At the heart of our successful relationship with our property Owners is our
marketing ability – in essence we are a marketing company, not a
property company.
Our care in building an exceptional portfolio is the foundation upon which we
have built a brand that our regular guests trust as well as a reputation which
extends to many first-time customers too. That, in turn, has given us a large
client base who will only book their West Country holiday with Classic
Cottages. We understand that a holiday is an important purchase and our job is
to give the customer confidence that they will get what they expect. Full and
accurate information is a basic essential, but the care and attention we put
into every aspect of our communication with them – from the brochure to the Web
site, and even the booking confirmations – reassures them that they will get
value for money. Buying a holiday is an emotive experience and we want every
customer to enjoy the experience from their first contact with us. The feedback
and level of repeat bookings tell us that we do that well and your property
will tap into that valuable band of loyal customers as soon as we start
marketing it.
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We were early adopters of the Web to promote our business. Our Web site is
designed to make the most of the two major advantages of operating on-line; you
can convey more information than on paper and it is interactive. We have
therefore devoted a great deal of time to giving customers as much information
about each property as possible and into developing a comprehensive search that
allows the customer to select the things that are important to them when
looking for a holiday home. Other features include additional information about
the area surrounding the property and the ability to register for email alerts
about special offers and new properties entering the portfolio. We have scooped
a few awards for the Web site but, more importantly, the majority of bookings
are now taken on-line, so we do seem to be getting it right.
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The search engines are the heart of our on-line marketing activity which can be
divided into two parts; the free listings (usually on the left in the search
window) and the sponsored links (which are usually in the first few slots and
on the right of the results windows). We have put a great deal of time and
effort into engineering our site to be as well regarded by the search engines
as possible and, as a result, we appear towards the top of the list of results
returned for many of the most frequently used search terms. We were one of the
first in our sector to use sponsored links (often called ‘pay-per-click’
marketing) and we are now experienced operators with a comprehensive strategy
for bidding on thousands of key phrases, each with variable timings, carefully
chosen advertising copy and specific landing pages on our Web site.
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Previous customers are our best source of bookings; they provide us with half
our bookings each year. Their loyalty is a tribute to the high standard of the
properties in our portfolio; however we are not complacent about that loyalty –
it needs to be nurtured. It is no longer enough just to drop a brochure through
the letterbox each year, so we have a carefully targeted schedule of direct
mail and email timed to hit at key points in the year. We make each mailing as
interesting and personal as possible to avoid it being dismissed as junk mail.
Our approach to our marketing is creative and imaginative, but it is as much
science as art and every penny spent is closely monitored to ensure that we get
the maximum number of bookings from our marketing budget.
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We take great pride in our brochure and hope you will find that to be well
founded – it was also flattering that The Guardian Observer recognised our
designers with their Best Brochure award in 2007. It is designed to describe
our portfolio of 700 properties in the most alluring, informative way whilst
also enticing the reader to take a break with us. Our aim is not to have to
tell potential customers about our high standards, but to let them discern that
from the quality of our brochure. We want them to trust us to put the same care
and attention into our property selection process as we put into the brochure.
Please send for it by clicking here to
judge for yourself.
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Inches in the editorial columns of newspapers and magazines lend us much more
credibility than those we buy as advertisements, so we employ a PR agency. They
run a co-ordinated campaign on our behalf that regularly achieves significant
column inches in a range of national press such as The Sunday Times, The Daily
Telegraph and The Guardian.
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Even in the internet age, there is a place for good advertising in the
traditional media. The secret of our success in newspaper and magazine
advertising is getting recognised in a crowded space whilst still conveying the
‘quality’ message. We use striking visuals and imaginative design
to mark ourselves out from the crowd and to suggest that our portfolio is
‘a cut above the rest’. However, science runs alongside the
creativity – every bit of our marketing expenditure has to pass the ‘cost
per booking’ test. We monitor all our advertising and track bookings back
to their source media. However well matched the readership of a particular
publication may appear to be, if the cost per booking is too high, we will drop
that publication and assign the budget to more effective media.
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A clear pricing scheme with no hidden costs;
estimate your letting income on-line.
