Campground As A Resort Destination?

I work for a KOA campground in Astoria OR. I want to promote this particular campground to businesses as a resort destination for winter business meetings. What is the best way to
reach out to big corporate businesses and ask them to stay with us.

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Jay’s Answer:  It sounds like a good idea on paper – but in your planning, there are a number of things you’ll need to better understand:

  • Which corporate businesses? Are you looking for local large corporations (for a day-long offsite retreat)? Or are you looking for corporations in a 200-mile radius (for weekend/weeklong events)?
  • Why would they choose you? Assuming that you’ve identified corporations that are likely to be interested, they’re a wide range of needs they might have: indoor meeting spaces (it’s winter, after all), technology (high-speed internet, WiFi, projectors, screens, etc), catering, decoration, team building support, tents/campers, etc. You need to better understand how you compare with your likely competition, and focus on your clear strengths.
  • How would they find you? Now may be a good time to start contacting them, but you’ll want to ensure you can be found. As a minimum, create a special page on your website that clearly articulates your offerings. Even better – targeted SEO/PPC. Let’s say you’re the head of HR for a nearby company. What phrases are they likely to use when searching for a retreat center?
  • Who’s in your network? Since you’re likely not to be able to be all things to everyone, partner with other organizations that would help you. For example, a great caterer may be a great referral source, or a team building consulting group, or even non-profit organizations (the best referral network is someone who’s already experienced your offering).

One thought on “Campground As A Resort Destination?

  1. It’s an intriguing idea to have a corporate meeting at a campsite. But definitely, it seems to me that it would call from some very specifically designed team-building activities and/or games to make it an appealing destination for the participants. I mean, I like camping and all, but in the winter? Not my first preference.

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