Isabelle Kaminsky of Tustin, California writes:
“My husband and I belong to an RV group which has monthly weekend outings, and sometimes longer trips. We’d like to encourage other RVers to join us for an outing so they can see what we offer. Our long-range goal is to obtain new members from Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside County. Membership is open to couples and families who have any type of RV or camping trailer.
“Our group is affiliated with the Good Sam(aritan) Club, a long-standing organization that promotes RVing/camping/etc. They have national conventions, as well as regional, state and county events. They also publish a magazine, and provide financing, insurance, etc. services to the RV community.
“Do your Hounds have any ideas on the best way to promote our RV group?”
Wow, Rv’ing. That is a dream of mine. I found a great resource that might help you: http://www.scrapblog.com/. Pictures speak louder than words. Capture the experience, and the emotion if you can and create a RV’ing Scrap Blog. Then use that to send as an link in emails. Also, in our area, the Visitors and Conventions Bureau is real active in bringing in tourist. I would partner with your local VCB to create an event, maybe a community open house that showcases your concept. They can partner with the local tourist attractions to offer discounts to RV’ers that are in the area. You might be able to create a series of events. I hope that helps.
Lia Allen
Write a letter to Trailer Life Magazine and tell them what you’re up to. They love this sort of thing. If they don’t do an article (offer them one), you could probably get published as a letter to the editor.
Post notices at local RV parts stores if the owners will allow it.
Talk to area RV dealers. The smart ones will see the sales hook to get customers into one of their rigs. Have something to put into their hands before you leave that explains the program so they won’t forget and can educate the sales staff.
Many on the 2008 presidential campaign use an RV to get around to small towns, conduct interviews, etc…
Can your group tap into this to garner pr for your club?
Take polls of the RV communities’s top presidential hopefuls.
How about polls in the RV community that compare the RV skills of the Presidential ’08 hopefuls
Where do RV’ers stand on climate change and RV’s contribution to it or not?
Can you comment on any new Green RV’s that may be coming out? Can you take the media to those in your club using them?
Who in your local town would you like to make an Honorary Rv’er?
Who in your club was voted best RV’er of 2006, 2007?
Why? Most miles driven? Most interesting places visited?
Does anyone have any UFO stories while driving their RV?
How is an Rv’er going to deal with the recent highway shut down near San Francisco?
How is an RV’er dealing with high gas prices?
Just some thoughts that came to mind that might lead to media interest.
There is a book by authors Phil and Carol White along with a great website focusing on RV travel. They are independent publishers and not only have they managed strong book promotion, I understand they’ve recently been named spokespeople for a national RV association.
I contacted them last year for my book project and Carol graciously agreed to be interviewed etc. I’m sure they’d have lots of tips and be willing to help you as well.
Their site is http://www.roadtripdream.com
Good luck!
Start a website for the group. Good Sam might give you a page on their website if they promote your group. Don’t forget to include the names of the towns you are trying to get noticed in (and the county).
If Good Sam isn’t there for you, see if one of your members can handle it. If all else fails, engage a paid professional (like our company) to help you with the details. You can do a lot of the work yourself and just have the pro do the heavy lifting.
Have you tried web sites such as meetup.com? It’s a cool web site where people with similar interests meet up! I’m sure plenty of people are interested in camping and RV’s.