Digital marketing is a core focus of RVshare’s overall marketing strategy, with paid search being its most important growth channel to reach people as they search for destinations they dream of and then plan on visiting.
The goals for RVshare as a platform are twofold: to connect with RV owners to grow the number of RVs available for rent on the platform, and to reach more people searching for travel opportunities and RVs to rent to take them on their travel adventures.
A family in their rental RV from RVshare.
"Through paid search, we’re able to tap into keywords based on search intent not only for anything RV rental-related but also for popular destinations,” Scheijbeler says. Along with paid search, the company uses display advertising to encourage people to take an RV trip or consider RVs as an option for their travel plans.
Moreover, RVshare leverages the Microsoft Audience Network to reach more RV renters and engage more RV owners to join the platform. “We use the Microsoft Audience Network to reach audiences that have an intent to travel outdoors on the renter side, while we also target RV owners so we can match them up with our renters,” says Scheijbeler.
Audience targeting is another strategy RVshare employs, with a focus on targeting audiences by age, geography, and locations with more supply. For example, RVshare sees vital opportunities in areas close to national parks like the Grand Canyon, or destinations like Phoenix which are big on outdoor travel and adventure.
Microsoft Advertising has helped RVshare reach new customers and take advantage of last year’s surge in demand. “With Microsoft Advertising’s digital marketing channels, we were able to quickly tap into that additional demand from people searching on travel related topics,” Scheijbeler says. “With other channels, that wasn’t always as easy.”
As a result of working with the Microsoft Advertising platform, RVshare was able to drive 76% more traffic to their website in the summer of 2020 compared to the previous year.
The company also experienced double-digit growth while maintaining a stable cost per click (CPC) year-over-year.