Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.  The usual wisdom is to change business to solve a problem.  A few years ago three friends got together and challenged this wisdom.  They created a business of selling mismatched socks.  The problem they solved?  There really wasn’t one.  What did they fix?  Nothing.  Were they successful?  Absolutely.

Let’s take a look at how we can step outside of the box and become the leader that all of the other RV parks look to compare themselves with.  You can use any part of your business you want.  Just follow the same steps.

1.)    Identify where you think you can make a change that puts your park outside of the box.  This may be something that is a constant problem to be solved.  I’m going to take a look at “What part of the RV Park do I want to change? “

I’m going to use activities as my example.   My first step is to describe the situation in as few words as possible.  “Activities within the park focus on children ages 6 to 15.”

2.)    RV parks concentrate on activities for children ages 6 to 15 because:

It gives the kids something to do while the parents are relaxing at the site.

It keeps kids occupied and out of mischief around the park.

Activity fees add a revenue stream for the park.

My park competitors offer activities for kids.

3.)    How am I going to change the “Business As Usual” approach to activities?

For this step I’m going to go to my engineer syndrome of “What if?”  Looking at each of the items listed in step 2, I’m going to start with “What if the parents don’t want to relax around the site?”  Maybe I should be looking at creating some special activities where the kids and parents participate together.  It has to be something other than Mom or Dad sitting beside their kids putting popsicle stick sculptures together.

“What if the kids were given something to do that was more like controlled mischief?”  I could create a graffiti wall that moves around the campground.  Now the kids have to find the wall before they can paint on it.

“What if I find that the activities fees don’t really provide a revenue stream?”  By the time I add the cost of materials, activities director, overhead costs I need to raise my fees considerably higher which may prevent some of the kids from participating in activities.

“What if my competitors didn’t offer activities for kids?”  Would that be enough for people to make their reservations with me instead of my competitor?

“What if I were to have activities for the adults as well as the kids?”  Maybe I can offer sessions in fly tying, getting the most out of your smart phone, or a self guided tour of the area.

“What if I were to offer educational activities for the whole family?  What would those activities look like?”

Now that I have taken a look at what it is that I want, it’s time to start deciding which of my “What if’s” I want to take to the next step.  While identifying my what if’s, there were two that really struck a chord with me.  One was “What if I were to have activities for the adults as well as the kids?” and “What if I were to offer educational activities for the whole family?”

To be truly disruptive, I need to offer something within the category “Activity” that is totally different from what everyone else is doing.  I am going to combine the two what if’s to make one idea that I can plan around.  So my new what if that I am going to create an activity program around will be “What if I were to offer an activity that not only involves the parents and the kids but also is educational?”

Looking around the area, I have decided that I am going to put together a special weekend that guests can sign up for.  The weekend theme will be centered on “Growing Your Food”.  There is a local co-op farm that accepts volunteers to help with the plowing, planting, and harvesting of food.  I will plan three weekends for this activity.  One will be for the plowing, tilling and the other pertinent activities in getting ready to plant.  The second weekend will be for the planting cycle.  The third weekend will be the harvesting.  I am going to offer a special to anyone who wants to sign up for all three weekends.

I now have an activity developed that fits in with all I have been reading about what people are looking for in vacations.  The activity itself isn’t going to require a lot of overhead.  Finally the cost for the activity itself won’t tax my budget.  I advertise the weekend through my normal avenues of the website, press releases, email blasts and flyers that I place in my guest guides.

I have effectively disrupted business as usual and have created an activity that can be easily promoted outside of my area.  I’m sure that I can generate press that will help me promote not only the activity but also the park and will mark the park as one that thinks outside of the box.

What do you think?  Are you willing to take the chance and think outside of the box?  How are you going to Disrupt Business As Usual?

I have had a number of park owners state that they don’t want to get involved with social media because it opens the door to the bad comments and when someone is trashing your park it is hard to respond.

All of that is true.  But what is worse is not having any presence on the internet or a very limited presence.

All search engines use an algorithm to determine where to list the website found that contain the words typed into the search bar.  A part of that algorithm includes the number of times that the keywords are contained within the websites that are found.  The more often the keyword is found the more likely that a website will move to the top of the list.

What that means for your park is that the number of times you are mentioned on the web in any context enhances the ranking that you are given.  If the only mention of your park is on your website, you are going to fall much lower on the list of sites that talk about your area.

