Building treehouses and marketing with Sarah Orchard

EP#16 - Building treehouses and marketing with Sarah Orchard

I went to university thinking I was going to be an accountant. Oh, I did, some accounting. I had to do a lot of that throughout the four years of my degree. And, I hated it. . Mm. That possibly wasn't the right choice for me. And then, I studied marketing in my second year, and I did a marketing placement where I went out and worked for a year, and I just thought this, I, I enjoyed this, this is what I want to do.

So I left uni and then started a sort of typical corporate career. For 16 years, I worked in the travel industry, so I worked for some great companies like Kii and Hog Robinson Business Travel. And I spent nine years at Avis Car Rental. I was looking after a lot of their partnerships with people like Virgin Atlantic and Eurostar and KLM and British Midland, Forte Hotels as they were at the time.

Helping them get to grips with their marketing and, you know, be more successful.

Wow. We loved it, and we thought we were going to immigrate. We decided that we'd fallen in love with New Zealand so much that we would go and set up a backpackers. We thought we stayed in all these quirky places and thought, you know what? We could create an excellent experience for backpackers.

We love the country. Then we came back to the UK, and we thought about the fact that we might not see people. It's a long way away. So we sort of went back into, I went back to Avis and, and just picked up my career again and, and, but we had itchy feet and, while we were travelling, we stayed in our first treehouse, which was in Salt Spring Island, just off the coast of Vancouver.

Oh my

And just something about being off the ground and up in the tree. Mm-hmm. . I have to say the tree house we built is slightly different from the one we stayed in. I would

Yeah. And I haven't been in a tree house and, Oh goodness, since I was a kid. And yeah, there was a moment where I was like, Okay, I think I may have to live here. I'm not sure if I can get down that ladder. My brain, my adult brain was going, This is not a great idea, but I can imagine that tree houses these days when we are going to stay in them and sleep in them, they're much more luxurious than what we have in our minds from being a kid.

And actually what was funny was that there was a Turkey. That was the neighbour’s Turkey that was quite aggressive. So Adrian got down the ladder and went off to the little composting toilet, and he got stuck and trapped. Because Turkey wouldn't ladder to the treehouse. It was quite an eventful experience, but it did sort of stick in out, stick in our minds, and it was magical, and I think that's sparked our desire to believe we wanted to create something sort of different.

And we were then coming back to the UK I, like I said, itchy feet. I think we both realised that we'd made our corporate careers, we'd gone as far as we wanted to go, and we wanted to do something different. So we started looking for someone in the UK, and which took a long time to find the right area and eventually the right house for us to move to and build our sort of dream project.

It's tricky to find a property that had the land. Suitable sort of woodlands that we could build the tree house in. which, and how

So we were living in Surry at the time and doing quite long drives. I got three speeding tickets, I think. Oh, my goodness. And

So they're sort of where we, So it's just north of Bristol, and you cross the seventh bridge heading board, sort of Cardiff. In the South of Wales and the Y Valley, Gloucestershire is an exciting county because it's Gloucestershire, so it's still in England, but the Seven River splits it.

Seven sorts come up from Bristol and go up towards Gloucester. Mm-hmm. You have half of Gloucestershire on one side, mainly the Cotswolds, which people will have heard of. And the other side, you've got the rest of Glosser shirt, which includes the Forester Dean. And then it butts up to the Shire in the south of Wales.

So it's an exciting area from a sort of, you know, geography and a culture point of view as well, in terms of different, you know, you've got the Welsh and the English and the Cowells and, and the forest of being. It's all quite different, Different areas. Yeah.

It does. Sounds lovely. And it's not an area I know very well in the UK. And you had a bit of help finding it, didn't

I was talking to a girlfriend who lived in Gloucestershire, and I said, You know, we can't find anywhere.

We think we're going to sort of give up for the moment. And she was like, Well, why don't you apply to the BBC TV show, Escape to the Country? And I said, Well, Adrian will kill me if you know he's not. I've talked to him about it, and he's not up for that. Well, we won't. He doesn't want to be on television. And she said, Well, he's not here at the moment.

