When you’re selling an exhilarating experience—zip lining, bungee jumping, skydiving, whitewater rafting, or anything that gets the adrenaline pumping—it's important to acknowledge the mental hurdles that some potential new customers might be contemplating. No matter how safe and controlled, some thrill-based activities can look pretty perilous to someone who’s never done them before. That's why it's important to appeal to customers’ adventurous sides, while also assuaging their uncertainties. After all, it only takes one awesome experience to turn a fearful skeptic into a full-blown convert!A guest's experience with your outdoor activity business starts long before they're whizzing through the treetops or diving face-first off a bridge—it starts when they land on your website. These 5 easy tips can help nervous customers have more confidence in your business, and give on-the-fence questioners that final nudge to click the "book it" button.

1. Bust. Those. Myths.

The folks at Skydive Oklahoma have a handy FAQ tab on their website.Some of the biggest obstacles you face in promoting your outdoor activity business are merely issues of perception. Commonly circulated myths make it easy for those waffling about your services to opt out.“By providing answers to even the simplest of questions, you’re conveying the message that you welcome newbies, you understand their fears, and you will work with them to ensure a fantastic experience.”Tackle this problem directly by using your web page to highlight and dispel non-truths. With a bungee-jumping business, for example, this might mean explaining how unlikely ocular and spinal injuries are. For a whitewater rafting tour, you might need to articulate that rafting excursions don’t necessarily involve hours of careening over Class V and VI rapids—perhaps highlight the pleasure of leisurely exploring the area around the river, and stopping for frequent swimming breaks in calm pools.Consider outfitting your website with a handy Q&A or tips for first-timers who want to know everything before getting started. By providing answers to even the simplest of questions, you’re conveying the message that you welcome newbies, you understand their fears, and you will work with them to ensure a fantastic experience.

2. Be First-Timer Friendly

Even after you’ve helped clear up some common misconceptions about your business, think about additional ways to make first-timers feel extra welcome.

Here are four ways to be first-timer friendly:

• Offer a discount for new customers: Perhaps the most prevalent (and powerful) tactic in the age of Internet deals? Discounts for first-timers. Give folks some extra incentive to follow through with a targeted social media campaign featuring themed promo codes like "BEGINNER SPECIAL." Offering the experience at a reasonable price could entice visitors to purchase, even if they’re doing so on a whim.
• Establish a meaningful relationship with potential customers: Consider the copy on your website, and the type of persuasive messaging you want to convey. It could be along the lines of "the ideal opportunity to try something outside your comfort zone," or "finally cross this off your bucket list!" You could also market your experience as an awesome and memorable bonding opportunity for friends and family. However you spin it, it's up to you to coax out the adventurous side of potential customers. Be the friend on their shoulder encouraging them to take the leap!
• Provide options that appeal to a range of experience levels: Our friend Tara Eilts, owner of Treehouse Island Zip Line Adventures, points out that "always giving options so people are never forced to do anything is a really big deal." Her business smartly offers an "Island-Only Pass" for "those who want to join in the fun…at ground level!" Another good example comes from Screaming Eagle Zip Line Tours, which offers different course levels ranging from family-friendly experiences to runs with extreme heights and speeds.

3. Got Great Reviews And Testimonials? Put Them To Work!

Ninety percent of respondents who read online reviews claimed positive comments influenced their decision to buy.

If you have an outstanding track record with clients, it's time to start tooting your own horn. Public review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor can essentially function as free advertising, so be sure to highlight positive feedback. It's an authentic reflection of your company, and one of the strongest forces attracting more clients. Research shows customers spend up to 31 percent more on a business with excellent reviews, and 90 percent of respondents who read online reviews claimed positive comments influenced their decision to buy.

