Welcome to another episode of the Get Fully Booked podcast, where Sarah Orchard speaks with fellow host, Kyra Fingleton from Glamping under the Stars Ireland.
In this light-hearted episode, they dive into the unique challenge of catering to two very different ideal guest types—families and hen parties—at Kyra’s glamping site in Ireland. Kyra shares her personal insights on how to effectively market to these distinct and extremely different audiences while maintaining a harmonious atmosphere at the site. With a focus on creating a communal experience that appeals to both families and hen parties, Kyra emphasizes the importance of keeping these groups separate to ensure a positive guest experience. Additionally, they discuss the significance of effective marketing strategies, including social media engagement and SEO, in attracting direct bookings and minimising reliance on online agents.
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Key Takeaways:
- Kyra Fingleton successfully caters to two distinct guest types, families and hen parties, at Glamping under the Stars Ireland.
- Maintaining a clear separation between different guest groups is crucial for a harmonious guest experience.
- Utilising social media platforms effectively helps target specific audiences for better levels of direct bookings.
- Direct bookings are preferred, with Kyra currently achieving nearly 100% through her own website.
- SEO and targeted content strategies are essential in attracting both families and hen parties.
- Word of mouth remains a powerful marketing tool, driving repeat business and referrals.
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Find out more about Glamping Under the Stars Ireland
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Connect with Sarah:
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Transcript
You're listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.
Sarah Orchard:Are you ready to master your marketing so you can ditch your reliance on the online agents and grow your direct bookings?
Sarah Orchard:I'll be sharing with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket.
Sarah Orchard:Hello.
Sarah Orchard:Hello and welcome to another episode of the Get Fully Booked podcast.
Sarah Orchard:Great to have you here today and thanks for sharing your day with me.
Sarah Orchard:I'm your host, Sarah Orchard, and I'm delighted to welcome a guest to the podcast today, Kyra Finkelton from Glamping under the Stars.
Sarah Orchard:Like many of us, Kyra ditched the traditional nine to five to start her glamping business in Ireland, and she and her husband have been running it for eight years.
Sarah Orchard:Kyra has two very different ideal guests, and we're going to chat today about how she makes that work in practice and any pitfalls that she's discovered along the way.
Sarah Orchard:As on paper, these two ideal guests are like oil and water.
Sarah Orchard:Welcome to the podcast, Kyra.
Kyra Finkelton:Thanks very much for having me.
Sarah Orchard:Sarah, great to have you here today.
Sarah Orchard:The reason I asked you to come along is because I'm always intrigued by the fact that you have these very different ideal guests.
Sarah Orchard:So I thought we'd start.
Sarah Orchard:Before we get into that, just tell us a little bit about your glamping site and what you offer.
Kyra Finkelton:Okay.
Kyra Finkelton:Well, it's glamping under the Stars.
Kyra Finkelton:We're based in County Leash in the midlands of Ireland.
Kyra Finkelton:It's bang in the centre of Ireland.
Kyra Finkelton:It's not very touristy traditionally, but it is very beautiful.
Kyra Finkelton:Lots of fields and forests and waterfalls and that kind of thing.
Kyra Finkelton:About an hour from Dublin Airport.
Kyra Finkelton:So we've two glamp sites, as you say.
Kyra Finkelton:One is kind of classic glamping.
Kyra Finkelton:Our meadow Glampsite we set up eight years ago.
Kyra Finkelton:It's a mixture of bell tents and wooden cabins.
Kyra Finkelton:ewer site, which we opened in:Kyra Finkelton:There's six hobbit houses with the grass roofs and everything.
Kyra Finkelton:And both sites have lots of open green space, wildflower meadows and sort of communal areas.
Kyra Finkelton:Very much a communal setup with the kitchen and cooking facilities are shared and all that kind of thing.
Sarah Orchard:Great.
Sarah Orchard:And you have two very different types of guests.
Sarah Orchard:So tell us about who comes to experience your glamping.
Kyra Finkelton:We do, yes.
Kyra Finkelton:When we set up first, we were kind of targeting families with three.