Does any of that really affect you?  It does if your guests don’t already know about you.  While word of mouth marketing is extremely valuable, you can’t rely on just that to grow your business.  The typical timeline for anyone is to 1.) Hear about your park and 2.) Google the area you are located in to find out more.  Chances are pretty high that people aren’t going to remember the name of your park and go directly to your website.  (A rule of thumb in advertising is that people need to hear or read about you three unique times before they take action.)  If they don’t remember your name, how are they going to find you?  They are going to do an internet search of your area for RV parks, campgrounds or a number of other keywords.

That means that if your competition has more mentions of their name (along with the other parameters), they are going to rank above you on the search results.  Even if it is only subconscious, people do take the rankings as an indication of the quality of the listings.

How do you get your park’s name mentioned more often?  I have a few suggestions that I think are useful.  Of course, there is any number of ways of getting noticed, these are just a few of the options.

1.)    When a guest is telling you how great their stay has been, ask them to write a review of their stay on their favorite RV park review site (i.e. RV Park Reviews, Campground Report, etc.)   These sites give an independent look at the quality of parks and give your future guest a chance to see if others have enjoyed their stay with you.

2.)    Write a press release about something going on in your park.  Press releases are a great way to get media coverage.  Your press release should be posted not only to the press release sites online, but also should be made available on your website under a Media tab.  To get the media interested in your park write a release about:

1. The impact of the economy on your business and whether you are seeing an increase in your reservations for the year.
2. Plans for new facilities and how it will help the area.
3. Rallies that will be staying at your park this season.

3.)    Take a hard look at your website and update it.  Get new content written for your homepage that takes into consideration the keywords that people are using to find your website.  New content is a trigger for the “spiders” to take another look at your website and re-rank it.

4.)    Jump into the social media arena.  If you don’t have a Facebook page, get one.  It really isn’t hard to do and will give you a great deal of visibility across the internet.  Twitter is also useful for getting your message out.  Be sure to let your current guests know that you are now on Facebook, Twitter and any other social media sites that you find useful.  The logos for any of these should be posted on your website with a direct link to your site.  Make sure the logos are also on your guest guides, your brochures and any other printed material you use to market your park.

5.)    Start a blog to communicate with your guests.  Your blog doesn’t have to be complex or long winded, but you do need to commit to a regular schedule.  Some blog posts you could consider:

1. How to back in to a site.
2. How to make a reservation at your park.
3. What the reason is for your rule against open fires (or clotheslines, or any other rule that is frequently questioned.)
4. What is going on in the area that your guests may want to get tickets for.

These are just a few ways that you can get noticed by not only your guests but also by the “spiders” that look for mentions when they are assigning rankings.  I’m sure that you can think of many more ways of getting your park name noticed.  What are some of those?

One of the major issues you are going to be faced with is something called a model release.  When you are taking pictures that you intend to use on any of your marketing efforts, or even just to post on your activities board, you need to have permission from anyone who can be recognized in the picture before you can use it.  If you had to get a signed release from each and every person, which is the only legitimate way of using pictures for commercial purposes, you would inevitably find someone who decided not to sign or wanted to be paid for the use of their image.

To avoid this problem, my suggestion is to use the wording for a model release on the registration sheet that you have your guests sign at check in.  It doesn’t need to be terribly complex but does need to state that the guest understands that you may be taking photos while they are in the park and that the photos are going to be used to promote the park and its facilities.  In this same wording you may want to state that if the person does not want to have their image used in your promotional materials to please step out of the camera range before the picture is shot.

Now that you have permission to take shots of people and their rigs, the next problem is finding the time to get out and take those pictures.  Taking pictures of the park while it is full is next to impossible.  For one thing, before you can take camera in hand and walk out in the park to start shooting, you have to resolve an issue at the front desk with a guest, talk to maintenance about a report of a water leak in the Laundromat, get the work schedule posted for next week….I don’t have to tell you, you know how taking pictures goes to the bottom of the to do list.  Here are some suggestions for how you can get those pictures.

1.)    How about having a photo contest for your guests to enter?  The contest can be created fairly simply, you can have guests log on to your website to vote on the winner and you end up with a fistful of photos to use in all of your marketing efforts.  You will need to post some basic contest rules and have a way to receive the photos and post them.  You can use online photo services or have your webmaster create a page for the photos.  However you decide to post the photos, be sure to talk about the contest frequently on your Facebook page, on Twitter, and on your website.

2.)    Task your workampers/employees with taking pictures whenever they can.  I can almost bet that you will have at least one person who enjoys and is pretty good at taking pictures.  You will need to make sure that you have their permission to use the pictures that they have taken.  On those extra full weekends, send someone out to specifically take pictures of people enjoying the park.

