Southeast Publications, an advertising and marketing firm located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, started in 1986 offering campgrounds and RV parks free, custom-made Guest Guides for their partner property’s guests. The intention was to offer a much-needed service to parks while finding sponsors within the local business community to support these hospitality venues through advertising. One of the main objectives for Southeast Publications was to remove the cost burden of producing these quality guides from the park ownership.
The company began explaining to businesses of all sorts the economic advantages they will receive aligning with the outdoor recreation industry. Local businesses immediately grabbed the opportunity to participate within these publications. For them, the proof of concept regarding advertising in places transient visitors go had already been realized within the hotel industry. Card Racks, tent cards, key card advertising and banner displays are evergreen marketing strategies that still flourish in hotels today.
Bringing this model to outdoor recreation venues gives businesses the opportunity to target new customers that are filtering in and out of their market area. Park publications are more like a necessity for visitors than other print advertising mediums. Guest Guides inform visitors about the rules and guidelines of the park. It shows visitors their space within the park, gives them WIFI codes, TV stations, nearby amenities and most importantly, services that they will need to better enjoy their stay.
Circa 2012, Southeast Publications builds its reputation by creating the highest quality custom Guest Guides in the outdoor recreation industry. More and more parks realize the benefits their park receives having the Guest Guide tool readily available for their guests. At the same time, over 17,000 businesses regularly purchase Southeast Publications advertising annually. The Southeast Publications business growth, coupled with an increasing demand for digital advertising opportunities, led Southeast Publications to initiate investments into developing a digital property that could highlight Southeast Publications advertisers and campgrounds. It was then that plans to develop an RV Travel Search Engine that can give users the best places to visit and act as a resource for services RV travelers need, began. One year later, MobileRVing.com launched and over 100,000 pages became indexed within Google.
The MobileRVing.com website was an early adopter of mobile technologies like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), a special way to create code that can be cached by Google so mobile pages will load quicker when users access the page from their cellphones. Upon deployment, thousands of campground sponsor profiles and Southeast Publication partner campground profiles where quickly indexed and visible within the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). Over 80,000 unique visitors visit MobileRVing.com per month on average to find their next destination and services they may need while on the road.
In 2015, increased advertiser participation within the Southeast Publications Guest Guide Program which includes MobileRVing.com advertising, warranted additional investment to further reach into the digital arena, and plans to create a mobile application was underway. MobileRVing 4.0, a mobile application that can be downloaded for free on either Google Play or iTunes became another way to engage the RV Travel Community online. Here users can open the app, and click one of two buttons, “Business Near Me” or “Properties Near Me”. The mobile application is fitted with GPS technology that will transfer users to Google Maps that will direct users to the front doors of businesses that have sponsored Southeast Publications Guest Guides. Having been downloaded over 40,000 times, the application is quickly becoming an RV enthusiast must have.
Today, Southeast Publications has become a reliable platform to deliver new customers to both RV parks and their Guest Guide sponsors. Sales have increased substantially, and advertiser retention is at the highest level it has ever been.
Southeast Publications has continued adding more benefits for campground sponsors and RV parks alike. Recently, Southeast Publications has developed strong social media communities within Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter that are engaging to the RV enthusiasts. Business and partner campgrounds are often pushed through feeds to bring awareness to their product or service. One of their groups, The RV Bunch ™ has over 60,000 members with over 1.1 million interactions every 28 days on average. In addition, the MobileRVing.com Facebook page has over 105,000 likes.
In the age of digital advertising behemoths like Facebook, Instagram, Google and Bing, Southeast Publications continues to be one of the most reliable avenues for businesses to realize a solid return on their investment. By using multiple high-traffic channels, guests staying in or passing through an area can see all business and campground options that are available.
Southeast Publications success in 2019 has been nothing less than explosive and the company believes that the demand for its product will continue to increase even further in 2020.