ParkLiner would Appreciate Advertising Advice

[Chesley Sugg]

[QUOTE=HighPlainsDrifter;321078]The first thing you should do is fix your website. I tried last night and today to access parkliner.com and the website doesn't work.


Works fine for me. ParkLiner Fiberglass Ultralight Travel Trailers -

Ches

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Must be my cable companies DNS server. It is the only website it cannot find though which is strange.
Joe

[JCZ]

Originally Posted by HighPlainsDrifter

Must be my cable companies DNS server. It is the only website it cannot find though which is strange.
Joe

Ya need to find a more reliable provider.

[Chandler]

Thanks for all the great advice! You have all been really helpful. I will reply in more depth and length a little later when I have more time.

A quick note on the parkliner website: I was not able to get it yesterday either, and spent 5 hours on the phone with various entities, all of which blame it on the other; my web guy is vacationing in Ireland, and I am debating whether I want to tackle moving it to another host in his absense. I don't know how long this has been going on or what percentage of people are not able to access it; I went to my brother-in-law's house a few blocks away, and had no trouble, and hear from family in NH and NY that it works fine for them.

Best, Chandler

[kirkman]

When I was looking to get off the ground and in to a camper that I could tow with a 4 cylinder car. I did not start looking at RV stores I started with the web. It's faster and cheaper that driving around, plus they don't have any thing other than pop ups and there still a tent. My first camper was a Tear Drop (I still have it) I then went to a Rally to look at them. The same thing with my fiberglass camper I found them on the web (Here) and then looked for some one that had one close that I could go look at. Once again I was sold! So I think you should make sure your web sight gets linked to all the search engines. Also make sure that your sight has more pic's than you think it needs. When my wife was looking at your web sight she said "wheres the bathroom pic's, I want to see pics of the bathroom". That part of a camper is very important to her and probably other women also. By the way I love your Campers design when I am ready to up grade to one to full time in it is going to be one of yours!

[Ken C]

Kirkman, there are a bunch more photos on their facebook if you and your wife are interested. The link is on the front of the Parkliner page. Have a good weekend.

[kirkman]

Ken C..... Thanks!

[Hazel in Sk]

I can only repeat that you need a GOOD website - that is where many people start their search. Googling Parkliner took me to a 'dead' page. Also put meaningful info on your webpage - dimensions of couch, height of door etc. Are they insulated? Three way fridge? Propane furnace? Do you have an economy model for those who prefer to cook and eat outside and have no interest in a built in kitchen and bathroom?

I have seen at least one Ventura, Trillium, Scamp, Outback, Boler etc - but never a Parkliner. Are there any in Canada? Why not sell me one CHEAP in exchange for exposure? We camp spring, summer and fall in Alberta, Sk and Manitoba mostly at National, Provincial and Regional parks.

[Alf S.]

Hi: Chandler... Best bang for the buck is word of mouth. If every buyer of a product is happy and using it, others will notice. Every time we attend a trailer rally I'm sure Escape sells a trailer!!! Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday.
Sometimes it takes time... to become an overnight sensation.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[BigLew]

Word of mouth and a referral program are certainly good ways to sell something.

Of course, I still say the countries biggest RV Show (Hershey PA), Sept 12th-16th would be the ultimate for business.

One more thing, and I believe you already know most of what is suggested. You need BIG photos of your business, pictures of the crew building it at various stages, photos of the insulation being applied, etc. All on YOUR web site. There are lots of people like myself who don't use Face book for various reasons.

BTW

I really enjoyed the tv slot where your talking to the newsman and you said that the ParkLiner is a better built camper than the rest of them. Bold statement, but I liked that! Kinda like Papa Johns Pizza, when he says
"Better ingredients. Better pizza"

I'm getting hungry!

[WaltP]

A few comments that mostly emphasize some of the earlier ideas.
1. Casita gives out referral cards to anyone who requests them. If I give out a referral card to someone interested, that accomplishes a couple of things. It makes it more likely the card holder will follow it up, and if they purchase I get a credit with Casita.
2. Escape and Bigfoot (and maybe others) keep an up-to-date list of owners willing to show off their trailers. If anyone calls and wants to see one, they can quickly put them in touch with the closest willing owner(s).
3. I'm at a campground, someone sees my neat ParkLiner, but I'm not on site to show it to them. Later they run across me on a trail and I'm wearing a t-shirt with a large picture of my Parkliner. We arrange to meet later so they can tour my trailer and get a referral card. I think that's a more important reason for t-shirts than just someone seeing it in an unrelated context.
4. Getting a Parkliner out there to be seen at every possible opportunity.
5. I like the idea of recruiting a retired couple and providing them with a trailer to tour around everywhere and talk it up and distribute literature. It would not necessarily require outright giving it to them, just letting them use it free of charge for one season at a time, whereas they might be unable to purchase one outright.

Meanwhile we're looking forward to picking up our ParkLiner next month.

Walt

[David B.]