And they said, We'd like to have you on the show. And I was like, Okay, now I need to tell Adrian. Yeah. So that was an exciting conversation. Not repeatable. He, wasn't very impressed to start with, with the idea. And we were both very nervous when we did the first set of filming. So they came back to us within a week and said, Right, we're going to come to your house and film with you.

And yeah, we, we found, we saw four houses. And house number three has a fantastic spot on the top of a hill. And funny enough, I had actually seen some details about the house, but I hadn't; we were a bit tired of coming back and didn't have anything else to see. And I thought it didn’t, the house doesn't look great and the land sounds quite good, but there are no pictures of it.

You haven't seen the property, you know, in mm-hmm. , They don't tell you where you're going. And we stood at the top of the drive, and we both looked down the valley at the view; and Adrian said to me, We're buying this house regardless. This view is. Out of this world, we can change the house, but this is an absolutely fantastic location.

So we walked into the house, and both loved the feel of it, saw the land, and knew the ground was perfect for what we had in mind. Even a little spot that looked like the tree house could nestle there brilliantly. So we put an opera in before we finished filming the show.

And

Well, I

Our friend Googled and, they searched for us, and then they found the website and sent us the message, which is just delightful. It's, it's lovely too. You know, the fact that they're, they're so pleased for us that we managed to, you know,

Is he glad that you put that

Tip them if you must, but take the step. And I read it, and I took a picture of it because I was like, This is just ki it, it's fate, you know; we are going to, we are going to find the house for us, you know, they're going to help us do that. And, yeah, we did. So, he doesn't regret it now. And the four days that we spent in the Y Valley, he enjoyed it.

We found it more arduous filming at our house, but the crew were great fun once we got down here. Laugh with them, and they put you at your ease. And Johnny Irwin, who was our presenter, was hilarious and kept us, kept present, paying for four days. So it was, it was a great experience. Yeah. What

So you said, Oh yeah, Adrian's gone on to do his show and, but it doesn't sound like that's

And so the

Adrian and I might be good at a little bit of DIY. Yeah,

It's sometimes more accessible when you profile this; you work on someone else's business. We're not emotionally attached to it. Yes, exactly. Successful. Yes, we're focused on what they want to achieve, but there isn't that emotion, and it's that emotion that can hold you back because of you. You're a little bit inhibited.

But yeah, it was great to be able to, launch the hideout. And I know what to do because I've been doing this for 30 years, so at the time, it was sort like at least seven years. So I sort of know what I'm doing. But yeah, it's been, it's been great to be, to have that particular thing.

We're an OTA. So can

But can you tell us anything, maybe give some tips on what you've done to be able to accomplish? Yeah,

Are there, Yeah, there's not as many as like, you know, like the two little cottages you described, You know, there's a lot more of them, but there's, all of us had got competitors and, and I think when we started looking at building the treehouse,

when I did some research, online research, there were about 45.

Tree houses in the UK, and now there's a hundred over a hundred. So the, you know, there are always competitors. People always have a choice, and I firmly believe that you need to know what your experience is and who your ideal guests are. And I think where people sometimes go wrong is that you try and be all things for all people.

So you become, you're trying to be, you know, just your messages are pretty generic, and you try and be. Appeal to everyone. And even if you've got that little two-bedroom cottage, if you can niche down to a particular, you know, even if it's people with dogs that love walking and they, you know, or they, they are, they're foodies, or they want to go, maybe you've got like an antique trail in your, your little village or your town.

And you can niche in on those. And actually, You know, the branding, the language, the style of your, you know, your accommodation, your property will appeal to them. You can differentiate. And we, I spent much time, we worked hard on, on working on what we wanted our experience to be.

Yeah. Sit on a deck surrounded by birds and woodland or bats and stars at night and actually, you know, be immersed in that. Or sit around the campfire cooking with flames rather than, you know, your gas barbecue. And we tried to carry it all the way through in terms of, Mapping out what that guest experience would be like, and then what our brand sort of stands for.

And they are also knowing that we had to start marketing as soon as we broke ground. And I think that's the common thing I’m seeing now. The clients that I'm sort of working with and that I often notice that they come to me when they've some kind of finished the build or they've completed the renovation of their, of their holiday property, and they're like, Right now, I need to do marketing.

