Designing Your Airbnb Marketing Strategy

Getting off on a good foot is half the battle with platforms like Airbnb. If you get your listing off the ground well with a flawless Airbnb marketing strategy and secure yourself a few five-star reviews in the first two months of being active, you’ll be well on your way to a successful vacation rental business. 

Why is a good start for your Airbnb business so important to sustained success in the future? Firstly, Airbnb likes to promote listings that it thinks are considered to be better. Airbnb decides this search ranking by a secret rating system which we know includes reply rate, whether Instant Book is enabled or not, security deposits, amenities, and more. 

You’ll also need to develop a varied marketing mix in order to keep your marketing campaigns fresh and attracting attention on the Airbnb website. Your rental property needs to stay out, and your marketing mix is the best way to differentiate your listing from the rest of the pack. As an online platform, Airbnb is designed to give its users the best experience possible and that means promoting the best rental properties available on their business platform.

Airbnb’s platform gives preferential treatment to higher-rated properties. It’s part of their promotion strategy to ensure that the Airbnb host who owns the property is using Airbnb SEO and search engine ranking to their advantage, replying to messages quickly, and getting good reviews. This means that getting a few five-star ratings straight off the bat is critical. If you can secure these reviews, Airbnb will consistently keep you higher in the results from search engines.

Combine that with a fast response time, Instant Book, no cancellations, and no complaints, and you should be in for relatively smooth sailing if you use our marketing strategy! 

We should probably explain our Airbnb marketing strategy a little before we dive in. This strategy is based on the idea that your first 30 or 40 days should be spent getting as many five-star reviews as possible.

Airbnb rewards successful hosts and by getting these early reviews, you’re starting your Airbnb journey on the best foot possible!

Types of Airbnb Marketing

There are many different ways to build your marketing strategy. The best approach is to hit as many types of marketing strategy aspects as you can in one dedicated marketing campaign.

Most marketers agree that a content marketing strategy is the most effective marketing tactic. However, when it comes to your Airbnb listing, you will likely want to vary the type of marketing for your vacation rental business.

Airbnb’s marketing mix includes most of the below, including a very strong content marketing strategy.

1. Online Advertising & Digital Marketing:

   • Search Engine Advertising: Using platforms like Google Ads to display ads when users search for relevant keywords.

   • Social Media Advertising: Promoting Airbnb listings and brands on social media platforms like Facebook Business, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

   • Display Advertising: Placing banner ads on websites and apps that target potential travelers.

2. Content Marketing:

   • Blogging: Creating informative blog posts about travel destinations, tips for hosts, guest experiences, and more.

   • Video Content: Producing videos showcasing listings, travel experiences, and local attractions.

   • Infographics: Sharing visually appealing information about Airbnb trends, travel statistics, or host benefits.

3. Social Media Marketing:

   • Organic Posting: Sharing engaging content regularly on Airbnb’s official social media accounts.

   • User-Generated Content: Encouraging hosts and guests to share their experiences and photos, promoting Airbnb virally. User-generated content is often regarded as the best for content marketing as it resonates with guests the most.

4. Influencer Marketing:

   • Collaborating with social media influencers, travel bloggers, and content creators to showcase Airbnb experiences and accommodations.

5. Email Marketing:

   • Sending targeted emails to subscribers with promotions, travel tips, and personalized recommendations.

6. Referral Programs:

   • Encouraging existing hosts and vacation rental guests to refer new users to the platform in exchange for discounts or rewards.

7. Public Relations (PR):

   • Building positive media coverage through press releases about your vacation rental, interviews, and partnerships.

8. Partnerships and Alliances:

   • Partnering with travel agencies, airlines, credit card companies, and other relevant businesses to offer exclusive deals.

9. Local Marketing:

   • Hosting or sponsoring local events and workshops to engage with the local community.

10. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

    • Optimizing listings and website content to rank higher in search engine results for relevant keywords.

11. Paid Promotions:

    • Offering limited-time discounts or special offers to attract potential guests.

12. Retargeting and Remarketing:

    • Displaying ads to users who have previously visited Airbnb’s website or app but haven’t booked a stay.

13. Mobile App Marketing:

    • Promoting Airbnb’s mobile app through app stores, in-app advertisements, and exclusive mobile-only deals.

14. Community Engagement:

    • Facilitating online forums and communities where hosts and guests can interact, share tips, and build connections.

15. Data Analytics and Personalization:

    • Utilizing data to understand user behavior and preferences, then tailoring marketing efforts to match individual preferences.

Airbnb Marketing Strategy for Greater Listing Success

1. Complete Your Entire Listing and Host Profile

The first step to a successful Airbnb launch is to ensure that every aspect of both your listing and host profiles is completed. Do not leave a single field empty. Add a profile to your host profile and be sure to add a bio stating why you are such a good host and how excited you are to welcome people into your property!

2. Verify Your Account with a Government-Issued ID

Airbnb rewards trusted hosts and guests. Verify your account to ensure that Airbnb knows you are a real person and if there are any issues, they’ll be able to contact you directly via your verified contact details. You may not think this step is important, but it is very important and we cannot emphasize this enough.

3. List All of Your Amenities

No matter how small, make sure you list everything in your listing on your listing page. And yes, we do mean everything – shampoo, conditioner, dishwashing products, toaster, kettle, coffee maker, and so on.

The more you have, the more there is to appeal to different guests! Once you have your listing off the ground, you can start to specialize your listing to attract your target guests. At the start, however, it’s best to broaden your appeal and try to attract as many bookings as possible.

4. Enable Instant Book

Instant Book is a great invention from Airbnb as it allows things to move faster on the platform. Instead of needing to wait for a host to reply, guests can opt to book a listing that has enabled Instant Book.

This means that if they meet the criteria, they do not need to wait for the host to approve their request, and instead, Airbnb just processes your booking instantly.

5. Utilize the ‘First Three’ Discount

For new listings, Airbnb offers hosts the chance to enable what they call the ‘first three’ discount. This enables the host to allow the first three guests to book their listing will enjoy a discount of 20% on their booking total.

Enabling this discount will push you higher up in Airbnb’s search results, which means more eyes on your listing which is always a good thing.

6. Price Competitively

Pricing is another thing you’ll need to master if you want to successfully launch your new listing. Most of our hosts adopt similar strategies when determining their prices: they use DPGO dynamic pricing. DPGO is designed to find the right price at the right time in the right vacation rental market environment. 

If you want to try dynamic pricing, but only once your listing is up and running, then we’d recommend that you search your local area for similar listings and then undercut their prices by 20%.

7. Set Stay Limits and Limit Calendar Opening

For this strategy to work, you’ll need to set stay limits in order to ensure that you can get as many guests into your listing during your 30 or 40-day allocated window.

The more guests you can fit in this period, the more reviews you can get and the higher you can rank in Airbnb search results.

Set your minimum stay at 2 nights so you don’t have to deal with one-day bookings. Set your maximum stay to 7 days to ensure that one person doesn’t swoop in and book the entire month for a very discounted price. 

With this strategy, you’ll be off to a better start than most when initiating your new Airbnb marketing strategy!

How Can DPGO Help?

Your marketing strategy is a complicated thing to manage, which means it may take more time than you have to give. Do you know what the easiest solution for that is? DPGO.

We take away the daily stresses of Airbnb pricing and revenue management in one fair swoop. This gives you more than enough time to build an effective Airbnb marketing strategy and action it across your target marketing channels.

For a full explanation of our best features, consult the video below and join the Live Chat if you have any additional questions!

Have anything else to add to our list? Send us an email and let us know! You can get in touch with us via Facebook or email us at support@dpgo.com.