There's lots of great ways to leverage positive reviews. Here are a few suggestions:

• Embedded widgets: Get an embedded widget for your website from TripAdvisor, or a badge from Yelp (or both). For example, our partners at Del Sur Adventures have a scrolling ticker in a prominent spot on their homepage featuring a glowing review.
• Virtual guestbook: We saw this on Balloon Atlanta's website and loved it. There's an invitation on their home page to "sign our virtual guestbook." If you click on it, you're taken to a page full of positive feedback.
• Put good reviews on your website: This can take many forms, whether it's an embedded screenshot, a neat graphic with a customer testimonial, or even a video. If you offer multiple experiences, consider embedding a positive customer review on each product page.

Our partners at World Skydiving Center feature a customer testimonial prominently on their homepage.

• Share on social media: If a customer gives you an awesome shoutout, take a screenshot and re-share on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. It's a great opportunity to thank them publicly while bolstering your company's reputation.
• Use reviews in newsletters & email marketing: If you use an email marketing service provider such as Constant Contact or MailChimp, this is another perfect channel to showcase positive reviews and testimonials.

4. Let the Customer Get to Know You

Our friends at Sierra Whitewater have a tab on their website dedicated to its guides, as well as an introduction to the owner.Having a page on your website titled "meet our guides" or "get to know our staff" is a fun and authentic way to put a human face behind your experiences, and assure first-time visitors you've got a great team. Not only does this personalize your brand, it's also an ideal place to give a quick description of each staffer's qualifications, credentials, years of experience, and passions. Instagram is an ideal platform for this as well. Consider having periodic "guide takeovers" to give potential customers a close-up look at any given day’s tours or experiences.

5. Highlight Your Qualifications

In a business where fear may be the biggest factor holding back potential customers, it's important to convey professionalism and expertise in every way. Consider putting these items on your website:

• Certifications & Credentials: Whatever you've got, list it. Sierra Whitewater points out that all of its guides are "local, First Aid and CPR certified, and have swiftwater rescue training."
• Memberships: Buttress your credibility by listing any official organizations you belong to, such as the Professional Ropes Course Association or American Whitewater. Skydive Oklahoma has a "group member" badge on their website for the U.S. Parachute Association.
• Stats: Consider listing the number of years you've been in the industry, the amount of "jumps" or "dives" logged, trips taken, number of students trained, etc.

Lastly, if your website doesn’t look professional, people may question your competence in other areas. A modern, easy-to-navigate web page (with a similarly user-friendly reservation system) is ultimately the first impression most guests will have of your business. Make it a good one!

Managing reservations and equipment are everyday logistics for rental merchants. But when manual tactics for staying organized are outpaced by customer demand, these everyday logistics can morph from "calm waters" to "perfect storm." Here are the top four challenges rental companies face, and tips for sailing seamlessly through peak season:

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1. Tracking Rental Equipment Availability

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Managing bookings can be a major pain when you factor in equipment availability. And if you're still using schedule templates from Excel, the margin for human error is inescapable—even for the most spreadsheet-savvy rental merchant. But in this Golden Age of technology, smart online booking systems like Peek Pro let you say "sayonara" to tedious spreadsheets and "hello" to streamlined inventory management.

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Solution: Use an online booking system that...

• Automatically adjusts equipment availability in real time.

• Lets you view all upcoming reservations from one consolidated dashboard, and manage equipment inventory from one place.

• Lets guides check in, and check out all rental units. This makes it easy to track all inventory, gain visibility into which staff members check in and check out gear, and prevent theft and lost rental items.

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2. Managing Complex Bookings & Pricing Models

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Tracking bookings manually is tedious, period. And if you're an outdoor activity outfitter like our friends at Cannon Falls Canoe & Bike Rental, chances are you're not just specializing in one type of rental or experience. Time to consolidate the crazy!

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Solution: Use an online booking system that...