3.)    Most parks have get togethers/pot lucks for their employees/workampers.  This is the perfect opportunity to take pictures of people enjoying themselves.  It will also give you the opportunity to show off your clubhouse/pavilion or other gathering spot.

4.)    Consider taking a cue from wedding receptions and buying a number of throw away cameras.  Pass the cameras out to guests one weekend and have them take the shots for you.  The down side to this one is that you have the processing costs to develop the film but the upside is still that you have a large number of photos to choose from.

5.)    One way that is guaranteed to get you quality pictures is to work with a professional photographer.  Perhaps you will be able to trade out a weekend in a cabin for professional shots of the park.  If you decide to go this way, make sure you have everything well defined in an agreement that both of you sign.  You want to make sure that the pictures belong to you and not to the photographer.  You may find that the photographer is willing to come out on a yearly basis and keep your pictures up to date.

Once you have your bank of photos, make sure to take the time to give them accurate titles and sort through the files throwing out those shots that just don’t work for you.  Nothing is worse than needing a particular shot and not being able to find it because you left the generic description on the jpg file.

Also, make sure that everyone that is taking pictures for you is using the highest resolution they can.  While websites can use low resolution pictures, your printed material needs to have high resolution shots.  You can always reduce the resolution of pictures but you can’t increase the resolution.

I hope this helps you in your planning.  Do you have any unique solutions to this problem that you are willing to share?

1.)        Wait Before Responding

            It isn’t imperative that you respond to a negative comment the minute you read it.  As a matter of fact, it can be a major mistake to respond immediately.  You need to give yourself some time to compose your response. 

2.)        Do Not Respond in Kind

The worst thing you can do is to take the same negative attitude of the person you are responding to.  You don’t want to start a war of words that will go back and forth forever.

3.)        Acknowledge the Person’s Comment

Begin your answer by acknowledging that the person had a negative experience at your park and apologize for them not having had the best of stays at your park.  While you may not agree that they have a reason to be upset, by understanding that they are upset you have taken the high road in the discussion.  Once you have acknowledged the person’s position and apologized for the bad experience, continue your response by explaining that you want all of your guests to have a great time and while it isn’t always possible to provide everything the guest would like to have, your team works hard to make a guest’s stay as fun and relaxing as possible.

4.)        Do Not Respond to Other’s Comments

            Other people may decide to respond in support of the negative comments.  Once again, you need to post your response to the original person.  There will always be people who want to fan the fires of nasty comments.  You don’t want to give them any ammunition to do so.

5.)        Watch the Balance of the Conversation

            I can almost guarantee that you are going to be pleasantly surprised by the number of people who defend your position.  By responding professionally and positively, you have taken a large part of the negativeness out of the comment.  Let your community support you.

I recently saw a comment on LinkedIn that demonstrated this method quite well.  A Camping World person had posted a comment stating that Camping World would be hiring for their new stores.  A person who had evidently had a bad experience working for Camping World posted a very nasty comment.

Neal Scott, the VP of eCommerce for Camping World responded by asking the person to contact him and give him more information about his experience.  He went on to add that Camping World works hard to keep their employees happy with their position.  He effectively defused the commenter, stated the company policy and left other readers with the idea that Camping World was open to hearing from unhappy employees.

While we worry about negative comments being on the internet for all to see, the truth of the matter is that you can take action to correct those negative comments.  It is much harder to resolve negative comments that come from word of mouth.  To offset those types of comments, I’m going to suggest that you create a Mission Statement that you post on your website.  This doesn’t have to be a difficult task.

What brought you into the RV Resort/Park/Campground business?  I’m sure it was something more than just an easy way to make money.  Start your Mission Statement with your reasons for being in the business.

What do you want to give your guests?  In order to be successful in this business, you have to be a people person or have a people person who represents you to the guests.  State clearly what you would like your guests to leave your park with.  This could be a relaxing weekend away from the stress at work, a fun family get together, or something as simple as quiet time.

How are you going to deliver your promises to your guests?  This is a simple one or two sentence statement that says how you plan to deliver what you want to give your guests.  You may want to say that you have an Activity program that has old favorites along with always adding new things to do.

Now you can use this Mission Statement as a part of your response to any negativity and reinforce the fact that you are working for your guests and want to think of them as friends and family.

How have you handled negative situations on the internet and with word of mouth?

Recently saw this quote on a Simon Sinek newsletter and it got me to thinking about how we approach customer service.  How many of us only react to our guests and don’t proactively work to make sure that their visit is their best ever before they arrive?

