It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 outbreak put a halt to the world as people knew it. One by one, businesses, schools, and countries began shutting down to follow the lockdown measures enforced by the governments to keep the highly contagious virus transmission to a minimum.
The pandemic dampened the people’s day-to-day routines and any plans of traveling for the holidays or vacations have been brought to a standstill. Fortunately, because the US government was quick to respond to the global health crisis, more and more states have started to ease the restrictions.
While social distancing and mask-wearing protocols are still being followed, many people have returned to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy albeit with the inevitable changes. This is evident in the gradual upturn of the local travel industry across states, as more people started road-tripping as a way to cope with being caged inside their houses for so long.
Leisure air traveling has yet to bounce back from the losses brought about by the pandemic, but the same cannot be said for recreational vehicle businesses. That’s because people want to avoid crowded hotels and flights, but they still want to roam freely on the open roads.
If you’re running a business in this niche, now is the perfect time to boost your sales by revamping your digital marketing strategies. Being a full-service RV dealer is a great way to give people the opportunity to enjoy and take charge of their vacations despite the pandemic. Here are some tips on how you can do it:
1. Show your customers what they’re missing out on
One of the foundations of digital marketing is creating content that is relevant to your audience and can add value to their lives. During this entire pandemic, most people have been living vicariously through their or other’s previous travels since it was impossible to go out and about.
But now that restrictions are being lifted one after another, people are free to travel to many local destinations. You can take advantage of their desire to travel by showing them what they’re missing out on — camping in the great outdoors, trekking in national parks, and sleeping under the stars.
All these mundane activities have become a privilege, which is why they will make for great content. For your dealership, you can create blogs or social media posts about what destinations they can reach via RV, what activities they can do on the road, or even what travel essentials they need to bring during a road trip.
2. Offer promos and packages that your customers can’t say no to
If there’s one thing that people can’t say no to, it’s good deals. It won’t be enough to say that your RVs are the best in the field because that’s what all businesses tell their prospecting customers. If you truly want to make an impact, you have to offer your customers something they can’t resist.
The package deals you offer don’t even need to be of a substantial amount as long as they can make customers feel like they are getting their money’s worth. For instance, you can offer lifetime warranties or discounts on additional features that they can get for their RV.
You can also ramp up a wider social media following which can generate more leads by making your promos interactive. An example of this would be if you held an online raffle where all the participants can get an equal chance of winning the promo, provided that they follow all your promo’s mechanics.
3. Increase online visibility to let customers know that you’re open for business
Ultimately, the goal of all these efforts would be to increase your online visibility. This is because you’re catering to a niche market, which means your target audience is already smaller than that of other businesses in the travel industry. But you can use that to your advantage if you can target the right audience.
Another factor that you need to consider is that most people will assume that your business is among those that have shut down because of the pandemic even if you didn’t. By increasing your online visibility through relevant content posts and social media engagements, you can let your customers know that you’re open for business.
Through this, both your social media platform and official website can receive more traction, which can potentially generate more sales. The pandemic may have hurt your business operations during this past year, but the future still holds more opportunities to bounce back from your losses. So, don’t lose hope, and instead, focus your energy on gaining new customers by strengthening your digital marketing strategies.