Kyra Finkelton:Three kids ourselves, three small kids.
Kyra Finkelton:When much bigger now, but anyway.
Kyra Finkelton:And so we kind of set up with families in mind, thinking about what we would want if we went away glamping.
Kyra Finkelton:So the communal aspect is very popular because the kids make friends and the parents can kind of chill then and relax and have a glass of wine or whatever, a bit of a chat with the other parents, and it's a nice, relaxed, safe environment for kids.
Kyra Finkelton:But we also found we had another market which are set up, really appeal to, and that's hen parties, because they like to come in a group and take over the whole place and be together for the party element and just kind of that shared communal space.
Kyra Finkelton:And the fact that they can take over the whole place really appeals to them.
Kyra Finkelton:But obviously we have to keep reminding our guests that we don't mix the two because, you know, just.
Kyra Finkelton:Just their needs are so different, I suppose.
Sarah Orchard:So you.
Sarah Orchard:You're definitely catering for two different audiences there.
Sarah Orchard:Have you had to adapt what you offer for the.
Sarah Orchard:For the different audiences?
Kyra Finkelton:To be honest, it sounds crazy, but funny enough, a lot of the same things appeal.
Kyra Finkelton:The sort of beautiful quirkiness appeals to families with kids, but it also appeals to young women who want to take photos for Instagram and all that kind of thing.
Kyra Finkelton:And really, what we offer kind of lends itself really well to those two very different markets.
Kyra Finkelton:The key to it, though, is keeping them separate because obviously people with small children want the kids to go to sleep and have nice, quiet, peaceful time in the countryside and, you know, explore the nature and chill out and be quiet.
Kyra Finkelton:And the hen parties want, you know, a bit of crack, a few drinks, a late night around the campfire, and, you know, quite a lot of drinking and celebrating.
Kyra Finkelton:So they're using the same facilities, but in a very different way.
Kyra Finkelton:So if the hen parties are coming to us, they must book one or other glamp sites in full so that there's no issue with, you know, children being there when the stripper arrives or, you know, when the drag queen is leading the party games.
Kyra Finkelton:There's no kids to see that, so it's very much kept separately.
Kyra Finkelton:And.
Kyra Finkelton:And actually, I have had this conversation with people.
Kyra Finkelton:They're like, my God, you know, how do you deal with hen parties?
Kyra Finkelton:It must be, you know, a head wrecker.
Kyra Finkelton:But.
Kyra Finkelton:But actually, the people that come to our site tend to be a little bit older and a little bit wiser, and they're not really looking for the completely crazy, you know, legless drunk type experience.
Kyra Finkelton:They tend to be very nice ladies looking for something a bit different, somewhere where they can get together, have a Bit of music, a bit of fun, obviously a few drinks obviously are involved, I'm not going to lie about that.
Kyra Finkelton:But generally they're very sweet and they, they are not too mad.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, if they want the crazy thing, they're probably going to, you know, the city or they're going to the hotel for the big nightclub experience.
Kyra Finkelton:And we, we do, you know, they can go into town and there's nightclubs here they can avail of if they want to.
Kyra Finkelton:But nine times out of 10, they spend most of their time on the site.
Kyra Finkelton:And I mean, sometimes they do very cute things that would actually also appeal to families.
Kyra Finkelton:Like they do treasure hunts and stuff.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, you see the giggling ladies going around, scuttling around wildflower meadow, hunting for whatever they're hunting for.
Kyra Finkelton:So, you know, it is quite, quite good clean fun in a way.
Kyra Finkelton:But yeah, it's funny how the site is ideal for both the different guests, but just as long as you can keep them separate.
Kyra Finkelton:Because we do get.
Kyra Finkelton:I find I do have to turn away some groups and they would be those that have.
Kyra Finkelton:So with the six accommodations, we can sleep up to 24 adults in a group.
Kyra Finkelton:And most of the hen party groups tend to be around 20, 20 in a group or so.
Kyra Finkelton:But if you get a group of eight or 10 and they want half the site, I can't facilitate that.