Here are some ideas on how you can start making sure that you are working everyday to keep your customers.

Before your guest arrives:

1.)    Make sure that the person answering the phone has a smile in their voice.  I can’t tell you how many times I have called to make a reservation only to hear a monotone that sounds like a computer recording.  Train your reservation people to smile before they pick up the phone.  Sounds silly since no one can see the smile but it actually works to send that smile across the airwaves.  Have friends call the office on occasion just to find out how the reservation person sounds.  Do they sound happy that the person has called?  Do they offer information about the park and the surrounding area?

2.)    Be sure to send out confirmations on any reservations.  This helps make sure that nothing has been entered incorrectly and serves as a reminder that the guest can hold on to in case they need to call you.  Your confirmations should have a positive, upbeat message at the bottom that leaves the guest with the feeling that you are truly looking forward to seeing them.

3.)    Make sure that the site is ready for your guests’ arrival.  Have the outside workers police the sites that will have guest arriving, looking for anything that could possibly be a problem.  Pick up any litter, cigarette butts, etc.  A clean site can go a long way towards impressing your guest.

4.)    Review your check in procedures and streamline them as much as possible.  Consider printing off the registration card so that the guest only has to sign the card and is ready to go to his/her site.  You don’t want the guest to feel rushed but you also don’t want to have them spending 15 minutes just trying to get checked in.  This is an area that is ideal to offer the guest an express check in.  The agree to pay all charges at the time of the reservation in exchange for being able to walk in to the reservation desk, receive a packet and head to the site.

5.)    As a part of your handout materials, I would strongly suggest letting your guest know where they can sign up on your website for any future email information.  This is a critical point as the reason they gave you their email address initially was to keep them informed about their reservation not necessarily as a go ahead to put them on your mailing list.

After the guest has arrived:

1.)    After the guest has gotten set up on the site, have someone stop by to welcome them to the park and see if there is anything that you can do to make their stay more comfortable.  The first thing you may have to overcome is the general idea that if you ask them what you can do to help, they are going to come up with a number of ridiculous requests.  There will be a few that fall into this category, but the vast majority are going to be so impressed that they are going to tell all of their friends what a great RV park you have.   I know this sounds like a lot of extra work, but I can guarantee that it will result in added sales.

2.)    Train your outside staff to always look up and smile whenever a vehicle passes.  This will go a long way towards making your park a fun place to be.  I’m sure that I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but it never hurts to reinforce the habits with everyone on your staff.  While we are at it, make sure that you are practicing what you are preaching and make sure to smile and wave at everyone.

3.)    Make your comment cards simple and concise.  When I receive an 8 ½ X 11 sheet of paper that is full of questions, I tend to lay it aside and forget to fill it out.  However, in those instances where the comment card was online or was postcard size, I have filled it out.  If you do use paper comment cards (as opposed to online), make sure that you provide the guest with an easy way to get the card to you.  If it is postcard size, it can be self-stamped, if it is larger, consider providing an easy drop where the guest doesn’t have to get out of the rig, run into the office just to drop off their comments.

4.)    If the guest comes into the office before leaving make sure that your office staff reinforces the idea that they wish the guest could stay longer and look forward to them coming back.

After the guest has left:

1.)    Send a quick thank you for visiting.  Emphasize that you want to know of any problems the guest may have had so that you can correct the issue.  This is also your opportunity to ask the guest to return to the park at a future date.  If you have a frequent stayer program, this is the perfect time to introduce it.

2.)    If you have received the guests email address for future information, be sure to provide a method for the guest to “unsubscribe” that is easy to find so that you will not be irritating them with unwanted email.

This is just a short list of things that you can do to proactively act on providing customer service that your guests won’t forget.  What kinds of things do you do?

What to Write About

Finding something newsworthy to write about can seem like an impossible task.  The first step is to back away from your day to day activities and ask yourself what is going on at your campground that people would be interested in finding out about.  Are you adding sites?  Do you have any special activities going on?  Are you expanding any of your amenities?

Look at your park objectively and you are sure to find several great subjects that will make great press release material.

Press Release Basics

Follow the rule of the 5W’s of journalism when you write your release.  You want to answer the questions of who is this release about, what is it about, why is it important, when did it happen, where did it happen and finally (even though this isn’t a W) how did it happen.

As you begin writing, you need to put the most important information in the first paragraph or two as an editor will likely begin shortening the article at some point towards the end of your article.  Think of your writing as a pyramid with the critical items at the top, then the explanation of your article next and the detail as the last thing.

