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.
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 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.
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.
U.S. Small Business Administration: Starting a Business
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