Social media. Direct bookings. “Instagrammability.”

It’s all anybody talks about these days. Me included.

I want to change that. Today, I’m telling you about the most underrated and underused marketing channel any glamping business has.

This channel gives you a direct line to past and future guests. It grants you complete control over who receives your messaging. And it costs basically nothing.

I’m talking about email. 

Not sexy, I know. Not revolutionary, either. But that’s precisely the point.

Email is so easy to use, and it’s super-effective when done correctly. It’s just that nobody in the glamping industry talks about it.

Today, that ends. I’m teaching you all the secrets I know.

Welcome to The Glamping Insider’s School of Email Marketing. 

Let’s Get On the Same Page

When I say email marketing, I don’t mean those spammy “Book now for 50% off” messages. Special offers can be part of your strategy, but you should send them once in a blue moon.

The kind of email I’m talking about is something your mailing list will want to read. Engaging stories, unique thoughts and insights, that kind of thing. Nothing that gets sent straight to the trash bin.

Got that? Now onto the exciting stuff.

Why Email Is Your Secret Weapon

Social media is great. It can do things that email can’t, like making you go viral.

But email has so many other things going for it. Here’s what email does:

Encourages authenticity

For a social media strategy to work, you’re forced to create content that the algorithm likes. I hate this. It means everyone posts in the exact same format. To me, it’s boring and inauthentic. You have to sell your soul to win.

There’s no algorithm with email. You write exactly what you want to write, and people will read it if they find it interesting. It levels the playing field for those who don’t want to spend hours identifying algorithm ‘hacks’.

Puts You In Control

You don’t own your social media audience. It’s entirely in the hands of the tech giants. Your reach can be destroyed by an algorithm change, or by a takeover that ruins the whole platform (I’m looking at you, Elon Musk).

With email, your list is your list. Nobody’s taking it away from you. Nurture it, and you’ll be rewarded.

Plays to Your Strengths

I’m a big advocate for having a ‘face of the brand’. A real person that you can tell a story around, and that guests can connect with.

The likes of Bolt Farm Treehouse do this by posting self-style videos to Instagram. This works for them, because they’re naturals in front of the camera.

Not everyone is wired like that. I’m more comfortable behind a keyboard than in front of a camera. Email marketing is a great option for those that want to connect to an audience but hate the idea of making video content.

Allows for Segmentation

When you post on social media, you post for everyone. With email lists, you can segment your audience and send them targeted content.

For example, you can create sub-lists for people that have never stayed at your site, guests who have stayed 5+ times, and everyone in between.

This lets you be hyper-specific in your messaging, and works particularly well for targeted discounts.

Lets You Sell

I know, I said email marketing shouldn’t be spammy promotional messages. But there’s room for the occasional offer.

Special offer posts on social media tend to flop. The algorithm knows you’re trying to sell and will limit your reach.

Compare that to email. Building a strong relationship with your list, identifying specific segments to target, and sending a well-crafted special offer can be devastatingly effective.

Just keep the selling to a minimum.

Simply put, email marketing makes up for social media’s weaknesses. Pair these two channels effectively, and you’ll have more bookings than you know what to do with.

But first, you need to learn how to become a killer email marketer.

5 Steps to Email Marketing Success

Step 1 - Choose Your Platform

You need a platform to distribute your emails. A friend suggested I use Beehiiv for The Glamping Insider, and I’m glad I did. They’re relentless at improving an already-great product, and their customer service has been outstanding.

Insiders who use my referral link get a 20% discount on any of their plans. I also get a little commission for sending you their way.

Sign up to Beehiiv today.

Step 2 - Figure Out Your Content

The world of email is brutal. If your emails are crap, you’ll soon know. You can’t hide from bad open rates.

What’s the recipe for compelling email content? There isn’t one correct answer. 

One option is focusing on your glamping business. You could talk about your team, hidden secrets of the property, and cool things that have happened that week. Just make sure you tell a story every time, rather than blandly listing features.