Write your article and then go do something else for a couple of hours.  You will be surprised how simple things like spelling mistakes, missed information or bad grammar will jump out when you pick up the press release after letting it sit.  Definitely use spell check on your word processing program but also ask someone you trust to read what you have written and give you constructive criticism.  They will quickly find the areas that seem confusing or need to be re-written.

Be sure to include your contact information with your release.  The editor that you are submitting the release to may have questions about your release or may want to expand on what you have written.  You don’t want to lose the chance at greater exposure just because you failed to include your phone number.

Where to Send the Press Release

Finding the right person to address your release to will require a bit of research.  There are many web sites where you can find addresses and phone numbers for a number of journalists.  The tough part is that, just like direct mail, sending a press release out to a journalist that knows nothing about you or your industry and actually getting his attention is going to take some effort on your part.

Make sure that the person you are sending the release to actually writes about your subject.  Don’t send a release about your new activities director to someone that writes about the automotive world.

Be sure to check on the deadlines for submitting news articles and respect those deadlines.  Typically, it is better to send your press release in the morning for most publications.  And make sure that you allow enough time for your press release.  If your release is centered around a specific date, send the release out in plenty of time for it to be picked up.  Don’t send the release out the night before your event.

You may want to consider using one of the press release sites on the internet such as PRWeb or i-News.  These sites typically have both a paid and a free option.  Use a quick google search to find where you can post your press release.

How to Send Your Press Release

Sending press releases out today is so much simpler than it used to be.  By using one of the services of the press release distribution sites, you are able to get your press release listed on a number of sites.  Again, this is very close to direct mail so don’t be disappointed if your release is only picked up by one or two reporters.  Even if none of the media picks up your release, you will still have the information out there for anyone who is searching on your keywords.

If you want to guarantee that your release will NOT be read by the person you are submitting it to, send the release as an attachment.  What should you do?  Paste the release into the body of your email.  The journalist will be able to quickly determine whether the subject is one that would interest his/her audience.

Don’t Give UP

Finally, keep sending those press releases out even if it doesn’t feel like anything is happening.  I have had a release picked up months after I sent it out initially.  It may just be the wrong time or that the media calendar isn’t available for your subject matter.

The more releases you send out, the more likely it will be that one will be picked up and published.  Also, the more you write and send out, the more times your name will show up on a google search for your subject matter.

Writing press releases is just like riding a bike, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  With practice you are going to begin to find lots of subjects that are deserving of a press release and that will get your RV park the attention of the media.  Send me a link to your press release and I will happily post it to both my Facebook page and to my Twitter feed.

1.  Low Cost Marketing – Not only is it possible to market your park without breaking the bank it is absolutely doable.  You can grow your customer base without spending a lot of dollars but you do need to spend the time to do it.  Time is a precious commodity so schedule a day each week when you can spend a large chunk of the day working on your marketing plan, your marketing program and your marketing campaigns.  If you don’t know the difference in the three check out Campground e-News (http://issuu.com/industryenews/docs/163newcampground-1), or go to my blog page (www.FocusedWords.com/blog) and go to the October archives.
2. Commitment—It is easy to get discouraged with your marketing efforts when you don’t see any affect.  Your efforts will pay off if you just see it through.  Don’t give up before it has a chance to stick.
3. Branding—Your guests need to have a clear picture of who you are and what your park is all about.  Is it a family park, an overnight park, a destination park, or a weekend getaway park?  Saying all of the above is going to muddy your marketing efforts.  Select the one that best applies to you and use that as your focus for the next year.  Once you have that side of the market developed, you can begin to develop the other areas.  Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed trying to be everything to everybody.
4. Consistency—Be consistent in your marketing message.  Let your ads, brochures, pamphlets, marketing packets all reflect a consistent image.  The actual wording can be different but make the look and feel of the graphics remain the same.
5. Target markets – Mass marketing isn’t going to work in today’s world.  Focus on the market that you are branding your park for and find out everything you can about them.  If you try to market to the entire RVing world, you are going to spread your marketing dollars so thin that you’re not going to see great results.
6. Elicit Trust—If your current guest trusts you to deliver what you say in your marketing efforts, they are going to be confident in recommending your RV Park to their friends.  If you deliver more than they expected, the likelihood that they will spread the word for you increases.  If you deliver an outstanding experience, they are going to be sure to tell everyone what a great time they had.  Their trust and confidence is key to building your community.
7. Repetition—Here is where the bad news comes in.  Research suggests that people need to encounter your marketing efforts between seven and twelve times before they are ready to stop in.  Put repetition together with consistency to build recognition.  Once you have built recognition, people will begin to associate you with your message which is what marketing is all about.
8. Quality—If your park isn’t top quality, you’re not going to get repeat business.  Your long term success is going to depend on your satisfied guests talking about you.  Take a look around your park and imagine yourself as an RVer coming into the park.  What could be improved on?
9. Relationships—Establish relationships with your guests.  Make sure all of your employees/workampers are always smiling and asking the guests how their stay is going.  If they have a complaint do everything you can to resolve it immediately.  This also means giving those employees/workampers the authority to make a guests stay the best.  Don’t get me wrong.  You probably don’t want to give all of your employees the ability to hand out free stays or refund money, but you can give them the authority to move a picnic table, take a trash bag to the dumpster, etc.
10. Tracking Results—It is imperative that you know how well your marketing efforts are doing.  Don’t put an ad in a local paper, a magazine or on the internet without some type of code so that you can know when a person is responding to the ad.  Always, always, always track your results and adjust your efforts accordingly.
11. Flexibility—Be ready to change as your environment changes.  Be willing to jump out there and try out the next marketing platform.  However, you do need to do this judicially.  At the rate new platforms are coming out, you would need to hire an entire staff just to stay on top of what is new.
12. Determine Costs—Here is where a lot of effort falls down.  Calculate what your cost is for each of your marketing efforts and divide that by the number of people who responded to you.  This is going to tell you how much money you are spending on one individual.  Some items are givens, (i.e.  brochures, business cards, websites) and won’t have individual costs; however, when you run an ad you can determine what the cost per person is.  Now you have a way of determining whether the ad gave you any return on your investment (ROI.)

