Why Marketing Automation is a Game-Changer for Campgrounds
Running a successful campground or RV park in 2025 requires more than great amenities and a picturesque location. In today’s competitive outdoor hospitality industry, marketing automation for campgrounds has become a game-changer, helping owners streamline operations, increase bookings, and create exceptional guest experiences. By automating repetitive tasks like email campaigns, guest follow-ups, and review requests, you can spend more time doing what you love—running your park and connecting with your campers.
What is Marketing Automation for Campgrounds?
In simple terms, marketing automation for campgrounds uses software to handle time-consuming marketing tasks without constant manual input. Tools like HubSpot* allow campground owners to automate:
- Pre-arrival and post-stay emails
- Abandoned booking follow-ups
- Seasonal promotions
- Loyalty and referral programs
- Social media scheduling
Major platforms like these can also incorporate SMS text messaging capabilities into your workflows, custom landing pages for product promotion, integrate with your billing system if you have monthly or yearly campers that are paying in installments, and more. By setting up these workflows, you ensure no camper falls through the cracks—whether they’re a first-time visitor or a returning guest.
Why Campgrounds Should Embrace Automation Now
Campgrounds face unique marketing challenges, from seasonal spikes in demand to managing a mix of reservation types. Marketing automation for campgrounds solves these challenges by:
- Keeping communication consistent year-round
- Nurturing leads from your website or social media
- Re-engaging past guests with timely offers
- Managing online reviews and feedback collection
- Collecting recurring payments when applicable
In fact, businesses that leverage automation see an average of a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead, according to HubSpot’s marketing statistics. Imagine applying those numbers to your seasonal revenue!
Specifically for the outdoor hospitality industry, we have talked to a lot of clients about their struggles to manage the guest experience in peak season. When your park is at its busiest, it can be hard to follow up with real time inquiries, guest needs, and maintenance demands in real time. Having a top tier marketing automation system in place can help alleviate the demand on your in-park staff, and increase your ability to help your customers at your park in real-time.
We talk a lot about Marketing Automation and MORE in our recently released, 4th edition of The Ultimate Guide to Campground Marketing. You can grab that here.
Real Success Stories from the Outdoor Hospitality Industry
If you’re wondering whether marketing automation for campgrounds really works, check out these automation success stories. You can use the industry drop down to choose Travel and Leisure to see specific industry stats.
Picture this scenario: A campground is struggling to support their real-time guest inquiries because they can’t get away from the desk, thats phone and email box is blowing up during the busy months of July. This means, their guests are not getting real-time support for questions and maintenance support that they need while onsite. The campground decides to implements a marketing automation platform that incorporates SMS text messaging and chat bot functionality to support a lot of this inbox overload, where it is mostly filtering frequently asked questions that they can pre-load responses to. This campground could have a huge reduction in phone and email inquiries to their front desk staff, if these automated systems are configured to handle these frequently asked questions and pre-loaded responses that work on their own. Can you imagine what you could do if your onsite staff had the ability to free up their time and focus on other tasks or guest experiences with this reduction to the repeat phone and email inquiries? Hello positive guest reviews and repeat customers and MORE BOOKED SITES!!
How to Get Started with Marketing Automation for Your Campground
Ready to make marketing automation for campgrounds part of your growth strategy? Start small with these key steps:
- Map your camper journey. Identify key touch points from inquiry to post-stay review that you want to solutionize for and optimize. This will help you understand your requirements when you are looking for your tool.
- Choose your tools. Platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign offer campground-friendly solutions. Finding the right fit for you will depend on what you want to be able to execute, and price point.
- Create automated workflows. Start with simple sequences like welcome emails, abandoned booking nudges, or seasonal promos.
- Measure and refine. Track email opens, click-through rates, and conversions to optimize over time.
- Build and Grow. Once you have the initial set up underway, it’s time to incorporate other features like SMS messaging and Chat Bot functionality to incorporate your most frequently asked questions, canned responses, and real-time support for your upcoming and onsite guests.
We’re Here to Help You Implement Automation Solutions for Your Campground
At Martrek Digital, we specialize in marketing automation for campgrounds and rv parks/resorts and are proud to have a HubSpot Certified professional on our team. This means we have the expertise to help you implement HubSpot’s powerful tools tailored specifically to your campground’s needs. By leveraging our affiliation with HubSpot, we can assist you in setting up automated systems that enhance guest engagement and boost bookings.
📅 Book a free consultation to see how marketing automation, especially with HubSpot, can transform your campground operations.
*Disclaimer: As a HubSpot Certified Partner, the Martrek Digital team may receive compensation for clients who adopt HubSpot’s services through our recommendations. This affiliation does not influence our commitment to providing unbiased and effective marketing solutions tailored to your campground’s unique needs.
