b'Q&A CONVERSATIONS BY BEN QUIGGLEARVC Officials Look at Preparing Marketing Push as More Parks ReopenBetweenwritingletterstonational, rectionsomething most state associa- Bambei, as well as Jeff Sims, ARVCs seniorstate and local officials, and advocating tion executives can probably sympathize director of state relations and programfor the RV park and campground sectors, with.advocacy, and David Basler, ARVCs vicethe National Association of RV Parks and When Woodalls Campground Manage- president of marketing and membership,Campgrounds (ARVC) has been updating ment (WCM) last spoke with Paul Bam- to get an update on ARVCs focus duringits COVID-19 blog and hosting weekly we- bei,CEOandpresidentofARVC,most the COVID-19 crisis, the work it has beenbinars (the last one was held April 16) to states were just beginning to implement doing to advocate for campground own-answer park owner questions related to stay-at-home orders that have had a pro- ers, and what the future holds as mostthe pandemic. foundimpactonprivateparkowners state officials are reopening businesses orThathasmeantARVCofficialsare throughout the United States.formulating plans to reopen businesses. being pulled in a number of different di- Since then, WCM again caught up with Following is our edited conversation.WCM: What has changed since we this bigger Go RVing campaign. Ourlast spoke a couple of weeks ago? What templates will be easy to use and theyare you focused on now?will be social media-oriented in manyBambei: I think we made a very con- respects. But we will also utilize tradi-scious decision as a team, on the ARVC tionalmedia,likeradioscriptsandstaff side, to move in a little bit of a dif- newspaper templates, things of that na-ferent direction by getting back to busi- ture that a campground owner can use.ness as usual. We recognized very early And again, itll be a consistent group ofinto the crisis that we talking points that these advertising ve-neededtotakethe hicles address that is in keeping withleadoneducation what is going on as a rounded industryand information and withmanufacturers,dealersandthebasically help guide campground industry. Thats going tobothmembersand be a primary focus of ours here over thenonmembersby next few weeks.helping them under- Basler: It is also important to notePaul Bambei stand the questions thatARVCsinformationtool,Go-that were coming up, and we accom- CampingAmerica.com,isthesearchplishedthatthroughourwebinars. engine tool utilized by Go RVing. We areThose webinars were very well attended alsopreparingtolaunchGo-and served a great purpose, but they re- CampingAmerica.comwithawholeally required a lot of energy and time to new design, and a bunch of other fea-put together and involved almost every tures that havent been available beforemember of our staff, to be honest with that will give park owners more market-you.ing tools. We are going to be internallyThere are some important things that pushing out a broader marketing cam-we feel still need to be done under the paign with GoCampingAmerica.com tobusiness as usual subject line. The first make it even more ofand foremost among those is preparing a valuable marketingthe campaign, if you will, that talks to tool. And then werethe camping community about when goingtobealsoits important to come back and experi- launchingamobileencecamping.Becausethiswhole app,aswell.AllofCOVID-19 nightmare is going to lift. De- those pieces that arepending on who you talk to, it can be driven by ARVC are David Baslerthis week, it can be next month, but its going to be consid-going to lift, and we want to be ready for ered as part of this larger campaign withit with the proper consistent messaging. Go RVing.That is what were working on. We are WCM: Jeff, on your end I know youworking on a lot of things, but that is a havebeenextremelybusy. Weknowbig thing that is business as usual for us. everythings gone hyper-local, so countyWCM: What does the marketing push officials are making their own deci-look like as we begin to see signs that sions. What has it been like dealing withparks may be reopening here soon to county and state officials throughouttransient campers on some level? this whole crisis? Bambei: Go RVing is going to be the Sims: I would say that when I boil it allprimary engine that were all going to downthemostimportantaspectofuse to push the industry messages out what I have been doing is vetting the in-Real Log Park Model Cabins there. And of course, Go RVing is well- formation properly. Because you get afunded, and they are going to shift their phone call or someone says, Well thestrategic messaging a bit. They just took executive order says this. At that point,on a new ad agency and a lot of things I want to know whichare going to change to talk to the points executive order and Real Rustic Log Cabins that I think we all want to get out there, we also want to know Turn-Key! whether its on the RV manufacturing if that local authority Durable and Appealing side,aimedatRVdealersorcamp- havingjurisdiction,grounds. But the important thing is that whether it be at the Highly Profitable were in unison and we each have an municipal or county Pays Off Within 1-3 Years important role in bringing that cam- level, has the author-Park Model Cabins paign together. That is in its formative Jeff Sims ity under that execu-Starting at $27,900 stages. tive order to add restrictions on top ofARVC is also going to be working a lit- the executive order. Unfortunately, inLocated in Lancaster, PA tle bit more internally on its own as we most cases it does. That has been the717-445-5522www.LancasterLogCabins.com want to make sure there are templates hardest part to nail down, because youwe put together that ride shotgun with have 50 states and so you might have24 -June 2020 Woodalls Campground Management'