Setting up a brand new campsite is no mean feat, and can take months of hard work. Making sure that plenty of people turn up to enjoy the fruits of your labour, therefore, is incredibly important, and it is essential that you plan an effective marketing strategy before the site opens. So what are the golden rules of marketing a campsite?
Digital Marketing
As the world becomes increasingly digitised, getting to grips with digital marketing is more important than ever. This can include:
1. Making The Most Of Social Media
One of the main draws of camping is the beauty of the great outdoors. Show off your scenic grounds by posting a variety of tasteful and attractive photos across social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Investing in a professional photographer will only improve your brand's image, and could hold the key to encouraging people to trust your service.
2. Making Sure You Get Great Coverage and Reviews
Encourage visitors to review their stay shortly after they have left. You can do this by prompting them with a friendly email that redirects to a section on your website where they can leave their thoughts. Reviews are often the first resource people turn to when booking a holiday, so make sure yours remain glowing by maintaining top customer service! You can also set up accounts with external review services like trust pilot and trip advisor to encourage more reviews. These site are also more trusted as they are totally independent.
3. Ensuring Your Website Is As Sleek As Possible
Digital marketing nowadays is all about facilitating a great user experience. This means ensuring that your website works across all kinds of devices and making sure that it is easy to navigate. Interactive features like the ability to ‘check availability’ and even ‘book your stay online’ will also help user experience and drive conversions.
4. Working On Your SEO
To the uninitiated, SEO is short for search engine optimisation, a practice that helps companies get to the front pages of search engines such as Google. There are a number of ways that this can be achieved, such as focusing on creating engaging content full of keywords and including a range of links back to other useful sites. If you want to truly boost your SEO, however, it may be worth hiring a marketing professional to do the legwork for you.
Traditional Marketing Methods
There are a number of great ways that you can boost your campsite’s profile through more traditional methods. This could include handing out pamphlets and brochures to local businesses and homes, attending specialised travel conferences and getting in touch with local media outlets who may be able to give you some publicity.
1. Poster Ads
One of the oldest ways of marketing for businesses, however many studies show that physical ads are still better for brand recall than most digital methods (even in the hugely digital age we're living in). You can create some beautiful imagery to perfectly portray the experience that your Glamp site is creating for their customers - and elicit emotional responses at a much lower cost. There's also no cap on views for poster ads so they can stick around for a far longer time than your average pay per click.
2. Event Marketing
This method allows you to hugely expand your networking circle and gives you the opportunity to showcase your product. We're a huge advocate for event marketing at Camping Cabins and you can find us at an array of shows across the UK throughout the year because of it. Hold an event at your Glamp site in order to gain visibility amongst your potential customers and you'll soon start reaping the benefits of referrals as well!
3. Billboards
Although not a direct response marketing tactic, Billboards are more focused on creating brand awareness. It won't bring any revenue right away; billboards are more about the long-term game than short-term sales. Your customers will see dozens of billboards every day, so you’ll need to give them a reason to remember yours. Have some fun with it and let your creative juices flow. Use imagery as far as possible, and use bright colours. There’s no one-size fits all formula for billboard designs, so being creative and unique is key!
4. Direct Mail
Another method widely used by the marketing team at Camping Cabins is the infamous brochure drop. The key to maximizing the ROI on direct mail is sending it to customers who have already interacted with your brand. Customers who love your Glamp site and have made some fond memories there will not only love but also appreciate you sending them promotional offers and postcards every once in a while!
