Building Brands Podcast · Building Brands Marketing

Taking Advantage Of A Gap In The Market

October 14, 2025·29 min·2 clips

How did Romley spot the huge gap in RV insurance that traditional insurers avoided?

This episode features Austin Green, Director of Go-To-Market at Romley, discussing how his company identified and filled a significant gap in the recreational vehicle insurance market. Host Brayden Pope guides the conversation, drawing on his background in insurance technology to explore Romley's strategic origins. Austin explains that Romley emerged from its sister company, Outdoorsy, a peer-to-peer RV rental platform often called the "Airbnb of RVs." The initial need was for a specialized insurance product to protect both renters and RV owners during rentals on the Outdoorsy marketplace, which now generates over $60 million in written premium. A critical problem arose when hosts used standard personal RV insurance, as insurers could deny claims if they discovered the RV was also rented out commercially. Romley's solution was to create a personal lines RV insurance policy that explicitly permits rentals on peer-to-peer platforms, closing this coverage gap. The company also pioneered insurance for custom camper van conversions, a rapidly growing segment with previously limited options. Austin details their marketing strategy, which heavily relies on paid search and social media but is built around a fully digital, end-to-end quote and bind process—a first for the RV insurance industry. This digital experience is crucial for partnerships with RV dealerships, where buyers need immediate proof of insurance to secure financing. He warns against over-reliance on any single channel, citing how changes in search engine results, including the rise of AI Overviews, impacted their affiliate marketing program. A surprising insight is the symbiotic relationship between Romley's rental and personal insurance products: the more an RV is rented on Outdoorsy, the less exposure the personal policy has. Austin reveals that one in ten U.S. households owns an RV, and many sit unused for roughly 350 days a year, creating a massive monetization opportunity. He notes that offering a fast, digital purchase process can sometimes outweigh having the absolute lowest price for younger consumers. The conversation highlights a proactive shift from Search Engine Optimization to Answer Engine Optimization to adapt to AI-driven search changes. The tone is conversational and educational, blending a startup origin story with practical marketing and insurance insights. Austin speaks from direct operational experience, offering specific tactics and learned lessons. Listeners interested in niche market disruption, insurtech innovation, or growth marketing within a specialized industry will find this episode highly valuable. Entrepreneurs seeking case studies on leveraging a parent company's ecosystem to launch a new brand will also benefit, while those looking for broad consumer marketing theory might find the focus too narrow.

As heard by us

A practical look at how an underserved RV insurance brand uses search, partnerships, and point-of-sale presence to grow.

An RV insurance brand story works best when it stays close to distribution. Austin Green is presented as helping build Romley into one of the leading brands in recreational vehicle insurance, and the strongest section is the one that gets concrete about how buyers are reached:…

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You want a real look at how an RV insurance brand grew in an underserved corner of the market.

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