by Steve Cony
The summer of 1998 is over. Your campers had fun and learned new skills
and a great deal about themselves and others. Hopefully, you, too, learned
more about your profession and sharpened your expertise in camp management.
Now, before the memories of this summer fade with the pressures of preparing
for next year, take a moment to reflect on what you saw and heard that
could affect future marketing efforts.
Not Just a Pretty Face
Perhaps your most obvious marketing tool is the camp itself. How did
it look this summer — to campers, to parents on visiting day, and to prospective
families on tour? As you mentally scan the scene, picture your camp’s
sign at the entrance. It is your welcome mat, nameplate, and billboard
all rolled into one. Your sign should be bright and welcoming, and if
its overall quality does not depict a well-maintained total operation,
consider replacing it before next season. If your marketing materials
include a logo or font that has become standard for your camp, those elements
should appear on your sign.
You should also evaluate your camp from the visitor’s viewpoint. How
does your camp facility look from a marketing perspective? If visiting
days and tours are significant events, then your camp is indeed a showcase.
You should think about your camp’s overall visual impact. Perhaps more
signage would help. Maybe an outdoor display of major craft projects would
enhance the total look of the grounds. Next summer, plan to display creative
projects that will make campers feel proud of their accomplishments and
that will also make the camp look more appealing and more memorable.
An Activities Assessment
To enhance the marketability of your camp even further, determine those
activities that deserve center ring in your description of camp during
marketing presentations. Where did campers have the most fun? What captured
their imaginations? What kind of events and activities best served their
developmental needs?
An activities assessment will also help you edit scenes for your next
video or select photos for your next brochure. Always remember to make
a specific effort to record camp activities for marketing posterity. If
this was the first year that you staged a Backward Day to great acclaim,
yet you neglected to photograph the fun, make sure recording this amusing
event becomes part of next year’s plan.
Equally important, are photos that portray concentration, achievement,
success, self-confidence, and self-pride. If your photo collection does
not include these types of photos, make a commitment to collect photos
next season that paint a compelling picture of the enriching experience
your camp offers children.
Who Said That?
Hopefully the past summer was punctuated with moments when you heard
praises from your campers for the experience they had at your camp. Perhaps
compliments came from parents on visiting day or from staff members. Make
a point of getting back to those people to record their comments verbatim.
Filed carefully, they will make excellent additions to newsletters, flyers,
and your next camp brochure.
Annual Check-Up Time
Right now is the time to do an inventory of your marketing package. Re-evaluate
how effective your various marketing tools are in conveying a total positive
image of your camp operation. Do your materials clearly distinguish your
camp from other camps by communicating unique benefits for the camper?
Does your total package look up-to-date and well organized? Is it now
time for the video or the web site you have not needed previously? And,
how many brochures are actually left in those cartons on the shelf?
This type of self-analysis can direct your future efforts. If your plans
call for a new video or new brochure, this “quieter time” of the year
is best for careful planning.
Beyond self-analysis, it is vitally important that you are familiar with
other camps in your area and their marketing efforts. (Know thy competition!)
Use regional seminars and conferences as opportunities to network with
the folks down the road and to trade marketing materials.
“World of Good” Inventory
Your own marketing story should incorporate a discussion of the higher
value of a camp experience — customized to reflect your camp. Consider
carefully which emotional skills your camp excels at helping children
develop; then make certain to promote this as a specific value of enrollment
in your camp. Every camp must use its own marketing program to help promote
the benefits of a camp experience for all children.
From among these benefits, be sure to reinforce those which most accurately
portray your camp as an opportunity to:
- build values and skills.
- spend time in a supervised, positive environment.
- play and learn successfully.
- be supervised by trained, caring counselors.
- learn to get along with others.
- build a sense of community.
- participate in self-discovery.
- gain opportunities for self-expression.
Your Unique Difference
Most important, spend time making an inventory of anything and everything
that makes your camp’s approach different from other camps’ approaches.
This list will help you describe and promote your camp with a marketing
message that is memorable and distinctive.
Consider your camp’s specialty or the focus of your programming. Your
camp’s individuality may be due to your staff or the way you orient and
train counselors. Your camp’s location or the particular amenities you
offer may represent the most significant value versus other camps in your
area. In some cases, your administrative procedures, such as flexible
scheduling at a day camp, may make you unique. Regardless of what you
decide, the important issue is to identify your unique selling proposition
(USP) and make this central to your marketing message.
One summer can provide the input needed to revise and in some cases jump-start
a stale marketing program, as long as you capitalize on your vivid memories
of the season now before they grow dim in the rush of the new season that
lies ahead.
Originally published in the 1998 September/October
issue of Camping Magazine. |
