Help with marketing for next year!

[himelhochbb]

So how many people do you send a newsletter to? Do they subscribe to it? Are you using Mail Chimp so you can see the stats of how many actually read it? Is is worth doing? Does it bring you new business? Or just your repeat customers?
I have a friend who brags about sending out a monthly newsletter to almost 1800 people but when I look at her stats, she is lucky if only 20% even open it and even fewer click on a link...maybe 5%. I keep telling her she needs to cull out the list but she insists that you never know when one article will appeal to someone??? Talk about the shotgun approach :-( Not what I would waste my time on..

PS - industry standard open rate for 'lodging' is 20% so she's doing ok. 5% click thru is very low.
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She is not lodging she has a gift shop
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She is not lodging she has a gift shop

It sounds like she needs perkier subject lines!
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Just created a forum post that could help with better quantifying the results from email marketing campaigns:
https://www.innspiring.com/node/18570

 

[NoHoBar]

Branding is important, but be careful using a logo vs a real person in much of your marketing when you own and operate a bed and breakfast. You will appear very corporate, and when people sleep in your beds they may prefer a real person. That is what staying at a bed and breakfast is all about, why they choose it over a hotel-chain.
A bed and breakfast is a business. But it is a home-based business, and the comfy feel of home needs to be in there somewhere.