• Makes it easy to offer add-ons for rentals

• Helps you create and manage complex rates and pricing structures

• Lets you set up and control different types of availability (hourly, daily, nightly) and block time between different rentals

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3. Maintaining Equipment

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Whether you specialize in stand-up paddle boards, electric bikes, kayaks, jet skis, ATVs or motorboats, the world of equipment rentals has a golden rule: Maintain your gear. Having high-quality, clean, and cared-for equipment keeps guests safe, sets you apart from competitors, and adds authenticity to a customer's experience.

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Solution:

• Train your staff to know when gear has reached a state of not being suitable for renting.

• Make a daily checklist available to all of your staff, and hold them accountable for completing the maintenance checks.

• Use an online booking software that makes it simpler to reference when equipment was rented out, and how often it's been used. This will help you identify when specific pieces of equipment may be in need of a more thorough evaluation—or when they have run their course and are due to be replaced. With Peek Pro, you can easily take inventory offline for repairs.

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4. Delivering Amazing Customer Service

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Perhaps the most important aspect of running a successful company: providing customers with a positive experience.

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Perhaps the most important aspect of running a successful company: providing customers with a positive experience

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Here are few quick tips every rental merchant can implement today to help ensure customer satisfaction.

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Solution:

• Offer a painless online booking experience:Make it easy for customers to (1) understand all their different options, (2) view your calendar availability in real time, and (3) make a reservation 24/7 on your website. With an online booking system like Peek Pro, walk-up customers can even register on the spot via a mobile app.

• Ask for feedback: Always follow up with your customers after their experience. Their feedback will help your business improve—and if they were happy customers, this marks an opportune time to ask for referrals or reviews! With Peek Pro, you can automatically send fully customized follow-up emails asking for feedback, and provide convenient links to third party review sites and/or your social media pages.

• Keep in touch: Speaking of social media pages, remember to invite customers to share images or video from their experience. This is one of the best ways to generate word-of-mouth enthusiasm for your business!

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Though peak season presents its difficulties for rental businesses, implementing a few easy fixes can have you running better than ever. Utilizing booking software can streamline the day-to-day, and free you up to focus on the bigger picture...which we wager is quite beautiful from where you're standing.And while you're thinking about overcoming some major business challenges for rental businesses, let's zero in on a big one we mentioned in this article: rental pricing. A robust online booking software can help manage the pricing nuances for your particular rental business, but how do you avoid investing in an online booking solution that only works for some parts of your rental business? All these things and more must be considered - invest the time now and you'll receive the dividends for decades.

Paintball operators have some growth challenges to target in the coming years. Due to shifting demographics and declining leisure time, industry revenue is predicted to grow at an annualized rate of 0.5% through 2021—slower than the previous five-year period, according to a market research report by IBISWorld.In order to attract new players and boost attendance, paintball owners should consider doubling down on special attractions that drive attendance and profits, IBISWorld recommends. One thing to consider adding to your arsenal of offerings? A low-impact version of the sport.While "soft" or "low-impact" paintball is a relatively new trend, this version—which offers all the competitive fun of traditional standard impact paintball with less "ouch" factor—is already taking off in Europe. Players use lightweight markers to fire smaller, .50-caliber pellets at a slower speed, resulting in 68%, or about a third of the impact force than traditional .68 caliber pellets.Here are four ways introducing this lightweight version of the original extreme sport can give your business a boost:

1. It Can Attract All Types Of New Customers

The adrenaline rush that comes with proving your mettle against friends and colleagues has always been a core appeal of this niche sport, but the painful pellets can be a real deal-breaker for otherwise interested potential visitors.By removing this intimidating element while keeping all other thrilling aspects of the game intact, you can open paintball to untapped demographics, such younger children and office groups. Think about all the birthday parties, corporate team-building exercises, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or even family reunions this kind of experience could attract.Low-impact paintball can also be tied to increasingly popular themed or scenario paintball games. For example, a low-impact zombie hunt can be a great way to entice kids, teens and young adults away from virtual gaming consoles (one of the paintball industry's big competitors) and into something closer to the real thing.

