Word of Mouth Marketing for Summer Camps

Building a Great Summer Camp Referral Marketing System

I finally got to visit Frost Valley Y!   Last week I attended the Northeast YMCA Camps Conference.  I was invited to come as a speaker on two of my favourite topics: Getting Things Done (GTD) as a Camp Director _and_ Building Your Word of Mouth Marketing system.

I have attached here the slides for my Word of Mouth session.  You can GTD at Camp by clicking the link.

Wonderful Word of Mouth - Summer Camp Referral Strategy

Developing your summer camp referral strategy Summer camp marketing expert, Travis Allison, presented at the Northeast YMCA Camps Conference. His topic: impl

View more presentations from Travis Jon Allison

WOMBombs

Word of Mouth ideas you can actually use at your camp.

There was a lot of theory in this session so I interjected lots of what I am calling WOMBombs (short ideas that you could implement at your camp) into the session.  These ideas cover many mediums so that you can attract people interested in different ways of communication.

• write a free report: benefits of summer camp using ACA + CCA research
• create a free checklist for parents to download - prepare your child for first night of camp
• host an online seminar for new parent's orientation
• bring in a guest speaker - to a community hall or even an online presentation -  prevent missing home through great parenting
• Put out a highlight video of your camp's biggest summer  event: campfire, talent show, white water lesson
• go traditional:   offer in-house slideshows with staff present , teach a silly song or chant, game
• try a free trial - run a "day at camp" in a community centre twice a year
• a low risk trial: weekend at camp
• create a People You Need to Know booklet that can be printed out. include the director, head counsellor, nurse, kitchen manager, administrator.  Make one for parents and one for kids. Laminate it and hand it out as soon as they get onsite
• Show parents what sessions are at the next skill level: How to know if your child is ready to move from instructional to competitive swimming
• Write a booklet called Best Practices of Great Camp Parents
• Have a section on your website called When to start to talk to your kids about going to camp
• Email out a Camp Buying calendar - let parents know when they need to reserve a space for next year, when their money is due, when the forms must be in.
• Surprise and delight your parents: give them a gift certificate to a wash and fold service because their kids laundry will be too much for their machine at once
• Hide a note in each campers suitcase when they go home:  "Have a great school year" and include a pack of pencil crayons
• Give parents a free car wash after driving up the dusty camp road on closing day

Reward Your Word of Mouth Champions

You already have families who refer you to their friends.  Treat them right and they are sure to do it more often!
Here are some ways to thank them for talking to the right people about your camp.

• movie passes
• flowers
• include in brainstorming
• exclusive gatherings for Champs
• introduce them to your strategic partners
• send them links of things that interest them or will help them in their business
• feature their testimonial in your marketing material
• give them free or low-cost camp programs
• take a bunch out to lunch - let them network with each other
• allow them to use camp for free: lunches, anniversaries, fundraisers

I owe a huge debt to John Jantsch, who's book The Referral Engine was the main source for the theory part of my presentation.  Read his book - you'll be stunned at all of the great ideas in there.

If you are interested in Travis giving this presentation to your summer camp or private school organization, please fill out the Request a Speaker form.

We Care - Raising World-Changing Leaders at Summer Camp

What Is Your Summer Camp Staff Going to Do About It?

As Camp Directors, we have the honour and privilege of helping to raise a generation (or more) of campers and staff who can learn to make a difference, a real difference.  The following activity is best done with staff, LIT, or older campers

Activity: THE DAILY NEWS

Bring in several newspapers.  If staff members have been at camp for several weeks or months, they will be very excited to hear from the 'outside world'.  Try to get a variety of papers (local, national, provincial, state, etc.).  If you have a large group, get several copies of each one.  There will be a lot of things in the paper that may not work for this exercise (ex. comics, cars, fashion, sports, etc.) so you will need enough sections of the ‘news’ to go around.

Divide your people into small groups.  Have each group look at a section of the paper to get ideas about global issues that concern us all, no matter where we live.  Ask each group to discuss what responsibilities, if any, we have or should have regarding the issues that they raise. After they have had time for reading and discussing, come together again as a larger group and discuss some of the issues together.

Be sure they focus not just on the issues but on our responsibility as children of this planet for problems that do not directly affect us.  Encourage deep discussion and respectful debate.

Take time now to regather in their original small groups and have them come up with several concrete steps they can take now while at camp to aid their chosen issue of concern.

