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Every industry needs marketing. Every business needs marketing to grow. As someone who loves the outdoors and frequents campgrounds, I love helping businesses in the outdoor industry with their marketing and design needs. In this blog I’m sharing some marketing ideas for you to consider to find new customers, or keep your customers coming back!
I have worked with campgrounds on marketing and design for the past four years and have found some helpful tips for campground owners when developing their marketing strategy. Here is a top-level look at some marketing ideas to consider. If you want a more in-depth look into marketing for your campground, please reach out!
It is NOT your branding [see my blog about branding]. Marketing is what gets your business attention and noticed. Marketing is necessary to grow profits and connect with customers and potential customers. Your marketing will need to evolve with different strategies and stay ahead of any potential negative press. You’ll want to understand your business and what you have to offer, along with what your target audience is and what they want when they stay at a campground.
Many campgrounds are independently owned, operating as small businesses without a corporate boss telling them what to do to bring in more customers. Campgrounds also are filling up fast and have regulars who come to visit, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need marketing!
If your campground has events and amenities, you’ll want to advertise and market to those who are staying at your campground or planning to stay. If you open events to the community, you’ll want to make sure your community knows!
Marketing needs some creativity and strategy. You also don’t want to try too many things at once without ways to measure what works and what doesn’t work. Even with a small staff, clever marketing is possible. What if you have a last-minute cancellation and you want to get the spot rebooked? A quick marketing campaign on social media can help bring in revenue that otherwise would be lost.
There are other reasons to make sure marketing is top of mind for your campground. If you are hosting an event or there is a community event nearby, this is a great opportunity to share your campground with potential guests. Make connections and keeping your campground full is key to maintaining a successful business!
When considering different forms of advertising and marketing strategies, consider how a prospective customer might come across your campground?
If they are traveling in their RV with little access to internet, the customer may be visiting Welcome Centers and Chambers of Commerce to learn about nearby campgrounds. Here they may find a brochure or a rack card for all the surrounding places to stay. Highlighting the key benefits and WHY they should stay at your campground can help your advertisement stand out among the rest. Don’t forget, you’ll also want to track your efforts! Put a code on the rack cards to use when booking to save! This will let you know people are finding your marketing collateral!
A lot of advertising has moved online. Social media and websites are important to make sure customers can find you. A potential customer my look up a campground online to see if they can book online, read reviews, see photos of the camping sites, and more. It is important this information stay up to date, so a customer isn’t disappointed or frustrated.
People want to see where they are staying—an overview of the entire campground and pictures/videos of the sites. Seeing how close they are to amenities. Therefore, an accurate, easy to read campground map and images are essential for winning over a customer.
Beyond your website and your social media pages, you’ll want to make sure you are present (and up to date) on campground databases such as GoodSam.com, reserveamerica.com, and thedyrt.com.
As mentioned above, you may host events or open your amenities to your community. If not, there are other ways to connect with other local businesses that can benefit you and them. Consider offering a trade to a local restaurant—they advertise your campground, and you can have an advertisement for the restaurant on your brochure or campground map.
If there is a local attraction such as rafting or hiking, offer shuttles to the starting points. This can help people network and save on gas or parking. Package deals with local businesses such as a three-night stay at your campground along with two kayak rentals with a local company can be great if your target market is using your campground as a home base while they get out and explore. Both businesses benefit and will be sharing the other business with other customers you may not have reached.
Do your visitors tend to come from one area? If you are a park in Florida and your visitors come from the Northeast for winter, consider placing targeted advertisements in the Northeast on social media, regional websites, newspapers, and more.
If you have a lot of fulltime RVers or people following the #VanLife movement, there are websites such as harvesthosts.com, rvlifestyle.com, movinglabor.com and outboundliving.com you can connect with that help customers find safe places to stay.
Of course, the opposite of people living in their rig fulltime are the ones who need RV storage. Connecting with RV storage businesses is a great way to get in front of RV owners. Perhaps you can leave your rack card at the RV storage front desk, or you can partner with the business to offer discounts for using both businesses. Be creative and make those connections!
Make their stay a memorable one! The marketing doesn’t end when they book their reservation. Between the moment a guest books their stay and until they arrive, you have an opportunity to connect with your guest. Learn about why they are visiting. Will they be staying on your property the entire time enjoying the pool? Will they be leaving to go explore the National Park down the road? Use the information you learn to help welcome the guest onto your property—if they are heading off exploring, have a map and information for local attractions ready for them. If they plan on hanging around and using the pool, give them sunscreen when they arrive.
When they arrive and you are giving them their welcome packet, make sure the information is useful and easy to read. No one will read a book of rules, but maybe if you make them “fun” like the rules at Lazy Day Campground in Danville, Missouri:
“Suds: We charge $7 to wash your RV/vehicle. To get a free wash, you must agree to wash everyone’s RV/vehicle in a timely fashion, starting with mine.”
Make sure the campground map you give has clearly marked roads, sites, and amenities so visitors can find their way. Keep this up to date as well, because if you’ve made improvements or changes to your campground, if the guest is following the map they may have a hard time finding what they need.
You will want to keep your marketing going even after a guest leaves your campground. If you have an email list encourage guests to opt-in for communications from you.
You can send a survey to your guests after they leave for feedback from guests. If you have a seasonal campground, send emails with improvements you are making to the campground in the offseason. Emails are a great opportunity to offer discounts or reminders for the upcoming season.
Marketing is ongoing and always changing. It can be overwhelming, but it is important to factor marketing into your business. It can be as easy as scheduling a few hours each week to dedicate to marketing or even hiring/outsourcing help.
Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll provide some tips for building and designing your marketing collateral.