Kyra Finkelton:And we don't mix even some places will mix two hen party groups in together.
Kyra Finkelton:But we found that doesn't really work because, you know, the beauty of it is that you take over the whole place and have your private party.
Kyra Finkelton:So I, I have to turn them away because I just can't serve that group, you know, and it's not worth trying to, you know, it's not going to work for them and it's not going to work for me if I, if I only get half the revenue or if they only get half the site, you know, it just isn't going to work.
Kyra Finkelton:So.
Kyra Finkelton:So that's, I suppose, an issue in a way.
Sarah Orchard:And they get the best experience if they've got the site, like you say, all to themselves.
Sarah Orchard:Have you had to put lots of different rules in place for the different groups?
Sarah Orchard:I mean, probably not the families, but.
Kyra Finkelton:Or maybe, yeah, I mean, we do have rules and I'm quite careful about the groups and I'm very clear with them, what they're getting when they book.
Kyra Finkelton:So say the hen parties, we don't allow very loud music late at night, so they're not allowed DJs, discos, that kind of Thing.
Kyra Finkelton:So mainly because, although we're out in the countryside, it is a residential area, so we have got a few neighbours and one or two are very sensitive to noise.
Kyra Finkelton:So I have to kind of, you know, we have to live here year round, so I have to look after them.
Kyra Finkelton:So we do have rules around noise and we tend to send out information about what kind of activities they might like to do when they're here.
Kyra Finkelton:So we'll say, look, you can't.
Kyra Finkelton:You can't have a big karaoke session with the music blasting into the night, or you can't have a band, for example, but you can have.
Kyra Finkelton:With a guy with a guitar who comes and plays music, you know, big sing song, and he'll encourage the girls to sing along and all that kind of thing.
Kyra Finkelton:He's got a huge repertoire because he's been with us from the start, so.
Kyra Finkelton:So he's amazing.
Kyra Finkelton:He's very popular.
Kyra Finkelton:I'd say he's our number one activity.
Kyra Finkelton:And then otherwise, if you want more of a kind of a dance party, we recommend a silent disco, you know, the headphone disco.
Kyra Finkelton:And that's always great crack.
Kyra Finkelton:That always goes down really well.
Kyra Finkelton:And it's so funny for us when we hear them, because you can't hear the music, but you can just hear, you know, the chorus being sung.
Sarah Orchard:Singing.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah.
Kyra Finkelton:Shania Twain, Man, I feel like a woman.
Kyra Finkelton:But no music.
Kyra Finkelton:So it's just.
Kyra Finkelton:But that works well, they're happy, they've had a good night, but we haven't had to have that conversation with the neighbours at, you know, 2:00 in the morning.
Kyra Finkelton:So.
Kyra Finkelton:So that's good.
Kyra Finkelton:And then for the families, it's more about safety, really.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, please keep an eye on your children near the campfire, that kind of thing.
Sarah Orchard:But nothing too onerous.
Sarah Orchard:So have you had to put extra facilities in for, like, the hens?
Sarah Orchard:Like, you don't do hot tubs or anything like that, do you?
Kyra Finkelton:We don't.
Kyra Finkelton:The hot tubs, it is something that comes up every now and again.
Kyra Finkelton:People request them now, not so many that we've sort of thought that we needed to do it, but I think the hot tubs are more a coupley thing, you know, it's sort of that romantic relaxation type they are.
Kyra Finkelton:They're definitely popular.
Kyra Finkelton:But I think if people are asking for hot tubs, they're probably not our market, because you're not going to get 20 women in one hot tub unless they put an enormous one in.
Kyra Finkelton:And the families.
Kyra Finkelton:I suppose some families would hot tub together.
Kyra Finkelton:But it's just not as much of a family activity as, I don't know, some of the other things that they can do on the site.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, we have plenty of outdoor space for games.
Kyra Finkelton:We have the wildflower meadows.
Kyra Finkelton:There's like wiggly paths cut through them for kids to do, hide and seek and that kind of thing.
Kyra Finkelton:That's much more the kinds of activities that people would do here.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, I mean, we have considered putting in a sauna.