2. From Newbie to Fanatic: It Could Help Cultivate More Long-Term Players

In addition to attracting different types of players outside the typical demographic (80% male, most between the ages of 10-19), low-impact paintball lets newcomers ease into the sport in a less intimidating environment. By getting their feet wet in an entry-level version, new players can get a feel for the dynamics of the game and hone their skills before trying more challenging iterations of the sport.“If the industry can successfully double down on special attractions that drive attendance and revenue...[paintball] owners can potentially achieve significant growth among its amateur customer base.”— IBISWorld Industry Report, "Paintball Fields in the US"Low-impact paintball can be the bridge that ushers someone from "curious newcomer" to "lifelong fan," and that's important, because paintball participation has been down significantly in recent years While stats for the relatively new low-impact form of the sport are scarce, the future seems to lie in bringing in new types of clientele by expanding play options.

3. It Will Encourage Existing Customers To Bring Their Friends & Family

Just because you're adding a newer, more approachable form of paintball to your list of options doesn’t mean your field will lose its appeal to experienced players. They'll still be able to play standard-impact paintball without interference from novice players. Better yet, your usual customers may even use soft paintball to introduce their friends and family to a sport they cherish. Even parents who used to play, for example, might appreciate the opportunity to teach their kids about the game in an environment that's conducive to practicing and learning.

Adding a newer, more approachable form of paintball doesn't mean your field will lose it's experienced clientele, and the option could encourage them to bring their friends

4. It Could Give Your Business An Edge Over Other Competitors

Because soft-impact paintball is relatively new, adding it to the menu of options could potentially give your arena an advantage over other neighboring businesses that haven’t gotten in on the fun yet. By being the one place in town that offers a low-impact option, your facility can cater to a much broader range of clientele. As low-impact paintball grows in popularity in overseas, it's likely just a matter of time before the trend spreads here. Be one of the first to embrace it!With so many entertainment options vying for consumers’ free time, it's "become increasingly difficult for paintball fields to compete with video game consoles, television and the Internet," IBIS notes in its report. By expanding your offerings, young or novice players can enjoy all the fun of traditional paintball—and your business can help cultivate a host of new enthusiasts who will want to return for more.

Whether you're a relative newcomer to the industry, or were running a paintball business long before Hollywood decided it was the ideal rom-com date scene (see: "This Means War," "Failure To Launch," and "10 Things I Hate About You") understanding how to market this unique sport is key for attracting new players and cultivating return customers.Here are five helpful tips for marketing your paintball business:

1. Reach The Right Audience Through Digital Advertising

Paintball operators generally spend around 2.3% of total expenses on marketing costs, according to a industry research report by IBISWorld on paintball fields in the U.S. And while your marketing budget should depend on several factors (the industry you’re in, the size of your business, and its growth stage), small businesses with revenues less than $5 million should actually allocate 7-8% of their revenues to marketing, the U.S. Small Business Administration recommends.Another reason to bump your advertising budget if you're able? Continued success as a paintball operator hinges largely on your ability to attract and engage a very specific group: Adolescents aged 10 to 19. This demographic—which makes up the dominant age bracket for paintball players—is expected to decline over the next five years, which "will likely threaten overall industry growth," IBISWorld points out.“Industry operators will likely have to spend additional revenue on marketing campaigns that are focused toward this demographic...and any increase in popularity among adolescents may help boost the industry’s revenue going forward.”— 2016 IBISWorld Industry Report, "Paintball Fields in the US"Even if you're unfamiliar with digital advertising, don't get so overwhelmed that you put it off. One easy place to start is by sponsoring your content on Facebook, which allows you to "boost" your posts and deliver them to the feeds of your target audience. Here are several other good options to explore, according to MOZ:

1. Search/display ads: Paid advertising programs such as Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter charge your business a fee when a searcher clicks on your advertisement. This is sometimes called "PPC."
2. Email marketing: Few strategies can match email when it comes to building existing customer loyalty. Look into providers like MailChimp and Vertical Response.
3. Local search engine optimization: Promote your services to local customers at exactly the time they're looking for your type of business. This can be one of the most time-effective and cost-effective digital marketing opportunities for local businesses.