The availability to view on your web site WITHOUT needing to go to another site for pictures is a better "feel" to me, but the most important thing for me to want to decide on which trailer to purchase, would be to actually be able to see one in person. Shows, Rallies, and perhaps owners willing to show their trailer off to those in their area would really be helpful. We live in Arizona, and to my knowledge there isn't anyone with one out this way yet, but if you could arrange to have one on display at all the rallies around the country(see rallies/gatherings on this website), that could really sell more units. I'm not retired yet, but I did think the idea someone else posted about perhaps letting a knowledgable couple travel in one of your units to all the rallies, was a good idea. I don't know how to get the word out to people who think pop-up is the lightest and only option available to them, when it comes to pulling a trailer with their small car, truck or van, other than showing the small vehicles towing one of your products with the weight of Park Liner vs. weight of the pop-up prominently displayed.
Hope to see one of your units soon, as it really appears to be a well thought out and quality unit.
Happy Trails
Dave & Paula

[LindaK]

Here is a link to a documentary on Park Liner campers: UNC-TV -- Life-changing television

The documentary aired on Tuesday, Oct. 9th.

[Gilda]

Everyone has had great ideas for promotion of your ParkLiner so far. I have a few more.

1. The tire cover in back should have the name, ParkLiner, and the website/phone number in bold-easy-to read print (from a distance on the road). When I see the ParkLiner on the road I want to be able to jot down/remember the contact info. easily. I met a family who did just that with a Scamp they saw on the road. They ended up buying a 13" Scamp only by getting a glimpse on the road and viewing their website! They never saw one up close and in person.

2. You could give away (two or more) license frames with your contact info. (like car dealers do) to customers. The frames can be put on the trailer as well as the front and back of the towing vehicle. When the tow vehicle is not towing the trailer the license frames are still doing the advertising! (It might be a good idea to have a little graphic of the trailer on the frame.

3. The Scamp folks present their trailer publicly only one time per year at the Minnesota State Fair on and around Labor Day (due date for entry is late October of the year before. You might want to check out your state's fair now.) Even though I did not attend the Fair we happened to pick up our trailer on the day they were preparing for the Fair. They had a huge Astro-turf carpet rolled out. We thought it was the equivalent of a "red carpet" to welcome us! It was actually to be used in their display at the fair.

4. I love the idea of offering clothing with your logo. Cafe Press (Custom T-Shirts, Unique Gifts, Posters, & Personalized Mugs | CafePress) as well as other sites (Zazzle | Custom T-Shirts, Personalized Gifts, Posters, Art, and more) will print anything ON anything (mugs, keychains, notecards, postage stamps, etc). Look up "RV" or "camping". Click on the "store" tab on the "Fiberglass RV" site and it will take you to CafePress which has many items available with our logo (FiberglassRV Gift Store) Thank you and Christmas cards should be very popular for your customers.

Good luck to you. Your trailer has some nice improvements over some other fiberglass trailers. As for us, it is too heavy. We tow our 13' fiberglass with a sedan (Subaru Legacy)

[rabbit]

The UNC video is very good on construction (interesting but most folks don't really want to know as much about it as they may think they do!) and pretty brief on the comfort/convenience selling points. But nothing beats free advertising even if local as the video side gets a repeater effect on the net. I wonder if anyone here has thought about the daily cost of keeping a rep on the road with a demo. I'd want a volume crowd every time I laid out the payroll and per diem fuel and food on that. State fairs should offer that. 3 orders per month sounds pretty good to me but every business is different in terms of the no. of units they have to push out to keep the lights on. Best of luck with the ParkLiner, Chandler.

jack

[Francesca Knowles]

In the words of the old song: "Ya gotta have a gimmick if you want to get ahead"!

Look at what the wienermobile did for Oscar Meyer...how 'bout taking one of your trailers on the road, but with a twist- it should be on some kind of a quest, unrelated to selling rigs, but guaranteed to gain exposure for them.

[cpaharley2008]

How about towing it with a big "MPG" display showing AVG mpg on a big dial as you drive around the country- a sales gimmick.

[honda03842]

We spent 315 days on the road this year and, not counting tours of our trailer at 3 rallies, we did over 100 tours to interested parties. People would simply be waiting for us when we came out of a grocery store.

Most everyone who tours our trailer is surprised by it's 'inside size'.

There is tremendous interest in fiberglass trailers, people just have very limited opportunities to tour one.

I believe a decided advantage of many fiberglass trailers is that they can be safely towed by smaller vehicles and simultaneously get good mileage. The cost of fuel is presently an 'albatross' on the whole RV industry.

In my view, showing small tow vehicles that can do the job can be made a positive and a marketplace differentiator.

In general the amount of info provided in printed form is minimal. Many of your potential customers are not Internet wise. This winter we spent a month in a campground where there were two couples interested in a fiberglass trailer but neither were Internet wise. These were former large rig owners who still want to travel but not in their monster fifth wheel.

I would definitely attend rallies. I would also post on your website the rallies you will attend and offer tours to non attendees.

Seek opportunities to sell. Find ways to differentiate your offering.

Wishing you well in your venture

[Cricket]

I would be happy to tour one around the upper midwest....make me a deal! Seriously though, I have though about one...(I think we are getting ready to order one somewhere, but haven't decided on a brand)...and I have never seen a Parkliner...are there any up here already that I can look at? I like some of the ideas you are incorporating, but would like to be able to see one in person before making that kind of investment....

[Ken C]

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Video: Tuesday, October 9, 2012 | Watch NC Now Online | UNC-TV Video