Kyra Finkelton:My husband's mad into saunaing, so we've considered putting a sauna on the site for groups.
Kyra Finkelton:But again, it's not something that's a deal breaker for bookings.
Kyra Finkelton:So at the moment we've put that on the back burner.
Sarah Orchard:No, it sounds like what you're offering in terms of the guest experience then helps to filter the people that are coming to stay as well, which is what you want.
Sarah Orchard:You want to not, like you say, they want a really rowdy of hen do.
Sarah Orchard:They're probably not going to come to your site.
Sarah Orchard:Which actually suits you as well in terms of not having those people coming to stay.
Kyra Finkelton:Absolutely, yeah.
Kyra Finkelton:Because we live on the site.
Kyra Finkelton:So, you know, if there is trouble, then it's me going down to my PJs in the middle of the night to go and have that discussion.
Kyra Finkelton:So, yeah, I'm keen to avoid too much craziness and as you say.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, definitely.
Kyra Finkelton:I think it is.
Kyra Finkelton:If you know your ideal guest, then you can build your site accordingly.
Kyra Finkelton:Because people always say to me, oh, why don't you, you know, target couples?
Kyra Finkelton:And, you know, it's a big market of people looking for romantic stays, I think.
Kyra Finkelton:Well, yes, that's fantastic, but that's just not what we can offer because we would have built the site in a completely different way.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, even the structure of it would be about seclusion and romance and, you know, being alone together.
Kyra Finkelton:Whereas it's much more interactive.
Kyra Finkelton:A bit of crack, you're meeting other people is definitely a communal place.
Kyra Finkelton:So we get.
Kyra Finkelton:The other sort of mix of the two is that we would get family groups.
Kyra Finkelton:So extended families, and that might be intergenerational, you know, granny and granddad, aunties and uncles and the kids.
Kyra Finkelton:Or it might be groups of families coming together, say five or six families who are friends, who travel together and meet up once a year and come and book the site and they might do things like have sports days together and cook together, and they have that communal vibe as well.
Kyra Finkelton:So that's very much what we're offering.
Kyra Finkelton:And the sort of quiet coupley seclusion isn't something that we can provide really.
Sarah Orchard:Focus in on exactly like you say, the common elements between those two audiences that you've identified.
Sarah Orchard:And it sounds like, you know, the couples.
Sarah Orchard:I probably agree that doesn't fit well with, with that.
Sarah Orchard:So it's worth just sort of ruling them out in terms of your, your marketing, which sort of brings us on to the marketing conversation.
Sarah Orchard:So, you know, people sometimes find it quite difficult.
Sarah Orchard:Hosts find it difficult when they're thinking about, I've got two quite different audiences.
Sarah Orchard:So in my marketing, you know, how, how do I approach that?
Sarah Orchard:So what have you found that's worked well for you, Kyra, in terms of attracting those two different types of ideal guests?
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, it is a tricky one.
Kyra Finkelton:I mean, it's great to have the guest types nailed down and to know who you're targeting.
Kyra Finkelton:But as you say, there is a sort of a disconnect, especially with the families.
Kyra Finkelton:If they see you doing a lot of advertising to hen parties, then they're thinking, oh, I don't want to go there because there might be a rowdy party in when I'm there with my kids.
Kyra Finkelton:So I have to keep reiterating this message that we don't mix the two.
Kyra Finkelton:And you know, we have made sort of reels and videos.
Kyra Finkelton:I've got a video of my daughter playing, having a tea party with an inflatable, you know, you know those inflatable man dolls that you met at the hen parties.
Kyra Finkelton:And she's there with him, with her arm around him saying this, this will never happen.
Kyra Finkelton:So just kind of taking it to its extreme, the most ridiculous scenario.
Kyra Finkelton:But that is something that people are concerned about.
Kyra Finkelton:So you do have to keep reiterating that message in your promotions.
Kyra Finkelton:So say, for social media, the different platforms tend to work in different ways for us.
Kyra Finkelton:So Facebook and Instagram.
