If a bulb is out at your sign, you don’t wait until arriving guests have missed your entrance before you replace it with a new bulb. If a toilet is clogged, you don’t wait for a negative post to appear on a review site before taking out the plunger. And just because you need to refill your fuel storage containers, you don’t stop mowing your campground’s lawns. You refill the containers and get to work. When anything affecting your business demands attention, a successful campground owner or manager takes immediate action. That being the case, it always baffles me when I encounter people who seem to think that their marketing is only important enough to be given their attention in their off season. That is what I call a seasonal mindset.

When you think about it, your sign only needs to be lit and your plumbing only needs to be functional when you are open for business, and your grass only needs to be mown at certain times of the year. There are tasks that are best reserved for the off-season, to avoid interference with your guests’ enjoyment of their stays. For example, nobody wants to camp alongside excavation or trenching equipment being used for the construction of new sites or water lines, and your guests should not be inconvenienced by a store or office that is in the midst of renovation. Except under emergency situations, those jobs can wait until your park is either closed for the year or at least outside of its peak season.

Your marketing, on the other hand, is one of the only aspects of your business that must be fully operational, day in and day out, all year round. Prior to the start of your season, its job is to persuade people who like to plan their vacations far in advance; however, during the height of your season, its job is to maximize your occupancy with last-minute guests. It is difficult to understand why anybody would think of their marketing as anything less than mission critical. If you are too busy to give your marketing the attention it deserves during your peak season, you simply need to delegate those responsibilities to a capable staff member or a trusted supplier.

Websites often show the most serious signs of neglect. Despite my ongoing efforts to encourage park owners to keep their website content as dynamic as possible, the sad fact remains that most people only update their websites once a year … to introduce their new rates and activity schedules. If there are exciting new photos that capture the essence of why people enjoy camping at your park, put those photos to work now, not later. If the local chamber of commerce or a nearby business has just announced a special event that would be of interest to your campers – and could probably attract new campers specifically for the event – promote it on your website now to capitalize upon the opportunity.

What about the existing content on your website? Is your site map the most current and up-to-date version? Every company that produces site maps will provide you with a version for your website, upon request. They might simply require a credit line and copyright notice. Some of your potential guests want to know where site 67 is located in relation to your restrooms and playground. Provide them with a map that answers their questions … and that they can clearly print, on the spot and on their own computer printer, without having to wait for one to arrive in the mail.

On the topic of site maps, it yours looks like it was drawn on the back of a napkin by a seven year old, either get a new map or remove it from your site. Anything that automatically stands out as your website’s “weakest link” is probably doing more harm than good. This might be your site map, it might be a photo gallery full of repetitive snapshot-quality images, or it might be a page of content that references 2012 (or 2011 or 2010). Many people do not realize that it is the worst content on your website that visitors are most likely to remember. Allow me to share an analogy. If you meet an otherwise attractive man or woman who is sporting a black eye, what is that person’s feature that you are most likely to remember? And what conclusions are you likely to draw about how the black eye originated?

You have control over your website’s appearance, and you have control over the frequency and timing of its updates. Give your website – and every other component in your marketing toolkit – your immediate and ongoing attention. Quite simply, the success of your business is at stake.