- 16.04.2024.
- News, Marketing, User experience, SEO, Social media
Regardless of how long you have been on the market, how much experience you have or how luxurious your vessels are, you must never lose sight of the most important thing - the guests. Do you want your guests to find you more easily? Surely yes. If that's the case, then check out the 11 things you absolutely must not miss.
The yacht charter industry is measured by the quality of the relationship you have with guests.
Making a list of priorities will help you stay organised, but you'll also be able to put your guests first.
No matter how you manage your yacht charter, there is still a list of things that you simply must not forget. They are the basis for a stable and successful future for your business without fear of what will happen tomorrow.
Therefore, take paper and pen (or mobile phone) and make a list - what of the above you do (or have) and what you don't:
- Understanding the target audience
- Optimisation for mobile devices
- Content that engages
- SEO strategy
- Social media strategies
- Data analysis and monitoring
- Email marketing
- Online reputation and review management
- Local SEO
- Digital marketing integration
- Monitoring new trends
1. Understanding the target audience
If you don't know who your real audience is, i.e. potential guests, you miss the opportunity to customise your communication, emails, and content to suit their interests.
Knowing your target audience is the foundation. And that's the basis of everything.
At the end (or the beginning) of everything, your offer should have one central theme - unforgettable adventures at sea.
If you don't know who you are offering these adventures to, i.e., who needs them or who is looking for and wants them, there is little chance that your message will reach them.
Your audience consists of individuals with unique stories: families looking for the perfect vacation, couples who want to celebrate an anniversary, or business people in need of peace away from city life.
All of them actually want either peace or adventure and, along the way, enjoy the Adriatic.
If you know which groups of people you are targeting and understand their specific wants and needs, you can create marketing strategies that communicate directly with each one.
The goal is to awaken their emotions and motivate them to choose your yacht charter and offer.
How to do it? Let your communication be a mirror of their wishes.
When they see your message on any communication channel, they should accurately recognise their own desires, dreams, and plans.
And that is the way to create a deep connection with your guests and at the same time, the certainty that your yacht charter company will become (and remain) their first choice for sailing the Adriatic.
2. Optimisation for mobile devices
Your website needs to be accessible and mobile-friendly, and it's not a matter of choice—that is unquestionable. Website design matters, but also user experience and SEO.
The vast majority of people access the Internet, and more than 60% of them make purchases via mobile devices.
Your website is the first point of contact with people and the first impression your yacht charter business makes.
Not optimising your website for mobile means missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with potential guests.
A "good" connection is the basis because, in this way, you build trust and give the impression of professionalism.
When optimising for mobile devices, you should pay attention to everything - from page loading speed and ease of navigation to the general impression that the website leaves.
Also, Google favours mobile-friendly websites. Without adequate optimisation, your visibility will be reduced, and your site will compete lower on search engines.
3. Content that engages
You create content, but it doesn't attract attention, comment, or share with others. And what are you going to do?
Huge amounts of digital content are generated every day. And you have to stand out somehow. It's hard, but there are ways.
Your content should (and must) attract and direct your potential guests to your yacht charter.
Not creating authentic content, which neither provokes thought nor evokes emotion, means ignoring the very high potential of something that is the basis for building a relationship with the audience.
And for your content to be a magnet for the audience, it must reflect one thing - "we understand your wishes".
You need to tell the story well - the one that exudes freedom, adventure and exclusivity... Everything that a stay on a yacht offers.
Show your guests the top-of-the-line vessels that await only them, the coast that awaits only them, the adventures that await only them, and everything else that you offer, and (you guessed it) what awaits only them.
Multimedia will best help you with this: visually appealing photos, inspiring videos, and clear, informative texts.
Make your content not just another voice in the crowd. Make it essential, powerful, resonant.
Make your content something that your audience will look forward to and share with others.
4. SEO strategy
If you're not using keywords and marketing strategies that help you stand out in the yacht charter industry, you're reducing your online visibility.
What every yacht charter company has in common is that they are all the same (kudos to the exceptions).
What makes them different is almost negligible. Each wants the same audience, the same place under the sun, and has a nearly identical offer and the same approach to business (also, kudos to the exceptions).
Something sets them apart from the others: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)—and effort, of course.
A customised SEO strategy (specific for charters and yachts) allows potential guests to notice you when looking for what they need. And they are looking for exactly what you offer.
And SEO works with the help of keywords. Without them... Well, nothing, actually. Your website remains lost in the vastness of the Internet.
In short, SEO is the use of the right keywords and phrases in your web content, titles, meta descriptions, and blogs.
What are the right keywords? The ones your potential guests are searching for online.
Think about how people search for the services you offer. Put yourself in their role. Do they use words like "yacht charter Croatia," "luxury yacht," or "holiday in Croatia"?
SEO is a long-term process that requires regular content creation, monitoring and tweaking, but it can dramatically improve your online presence. Especially if it speaks the same language as your potential guests and reflects the specifics of the nautical charter.
But it will also ensure that you remain relevant and visible more and better (and sooner) than all those "the same".
5. Social media strategies
Want your voice to be heard? Then, you need to be on social media.
Everyone is there, all of your audience - potential and former guests, as well as future ones. (But also the competition).
If you are not using social media to promote your business, you are missing an excellent opportunity to expand your reach to your audience.
If you have social media and you don't post on them, or even worse - you don't have social media, you need to change your tactics.
Social media is where a deep connection is made with your target audience.
People will follow the profile of your yacht charter company because they are interested in it, and you, in turn, must regularly publish interesting content and respond to comments, inquiries, messages, etc. In short, you must be engaged.