2. Promote Different Styles of Play & Scenario Games

According to IBISWorldPaintball, paintball businesses have seen stagnation when it comes to traditional play, but certain subsets of the sport are becoming more profitable. Speedball, for example, makes up 47.6% of the industry’s estimated revenue in 2016. This form of the sport usually takes place in arenas with room for spectators, and lends itself well to tournament play. Tournaments mean spectators, and spectators get hungry! Boom: More concessions-related revenue for youAnother option is low-impact paintball, which can open up your business to all kinds of untapped demographics, including younger children, birthday parties, corporate groups, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or even family reunions. Check out our other article on how low-impact paintball can help grow your business:4 Ways Low-Impact Paintball Can Grow Your Business

3. Be Proactive With Your Company's Online Reputation

Major brands and corporations invest a significant amount of their marketing and operations budgets towards online reputation management. But you don't need the PR budget of AirBnB to stay on top of this. Simply follow best practices for handling negative reviews online, as well as increasing your company's positive online reviews. This can make a world of difference when a customer is deciding whether to play at your paintball facility or the competition's.According to survey results from Dimensional Research, 86 percent of customers report their buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews. Become extremely proactive with monitoring online reviews so that you can respond to negative feedback in a timely manner and offer up a solution. If you're receiving positive reviews and testimonials, put them to work! Share these on your on your website, in your marketing materials, and across your social media accounts. Your goal is to make a great impression quickly.

Be extremely proactive with monitoring online reviews and respond to negative feedback in a timely manner

4. Cultivate Lifetime Customers

When it comes to turning one-time players into paintball lifers, a lot of that simply boils down to sheer love of the game (and that's a beautiful thing).But on your end, there's still plenty of ways to encourage repeat business. Here are a few marketing ideas to keep players engaged:

1. Incentivize returning business with a customer rewards program, special discounts, equipment upgrades, etc.
2. Take high-quality pictures of games in action and post these images to your social media accounts. Don't forget to tell players they'll be featured on your social media page. This encourages them to re-share on their own accounts.
3. Dedicate a tab on your website to "all-star" or high-scoring teams.
4. Help out in your local community! Any visibility you gain from giving back will double as advertising for your business. Being socially responsible is a great way to engage customers and build trust.
5. Send surprise merchandise or swag. Got a loyal customer who keeps on coming back? Send them a cool customer appreciation package with your company's t-shirt, stickers, a thank you card, etc.
6. Continue to come up with new themed or "scenario" games, and market the heck out of these on your website and social media accounts.

5. Show Off Your Facilities

You know what they say—a picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case, thousands of pellets being fired by happy customers! Your website is a means for spotlighting what you offer. And it's not just the playing fields and arenas that are important to showcase: Do you have state-of-the-art rental equipment? How about a special event room that can be rented out for private parties? A lounge area for parents to hang out in while their kids are playing? All of it matters.Make a point to prominently feature high-resolution, high-quality images on your website depicting the playing fields, arenas, props, local teams, past games, equipment, or even video footage of players in action. And how's this for a cherry on top? Search engines like Google and Yahoo also favor original, high-resolution images over stock photography, so you're also helping your site rank better in terms of SEO.Encourage players to post their own photos of the arena on social media as well, preferably with a designated hashtag (#) so you can easily find and re-feature. Take the fun a step further by holding contests and rewarding the best photographers with discounts.

