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MARKETING YOUR RV PARK WITH SIGNAGE
by Frank Rolfe
Marketing an RV park is tricky. Customers come
from all over and for many reasons. But one piece of marketing that is
always important for RV parks is signage on well-traveled roads and
highways.
The first step in constructing a successful signage
campaign is evaluating what highways or roads are important to you –
where does the traffic come from? To help you in this matter, you can
normally buy a “traffic count map” from your local state right-of-way
office. This map shows how many cars per day travel on the highways and
major surface roads. This will give you a good idea of the volume of
traffic. The next step is to find out more particulars on where your
customers are coming from. The best way to achieve this step is to tape
a regional map to a piece of marker-board, and either hang it on the
wall or place on an easel. Every time a customer checks in, put a dot
or pin on the map where they came from. You will soon start to see
patterns on where your customers really come from and where to emphasize
your resources.
Once you have determined where the signs should go,
it’s time to construct a budget of what you can spend on signage.
Signage needs to be just one part of your total marketing package, which
will also include listings in Woodalls, etc., as well as flyers at rest
stops and other high-traffic RV oriented businesses. Don’t bankrupt
yourself – a successful marketing campaign includes consistency, and you
need to be able to afford to keep this program (with modifications of
course) going for years. At the same time, remember the old adage “you
have to spend money to make money”, and don’t budget nearly nothing.
These are pretty much your options for signage:
·
Exit information signage on the highway right-of-way.
These normally blue signs are located right at the exits, and are owned
by the state. They are ideal and reasonable priced, and are by far your
best option. If they are available, this should be your number one
options – even if it exhausts your entire signage budget. If one is not
available, contact the state to see what it would take to get one
built. Sometimes they have not built the exit signs yet due to lack of
demand at certain exits – maybe you are the one client they need to
build the sign. These signs traditionally cost $50 to $100 per month.
·
Billboards. These signs are much larger than the exit
information signs, but are not as well located, and are very expensive.
Even in a rural market, they can cost $500 per month or more, so be sure
you have a winner before you lease one. Often, to be effective, these
signs would be in tandem with the exit information signs, which means
they would be located miles before your exit to lead customers in. It
is often hard to measure their effectiveness. If you do not have a big
budget, I would hold off on this until your budget gets bigger. One
option you could look at is to “share” the space with another business
at that same intersection. That would halve your cost and risk. Of
course, it also cuts in half your ad space and effectiveness.
·
Build your own legal sign. It may be possible that you
can build your own billboard for your RV Park on the highway. You will
need a permit from the state and the municipality you are located in
and, in some states, a license to even apply for the permit. You will
then need to locate a landowner and cut a deal to pay him some form of
compensation for the ground space. Even a small billboard of wooden
telephone construction can be expensive, and so can the insurance an
cost to produce your ad, so you might want to build something relatively
small, maybe 8’ x 8’ on two or three 4” x 4” poles that just says “RV
PARK, EXIT #3”. Remember that simplicity in signs is vital, and keep
the words big. And don’t forget that you need a lot of contrast between
the lettering and the background.
·
Bandit signs. These signs are basically illegal, and I
cannot endorse them. They are usually on plywood and stuck to fences,
trees, even the base poles of legal billboards. The highway department
will make you remove them if they find them, and might even fine you.
It’s always best to do things legally.
·
A tall feature that attracts attention. The easiest of
these is a huge U.S. flag on a very tall pole. These can be built for
$4,000 and up, and are permanent structures, except for the cost of
replacing the flag periodically. They can also create a lot of noise,
so be sure to place them in an area that will not cause problems. You
also must light them at night, so make sure you have electrical access.
There is no better way to attract traffic than something unusual along
the highway that acts not only as an attention getter, but also a
directional item – “we’re located under the big flag”. Another option
is a big, dirigible balloon. Anything that gets attention and can be
seen from far away.
A well-thought signage program can be one of the
best returns on your investment. Often, good signage is the difference
between a winner RV Park and a loser. So be sure to put a lot of
attention to this item. You reward will be cold, hard cash.
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