Social media are not just platforms for publishing content. They are a place where you can build your brand and tell a story that is uniquely yours and that the audience can identify with.
Your content on social networks establishes your authenticity, creates trust, and spreads awareness of your brand.
6. Data analysis and monitoring
You need to know what the data in your marketing campaigns is saying. You need to optimize them in time and adequately.
Data analysis and monitoring are essential. Otherwise, you are in the dark, on unknown terrain, without a compass. And blindfolded.
Every interaction with your website, every click, and every conversion tells you precisely what your audience wants and how they behave.
Data analysis allows you to identify what exactly attracts your audience, what content they find helpful and on which channels.
With this information, you can subsequently adjust your strategy to increase your ROI (return on investment).
This information is necessary to adjust your campaigns, invest more of your budget in what works, and "turn off" what doesn't bring results.
Use analysis tools and monitor your campaigns to achieve greater audience engagement and, thus, more conversions.
7. Email marketing (of a personalised kind)
Do you want to build a better, more connected (call it what you wish to) relationship with your guests, potential, past and future? Use personalised email communication!
Email marketing, in a personalised way, is not ordinary emails but an opportunity to build a closer relationship and share your story.
Each email should be "tailor-made," adapted to the interests and needs of your audience and it should contain your offer and all the information that will be of interest to the audience to whom you are sending emails.
Use audience segmentation - don't send the same email to everyone. Customise emails to those who have been or will become your guests. Customise the content as well, and make it content that readers will appreciate.
It is also recommended that emails, notifications, newsletters, and the like be sent on the same day at the same time. Such an approach increases the probability of opening emails, interacting with your content, and, of course, conversion. Your readers will start expecting your mail.
Many view email marketing as an outdated tactic, but it is not.
If you send emails correctly, they are one of the best tools you can have in your marketing strategy. With their help you build, but also nurture, the relationship you have with your audience, i.e. guests.
8. Online reputation and review management
For those who don't care about their online reputation, we have only one question - why?
For any online business, including yacht charter companies, online reputation is everything.
And you need to know how to manage it.
You must not ignore what is being said about you online because every review and comment is an opportunity to show who and what you are.
It is also an opportunity to show how you care about your audience.
Active online reputation management means regularly monitoring what is said about your yacht charter across all online channels, social networks, Google, etc.
Being active also means that you should respond to every review, offer a solution to every problem, and answer every question. And all the while at the same time creating a positive narrative around your brand.
Sound too much? That's why you shouldn't forget it.
Your audience and guests are online, and their voice is "heard".
You should also respond to negative comments and reviews, say thank you and resolve the whole situation in the most polite and best possible way. Let your audience see that you care, and let them hear your side.
Negative comments should not be deleted but should be faced and neutralised. The truth is that they can do harm but also be useful...
Every interaction on the Internet is an opportunity to connect but also to show how your yacht charter stands behind its services and offers.
9. Local SEO
Don't overlook the power of local SEO.
Optimise your online presence for local search as well because otherwise, you're missing out on the opportunity to connect with people who are in your area or looking for services like yours at the exact location.
What is local search optimisation? Primarily, it's using keywords in your content that include your location.
And suppose your website isn't optimised and doesn't show up in search results. In that case, you're missing out on an opportunity to connect with people who are already interested in what you have to offer at the place you are offering it.
People often search by location, for example, " yacht charter rental Rogoznica," or with the terms "near me", for example ", yacht rental near me".
You should adapt the content to the specifics of your location and have links from other local websites and you definitely need to have a well-organised Google Business profile.
In short, if your SEO and local SEO are well set up, people will be able to find you more easily.
10. Digital marketing integration
Digital marketing is not an option you may or may not choose, but a necessity.
New digital technology appears on the market almost every day. This is an opportunity for you to differentiate your yacht charter business from the competition.
Want to stand out from the crowd?
Be present on the Internet, engaged on social media, and visible when potential guests are looking for you (think SEO, of course).
You need to be online in a way that attracts and keeps your audience's attention.
To reach the target audience and build a strong relationship with guests, you have to optimise, advertise, create quality content, use keywords, and be active on social media.
But all that effort pays off in the end. Because whatever you do in terms of digital marketing, those for whom you do it all - will see it.
Digital marketing reaches the audience you want to communicate with and build long-term relationships.
Digital marketing is not a one-time thing.
It is a continuous process which requires regular attention and adaptation to new technologies and trends.
11. Monitoring new trends
What is constant for most businesses, including yacht charters, is the inability to adapt as well as resistance to new trends.
Why would you change something that has worked "fine" so far?
Your fine and truly fine are quite different concepts.
If you don't follow the new trends in digital marketing and in general and cannot adapt to them, you are missing out on many opportunities—opportunities for innovation, growth, and, above all, booking.
Want to stay interesting to your audience? You need to constantly "serve" them something new. Such is today's market. Audiences have short attention spans and want to get to what's on their mind as soon as possible, preferably yesterday.
New trends include a whole list of things, and if you haven't yet, we advise you to try:
- experiment with video content
- introduce 360° and 3D visuals
- use artificial intelligence
- personalise your service and communication
- try a new social network
- introduce a new business management system
- stand out on the international yachting scene
Don't let ignorance or fear of the unknown rob you of the place you deserve to be - explore and embrace new trends.
Of all the things we have listed, yes - there are some that you can put aside and commit yourself to something else, of course.
But you also need to know that a yacht charter business is a year-round process that never ends.
Contact us if you have a problem with any of the items on the list, and we will do everything we can to optimise your business and make it stand out from the crowd.
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