6. Simplify Your Website

When we say "simple," we're not talking "bare bones." Navigating your website should be a streamlined experience, with information about different types of play, add-ons, rental equipment and costs neatly outlined in an intuitive and easy-to-understand way. Your website is the first impression potential customers have of your business—make it a great one, not a frustrating or confusing one. If the booking experience isn't smooth, customers are more likely to look elsewhere before dialing a phone to hammer out details.Good marketing takes some extra time and thought, but the effort can pay off in spades (or in this case, a smattering of paint splats all over your arena). You're already providing an awesome recreational service—now equip your business with an arsenal of marketing ammo to help it grow and thrive.

You've heard the timeless adage: Expensive sunglasses eventually get lost in the ocean, but the memories from an exhilarating kayaking adventure last forever!

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OK...we invented that saying. Two minutes ago.

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But at Peek, we really do believe in experiences over stuff. And when it comes to giving, we'll always champion gifts that get people out there—discovering, learning, exploring, doing.Science even backs us up: When it comes to research on why we should spend our money on experiences, not things, the proof is as prevalent as bad Christmas sweaters during the month of December.

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Not to mention, gift cards can be good business: Gift Card Granny reports that gift cards have been the most requested holiday gift nine years in a row, and 65 percent of gift card holders spend an extra 38 percent beyond the value of the card. Selling e-gift cards online is also important, since 56 percent of consumers like to keep gift cards stored on their phones.

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For tour, activity, and rental businesses, there's no better way to market gift cards than through Facebook. So to help you bulk up these ancillary sales during the holiday season, follow these simple steps to promoting your gift cards through one of social media's major platforms:

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Step 1: Post Creative Photos About Gift Card Sales as a Status Update

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Whether you have a few hundred Facebook fans or a few thousand, make sure all of your fans know that you offer gift cards for tours, activities, and/or rentals. Create ads specifically for Facebook using an easy graphic design tool such as PicMonkey or Photoshop to promote gift cards as the perfect gift for the holiday season.A canvas size of 1,000 x 1,000 pixels is large enough to get noticed, and can be resized for Facebook and other social media sites as needed (for a easy social media image re-sizing tool, check out Landscape). In PicMonkey, select a square canvas to start the project and use the resize tool to resize your image after it has been created. In Photoshop, edit your canvas size when you start a new project.

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To create eye-catching ads, use images of different tours and activities as part of the ad as a teaser, or use a stock photo featuring a gift card to communicate the message. iStockPhoto.com and shutterstock.com are a few sites with high-quality, royalty-free photos and illustrations you can use for creating your own images and ads.Run these posts a few times throughout the week to get the most eyeballs on them. Make sure to include a link to your gift card sales page or contact information within the post so that any interested parties can make a purchase right away. Encourage fans to share the post with friends and family to extend your reach even further.

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With an online booking system like Peek Pro, it's also super easy to sell discounted gift cards. Being able to charge customers a lower amount than the actual value of the gift card is a great way to help incentivize people to purchase them.

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Use images of different tours and activities to create eye-catching ads

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Step 2: Add A Custom Page Tab

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Make it as easy as possible for customers to get through the purchase process. One way to do this is by adding a custom page tab on your Facebook page, which essentially acts as a mini web page, or landing page, that can be fully customized. In this case, you could create a tab that says "Buy gift card." The page could contain more information about the gift cards you offer, along with a link that sends customers directly to the gift card booking page on your website.

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In order to create a custom page tab, you must log into Facebook as a Facebook Developer and configure your custom tab from there. This can be a little confusing if you're trying to figure it out on your own, but it's definitely worth it if you have a friend or team member with Facebook Developer experience.GiftFly, which uses a custom tab to promote its own product (example circled in red), is an example of a third-party service you can use to easily sell gift cards on your business Facebook page.

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Alternatively, you can also use third-party services such as GiftFly to easily install custom tabs and manage gift card sales with a small fee per transaction. GiftFly gives you the option to sell digital and mobile gift cards with custom banners and images, and also promote your gift card under a custom tab setting on your Facebook page. Check out one of their how-to videos here.

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Step 3: Run Targeted Facebook Ad Campaigns

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You can use Facebook Ads specifically for promoting gift cards throughout the holiday season. These ads show up on the right sidebar on the Facebook desktop version when a user is browsing their news feed. You can target these ads to specific users by location, interests, and other factors within Facebook.

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‍You will need to use the Facebook Power Editor tool to manage your ad campaigns. It will also let you create multiple campaigns with different blocks of text and images. Once you've set up an account, you can get started with creating a campaign.

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Select the "Send people to your website" option as the first step for creating your campaign objective. Enter the URL of your gift card landing page on your website, or the checkout page of your website. This lets the customer proceed with the purchase instead of trying to find the "buy" button upon arriving at your site.

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From there, Facebook will walk you through creating all elements of your ad—the accompanying image, text, your target market (who you want seeing your ads), and your daily budget. Make sure to include a "gift card" reference in your headline to drive people to the gift card sales page.

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You'll be able to track in your dashboard the number of clicks from each ad, so it won't take long to figure out which ones are performing well and which ones aren't. You can tweak your ad copy along the way if needed.

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“The best gifts in the world are not in the material objects one can buy from the store, but in the memories we make with the people we love. ”— Amanda Boyarshinov, Author & Educator

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Tour and activity operators that offer digital gift cards may be able to generate more sales—not only from the gift cards, but from the recipient's additional purchases made during the booking process, and after the experience has been redeemed (think about add-ons, souvenirs, etc). Use these tips to promote gift cards on Facebook to stimulate more business throughout the holiday season—and beyond!

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Read about King's Landing and their experience moving onto the Peek Pro booking system

While the summer can bring lines of customers to the dock, keeping the calendar full during the slow season can be a challenge for boat rental operators. Read on for helpful tips on how to keep your inventory out of the boathouse and on the water, no matter the time of year

1. Make It A Two-fer With A Captain and a First Mate

Offering discounted pricing for pairs can be a great way to get more people renting. They get the benefit of hanging out on the water with a buddy (or two) and you increase revenue by enticing renters with lower rates. With strategic pricing that ensures you’re still making money, it’ll be smooth sailing for both you and your customers.

2. Use Email To Send Exclusive Discounts

According to a Marketing Sherpa study, 72 percent of consumers prefer to receive marketing communications via email. Take a few extra moments to ask customers for their email addresses during the high season and you’ll have everything you need to send special offers to returning guests during slower months.

3. Put A Bow On That Group Package

As TravelPulse.com reports, people want customized packages—and they’re extra effective for attracting large groups. From corporate team-building events to family reunions to birthday celebrations, high-value, low-overhead add-on options like lunch or a quick intro session that lets customers get their feet wet before leaving the dock can make a regular rental into something special.

4. Set Low Season Pricing In Advance

While it’s convenient to price your rentals the same all year long, consistent pricing isn’t likely to lure in customers. If operating expenses are lower because you need less staff, adjust the cost to customers accordingly, knowing that your bottom line won’t suffer.

If operating expenses are lower in a slow season due to less staff required, adjust your prices accordingly

5. Start Socializing

If you’re like a lot of boat rental businesses, you barely have time to post social media updates during the summer. Take advantage of a little downtime by spending some time on your social platforms, getting to know your customers online—and telling them about those low season discounts or deals. Ask them for stories about their fun on the water, and don’t forget to take advantage of good interactions by requesting reviews!

6. Most Importantly: Make Things Easy On Yourself

Whether you’re riding the high season wave or resting during a low season trough, no increase in revenue is worth a decrease in your sanity. Seasonal pricing models, group discounts and promo codes are great ways to make some money, but they can be tricky to track...unless you have a system in place that handles it all.With an online booking system like Peek Pro, you can set up tiered pricing for groups, promotional codes and sophisticated seasonal costs with just a few clicks. Once you’re done, the system tracks promo codes, charges customers the right amount and applies seasonal pricing, all without you having to lift a finger, crack open a spreadsheet or dig around for that tattered post-it.