Those are my twelve points that I believe are vital to making your marketing efforts work for you.  What would you add?

Well the truth is that you can do it and that it just takes a little thinking through to make it work for your park.

Who are these free marketers?

Brand Ambassadors are the people that we are going to work on developing to help promote the park.  A brand ambassador is any customer that you have officially commissioned to speak on behalf of your park without compensation.

This idea has been put to use by various companies such as Wal-Mart’s “mommy bloggers”, Ford’s “Fiesta agents”.  We are going to copy the big boys and make this work for the RV Resort industry.

Let’s take a look at what it takes to be a Brand Ambassador.

#1:  Creator of information

Unless your Brand Ambassador is active on the internet, social media or some other form of communication, their effectiveness is going to be limited.  We all encourage current guests to tell all of their friends about the great time they had when they stayed at the campground, but chances are very high that they are going to tell a couple of people and then forget about it until their next visit.

You need to take a look at your guests and identify those who have blogs, are active on social media sites and that are willing to write about their stay with you.  One key area to look for is those guests who frequently comment on the RV park review sites, RVing forums or similar sites.

#2:  Influence opinions and purchases of their friends

While there are a lot of people out there writing blogs and on social media, the real key is to find those Brand Ambassadors that truly have influence within their community.  A true Brand Ambassador will blend the strengths of a person who connects people to each other and the person who love to share information with others.

Look for those guests who have an active conversation going on in social media or on their blog.

#3:  Love to talk

A valuable Brand Ambassador is one who loves to talk to people and share information.  Find those people who are already talking about your park, find out what motivates them and then give them the first peek at any information about your plans for next season.  You want to make your Brand Ambassadors your “in the know” network.

#4:  Use Social Media to help people

A true Brand Ambassador is going to enjoy helping others, meeting new people and sharing information.  In fact, they are 2.5 times more likely to use social media to expand their network, which gives you the added value of their followers.

Be aware that Brand Ambassadors aren’t purely altruistic.  They want to get something out of their efforts so be willing to give them what they are looking for.  Typically, receiving free products or other incentives will rank at the top of their list.   At the same time, satisfaction from helping others with information is equally important.

The critical point here is not to “buy” your Brand Ambassador’s goodwill.  Don’t make them feel like you expect them to write good things about you just because you have given them a free night’s stay.

#5:  Known for their valuable insights

While Brand Ambassador’s like helping people and getting free stuff, they are also motivated by recognition.  So find creative ways to recognize your most valuable Ambassadors.

Consider creating a frequent visitor’s club with a sub group for your Brand Ambassadors.  Make sure you mention them by name in your newsletter, email blast and printed ads.  Ask them for quotes for your website and make sure that their name appears prominently.

