No money in the RV niche? (RV BLOG REPORT)

Today is “work on the RV day”. Which is a normal occurrence when you own one.

We’re taking off to head toward Texas on Monday and I haz some things to do!

But, speaking of RVs… let’s do a little RV Blog Report here. I mentioned my RV blog project last week and asked if you’d be interested in following along on that journey here on the Daily. And the answer was a resounding YES. We got a ton of emails from Daily subscribers confirming that one. So, it shall be.

Interestingly, tho, I had 2 of those emails bring up the idea of what my business plan is. Both said they heard there was no money in the RV niche. Well, here’s my thought on that…

Well, first of all. Let me be clear…

If I didn’t have a personal passion about RV travel and motorhomes, I probably wouldn’t bother with this blog. While I’ve been very upfront with my Lab students and readers that a passion is NOT a necessity, it certainly helps.

And, I’d start this RV blog just for fun anyway. So, there’s that.

But, obviously, given what I do for a living, thinking of the business aspect of this comes naturally to me.

No money in the RV niche? I beg to differ…

RV sales have been increasing year-over-year. Unit sales last year were highest ever. Obviously, a lot of that is being driven by low loan rates and low fuel prices. I fully expect both to change and that RV unit sales will slow down. You’ll see more demand for used units, I expect.

But, this isn’t about selling RVs. That ain’t my bag. But, where you see a lot of that happening, clearly there IS money being spent. Lots of it.

Plus, you have a huge market in RV equipment, accessories, etc.

The other thing is… while some people live in their rigs, most don’t. It is basically a big toy. They buy it with dispensable income. Which means, as a niche, these are mostly people who have the means to afford it.

You also have a large market of people who ASPIRE to live the RV lifestyle (so to speak) but don’t yet.

So, you have 2 primary market segments, as I see it…

1. People who already own one.

2. People who aspire to own one.

Now, one obvious approach to monetization for this niche will be affiliate marketing. There’s tools and equipment and the Amazon affiliate program. Payout is rather low from Amazon, but you can make a little moolah that way. There’s also a few referral programs for RV memberships, but again, the commission wouldn’t be large.

As I’ve always said, the most direct and most effective monetization strategy is always direct selling of your own thing.

Now, would I go into the training business when it comes to RVs? Mmmm…. not likely. I mean, I know well more than most when it comes to motorhomes, but I am not expert enough to creating training courses or stuff like that. I could come up with lead magnets all day long, but not training courses for RVers on how to do stuff with their RV.

But…

If you look at the market, you see an intense need want for how to AFFORD the lifestyle.

(you see where I’m goin’ with this yet? )

A lot of RVers start blogs. And there’s a ton of chatter out there on how to afford to travel full-time and how to earn money on the road. The portable lifestyle business is a huge draw with this crowd. And, unfortunately, a lot of the blogs in this space profess the same old monetization strategies. Namely, affiliate links, banners, etc.

So, here’s the thing…

I’m in this weird spot where a market I have a passion for (RVs) coincides strongly with another market I have a passion for that I happen to have been teaching for over 10 years now – blogging and online marketing. There is a massive overlap there.

So, when people ask me about my business plans for my RV blog, it is in a potential “partnership” with the Blog Marketing Academy itself. Whether that be in a referral arrangement (the RV blog as a traffic source for BMA), or in repurposing some of the material and setting up another recurring program there just for the RV crowd.

I haven’t decided yet. There’s most definitely things I train on here at BMA which would be overkill for the typical RV blogger, so I see a definite opportunity for repurposing some of it over there for a different market.

So, that’s the thought for now.

It brings to mind a strategy I’ll share with you. Perhaps in the next Daily.

Aside from that, tho…

We’re going on a trip on Monday. Headin’ out to the RV Entrepreneur Summit in Texas. I expect there will be a lot of bloggers there, too. A few of the “big names” in the RV niche will be there, too. So, I look at it as a nice opportunity to learn more about the needs and wants of the market.

If you wanna follow along, you can always keep tabs on our RV blog.

Of course, I’ll also be doing everything I can to keep up with The Daily, too, while I’m gone. If I skip a beat, don’t hold it against me, m’kay? This will be my first stint of The Daily where I’m traveling, so it’ll be interesting to see how to keep at it while also driving and doin’ stuff at this conference.

More on the RV blog soon…

– David