GETA’s Five Top Tips for Effective Advertising to Gay People
Gay people have high levels of disposable income and a high propensity to travel. And they do so outside of school holiday times.
Gay people, often with duel incomes and no kids, are an ideal market for hotels. So if you want to advertise your hotel to gay people, how do you do it? Here are GETA’s top five tips.
GETA's Gay Media Directory is unique - it lists all the major gay publications in the world - making media planning easy.
Choose your media
The great thing about promoting your business to gay people is that there is a very clear group of gay publications which aim directly at us.
You can find the main gay publications worldwide on GETA’s Media Directory. Think about the countries which are most likely to visit your area and check out the gay magazines published there. So, for exampl e, hotels in the south of France tend to get many gay visitors from northern Europe – Germany, Holland, UK and Scandinavia. It’s the gay magazines in those areas you should be looking at.
Gay websites fall into three broad categories - general gay media (e.g. news sites, blogs), gay organisations, and gay 'meeting' sites. The last group probably get more gay visitors but you should be aware that they normally contain sexual content. The main newsites are listed in GETA’s Media Directory.
GETA is happy to advise you on the most popular gay magazines and websites in different parts of the world.
Understand your guests’ motivations
"...you would be surprised how many companies use very straight imagery in their ads - and turn off their gay audiences. ."
When deciding where and when to advertise look at two key issues. First, where are you connected to? What flights come into your local airports and what trains come to your local station? If there is a direct flight from Oslo to your airport then Norway seems a good market for you and you should make it clear in your advertising that you're easy to get to.
Secondly, when should you be advertising? Check out the national holidays in your target countries and plan to promote your business for that period when people are actively looking for things to do.
Appeal to your audience
Make sure your advertisements are designed for a gay audience. Do not just repeat your mainstream advertisements if they include pictures of a man and women or of children. Either have same sex couples, or just one person. If you are advertising to gay men have a man and if you are advertising to lesbians show women. Children should only be in adverts aimed at gay families. Simple, but you would be surprised how many companies use the wrong images and turn off their gay audiences. You can purchase images of gay couples on all stock photo companies' websites.
Show your commitment
Put the GETA logo on your advertisement, materials and website to show that you are committed to welcoming gay guests.
Be prepared for responses
Make sure you are ready for gay guests, both when we respond to your adverts and when we arrive at your hotel. Check out GETA’s guide to preparing for gay guests HERE.
These are GETA’s Five Top Tips for Effective Advertising to Gay People. You can see more about marketing to gay people HERE.
As a GETA member you can always contact us directly for free advice and support to help you promote your business to gay people.
What would you like to know?
Get involved. Tell us what research you'd like to see GETA undertake. What would you like to know about gay tourists? What knowledge would you like other members to share? What statistics would you find useful?