Create a guest of the week and post that Brand Ambassador on all of your social media sites.  Again, use quotes to add to the interest.  Ask the Brand Ambassador for a quote on things like “What I like best about RVing” or “My favorite RV tip.”

#6:  Use Social Media for sharing their opinions

Your Brand Ambassadors should use social media as their first choice for sharing information.  Use these Brand Ambassadors for feedback on your social media efforts.  This can become an effective means for determining whether your social media efforts are successful or just mediocre.

#7:  Broad reach

Your Brand Ambassador should share their information with not only their friends and relatives but also with people that they haven’t met yet.  This means that you need to check out their number of followers on Facebook and on Twitter before deciding that they are a good candidate for your Brand Ambassador.

#8:  Like talking about their choices

The top three products that are discussed on the web are:  food or dining, personal care products and household products.  Travel is one of the top ten categories.  Can you relate any of these subjects to your park?  If not, you may need to work harder at giving the Brand Ambassadors a reason to talk about you.

This is where a park BBQ can fit in.  Identify one special event every month or so and work on how you can help your Brand Ambassadors promote the event.

#9:  Loyalty

Your relationship with your Brand Ambassadors is going to be very important to them.  They are going to want to know that you value your friendship with them.  Show them that you appreciate their efforts and see what can happen.

Now that you have some idea of what skills a good Brand Ambassador should posses, I’m going to recommend that you do two things:

1.)    Decide what you want your Brand Ambassador program to look like.  What are you going to be willing to provide the Brand Ambassador?  How are you going to identify who you want as your Brand Advocate?

2.)    Invite those guests you want as your Brand Ambassador to help you build a program that will be meaningful for you and your future advocates.

What do you think?  Would a Brand Ambassador work for you?

Social Media Definition

First of all, we need to establish that social media is not a good tool for selling.  Social Media is a public relations tool that should be used to get in touch with current and future guests and build a relationship with them.  Please don’t misunderstand me.  This is a critical tool in your marketing arsenal.  For the first time you have a means to establish a two way conversation with your guests when they are not in the park.  In the past we have relied on things like newsletters, email blasts and brochures to get our message out but those methods didn’t include having the guest able to respond openly not only to you but to the rest of the guest community.

You Can’t Measure ROI

Much has been made lately of establishing a way to measure the return on investment for social media.  There are a lot of pros and cons and convoluted methods of measuring how well your efforts are working.  For me, the simplest way to measure the ROI of your social media program is to ask your guests how they found you.  If your Social Media efforts center around Facebook, then it should be on the list of “How did you find us” in your reservation software.  You can also build a landing page that offers people a discount on their first visit when they “Like” your page.

However, please be aware that the ROI includes more than money changing hands.  It also includes the amount of word of mouth notice that you receive because of your efforts.  You should see the searches for your park name increase.  If you haven’t already set up a Google alert for your park name, you definitely should put this at the top of your list and start tracking how often you are mentioned on the web.

Outsourcing Social Media

I would strongly recommend that you try to keep your Social Media program in-house if at all possible; however, I would also urge you NOT to turn your Social Media program over to someone at the front desk that seems to talk a lot about being on Facebook.

Social Media is a part of your overall marketing plan.  It is a means for publicizing who you are and what you have to offer.  Remember that your Social Media efforts are going to put a face on your RV Park.  It is a part of your public relations effort including your customer satisfaction effort.  Rather than turning over management of your customers to anyone who works for you, you look for the person who has the best approach to keeping the customers happy and give them the next level of responsibility.  You should do the same for your Social Media program.  At the same time this person needs to be someone who will be with you for a while.  I have seen a lot of programs fail because they don’t have a consistent “voice” that becomes recognized as being a part of the park’s management.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to handle the Social Media  yourself or don’t have anyone who will be with you for a long enough period then, by all means, find someone outside that can set the program up for you and can keep the conversation going.

Using Social Media to Sell the Park

As I stated earlier, Social Media is not a good avenue for selling your park.  Instead, you need to concentrate on sharing the experience of your current guests with future guests.  Use your Social Media program to remind guests of the great time they had at your park which, in turn, will influence future guests about coming to your park.

Use stories, pictures, video, whatever you have that will make others understand what it is like to stay at your park.  The more you can involve your current guests in talking about their stay with you, the more likely potential guests are going to be to give you a try.  Whatever you do, however, you want to make sure that those potential guests have as great a time during their stay as the guest who is posting on your wall or tweeting about you.

Measuring Friends and Followers

Finally, I would like to take a moment to talk about the number of friends and followers you have in your Social Media program.  Don’t get fooled by all the talk about having a large number of people “friending” you or following you, let’s take a close look at what those numbers mean.  You will hear a lot of people brag about the numbers.

