Recently we received a question about the best way to market my RV park or campground to guests during my slow season. A number of responses had been submitted about boosting posts and using drone footage. Here is the response we shared:
Social media (Facebook) is a great tool for reaching past and existing guests. It is also a great tool for getting those same folks to refer you to their friends and family. We have found the return is not there when trying to reach new guests into your RV park or campground.
When trying to get new guests into your RV park or campground it is much more effective to utilize Google Ads (Pay Per Click) with specific keyword targeting combined with focused vertical channels (like CampgroundViews.com) that reach folks when they are looking for places to stay.
Someone mentioned Good Sam we have found with our clients when we look at their analytic reports and referral traffic Good Sam drives in traffic but when you do the math it is very expensive traffic. If Good Sam charged a few hundred per month it would be worth it but at $625 per month (on the low end) that is very expensive traffic… that you then have to give 10% off to.
We are running a campaign for a brand new RV park and campground on CampgroundViews.com. We just ran their numbers for last month. They have a featured ad for $250 per month and received 402 clicks into their listing page on CampgroundViews.com and another 103 clicks from there out to their website (they did not implement a tracking phone number so we have no idea how many phone calls)… this is super targeted traffic for a very reasonable fee.
As for using video to market your campground or RV park; I know drone footage looks so cool but it does not address what your guests are looking for. Remember they are concerned with “me”. What does my site look like, what do the amenities look like, where will my dog be playing, etc… me me me. Drone footage is dramatic and pretty but is not much different than Google Satellite. We will use drone shots for dramatic effect, in our professional RV park and campground productions, but then integrate that in a full tour of the park showing off the amenities.
As for video posting; Youtube is most important as it is the #2 search engine and those videos will rank in Google. Facebook is great, again, for reaching existing/ current guests.
For shoulder season marketing of your RV park or campground you want to do two things. incentivize past guests to come back out “when it is quiet” and capture new guests who are already travelling to or through the area.
