A Visual "Hint" for Reaching New Parents

You Must Be Objective When 

It's very difficult because you love camp, the people, the place and the work that you do.  But we all know that if you want to move your total camp experience to consistent excellence, you must be willing to critically assess all aspects of your business.

During the New Year, I am going to ask you to focus on one element a month that will help you heighten your marketing and programmatic performance to increase retention and referrals.  Are you ready for the challenge?

 TAKE ACTION NOW!

• Look at your brochure and website photos.  Ignore the usually verbose, accompanying copy and focus on the visuals.  What do they communicate to parents and moms especially?  What do they say to kids?  How do they tell the story of what you do at camp and how valuable the experience is for each camper?  According to parents in focus groups, pictures of smiling, posing kids are a 'waste of space'.  Moms want visuals into which they can place their kids and envision accomplishment, social connections and confidence.  Check out the attached pics of Sammy and Jenna courtesy of YSSC and SHDC.  These two photographs are consistently selected by parents who say they make the camp experience come alive through Sammy's pride of accomplishment and Jenna's total engagement.  (For more, read the attached article by Gary Forster.)

• Replace pics or make plans to get better ones.  Identify your weakest visuals and at least on your website, swap them out with more resonating options.  If you just don't have better ones now, plan for a professional photographer to be with you this summer in addition to activating talented staff to help capture the essence of your camp experience.  If you are going to work with a professional, study their portfolio to confirm their ability to secure the type of visuals that you're seeking and arrange for options to rainy/cloudy days.  Staff photographers need to have the time to focus on the task.  They can't be expected to just snap pics as they do their other business.  For both professionals and amateurs, have a game plan before the summer and review visuals on a regular basis to confirm that you have the quality and subject coverage  that you want.

Do you need encouragement to go through this visual assessment?  If so, realize that the photographs you select are what intrigues unaffiliated parents to give you a call or to continue their journey through your website.

Joanna

Want me to take a look at your visuals?  Give me a call at 310-451-1876 or email campconsulting@verizon.net

(Note from Travis:   We are so thrilled to be posting the always brilliant HINTS from camp consultant Joanna Warren Smith!  If you don't already you should sign up to receive theses HINTS in your email - in the right-hand column of Joanna's website: http://camp-consulting.com/)

 

A 'HINT' of New Year's Resolution - Joanna Warren Smith

Start the Summer Camp New Year Out Right

The "Snail Trail" at Camp Kintail

Be intentional on January 2 and increase your retention rates.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

• Run your cabin (group) lists from last year.  Highlight all of those campers who ARE registered for 2014.

• Identify the 'OMG' kids.  Work with your leadership team to identify the campers you expected to be first in line to return and yet, they have not enrolled for the upcoming summer.  Individually connect with each of those families and be very deliberate about getting them to register or determining their reason for hesitancy.
• Look for trends.  How many campers and camper weeks did you have at this time last year as compared to right now?  If you are ahead or behind, determine the reasons and proactively respond to continue the positive momentum or reverse the negative trend.  Is there a common complaint from the 'OMG' families?  If even a few families verbalized an area of concern, you must take their input seriously and address the issues.  Are there gender or age groups that are particularly soft?  If there were group or programmatic issues, resolve the problems and 'market' those changes to the involved families.

Do you want motivation to take this advice?  Then you should know that these very simple steps have helped clients increase retention from 3-5%.  Go for it!!!

Joanna

Need an objective perspective on any aspect of camp?  Give me a call at 310-451-1876 or email campconsulting@verizon.net

(Note from Travis:   We are so thrilled to be posting the always brilliant HINTS from camp consultant Joanna Warren Smith!  If you don't already you should sign up to receive theses HINTS in your email - in the right-hand column of Joanna's website: http://camp-consulting.com/)

Introductory SALE: Summer Camp Social Media Marketing Calendar

Make Your Camp Marketing Manageable 

Seth Houser, Director at Camp Arrowwood

“Tired of reading Mashable, Social Media Today and other sites only to be left asking yourself? “How do I apply this to my Summer Camp?” Travis has put together a great resource that is made by a Camp Professional for Your Camp.

If your social media strategy consists of the occasional “Sign-up Today” “Tell your friends about Camp” and “Early-Discount Ends Tomorrow” you are missing the boat. I’m thankful to Travis for the life-giving resource.”

— Seth Houser, Camp Arrowwood (TN)

We are please to offer, from now until December 13th, 50% off our new Summer Camp Marketing Calendar!

Click to Buy the SUMMER CAMP MARKETING CALENDAR now

Summer Camp Social Media Marketing Calendar from CampHacker.TV

The marketing calendar is a spreadsheet that will make your online marketing more effective and efficient.

Last week we asked our newsletter followers to outline their biggest question about camp marketing and there were 2 strong trends: How can I be the most effective in the least amount of time? and What social networks will have the biggest effect on increasing our camper numbers?

