I belong to a vacation rental home owner forum and we are trying to spread the word about STR(short term rentals). Vacation Homes are available all over the world and as a whole the Eupropeans are "hip" to rental homes- its the Americans and Canadians who are not familiar. Any suggestions to get the word out in some type of mass campaign?

Thanks for your ideas.

Mass campaign huh?

I might try placing some ads in ezines that have a large subscriber base. Also check if the ezine does "solo ads."

There's a post on here somewhere that lists directories of ezines. I think this is it.
http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/fo...ed=1#post22643

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Let me know what you think....

Do you have a website as well that you could optimize or run PPC campaigns for? Is the forum easy to find? Maybe you could start pushing for more people to sign up to your forum with an opt-in of some kind. ie. offer a free report or monthly ezine to all new members of the forum. With this kind of "big ticket" item I imagine people want the opportunity to learn more before they spend the money.

Maybe you could tell us a bit more about the project/venture.

It sounds like you have found an interesting niche. One thing you might want to do is contact a journalist from your local newpaper who does stories about family vacations and other types of recreational activities. You could tell them you have some information you feel would be informative to their readers who like to vacation.

An another suggestion would be to contact a journalist in the country where your target audience lives (US/Canada) and get an interview or get published or quoted as an expert in an industry magazine.

Of course another way would be to promote your website on various directories (including local directories), forums, blogs, etc.

You'll need to get a loyal following to spread the word for you. Create value for your forum members and the word will spread.

Many thanks for the great ideas for my vacation rental. I have worked the past week to target specific groups- Golfers(we have 4 golf courses in our community) and Fisherman(specifically Tarpon Fisherman; our STR is about 10 minutes from some of the best Tarpon fishing in the world)

I have taken out PPC advertising on a golf travel website and also "fins & skins" website, magazine & tv program that specializes in golf&fishing destinations around the world.

I have been listed on vacation rental home sites of which there is much competition- so I'm hopeful targeting specific groups who visit the area for their hobby will be profitable. Thus far- I'm the only listing on these sites.

I'll keep you posted- thanks for getting my brain thinking outside the box!