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Bed & Breakfast and Country Inns Advertising Budget Study 2002
- May, 2002
The goal of this study is to acquaint innkeepers with current industry practices in marketing and advertising. How are innkeepers spending their advertising dollars? We asked several experts in the bed and breakfast industry to share their wisdom.
"On any given day it is not unusual for an individual to read a newspaper, watch television, listen to the radio, peruse a magazine, look for a business or service in the phone directory, make a phone call, check e-mail and search the Web." says Marie Mason of Travel Weekly. If potential B&B guests are accessing all those media, shouldn't your advertising message be there for them to find?
"Ever notice that the marketing sessions (at a conference) are always the most well attended? It's because innkeepers are self-admittedly poor marketers," notes Marti Mayne of Maynely Marketing. "The major lodging guides have proven themselves over time and remain the number one way your web site should be promoted." say Scott & Allison Crumpton. "Think of it as survival of the fittest - and the fittest B&B is usually the one which markets itself the best." So if marketing is a key factor in the successful operation of an inn, how do you decide how much to spend - and how to distribute those dollars?
Typical Advertising Budgets
We asked The Candlelite Inn of Bradford, NH for their numbers. Innkeeper Marilyn Gordon tells us that 13% of their total income goes to advertising. She adds, "We are finding that we need to do more hard copy advertising - with our web address displayed - so potential guests with or without Internet service will be able to find us." The Candlelite's advertising budget is divided 38% for B&B guidebooks and other print, and 62% for the Internet.
Figures for The Dickey House B&B of Marshfield, Missouri are a little different. Larry Stevens estimates that the advertising expenditure is 7-10% of the overall gross revenue of the inn. He said, "You cannot generate room nights without letting folks know who and where you are!" The Dickey House advertising dollar is divided 45% on B&B guides and other print media; 30% on the Internet; 25% on miscellaneous items.
In their courses for aspiring innkeepers, Helen Cook and David Caples of Lodging Resources Workshops advise a marketing budget of 10-15% of projected revenue in the pre-opening and opening year of a new property. As the property matures and occupancy increases, this proportion can be decreased to 5-7% of revenue.
The B&B and Country Inn Marketplace tells us the annual advertising budgets they have seen for a four to seven room inn averages about $3500; for larger inns, the figure exceeds $7500.
"I work with many small inns and inn associations around the country, and it's amazing how little they spend on marketing," says Marti Mayne. "They'll spend thousands of dollars on a bed, but part with very little to get people to come stay in the beds. I usually recommend 5% of their gross should be spent on marketing to be successful."
How to Spend Your Money
So how do you proceed in this dizzying world of media choices? Rely on good sense and tradition. Marie Mason cautions "No one medium is a magic bullet that replaces any other - including the Internet." Although innkeepers can benefit greatly by advertising on the Internet, they should make room in their budgets for other types of advertising as well.
"Some demographic groups have moved more quickly to the Internet then others," said Steve Demarest, "so you have to know your guests. With the flexibility and focus offered in online marketing, innkeepers are no longer bound to a one-brochure-fits-all approach. Identify your market and devise the strategy with that guest in mind."
When considering a marketing mix, the Internet should be a key ingredient. An eye -catching and informative web site, online directory listings, and search engine submissions are all important to your online success. "Imagine your web site as the hub of a wheel with dozens of spokes coming into it," says Trent Blizzard, "Those spokes are sources of traffic to web sites. Roughly 1/3 of your web site traffic will come from search engines, with Yahoo! being especially important. Another third will come from online lodging directories and from local chamber of commerce-type sites. The final third of the web site's traffic are visitors typing in the name directly."
"The ratio of traffic generated by search engines vs. B&B directories has remained about the same," continues Trent Blizzard. "Once you have a web site, prepare your marketing budget, we usually advise inns to spend $150 per room on marketing; new inns and innkeepers that want to market aggressively should plan more. The most effective places to market your new web site are in web sites promoting your area and directory sites that specialize in B&Bs (like www.travelguides.com, www.bbonline.com, and www.bedandbreakfast.com)."
Take a balanced approach to planning your strategy. Hospitality Design & Marketing Group's Jonathan Santy adds, "In the age of computers and Internet, it's easy to sometimes forget the value of tangible, in-hand print ... It's important not to lose sight of those consumers and potential guests who may be a bit less trendy, wanting something traditional in-hand. After all, you can't pick up a web site from a brochure rack and stick it in your back pocket, nor can you read a web site while riding in the car."
Conclusion
Good advice: study your market, craft your advertising budget carefully to avoid sour notes. As Santy says, "A symphony of print and web marketing can be your recipe for success!"
Members of Pamela Lanier's Bed & Breakfasts, Inns and Guesthouses International get the best of both print and Internet exposure (and our site TravelGuideS.com is rated "Best B&B site on the Internet" by Yahoo!-IL), all for one low annual fee. No wonder we're rated #1 by innkeepers nationwide!
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