Kyra Finkelton:Well, Facebook would be more.
Kyra Finkelton:So the families would be looking.
Kyra Finkelton:There just seems to be more of an older demographic or more of a family friendly demographic.
Kyra Finkelton:I don't know.
Kyra Finkelton:We tend to get a lot of interaction from families through Facebook.
Kyra Finkelton:Then Instagram can be both.
Kyra Finkelton:So that's, you know, you kind of can target both through Instagram as long as you're clear in your messaging.
Kyra Finkelton:So I have a lot of photographs of families and kids and, you know, doing family stuff on the site and try and keep that messaging because the hens are not deterred by the fact that families come, they don't mind.
Kyra Finkelton:And then I found a lot of success through TikTok, which was a platform That I kind of avoided at first because it didn't really appeal to me.
Kyra Finkelton:But my hen party audience are there, so younger women would be looking there.
Kyra Finkelton:So lots of beautiful footage of the site and sort of a voiceover explaining how we can make it easy for you to book and all the activities that we can offer and how we can just make it easy for you to get that weekend set up for your bride.
Kyra Finkelton:Or, you know, there's a lot of organisation if you're chosen as the maid of honour.
Kyra Finkelton:I've never had the honour myself, but through eight years of helping to organise hen parties, I can see it's.
Kyra Finkelton:It's sort of a mixed blessing because you think, oh, fantastic, I'm.
Kyra Finkelton:I'm your best friend or sister or whatever.
Kyra Finkelton:But they.
Kyra Finkelton:The hens seem to have quite high expectations of a weekend and if you've got to keep 20 participants happy, that's quite, quite a challenge.
Kyra Finkelton:So if, if we can make it easy for them in terms of recommending local places to go, local activities, people who can come to the site and do fun things with them or even come up with suggestions for what they might do while they're here with their group, all that kind of thing makes it a lot easier.
Kyra Finkelton:So we try and put together little videos explaining that.
Kyra Finkelton:But also the SEO, which I know you would tell everybody, Sarah, is very important and it is.
Kyra Finkelton:So on our website, we have two kind of entryways.
Kyra Finkelton:Once you get to the homepage, you can click through to family information or click through to hen party information.
Kyra Finkelton:And I've started to put together blogs which particularly address those issues for hens.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, what can we do while we're there?
Kyra Finkelton:Where's good to go for food, if you're traveling in a group, you know, all that kind of thing.
Kyra Finkelton:So trying to answer their queries and meet their pain points, as you might say.
Sarah Orchard:Yeah.
Sarah Orchard:And definitely sort of addressing what they're concerned about.
Sarah Orchard:So, like, you've touched on some really good points there.
Sarah Orchard:So in terms of your marketing, messaging, making sure that the families are reassured, I loved how you did that with humor, that that's not going to be what they experience when they come and stay.
Sarah Orchard:But then also thinking about, for the hen audience, you know, what are they thinking, what are they searching for?
Sarah Orchard:Maybe on Google and helping your business be the one that comes up in front of them, which is obviously the beauty of blogging and search engine optimization is that it can get you that visibility.
Sarah Orchard:And I think also you've done a great job with segmenting your messaging on Your website as well, you know, having the different sections and taking people to the relevant information rather than trying to tell the whole story to different audiences.
Sarah Orchard:I think on your homepage is often where people go wrong because actually you're never going to be able to address all of those questions and messaging requirements on one homepage.
Sarah Orchard:So you've done a great job of navigating people off to the different sections so that then you can show them imagery and messaging.
Sarah Orchard:I guess that answers all of their, you know, their needs rather than trying to come up with a sort of a generic message in the middle that will sort of keep everyone happy.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, I think that's true.
Kyra Finkelton:And I think, I think a lot of hen party groups would find us through Google and that the SEO is really important specifically for them and of course for the families as well.
Kyra Finkelton:They have what am I going to do with the kids when I'm there?
Kyra Finkelton:So we have information about that too.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, it's very important.
Kyra Finkelton:I think the website sometimes gets forgotten and I'm guilty of it myself for sure.
