“I have Urchin, but he doesn’t run on the beach. The only place he runs to is his food bowl,” Claire joked.
Maxi laughed. “You could have a dog at Tides, Jane. A mascot for the inn.”
“I don’t know. Not everyone likes dogs.” The idea wasn’t totally unappealing. She’d always wanted a dog as a kid, but her parents had said that the inn was no place for pets. But that had been forty years ago. Times had changed, and now dogs were welcomed everywhere. Even the local restaurants were starting to allow them. Jane filed that away for future thought. She had more important things to talk about. “I’m dying to know if you heard from Tammi. Did she have any marketing advice? I really need to get on this.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, she had some great suggestions.” Claire paused as the waitress slid a large white bowl filled to the brim with steamed clams onto the table then set down another for the shells and a few small bowls of broth and butter. “She suggested advertising in papers, but not local, of course. You need to go to the big cities people will want to get away from for a seaside vacation.”
“That makes sense. What else?” Jane grabbed a shell and peeled the clam out. She swirled it in the broth then the butter then popped it in her mouth.
“She suggested some getaway specials, especially in the slow season.” Claire picked through the bowl, coming up with one of the larger clams.
“Every season is slow lately. Did she suggest anything I could do now?”
“Well, you need a website first and foremost, but you’re already working on that.” Claire tossed her shells in the discard bowl and dug for another clam.
“I’ve only heard back from one of them so far, and they can’t do it for three months.”
“Three months! That won’t work. Tammi said a website with a way to book online is critical these days. No one wants to call anymore. She looked at your website and said it’s outdated, and a contact page with just an email and phone number won’t do.” Claire dipped her clam in the butter. “And she said you need to get set up on Google and Yelp and all that.”
“You might want to check with the chamber of commerce here. I think they have a website with all the local businesses listed. Might be good to get on there with a link to your site,” Maxi added.
“Hopefully one of the other website designers will reply soon. Maybe I should email them again.” Jane would definitely need help with the website. She was technically challenged. “What else?”
“She mentioned something about a unique selling proposition, you know, something that sets Tides apart,” Claire said.
“Sort of like your sandcastle cakes set your bakery apart?” Jane asked.
“Exactly!”
“Sally suggested doing things that make the inn more appealing, like maybe having tables set up on the back porch for dining. But lots of places have that now. I don’t know if it’s unique enough.”
“That’s a great idea.” Maxi sipped her drink. “Oh! Maybe you could have a special event out there. Like maybe a wine tasting or something?”
“Hmm… I like that train of thought. That might bring in a bit of money, but we’d have to make it something really big to entice people to stay overnight,” Jane said.
“Maybe you could offer some sort of package,” Claire said.
“It would be great if we could combine a money-making event with a reason for guests to stay over.” Jane was starting to feel hopeful.
Maxi snapped her fingers “I’ve got it! You could do beach weddings.”
Jane frowned. “Weddings? I don’t know anything about putting on a big wedding. Seems like that could lead to disaster.”
“Not big weddings, small niche weddings.” Maxi was on a role, her gestures animated. “The beach wedding could be your unique selling point, at least for weddings.”
Claire jumped in, just as excited. “And weddings bring in a lot of money.”
Jane appreciated that her friends were excited for her, but all she felt was anxiety. This wasn’t something she could pull off, was it? She’d never done anything like this before. “But it would take permits, and we’d have to have it catered, and need tents and a dance floor—”
Maxi put her hand on Jane’s arm. “All things that are easy to do. Think about it. We have the tent-rental place right in town, and there are plenty of good caterers. Claire could make sandcastle wedding cakes. Lots of people would want a wedding like this.”
“And who would deny you a permit? Your family has been a mainstay in the town for generations. Everyone wants you to succeed,” Claire assured her.
“It would be guaranteed bookings since the whole wedding party would want to stay at Tides.” Maxi sat back and sipped her drink. “You could take out an ad inNiche WeddingMagazine. My daughter-in-law scoured that thing to find a good wedding venue for their wedding.”
“I suppose it might work. Mom’s gardens have gotten overgrown, but we could spruce those up and put the dance floor next to them. Sally could probably build a portable one that we can store in the old garage.” Jane glanced at the beach. “Maybe we could do a lobster bake right on the beach, you know, to set Tides apart.”
“Now you’re thinking,” Claire said. “Why not take out an ad and see what happens? It could generate a huge influx of money.”
