November 2008 Holiday Potlucks What a treat it is to go camping during the holiday season. Families and snowbirds alike enjoy temperate weather, new friends and holiday celebrations in a campground or RV park. But cooking a turkey in the rig can be a little challenging. Here's where you come in… Read more Reviewing and Revising Your Marketing Plan As winter season parks ramp up for their busy time, summer season parks should be making a to–do list for their off season. This list should include reviewing and updating your marketing plan. Did you make your goals? Exceed them? What worked and what needs some tweaking? Read more Go RVing Keeps Camping in the News Courtesy of RVIA.org The 2008 Go RVing ad campaign culminated in August on the most viewed TV event ever – the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. With 135 spots on broadcast and cable television coverage, Go RVing made an estimated 116 million family viewer impressions. Read more We Want to Help! Is there a marketing challenge you'd like our help with? Please tell us about it, and we may feature the answer in an upcoming issue of the newsletter. Email your marketing questions, challenges and conundrums to [email protected].

Marketing Your Park via Amenities and Activities By Evanne Schmarder Marketing Your Park via Amenities and Activities Some campers choose your park for its location. Others may be interested in a certain price point. Chances are, however, that one of the most prominent deciding factors for RVers, when choosing where to take a camping vacation is your park's amenity and activity offerings. The first step in satisfying your guest is understanding who they are and what they desire in a camping/RV vacation. Is your park family-oriented, a snowbird destination, a stop along the way? Knowing this information will better help you in planning any amenity upgrades, activity scheduling and the specific way you'll market these offerings and deliver high value for your customer's camping dollar. Let's take a closer look at amenities and activities and the part they play in your marketing plan by first understanding what guests may be looking for. Defining Amenities What exactly are amenities? We can define amenities to be features of real property that enhance its attractiveness and increase the satisfaction of the user, even though the feature is not essential to the property's use (e.g., a swimming pool). In that spirit, what amenities are your customers clamoring for? Read more Activities Bring 'Em Out Your activities program is much like throwing a party for your guests. With a little imagination, and a creative staff member, you can develop a meaningful activities program. The trick is to develop your program based upon your customer base – a program that will draw them to your property and keep them coming back. Read more Marketing Strategies It's just not good enough to simply upgrade your amenities or offer a dynamite activities program. While word of mouth is a valuable PR method you have to entice campers to your park – telling them about all that you have to offer and why they should choose your property over the dozens of others nearby. Let's take an up-close view of both hard copy marketing and all that the internet has to offer. Read more Marketing to Guests Onsite Just because your guests have arrived doesn't mean you stop marketing to them. They need to be encouraged to experience your fantastic amenities and activities. How, you ask? Read more You've seen it and so have I. Campers have a keen eye for parks that are constantly making "the experience" better and those that some may refer to as "a cash cow". Positioning your park as one that's constantly on the cutting edge, improving all the time for the enjoyment of your guests nearly guarantees return and referral business – keeping your bottom line growing – even in economically challenging times. Evanne Schmarder Editor Woodall's Marketing e–Toolbox