Kyra Finkelton:But you know, the social media, you can kind of see the likes and the interaction coming in and it's, you know, something you're trying to update daily with stories and all the rest.
Kyra Finkelton:But actually I think most people find us through Google and so that is probably the key audience.
Kyra Finkelton:The other, the other.
Kyra Finkelton:I mean, I don't know if this is specific to Ireland because there is such a, you know, everyone seems to know each other at some level, but word of mouth is enormous.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, families quite often will come, just a family will come and then they might come back with three or four families the next summer.
Kyra Finkelton:They'll, they'll spread the word.
Kyra Finkelton:And the same with the hen parties, you know, they, they'll perhaps have attended a hen party for someone else and say, oh, I've got another one coming up, or my hen is coming up in, in two years time and they'll be back.
Kyra Finkelton:So quite a lot of the hen groups, somebody will have been here before.
Kyra Finkelton:So it's great that they're recommending us.
Kyra Finkelton:I mean, that's the very best PR you can get, really, isn't it?
Kyra Finkelton:That a personal recommendation.
Kyra Finkelton:So that happens for both audiences as well, that, that they've come and had a good time and told someone else to come and recommended us.
Kyra Finkelton:So that's probably the best thing.
Kyra Finkelton:Once you've got the people here, if you can look after them and meet their needs, then you'll get more of the same kinds of business through word of mouth, which is just crucial.
Sarah Orchard:Best form of marketing in my book.
Sarah Orchard:And it's free as well.
Sarah Orchard:Do you incentivize them at all?
Sarah Orchard:Because obviously, like, you know, hens.
Sarah Orchard:I think you've touched on a good point when, when someone goes to a hen do often they're all quite similar ages probably maybe not so much with the older hens, but if you've got people around about a certain age, probably find that their peer group will all start getting, you know, sort of married around about the same time.
Sarah Orchard:Although it might be.
Sarah Orchard:Maybe it's second marriages and then you've got like you say, the families, they often know families who've got children of similar ages.
Sarah Orchard:So what they do for a holiday is probably going to appeal to their friends as well.
Sarah Orchard:So do you incentivize them at all to sort of recommend you?
Kyra Finkelton:Not really.
Kyra Finkelton:It's not something that we've done up to now.
Kyra Finkelton:Now the only thing that we do have is an incentive to sign up for the newsletter.
Kyra Finkelton:We're trying to get people on our mailing list.
Kyra Finkelton:So we, we do have a 10% off if they sign up to the mailing list.
Kyra Finkelton:So I suppose I might tell them about that.
Kyra Finkelton:But we don't have a separate offer specific to, you know, refer a friend or something like that.
Kyra Finkelton:I just, I think it's just for my own mental capacity.
Kyra Finkelton:Quite hard to admit, many different offers.
Kyra Finkelton:But I mean, I suppose to some extent we haven't really needed to, you know, that, that the busy times, the weekends are always booked up and then the summer holidays tend to be pretty good now the weather can affect that.
Kyra Finkelton:I have to say this, this year was pretty good.
Kyra Finkelton:But last year it just seemed to rain every day for July and August.
Kyra Finkelton:So that did have a bit of an impact.
Kyra Finkelton:But I don't know if incentivizing people would have made that much difference.
Sarah Orchard:Difference, Yeah.
Sarah Orchard:I think incentives are quite hard to administer as well.
Sarah Orchard:I think that's the thing we always struggle with, isn't it?
Sarah Orchard:Is like, how do we make those work in practice and make sure that somebody would get their incentive for referring and hopefully if they've had a great experience, they'll do it naturally anyway.
Sarah Orchard:And I'm sure you've got lots of Google reviews as well, so all of that helps when people are searching for you.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, the reviews are great and awards is the other thing.
Kyra Finkelton:If you can, if you have a few of those, then you get.
Kyra Finkelton:I don't know about PR and bookings, but definitely credibility.
Kyra Finkelton:And I suppose we're quite good in terms of pr.
Kyra Finkelton:Like I would try and use old school media as well.