If it were me, I’d go broader. Think about something that lights you up. It should align with your brand, but it doesn’t have to be directly relevant.

Hinter does this well. They have a newsletter called Hinter Planet, which curates stories on sustainability and harmony with nature. It works with Hinter’s brand, but it doesn’t feel like an ad.

Most importantly, be prepared to adjust your content as you go. As you send more emails, you’ll gain a sense of what’s landing and what’s not. You might think you know what your content will be now, but it will have likely changed by email 10.

Step 3 - Craft a Killer Welcome Email

This is the email someone receives when they sign up to your list. It’s your first chance to impress.

Give readers a taste of who you are and what’s to come. You want them excited to receive the next instalment.

Step 4 - Build Your List

Paying guests are an obvious starting point for your mailing list. But if bookings are the only way you capture email addresses, you’re leaving huge chunks of money on the table.

This is why you need to make website popups your friend. They’re a great way of getting people to submit their info.

The popup comes in many forms. Some simply ask if you want to be added to the mailing list, while others offer discounts or competition entries.

You can have fun with the branding here. Choose a sexier message than “Sign up to our mailing list.” I like how Walden Retreats invites visitors to “Become a Walden VIP”.

Step 5 - Commit!

Most who start a newsletter will give up after a few weeks. Don’t be one of those people.

Make a promise to yourself that you’ll make it to Email #10. This means carving out time in the calendar to sit down and write every single week or month, depending on your frequency. 

If you make it to Email #10, I promise you won’t regret it. At worst, you’ll realize email isn’t for you. At best, you’ll uncover an untapped goldmine of bookings. 

Quick Tips

Here are the lessons I’ve learned since starting The Glamping Insider:

• You don’t need to be perfect - Your first email will be terrible compared to your 10th. Don’t stress it. Get your first out of the way, and start improving

• Subject lines are HUGE - Good subject lines make people click. It’s as simple as that. Make yours punchy and intriguing

• Plan ahead - Your writing sessions are for writing, not figuring out what to write. Know the subject of the next email in advance

• Write in a distraction-free zone - Great writing comes from being in a flow state. Put your phone away, close your email tab, and get to work

• Write like you speak - You’re not in school anymore. You won’t get marked down for informal language. Readability is the priority

• Sleep before sending - Try to do your final review with fresh eyes. You’ll be surprised at how many mistakes you spot

I want to leave you with one final message.

Email marketing can be fun. 

When I started The Glamping Insider, I never thought I’d choose to spend my free time writing dispatches. Yet there I was the other week, a couple of glasses of wine deep at 9pm on a Saturday, writing about bloody guestbooks.

Maybe I need a girlfriend!

💡Idea of the Week - Custom Jigsaw Puzzles

A lot of glamping sites have jigsaw puzzles in their ‘rainy day’ kits. Here’s an idea to step it up a notch.

Get an amazing picture or painting of your glamping site, consider throwing some branding on there, and get it turned into a jigsaw puzzle. You’ll get some extra marketing juice if guests post it on their socials.

📰 The Posh Report

We had some beautiful pictures of our first Looking Glass unit taken this week. It’s currently in a temporary location, but will soon be in the Rocky Mountains for the first Posh Outdoors resort, opening Spring 2025.

Check out the pictures here.

Want to learn more about investing in Posh? Reply to this email or schedule a call.

🌎️Insider’s World

New segment alert! Here, I’ll share what I’ve been up to in the week. I’m hoping to keep it as glamping-free as possible. 

I’m a big reader. Over the summer, I read Team of Rivals, an amazing biography of Abraham Lincoln. I loved it, so last weekend I watched Stephen Spielberg’s 2012 movie, Lincoln. 

It’s 2-and–a-bit hours of heavy dialogue, but I thought it was great. There are two stupendous performances from Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, and I felt completely immersed in the world Spielberg created.  Big thumbs up.

One final request. If you have a business partner/friend/husband/wife that would find value in the email marketing advice, please share using the referral link below. Thanks!