The truly important number is the number of people who are actively talking with you on your Facebook page or tweeting with you on Twitter.  These are the people who are passing on your message about your RV Park and all it has to offer.  You are going to find that the number of people who are actively engaged with you is a very small portion of your overall community.  Don’t be discouraged by this.  It’s just the way things work.

At the same time, use the information that you get from your Social Media analytics to find out who is interested in your RV Park, where they are from and what they are talking about.  The insight can be invaluable to focusing on your guest’s wants and needs.

Marketing Plan: Before you embark on any activity to sell your product, whether it is site nights, supplies or activities, you should have defined the overall objective for your business. It may seem have an obvious answer but once you put your answer down on paper you may find that it isn’t as well thought out as you believed it to be. Even worse, you may find that what you put down on paper is too vague even for you to be able to take the next step of breaking out your goals.
This is where your marketing plan starts to develop your overall strategy on attracting new business. Don’t worry about being terribly formal, but do put together a document that you can follow for the next year and then follow it. You will be amazed at how much simpler your advertising/marketing decisions become when you have a well defined objective in mind.

Be sure to answer the following questions in your Marketing Plan.

1.)    What are my goals and objectives?  Be specific about what you want to accomplish (i.e. increase site nights by 15%, increase store sales by 10%, etc.)

2.)    Who is my target audience?  Break this down at a high level.  For example 50% returning guests, 25% new guests, 25% RV groups.  Within each of these segments give as much definition to the group as you can (returning guests that stay for 1 week every year, new guests that have just purchased an RV, RV groups that  have 25 or less members and rig sizes that are 35’ and under)

3.)    Where am I going to spend my marketing budget?  I can’t emphasize enough the importance of putting a budget together and sticking to it faithfully.  Ad salesmen can be quite persuasive and before you know it you have spent your budget for the year without actually meeting your goals and objectives.

4.)    What is my budget?  Take a look at how much you spent last year for marketing your RV campground.  (Hopefully, you can pull these numbers together easily.)  If the dollar figure looks too small, it probably is.  You may not have included some of those last minute, middle of the season expenditures that you thought were cheap enough to do.  This tends to be particularly true about things like listings on web sites which only cost $25 per year.  If that $25 isn’t returning at least one new guest, it is a waste of money.

Marketing Program:  Within your marketing program, your objective from your marketing plan is going to be the guiding principle behind the marketing programs that you develop.  Before you get very far into your marketing program, ask yourself if this program is going to advance your objective.  If every marketing program you think of answers yes to this question, your objective isn’t focused enough.  As an example, if my objective is to increase the site nights in the RV Park, a marketing program that targets teenagers isn’t going to meet that objective.

Your objective on any marketing program must support your marketing plan objective by taking that objective and breaking it down to a more narrow set of goals.  You should also have several marketing programs for the year, not just an advertise my RV resort for the year program.

1.)    How many programs do I want to run?  Make this a manageable number but you should have a different program for each of your identified goals and objectives.

2.)    How am I going to meet the individual objectives?  As an example, to attract new visitors create a Guest Loyalty program that rewards a returning guest for bringing a friend that hasn’t been to the park before.

3.)    How is the budget going to break out to cover each of the programs?

4.)    Some of your marketing programs are going have high level components.  This is where advertising in Trailer Life or Woodall’s would be addressed.

5.)    How are you going to measure your overall success?

Marketing Campaign:  This is where the rubber meets the road.  A marketing campaign will take the goals from your marketing program and break it down further to define how you are going to meet those goals

For instance, the campaign would address what types of advertising you are going to use to promote the park (print, direct mail, social media, etc.), what the schedule is for the campaign, how you are going to measure your success rate, and who you are actually targeting (snowbirds, families, RV groups, etc.)

1.)    What is the subject of the campaign?  This could be increasing your reservations for opening day at the park.  If you are a park that has both summer and winter seasons, you would have two or more separate campaigns that address the specifics of those seasons.

2.)    What is the campaign going to address and how?  In the case of site nights, this will be specific, short term actions that are going to be taken such as print advertising in the FMCA magazine.

3.)    What is the budget for each of the campaigns?

4.)    What is the method for measuring the success or failure of the campaign?

If there is one thing that I would emphasize more than any other it would be to take the time to outline your marketing plan and describe what and how you are going to accomplish those goals.  I have seen a lot of money wasted by trying everything that comes along and not measuring the effectiveness of those efforts.