Kyra Finkelton:So I do try and stay in touch with journalists and travel bloggers and that kind of thing because that can be a route to market, especially for the families, I would say more so than their groups.
Kyra Finkelton:We have had, we've done a little bit of influencer marketing.
Kyra Finkelton:We've had bloggers and influencers come and stay with varying results as well.
Kyra Finkelton:That's a whole other podcast, I'm sure, Sarah.
Sarah Orchard:Yeah, definitely.
Kyra Finkelton:But if you get someone who's really relevant, it can be great.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah.
Sarah Orchard:Is there anything else you've tried?
Sarah Orchard:Have you done anything like meta or Facebook ads to target different groups?
Sarah Orchard:Have you found that useful or have you done any of that?
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah, we have done, we have done Facebook ads, I suppose.
Kyra Finkelton:How successful are they?
Kyra Finkelton:They're sort of.
Kyra Finkelton:They, they do help, but I think meta is getting harder to get the reach, even if you pay.
Kyra Finkelton:So.
Kyra Finkelton:And I suppose unless you've got a huge budget, I, I don't know.
Kyra Finkelton:We do use them, but I have mixed feelings about how successful they've been recently.
Kyra Finkelton:I think they were very good at one time, but I think it's getting harder to get seen in all the clutter and noise.
Kyra Finkelton:We actually won a prize with Google at the beginning of this year and it was for digital marketing excellence, would you believe, and just drop that in.
Kyra Finkelton:But part of the prize was a thousand euro in ad spend on Google Ads and they were very good.
Kyra Finkelton:They went through how to set them up and how to get the best out of your spend.
Kyra Finkelton:But the fellow who was taking me through it said, oh, you've a tiny budget.
Kyra Finkelton:You know, I was thinking a thousand euro to spend.
Kyra Finkelton:This is much more than I would have to spend as a business.
Kyra Finkelton:And he said, oh, you know, we'll just spread that across that a month.
Kyra Finkelton:Okay.
Kyra Finkelton:But actually we did get very good interaction from it, so it is something that I would look at doing again.
Kyra Finkelton:We actually, I think we've spent.
Kyra Finkelton:I still have some, some to use up, which I'm going to give it a blast over Christmas when people have time on their hands.
Kyra Finkelton:But.
Kyra Finkelton:And it was just, it wasn't a video ad or anything, it was literally just, just the, the keywords.
Kyra Finkelton:So I, I think we saw a boost in bookings because of the ad that we ran with them and we spent about 600 Euro.
Kyra Finkelton:So I mean it's a lot.
Kyra Finkelton:But in terms of how many inquiries we got on the head of it, I think it was worth doing.
Kyra Finkelton:So I would give that another go.
Kyra Finkelton:But I wouldn't.
Kyra Finkelton:I would keep a close eye on it because it can rack up very quickly because it's based on the number of clicks rather than a set budget.
Kyra Finkelton:So you have to keep an eye on it that it's not ticking away without your awareness because you could, you could end up spending a bit more than you planned otherwise.
Sarah Orchard:Yes, you definitely need to keep an eye on it.
Sarah Orchard:If anyone's interested, I have.
Sarah Orchard:In series one, I did a podcast episode about the difference between Google Ads and meta or Facebook ads.
Sarah Orchard:And you're quite right, Kyra, they.
Sarah Orchard:They can rack up very quickly, they can be very effective.
Sarah Orchard:But you do need big budgets for it, normally at least 500 pounds or 500 Euros a month.
Sarah Orchard:So, like, you know, they thought your thousand euro bud was quite small, so, yeah, they tend to require much bigger budgets to play with that.
Sarah Orchard:So just to sort of finish up, because you've shared some really good points there about, you know, the different audiences and thinking about the messaging and the marketing for them.
Sarah Orchard:I mean, just for the, for the listeners.
Sarah Orchard:What percentage of sort of direct bookings, roughly, are you sort of taking now?
Sarah Orchard:Is it.
Sarah Orchard:Are you relying on an agent at all, or are you taking most of that business direct through your own website?
