel technology conference), where I heard from Rob Torres, Google's Managing Director of Travel, who presented current "travel search trends" in Google. What an eye-opening session that was!
At the risk of information overload, I wanted to share a few of the highlights of my week for those innkeepers that were unable to join me at the TravelCom or PAII conference.
Google Travel Trends, from Google's lips to yours:
- Travelers are researching 6.7 weeks prior to actually making their booking.
- Deal searches have grown 30% since last year.
- Searches are becoming less and less broad, with 54% of the searches on Google containing 3-4 keywords per search.
- 1 in 7 travelers are watching videos on travel.
The
fact that travelers are spending more time researching their stay indicates
they're still traveling, but now more than ever, want to learn as much
about your Inn as possible. Let's get that phone ringing off the hook!
It's imperative that your listing on Lanier is up-to-date, that you have created
alluring specials, and if possible, video is available, inspiring guests to pick up the phone and call you directly.
Specials, video, referrals directly to your Inn, none of these services cost you extra at Lanier, so take full advantage
and follow the travel trend, from Google's lips to yours.
Greening Your B&B:
GreenSeal.org can help you certify your B&B as a green property, many steps surprisingly simple, others more detailed.
Green products are abundant, take a moment to view the list of over 3,000 certified organic products on Green Seal's website.
You're probably already taking steps to be greener, but are you marketing what you're doing? Take a look at what I have posted on LanierBB.com including GREAT ideas from innkeepers like using Vinegar as your fabric softener (no scent) and marketing ideas anyone can implement.
Until next time,
Marie Lanier
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Need to speak with a Lanier staff member?
Please contact us by email:
lanier@travelguides.com
or by phone:
707-763-0271 (USA and Canada)
001-707-780-3338 (International)
We look forward to helping you in any way we can.
The Lanier Team
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Could your B&B be a place where businesses host their meetings, conference or break out sessions?
I recently spoke with an innkeeper who brought to my attention a really great marketing opportunity I think many, if not all Inns, can take advantage of in some way or another.
With many companies shying away from holding conferences at resorts due to the "AIG factor," this is a great time for you to promote your Inn, or for a group of Inns with your association, and/or C hamber, to let businesses within driving distance know that a meeting held at your Inn is not only less expensive but likely more productive as the attendees focus on the matters at hand.
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Inn Season Recipes
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Let guests promote your business!
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Add this button to your Website
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E-Mail Marketing for Innkeepers
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- $15 per month
- Super simple
- Easy to manage
We at Lanier use this e-mail marketing tool each month to create Inn the Know, the B&B Travel Newsletter and dozens of other emails to communicate with our membership and visitors. We recommend this service to innkeepers who need a simple, straight-forward tool that will assist you in creating and maintaining newsletters, special announcements and more.
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