Both are questions that we answer with the Summer Camp Marketing Calendar.    

“Prior to the webinar last Thursday, I was feeling overwhelmed where to begin with our social media marketing.  On Friday, feeling bold, I sat down and began plotting my 5 week strategy to get our camps back on track.  In order to keep it manageable for us, I’ve decided to focus on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.  I believe what you do should be done well and to jump in & try to cover everything, even if it’s once per week, would be too overwhelming and we run the risk of abandoning the plan before we truly get started.

While it did take a couple of hours, I’m happy to report I am confident that I have a plan that is beneficial and easy to follow.  ”

— Mary Camuso

As you can see from Mary's review, we are going to offer a one hour webinar (or video recording) to every buyer.   In this webinar you will learn how to use the Calendar, how to set up a simple social media posting strategy and how to make creating content that sells camp as easy as possible.

Click to Buy the SUMMER CAMP MARKETING CALENDAR now

There is a no-questions-asked return policy for 30 days.  Watch the Webinar then try it out for your camp.  If you are not happy, email me directly (travis@socialcatalyst.ca) for your refund.

If you are ready to make your camp marketing life easier: buy the calendar.

A "HINT" To Avoid: "BUT, IT'S THE WAY WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT!"

Effective Summer Camp Marketing from Joanna Warren Smith

I hear this too often from day, resident, travel, private and not-for-profit camps ... especially regarding marketing and promotion.  Even if efforts have not proven productive, Directors repeat the same routines expecting different results in spite of Einstein's definition of insanity.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

• MAP OUT YOUR YEAR-ROUND MARKETING PLAN.  Yes, put it all on paper and be deliberate to maximize efforts during promotional seasons.  Right after camp is the optimal time to communicate with parents and campers about reasons to return while May is the perfect time to invite not-enrolled inquiries to tour during the summer to see camp in action.  Complement efforts with Social Networking, but realize that those platforms do not provide total saturation.
• FOCUS ON MONTH-BY-MONTH EFFORTS.  Targeted, personal outreaches are essential to 4 different networks ... 2013 Parents, 2013 Campers, New Acquisitions and 2014 Families.  Many camps have actually separated the 2014 group into Parents and Campers with measurable results in the subsequent year's retention rate.
• CREATE A VISUAL CHRONOLOGY.  Utilize a binder to maintain all communications in a chronological order.  This is very different than storing items in folders on your computer.  The visual presents a powerful picture of what you are doing, what is missing and how you can refine efforts to increase enrollments.
• TRACK RESULTS.  Compare marketing efforts to enrollment patterns to secure indicators of positive and negative responses.

It is still early enough in the recruitment year to capture all of your efforts since camp ended.  Take the time now to organize your marketing plan to increase 2014 enrollments and set the stage for a more strategic, cohesive promotional effort in the future.

Joanna

Need an objective perspective on any aspect of camp?  Give me a call at 310-451-1876 or email campconsulting@verizon.net

(Note from Travis:   We are so thrilled to be posting the always brilliant HINTS from camp consultant Joanna Warren Smith!  If you don't already you should sign up to receive theses HINTS in your email - in the right-hand column of Joanna's website: http://camp-consulting.com/)

Summer Camp Photographer - Camp Kintail

Camp Photos for Marketing Purposes

Camp Kintail is an ever growing Presbyterian Church Camp on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.  Kintail is my first summer home - as many long-term listeners and readers will know I grew up there (so did my mom & her brothers and my grandparents).   It is always a special time for me to get to go back to Kintail and shoot for them every year.

If you are interested in professional photography to help improve the image of your website, blog, newsletter or brochure please contact me.

An Urgent Heads-Up "HINT" - Joanna Warren Smith

Summer Camp TV Show Gives Negative View

NBC is launching a new series on Wednesday, July 10 which features lots of "Rivals, Activities & Hook Ups" called - you guessed it ... CAMP.

According to tv.com, the show "promises to satisfy all the nostalgia we might have for summer camp without the teary-eyed phone calls to mom begging her to pick us up. The series stars Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) as a recently divorced camp director who's back on the job and back on the hunt for loooooove, and the setting allows for plenty of raging teen hormones, mean girl cliques, and poison ivy-masturbating jokes."

Certainly, our industry has weathered other questionable portrayals of the camp experience; however, they may not have been quite so suggestive.

Most parents and even kids will likely recognize the exaggerated portrayal, but it still would be wise to have some conversations with those who answer the phones and staff who will talk with parents on opening/closing and visiting days.

Help your representatives be intentional about reactions and responses to joking or serious comments that the show could encourage.

Joanna

Need an objective perspective on any aspect of camp?  Give me a call at 310-451-1876 or email campconsulting@verizon.net

(Note from Travis:   We are so thrilled to be posting the always brilliant HINTS from camp consultant Joanna Warren Smith!  If you don't already you should sign up to receive theses HINTS in your email - in the right-hand column of Joanna's website: http://camp-consulting.com/)