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Operating a B&B
Running a Bed and Breakfast
9 Marketing Priorities
One of
the dilemmas of running a bed and breakfast is determining a marketing strategy
that gets results without costing big bucks.
Yes, your
goal is to attract and then provide your guests with an outstanding stay experience.
The hardest part is the "attracting" part of your goal.
Here, we
hope to provide an insight of one successful entrepreneur's experiences in
running a bed and breakfast with emphasis on the marketing of the Inn.
Judith: A Single Mom's Experiences
Starting a Bed and Breakfast
Hailing
from Raleigh, North Carolina, this Mother of one, after her husband passed was left with a six bedroom, 4-bath home, cash from a life insurance policy and
a strong will to bring her own talents to life.
She is
bright and a hard worker. She thought it made perfect sense to run a bed and
breakfast using her home.
There was
just one (well, many) problem. She had no knowledge on how to start her
business.
She
searched the Internet but couldn't find
a well-reviewed book written by someone who actually had been successful
in B&B inn keeping.

A
neighbor, down the street, whose mother use to have a B&B, recommended a
$29.95 ebook called simply, Starting a Bed and Breakfast Guidebook.
In my
recent interview with Judith, she relayed that it is readable, realistic and
contains a ton of smart information.
This ebook set the stage for her
confidence and making the leap from being a Mother to being a businesswoman
too.
She then
made her home ready for a B&B.
She was going to use 4-bedrooms and 3 of the
bathrooms for this effort.
She researched her competition for services and room
prices.
Now it was time to advertise or market her B&B.
Judith’s Priorities in Marketing a Bed and
Breakfast
Judith
told me that in running a bed and breakfast, the marketing of it was the
hardest thing she had ever done.
Determining the tasks and their priority cause
her great anxiety She set her marketing budget at $4,000. She really felt
afraid of spending it all for nothing. She took several deep breaths and jumped.
Here
are the 9-elements of her marketing effort in order of priority.

- Judith
decided she would focus on the luxury end of the business and named her B&B
, “Peace and Tranquility B&B.”
- She
started building her website with Site Build It using plenty of photos. SBIs
Brainstorm It tool, she felt, had the capability to best position her business
in the perfect niche.
- She took
a listing in every B&B directory she could fine, The Web and directories
provide 94% of the booking leads for B&Bs according to the Professional
Association of Innkeepers International.
- In the
beginning, Judith handled all the reservations by herself. After 5-months there
were too many inquiries for her to process so she contracted with a Reservation
Service. This is a concern that supplemented her reservation-making efforts,
charging her a small fee for their service.
- Next, she
joined the Chamber of Commerce and every local, regional and state tourism
organization, a total of eight in all. These organizations help market their member’s
businesses,
- She
places a small classified ad in three travel magazines and tracked the results
from each. She latter changed this to just one travel magazine.
- She then
turned to having business cards, a brochure, letterhead and envelopes printed.
Judith told me that she waited to do this because other efforts had a higher
priority and, besides, she didn’t want to spend the money for this stuff if her
B&B wasn’t going to work.
- In
running a bed and breakfast, Judith sought to make her B&B stand out from
her competitors. She decided to have six special weekends a year appealing to
segment of the market. These included a mystery weekend, renew your wedding
vows weekend, magic trick weekend, bridge game weekend, etc.
- She
marketed in her and surrounding neighborhoods as the place to be for birthday
parties, weddings, business retreats, etc.
Judith’s Running A Bed and Breakfast Results
Peace and Tranquility B&B is now 27-months old. The
last 12-months she has averaged 2.8 rooms per night and is doing quite well.
She
chalks up her success to acquiring the Starting a B&B ebook, her low budget
marketing strategy and her work ethic.
I thank
you for visiting Running a Bed and Breakfast.
Helpful Professional Resource
U.S. Small Business Administration: Starting a Business
Additional Business Ideas for Women
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