End this activity be hearing from all groups and allowing additional ideas or input from the others.  Commend them for the steps they have taken and encourage them in this journey.  Follow up throughout the coming weeks at camp.  You may want to share their successes with the rest of camp!

Unplug At Camp from Camphacker Dan Weir

Cell Phones at Summer Camp

CampHacker Dan has just put out his new blog called Unplug at Camp.  In this space he's going to take a scholarly look at the benefits of leaving the phones (and iPads, Kindles, etc.) at home.

Congratulations, Dan!  We can hardly wait to see what else you put out.

A Perfect Rainy Day Activity

Simple and Inexpensive Summer Camp Game

Skallops is a brilliant looking new activity that has been funded through Kickstarter.

It would be perfect for camp because it can be adapted for any age group and would be great for free-play time.  Kids could make up their own games or sculptures depending on their mood.

Skallops are simply laser cut connectors that allow you to make structures out of playing cards.  There results are light weight and can hold a small amount of outside mass (like a golf ball).  There are some cool ideas on the Kickstarter page and as the kits get out into the world they promise to add a page to their website where users can upload their own photos.

About this project PROJECT COMPLETE! Want Skallops? Go to our website: www.skallops.com! ------- Skallops are the best way to build big! They're a construction toy that uses clever laser cut clips-Skallops-and regular playing cards to let you make anything that you can imagine.

It looks like Skallops will be available to the general population in March or you can support them on Kickstarter to be on the early-release list.

In Another Campers Shoes

Teaching Empathy in Summer Camp Staff Training

As we begin another year, we, of course, turn our thoughts to another summer.  We have likely begun planning for our 2012 season months ago but now preparations are "full steam ahead".  We thought it an appropriate time to share with you an activity which works extremely well at the start of a new season of camping, especially if you are bringing in new folks as part of your staff (particularly if they have worked at other summer camps).

Put Yourself in Their Shoes...

Form lines with the same number of people - 8 is a good number but you can decide based on the number of staff members you are training.  There must be at least 2 teams.  Have the first person from each team run to the other side of the room and take his/her shoes off and run back to the end of the line. The next person in line runs to the first person's pair of shoes, takes his/hers off and wears the other person’s back to the end of the line.  This continues until the first person is at the front of the line again still without shoes.  They have to run to the last person's shoes and wear them back.  The team then has to get back into their original pair of shoes.  The first team to finish wins.

This is not only a fun activity but a great debriefing tool.  Begin by asking your staff members why they think you did this activity.  What did they learn from it?  Sure, there will be some funny answers like “Joe has very big feet” but there will also be some serious ones.  You will want them to understand, of course, that everyone has a different walk in life and sometimes we need to appreciate other's situations or responsibilities in order to understand them better and to work together to the best of our abilities.

Another truth you may want to explore with them is that, during the course of your summer together, your walk will not always be comfortable.  Sometimes you will ask them to wear 'a different pair of shoes', to 'walk differently' than they may be accustomed to doing and take risks.

It is a great starting place for your first leadership training/pre-camp activities.  This activity is also a terrific lead-in to the Journey Mural exercise we shared late last year.

We'd love to hear other ways in which you use this debriefing exercise

Pitching Summer Camp To Parents

Selling Your Camp To The Right Parents

You can picture this, right?  You are standing at a camp fair or after a presentation at a community centre, you have a mittful of brochures and a mother comes up to you and says: Please tell me about your camp.

What do you say to a parent that can make them want to let you look after their child? How do you convince them? Pitch A or Pitch B?

Pitch A

We are a leading summer camp provider in our area.  We have 200 beautiful acres nestled in Muskoka.   Our camper/staff ratio is 2:1 and our activities include A&C, swimming and archery.   Would you like to send your kids to our camp?

Pitch B

We do we believe in order to be come great leaders children need to practice those skills.   Schools just don't have the resources to give kids the experience required to be come great at this skill that they will use for the rest of their lives.

At our camp we empower our campers and staff to practice being a leader by giving them a tool make great decisions.  In everything we do at Camp Camphacker must pass the 4 S's Test.  They must answer YES to all four questions in order to do any activity at our camp: Is it Safe? Does it promote other's Self Esteem? Is it good Stewardship of the environment? and Does if make you a Servant of others?

Would you like to send your child to a camp like that?

What does your pitch to camp parents sound like?