You need two email lists to drive more direct bookings

Ep#18 - You need two email lists to drive more direct bookings

Hello, and welcome to episode number 18 of the Direct Booking Success podcast. I am your host, Jenn Boyles. Thank you so much for joining me today. First, don't panic from the title of this episode when I say you need to be building two email lists, not just one. Not only will I tell you why, but I'll also tell you a bit about how to do this.

I will not leave you high and dry; believe me, now, if you listened to last week's episode, I spoke about why email marketing is so great and how you can build a reliable base of fans with your previous guests. And how using this list when you need bookings is a much better idea than begging on social media.

So this is the first list you need to have your previous guest list. These people have stayed; had a great time; they’ve left fabulous reviews, so let's consider them as your fans or VIPs. We want to continue speaking to them through emails, encouraging them to return. If you missed last week's episode, listen to it afterwards.

So that is list one, your fans or VIPs. But can you guess what list number two is? This list is of your prospective guests. Those who haven't stayed yet, but want to. These guests are your ideal guests. They have found you online through social media, Google, a listing site, or even an OTA, an online travel agent like Airbnb.

And for whatever reason, they just haven't booked yet. But there is one problem here. Can you see what it is? You don't know who they are. You don't have their email address. You don't know who they are yet, so let's find a way to get their email addresses. Nowadays, most people won't give you their email addresses for anything.

Their inbox space is precious. Now, think you don't want anyone emailing you, hounding you with offers, or overselling, and they don't want that either. That's the fear. We give out our email addresses, and then we will be bombarded with sleazy sales emails. Well, we don't want that, and we're not going to do that.

We will be respectful of those who have given us their email addresses. So how are we going to get them to hand them over to us and build that rapport, encouraging them to book with us? We’ll give them something in exchange for their email address, something of value. We’ll trade them some information for their email address, a guide, a digital download, or something that will make their lives easier and hopefully encourage them to come to our area and stay with us.

We can call this a lead magnet, freebie, or opt-in. We can give them something that they can have instantly online. And this doesn't have to be over complicated. Sometimes the simpler is better. It just has to be something that our ideal guest wants. I've already said the guide, but it could be a checklist, a map, an itinerary, or anything you can think of.

So here are some ideas. A destination guide is all about your local area, where your ideal guest would want to go, and all the information they need. A food lover's direction is all about the fabulous restaurants you have in your local area or the best pubs. A dog lover's guide where your guests can go in your area with their dog, and their dog will be welcome as well.

A family fun guide. All the best places to take the kids while there, and Instagram-worthy Guide to all the places that will make the best Instagram posts so they can make their friends all jealous back home. A map with the best country walks outlined with directions and difficulty ratings for your ideal outdoorsy guests, a shopping guide, perhaps a guide to the local markets, the best craft shops, or the best bookshops, whatever that would make your ideal guest want to come and stay in your area.

How about a packing checklist? Perfect for those places where you don't want your guests to forget their bathing suits or beat shoes. An itinerary for a perfect couple's weekend away is listing what they can do and giving them maybe a little bit of a schedule to follow or an itinerary for a girls' weekend away or a few days away with the kids.

I could go on and on and on. The idea is that whatever you produce is something that is perfect for your ideal guest. It will make them want to give you their email address in exchange for this information. So go and do some research. Create something in Canvas, or even Word, save it as a pdf, and then you're ready to get it all set up.

How it works is that one of those users on your website will see the guide and want to download it, and we'll give you their email address. So we need a place to have your PDF saved, like Google Drive or Dropbox, where you'll be able to get a link. You need that link to be able to share it. Then use your email program.

Once someone signs up for that lead magnet, they are sent an email automatically with that link that they can click and view and download now. Does that make sense? The biggest thing I want you to take away from this episode is that having two lists will help drive more direct bookings.

You have one list of your fans whom you will continue to email and cultivate that relationship. And the second list of those who want to stay but haven't yet is your leads, and you'll continue to email them, encouraging them with great content to come. Remember that whatever you do must resonate with your ideal guest.

Spending all the time and effort required to produce something that misses the mark is no point. So my question to you is, do you know who your ideal guest is? If you don't, or if you think you do but aren't sure, I've created a free training video on how to nail down who your ideal guest is.

It's available on my website, direct booking success.com/ideal guest. I'll put it in the show note so you can look there. Did anyone catch what I just did? I offered you a free masterclass as a lead magnet. When you get to the page, you'll be asked for your f for your first name and email address.

That's it. And then, you'll be given instant access, and your email will go onto my email list, and you'll start to hear from me. So go and have a look and see how this works in action and come back next week where I'll continue the conversation about email marketing, and I'll be looking at exactly what you should include in those emails to your fans and those who haven't booked yet.