Kyra Finkelton:Well, most, in fact, all of our bookings are direct at the moment, which is, which is great because I have that kind of control over who's coming, which is crucial to the guest experience, I feel.
Kyra Finkelton:up on Airbnb this going into:Kyra Finkelton:I've sort of steered clear of it up to now because we've been very busy and just because I was a little bit nervous about opening up that way because we don't mix adults and, and kids.
Kyra Finkelton:So I wanted to just keep, keep the adults and families, I should say, just, just to keep that right, because it does make a huge difference to the guest experience.
Kyra Finkelton:And that's the most important thing to us, really.
Kyra Finkelton:So, yeah, so it's 100% direct at the moment, but it might, might slip back a little bit if we, we experiment with Airbnb and get a few in the door that way.
Sarah Orchard:That's music to my ears.
Sarah Orchard:That's fantastic.
Sarah Orchard:Fantastic figures.
Sarah Orchard:And I think there's nothing wrong with using Airbnb.
Sarah Orchard:I know we're chatting on the help desk with some members last week about, you know, use it when you've got.
Sarah Orchard:You've got gaps or if you've got midweeks that are harder to shift or you've got some, what I call like distressed inventory.
Sarah Orchard:So some dates that you're really struggling to shift, there's no harm in, you know, potentially using their might of their booking platforms and their advertising budget to get you some visibility.
Sarah Orchard:And sometimes those bookings will even come direct even though, you know, they found you on those platforms.
Sarah Orchard:So there's definitely no harm in utilizing those platforms to help you out if there's some, you know, some dates you're struggling to shift.
Sarah Orchard:So you should never feel bad about that.
Kyra Finkelton:No, no, I think I will investigate further.
Kyra Finkelton:Yeah.
Sarah Orchard:Great.
Sarah Orchard:Well, thank you for sharing some tips.
Sarah Orchard:I've got a fun question to something I'm going to start doing on the podcast now for series.
Sarah Orchard:So I'd like to know, and I'm sure the listeners would love to know, if you could have one celebrity to come and stay at your glamping site, who would that be?
Kyra Finkelton:Yes, you.
Kyra Finkelton:You did ask me about this, Sarah, and my mind went completely blank.
Kyra Finkelton:But I said ideally it'd be someone who's a bit of crack, someone who's going to be a bit fun.
Kyra Finkelton:So I said maybe a comedian, someone like Vic Reeves.
Kyra Finkelton:I've always had a bit of a soft spot for him and he's a great singer as well.
Kyra Finkelton:So he could come and sing a few tunes around the campfire and, you know, crack a few jokes.
Kyra Finkelton:And I believe he's into painting and bird life and whatnot.
Kyra Finkelton:So he could come and bring his art materials and watch with buzzards and all kinds of wildlife between the, the trees and the, the wildflower meadows and everything.
Kyra Finkelton:So hopefully Vic and family would like to come and stay.
Sarah Orchard:They sound perfect.
Sarah Orchard:He sounds like he would definitely fit in from how you've described your ideal guest in terms of being able to sit around the campfire, tell a few jokes, probably entertain do's as well.
Sarah Orchard:But it sounds like a good, good call inviting Vic Reeves to come and come and stay at Glamping under the Stars.
Sarah Orchard:Well, thank you Kyra for joining us today.
Kyra Finkelton:Well, thank you for having me, Sarah.
Kyra Finkelton:It's, it's always a pleasure to speak to you.
Sarah Orchard:Thanks for listening everyone.
Sarah Orchard:And I'll be back next week with more actionable marketing tips and real life host experiences.
Sarah Orchard:And if you've enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.
Sarah Orchard:You know how much us hosts love a five star review.
Sarah Orchard:I'll see you next time.
Sarah Orchard:Thank you for listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.
Sarah Orchard:If you want to see if you are ready to ditch the likes of Airbnb and grow your direct bookings.
Sarah Orchard:Put your business to the test with my free direct booking Roadmap quiz.
Sarah Orchard:Head to my website, get fully booked.com quiz and let's get you more direct bookings and more profit in your pocket.