In today’s high-tech and fast-paced marketplace, it’s more important than ever to meet your target audience where they’re at. And with everyone glued to their smartphones, where they’re often found is online. Search engines, Facebook groups, email marketing and other digital marketing strategies can give RV dealers a huge advantage over competitors.
Keep reading to learn about the top RV marketing ideas to help your RV company increase website traffic, find new customers and keep loyal customers coming back.
Do RV Dealers Need Digital Marketing?
RV dealerships absolutely need digital marketing to thrive — in fact, you’ll need to develop an end-to-end strategy if you haven’t already. Sporadically updating social platforms and creating a basic website are no longer enough. Thankfully, there are a wealth of online tools and services that can help you maximize your online presence and target people who are ready to make a purchase.
Building an internet marketing strategy requires extensive ongoing work and a diverse skill set. For most small businesses, hiring an in-house team to take on the responsibility is not cost-effective. That’s why RV dealerships turn to the pros here at Lead to Conversion.
Working with an agency provides the expertise of a full team with a lower up-front spend and higher ROI. Call us today at 855-473-6582 to chat about how we can help take your business to the next level.
Van Life Is Invigorating the RV Rental Business
The RV industry in the United States is rejoicing that an increasing number of singles, couples and families are opting for van life. With house prices and interest rates soaring unstoppably, traveling the country in a decked-out portable home is more appealing than ever. It gives people the freedom to explore beautiful places and feel at one with nature while massively reducing the cost of living. Many individuals and groups choosing this way of life have remote jobs that allow them to log in and work from anywhere, plus a lot of disposable income.
However, existing as an RV company doesn’t mean you automatically reach your audience. For consumers to know about your business and what makes it special, digital marketing is nonnegotiable.
Having an RV is a lifestyle and elicits unique moments that can only be experienced by RV owners. Your website, social media and the wider internet are the perfect spaces to tell the special stories of van life and sell that dream.
Digital Marketing Strategies for the RV Industry
Now that you know why it’s so important for an RV rental business to have a digital marketing strategy, let’s look at what needs to be done.
Exceptional Website Design Is Essential for RV Marketing
Your company’s site is often the second impression people get of your business — after your Google Business Profile listing. Consumers are so accustomed to slick, modern websites that anything less will hamper your online reputation and attract fewer leads and conversions. It’s crucial that your online storefront is engaging, on-brand and easy to navigate.
What’s more, there are several technical tasks you’ll need to complete on a regular basis for search engine optimization. Google’s algorithm crawls the web, reading every website’s code for the data that tells it where to rank your site — so what goes on underneath the hood is just as crucial as the paint job.
Search Engine Optimization to Boost RV Sales
Keywords, images, headers, metadata, location pages, site navigation, blogging and link structure are just a few elements of search engine optimization. Getting SEO right helps search engines match your website to users’ search intents while ensuring it’s formatted and written to provide an optimal user experience.
For many companies, local SEO should be the primary focus. Optimizing your Google Business Profile, getting listed in local directories, having a blog with local content and winning five-star reviews are just a few ways to get your website climbing up the search results.
Social Media Marketing and Advertising for RV Dealerships
One of the best places to find potential customers for your RV company is on social media, which also happens to be the best place to advertise. Capturing the attention of new customers is the priority for most RV companies, but you also want people to keep coming back for parts and accessories.
With social media, you can create a strategy to reach each segment through highly targeted ads, sharing content and engaging with followers. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook provide the perfect opportunity to:
- Conduct market research. Every social media platform has its own analytical tools you can use to learn about your target market and competitors.
- Generate awareness. Posting pictures of your RVs, happy customers and expert team helps humanize your brand and reach a huge audience. Creating a strong online presence with lots of evidence of happy customers and expert knowledge of your trade lets you establish your company as a trustworthy entity.
- Attract leads. Of course, you can use social media to post content, tips, images and offers to generate landing page or website traffic. It’s also possible to capture customer data using lead generation forms.
- Build a community. If you can make your customers feel like they’re part of a community, you’ve scored the secret to long-term RV business success. Use social media to build relationships with prospects and customers to establish a connection and generate loyalty.
RV Dealership Email Marketing
Email marketing might seem a little old-school, but it’s still a top way to reach your target market and make more sales. People scroll through their inboxes all day long. With a catchy subject line and creative, actionable content, you can keep your RV brand fresh in previous customers’ minds so your RV business is the first place they think of when they need help.
More Strategies to Help RV Businesses Their Target Audience
If you’re a new business, focusing on the above is probably enough to start with. Once you’re seeing an ROI, consider adding the following marketing techniques to your toolkit:
- Features in print publications
- YouTube videos showcasing your RV brand
- A direct mail campaign
- Listings in newspapers
- Participating in trade shows
- Podcasting
- Partnerships
Tips for Using Online Marketing to Reach More Potential Customers and Increase Sales
To generate excitement and interest around your brand, you’ll need an in-depth understanding of the people you’re selling to. One of the best things about digital marketing is how easy it is to measure the success of every endeavor and learn detailed insights about consumers.
1. Pay Attention to Your RV Dealership Brand
Branding isn’t just for big businesses like Coca-Cola and Nike. Every RV company, no matter its size, can benefit from being a strong, recognizable brand — even if it’s limited to your local area. There are six core elements to every successful brand:
- Identity
- Voice
- Values
- Promise
- Positioning
- Targeting
2. Create Customer Profiles
An essential part of marketing is research — and the more you do, the better your results will be. Profiling and segmenting customers gives you a detailed understanding of the types of people who invest their money in the RV industry and your company specifically.
Gathering demographic, psychographic, behavioral and geographic data gives your team the information necessary to overshadow the competition. You can use this information to target specific segments in emails and on social media.
3. Use Content Marketing to Drive Engagement
If you have a website on your blog and share posts on social media, you’re already doing content marketing. Including diverse types of content broadens your scope — and with so much exciting information about RVs to write about, the possibilities are practically endless.
Content to create:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- Infographics
- e-books
- Videos
- Case studies
- Testimonials
- Lead magnets
- Checklists
- Memes
- User-generated content
4. Make the Most of Your Customer List
You can use your customer list to upsell and keep your RV company front and center in their minds and to build lookalike audiences on social media. All you need to establish a new audience that mirrors your current one are addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
Grow Your Customer Base With RV Marketing From Lead to Conversion
Lead to Conversion has been helping business owners expand their reach and generate more revenue for more than 2 decades. Along the way, we’ve mastered tailoring our services according to the unique needs of different industries.
Give us a call today at 855-473-6582 to find out how we can help you drive results and boost your bottom line.