When the report came in that shipments in RVs topped 144,000 by May of 2013, it made me sit up just a bit more. I reached out for more insights to Tim DeWitt, Executive Director of Michigan Manufactured Housing as well as the RV & Campground Association and Self Storage Association of Michigan. He pointed me to an article on Woodall’s and a video interview, which we’ve posted below. The bottom line is that due in large measure to the GoRVing coalition, shipments for the RV industry – in THIS economy – are expected to hit 300,000. Before the GoRVing image campaign, the shipment levels where about half that 15 years ago, during a much more robust economy. Manufactured housing pros! Is this sinking in?
The RV industry is the envy of boating, fishing – and ought to be – of our industry. Actually, most pros in fact privately agree that we have long needed the same sort of thing. After all, who pays for the campaign? Consumers, when they buy an RV that has a campaign fee embedded into its cost.
We are getting some hands going up in the air, offering to support our online MHLivingNews.com image building effort. The forward thinkers “get it.” As so often happens, Leaders will tend to benefit first.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) tells us that 94% of housing shoppers are spending some, most or all of their initial research online. So our online image building platform is a common sense first step!
The roots of this GoRVing campaign run deep. As Tim DeWitt told me, the RV business is attracting discretionary income buyers, people with good credit scores and/or the cash in the bank needed to write the check to pay for units that may run $300,000 or more.
As executives at a major manufactured home community operator told us, this is needed and long overdue.
We have a great product, it only makes sense to keep the U.S.A.’s best kept new home secret, not a secret any longer!
Traffic SPIKING at MHLivingNews
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But what’s exciting to see is that there are a lot of page views per visit, which means that visitors like what they see. They aren’t just ‘bouncing’ off the site.
Cost Effective!
Our industry doesn’t have millions of dollars in an account, waiting to invest in a full blown mimic of the GoRVing campaign. So in our case with Manufactured Housing, let’s start with what we have on ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.
Contact us for ways to make this effort pay for you and your operation, regardless of size or locale. We are already experiencing retailers and communities who are using the site to help them attract and sell more homes. The rapid traffic rise on our site is clearly from consumers and pros alike.
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If RV’s can ship 300,000 units this year, during a year when manufactured housing may hit 60,000 shipments, that tells me that we ought to be doing ever so much more. RVs have five times our shipment level! Yet RVs are usually discretionary, housing is a necessity.
What is our potential, with the right marketing effort for manufactured housing?
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) projects single family housing starts of about 600,000 for the U.S.. That’s ten to one for us, and we have the better price points, are statistically safer and more energy efficient?
Is this a wake up call? It ought to be!
We need not abandon the starter home market, but we can grow and go after the ‘residential’ home buyer PLUS the ‘entry level’ consumer too.
We will return to this theme in the days ahead. Your comments and inquiries are welcome. See what other industry pros have said at this link here. ##
300,000 shipments in 2013? Come on!
http://www.woodallscm.com/2013/07/video-rvia-exec-touts-go-rving-campaign/
PS: Check our many Exclusive and Red Hot Featured Articles for June and see the
other new stories at MHLivingNews.com too.
L. A. “Tony” Kovach
MHLivingNews.com=Re-Discovering and Spotlighting the MHLifeStyle
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latonyk@gmail.com or tony@mhmsm.com
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Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford