RV Industry Association’s Ashurst: Data Provides Direction For Sustained Growth

The following guest column written by James Ashurst, executive vice president of the RV Industry Association, was originally published in the May/June issue of RVBusiness. Ashurst currently oversees membership, research, events, finance, IT, marketing, and communications – including the RV industry’s popular Go RVing campaign – for the Reston, Va.-based trade association. The RV Industry Association, by the way, is hosting a members-only workshop at 1-2:30 pm., on Wednesday (June 23) at the Lerner Theater in downtown Elkhart, Ind., designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Go RVing RV Owner Demographic Study. Click here to register for this workshop.

Many decades ago, famous writer and humorist Mark Twain was widely credited with popularizing the phrase, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Even today, it is easy to see how Twain could arrive at such an opinion, as data is often manipulated and used to support a particular position, or to further advance a desired narrative.

However, the truth is, data at its core is a huge benefit to businesses big and small, and anyone who treats data as an afterthought today does so at their own peril. Data is an asset, and when analyzed and utilized effectively, it is a winning one. And who does not like to win?

For the past several years, the RV Industry Association has redefined our focus to be the industry authority on macro industry information, knowledge, consumer insights and emerging trends. And while we are gathering more data than at any time prior, we are continuing to explore emerging lanes where we can expand on the data we can offer – across the industry and in the consumer space. Doing so further drives member and industry value and knowledge. Expanding our research and data offering allows our members and the RV segment to improve their predictive modeling, presents opportunities to benchmark their own research against larger industry and trends, and informs and drives companies towards profitable business decisions – in both the near and long term.

Check out the rest of the article from RVBusiness.