It's that

We already had people on our list. So we had that pent-up demand to buy, and then it's just built from there. And then obviously we did a lot of launch PR and marketing as we sort of, once we were ready and able to with the pandemic. But, yeah, my biggest tip is to invest in two things: understanding your experience and what you offer your guests and how that differentiates.

From, you know, what else is out there and how you can differentiate it, and start as soon as you can with the marketing rather than leaving it to maybe two or three weeks before you. Press go live on your website. I think everyone feels like they have to have everything ready. You know, the website needs to be prepared and perfect.

The booking system also needs to be set up, and then they go; right now, I can press go. Yeah. About you. So it’s been a hard job to get those drag bookings in and, and not have to rely on, on a bigger. So marketing panels such as, or, and it.

I have a client who does actua a two-bed cottage in Norfolk, and they wanted to start, but they did not want to do any OTAs. I even said to them at the beginning that you might want to do some OTAs to use them almost like a lead generation acquisition. And then phase them out, and they're like, Nope, we just want to do it a hundred per cent direct.

I said, Okay, let's get marketing. So we started marketing while they were. Still, they'd bought the property. They weren't building it, but they were renovating it. Yeah. So we were selling through that. And the same thing is that they had a pot of people that when they were ready to open, they had gone through the experience with them.

They had seen the transformation that they have, they had created in this two-bed bungalow in Norfolk and then were able to say, Okay, now we're ready for bookings. Who wants to come and open the doors? And people were willing.

And this is the thing we, you know, I often see people join my newsletter, and it's like, well, no one's going to put their hand up. Yeah. At it. We all get too much news. So it's like you, we, we said we were going to do a launch. I didn't know what that launch offer was going to be. But I knew I would reward the people who had put their hands up and shown interest.

And I think we did; from memory, it seems a long time ago now, 20% off for the first, and it was midweek bookings for the first three months. Cause we knew they would be hard to shift because we were also opening in February. So it's like not the best time in the UK or knowing the UK and how much we love to talk about our unpredictable and generally damp weather.

I think the day we opened, it was Storm Dennis. So it was a bit of a, Oh my goodness, Yes, it was, it was a tricky sort of, first opening night, but, battling the elements. But, you know, then we had the pandemic as well. So it, you know, we knew those first three months were going to be a bit tricky.

They sort of, yeah. You are telling everyone about their stay. Now, if you're booked a year in advance, are you still marketing? Do you take your foot off the gas? What are you, what are you doing to drive bookings a year from now?

You know, I'm the worst person at doing my marketing because I'm, it's my day job. I have eased off a little bit because I think I also balance. You don't want to create demand, but you don't want to frustrate people. So we've got quite a big following, and we've got eight and over, eight and a half thousand people on Instagram.

If you keep posting, I generally post about two or three times a week. You’re also almost taunting them slightly because they can't stay with you for the moment. Mm-hmm. So widespread presence, and sort of kept our visibility. Cause also, you know, the way the algorithms work is an if you say a massive break; it’s much harder to, to get the visibility once you sort of re restart.

What we have done and how we've also grown our email list is my hthat usband is an absolute genius at this, so he handles many inquiries. When people contact us and say, we're looking to speak, we're like, Really, sorry, we're fully booked. But if you get on our email list, you'll be the first to hear, and we have any cancellations or new dates, I think.

What I've been cautious of, and I think another thing I see where people maybe go slightly wrong, is they will put everything out on social. If you put everything out on social media, people do not need to sign up for your email list. There's no incentive; there’s no like exclusivity, of being the first to hear.

So we stick, and I'm very strict about it. We generally think twice; I’ve put some dates on social that have been available when, like as a last resort, but all of. Cancellations or new dates go out via email. And we respect and honhonoure people who have put their names down. They are the ones that hear about it first.

And Adrian is brilliant at getting people to sign up for the list. Cause every time he gets an inquiry, he's like, I've jumped it into him. He's like, he's like, But if you get your name on our list, you'll be the first to hear. And that's how we've grown the list. there's a signup form on our website.

But he's proactively encouraging people. Mm-hmm. And selling it to them, but they they're going to, you know, get that benefit. But you just have to; you do have to be true to that. Yeah.

Mm. And I'm like, Oh, you've just.

If you go back five years and you need to do ads. So, you know, I use it as a sort of constant just to keep that presence. I don't anticipate that it's going to grow hugely. And also I think something to bear in mind. And this is a bit controversial, and a large number of followers on social is suitable for your ego.

It's not very good for booking sometimes, and that's all we've got to bear in mind. Particularly with Instagram, I find that you know, you can have 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 followers, which makes you feel great. Are, they doing a great job, but actually, when you analyze them, a lot of them can be in another country, and they'll never travel to your country to say.

It also can be many people who just love. Liking. Think about what we all do. We go on there; we see a beautiful picture, we see something that makes us smile. Or we see someone, you know, my husband always says, they describe the treehouse as dreamy. And he says, I hope that you know, they might be nostalgic, but they need to come and stay as well and spend money with us.

Maths. It's like, actually, you know, if they all decided they wanted to stay, we could, we could just use our list for the next few years, and everything would be, you know, fine. That's not the case. Because you need to keep adding people, and not everyone will convert. But you know, we've successfully usually fill all of our cancellations and all of our new dates through predominantly, our list.

Yes. Is because it's, you know, we, if they disappeared tomorrow or if they started charging and they have started charging mm-hmm. To to get surreptitiously behind the scenes. It's like, now our reach is so little, but most businesses. That you do need to advertise, so they are charging us by accessing our audiences on the platform.

And you know, as you say, if they close down tomorrow and platforms have disappeared, we, many people who've, you know, are pretty confidently saying, Well, I've got 5,000 people or 10,000 people on social media. And it's like, but I've only got a hundred people on my list. Mm-hmm. in a much weaker position to be able to continue, to operate.

Hmm. So I'm going to end because this has been so amazing, but I have been asking everybody this question, and I would love to hear your answer. What does direct booking success

And for some people, direct booking success might be, or booking success might be through, through an agent or an OTA because they haven't got the skills or the time to do it. But for me, it's building that capability in your business, that marketing capability, so tat you can take those bookings directly.

You know, investing in your website with a good booking engine, you know, like we said, having that email list. And it's getting whatever percentage of bookings you want to handle directly. Cause for some business owners and hosts, they won't want to have, they quite like having, using an OTA or an agent because they do some of the marketing and they do the admin and some of the work for you.

And some of the conversations I have with clients are around, Let's just be honest about, you know, how much time have you got to upskill and learn the marketing techniques, which anyone can understand. It's not some, you know, you don't have to have magical powers to be able to do it.

No. Sometimes I wish I did have a magical one but don't we all?

Which is the best thing in the world, but it's also the worst thing in the world because no one is going to come after you. Suppose you don't do the marketing. You're not going to be like, When I worked in my corporate days, I had my boss talking to me if I didn't deliver against my objectives. But certainly, you know, you are motivated by going to the office and having to pay against a set of goals.

But when you run your own business, nobody comes after you if you don't put that social post. Yeah. Or you don't do that email campaign or let it drift for months because you’re not. Target. So I think for me, direct booking success is building that marketing capability and being able to do it yourself.

And it feels gratifying to be able to, you know, two fingers to the, to the, you know, the big boys and, and to be able to take the bookings and, and be successful as, as just, you know, we've got one property, you know, we're a small team. It's the husband and wife team that feels. But there's no shame in using an OTA or an agent of some description if you haven't got the time or the inclination.

And I think you just have to be honest with yourself as a business owner. Are you going to put the time in? And I believe anyone can achieve it, but you've got to connect to it to make it happen. And then it's within. Scope of being able to do it? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm.

And we are on Instagram and Facebook, and my marketing business is getting a complete hyphen book so that you can find me there. I also have a free Facebook group where you can hang out with me. Get visible and fully booked so you can come and hang out with me for free there. Yeah, and I run a marketing club, which I have members in and run every month, but there are full details about it on my website.

it's been great fun.