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by Daniel Zenkel
Like it or not, every summer camp — for-profit or nonprofit — is
a business. A camp that does not respect and abide
the most fundamental of business commandments,
that the monies coming into the camp must equal or exceed those flowing
out, will eventually fail. There are two sides to the equation, revenue — the
money coming in, and expense — the
money flowing out. This article focuses on the
primary revenue driver — marketing.
The following twelve tips are intended to help
every camp improve its marketing, and thereby generate more revenue.
1. Exceed the Expectations of Current Campers
and Camp Families
As Gary Forster, former YMCA of
the USA camping specialist, has pointed out, "Camps are "inside-out
marketers," i.e., suppliers of relationship-oriented experiences
and personal services for which the most credible
advertisements are personal endorsements from satisfied
members." To
create raving fans, who will give you those endorsements,
you can't
just meet expectations — you need to exceed them with the quality
of your service, communication, and attention to
every detail. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate how this can
easily be done. On the first or second night of camp, telephone parents
of first-time campers, and let them know that their child arrived safely
and is doing well. Another example would be to call parents unexpectedly
to let them know when their child has done something noteworthy. The
good will generated by exceeding expectations
is well worth the time expended.
2. Know Your Competition
Identify
the three to six camps with whom you most frequently
compete. Objectively compare them to your own — comparing every
aspect of your camp with each competitor. What
makes your camp unique? Where do you offer advanced or enhanced programming?
Knowing where your strengths are can assist you when you meet a prospect
who is also considering one of your competitors. Without referencing
the competitor, highlight the areas in which you surpass that competitor.
For example, if your day camp offers air-conditioned buses, and the
competition does not, highlight your air-conditioned buses. Emphasize
the favorable comparisons in all aspects of your marketing, including
your brochures and Web site.
3. Plan Camp Tours From Start to Finish
When it comes to tours, leave
nothing to chance. Plan the greeting, the tour
guide's appearance,
subjects to be addressed proactively,
camper and staff interactions, and, of course,
the route. Every tour guide should be trained to
follow the plan. Be sure that the plan addresses
the following:
- First Impressions — Control first
impressions. Be sure that the initial contact
or greeter for camp tours provides prospective
families with a sense of security and professionalism.
Make sure the greeter is easily identified as
camp staff by a uniform or camp shirt. Have him
or her competently check names and confirm arrivals
and tour times. Make families feel warmly welcomed,
while at the same time, make them feel as though
this is an acceptable place to leave their children.
This message needs to be consistently conveyed
throughout the greeting area. For example, if
you provide refreshments (recommended), be sure
that healthy options and not junk food and high-calorie
sodas are available.
- Preempt "Hot Button" Issues — Certain topics
are always on a family's mind, whether verbalized or not. Don't
wait for these "hot button" topics to surface. Address them
head-on. For example, most prospective day camp families are concerned
about transportation. Raise the issue by saying something like, "Let's
talk about transportation." Most overnight camp
families are concerned about separation issues.
Discuss how the camp handles homesickness and
related issues.
- Show Off Your Camp — The tour route should show off busy
areas that always look great. If you want to show a bunk, show the newest
one or one that wins inspection every week. Of course, don't hide
anything. If a family asks to see something, show it to them. But don't
ever purposefully show off an eyesore.
- Let the Camp Speak for Itself — Today's families
want to observe and form their own opinions. Let them. Once you've
determined what they will see, don't tell
them what they should be thinking or feed them
conclusions such as, "We are the best at ___."
Let them observe how you, your campers, and staff
interact. Augment their observations with information
that they cannot gather on their own.
- Encourage Interaction With Campers and Staff — Stop and
talk to campers and staff, particularly those who request your attention.
This communicates that your campers take precedence over your marketing
efforts. Also, encourage your visitors to interact with, and question,
campers and staff. Don't worry about the
answers. Camper and staff members will not purposely
embarrass a tour guide.
- Follow Up — Send every tour participant
a handwritten, thank-you note expressing your
delight at meeting them and offering to answer
any additional questions or concerns.
- Measure and Adjust — Track each tour guide's
enrollment rate and adjust your tours accordingly.
If one tour guide converts 75 percent of his
or her tours, and another converts 25 percent,
assign the former as many tours as possible.
Check enrollment percentages on various tour
dates. Determine if you are more likely to enroll
campers who toured on weekends or weekdays, on
regular program days or special days. Adjust
accordingly.
4. Embrace Parent Visitation as a Great Marketing
Opportunity
Most camps have some form of parent
visitation, whether a drop-off or pick-up day,
an end-of-session or evening interactive program, or a mid-session
"visiting day." Some camp directors consider visiting
day a chore and can't wait for
it to end, anticipating parent complaints and fearing
an inability to remember names. While certainly
stressful, parent visitation is also the single best opportunity for
positive, face-to-face contact with camp families. Apart from a pre-enrollment
tour or an in-home visit, parent visitation is the camp's only
opportunity to see parents, and can be one of your best marketing tools — impressing
camp families and fostering positive word-of-mouth.
Here are some ways to make the most of this marketing
opportunity.
- According to Dale Carnegie's seminal
work, How to Win Friends and Influence People,
a person's name is, to that person, the most
beautiful sound in the world. Unfortunately,
not even the greatest memory wiz can remember
every parent's name. Make this a non-issue by
having your staff hand out nametags or badges
showing each visitor's first and last name, their
child's name, and the child's group.
- Organize camp or group-wide activities to avoid
the most common visiting day complaint — too
much downtime. Schedule camper performances,
a campfire, a camp meeting, or camp sing. Determine
how you can put your best foot forward. Then
do it.
- Plan creatively. The old "visiting day" plan
was to run a regular schedule and require parents
to follow their child from activity to activity.
This had two unintended results — bored
parents and kids who skipped classes, leaving
them sparsely attended and unimpressive. Try
something different. Treat visiting day like
a new special event. Think out of the box and
come up with ways to impress your parents not
simply tolerate them. For example, plan fun events
that encourage parents to participate, such as
relay races or lip synching contests.
- Park the cars out of view. Camps with limited
parking often stuff cars into every available
nook and cranny making the campus look like a
giant tailgate party. Park cars in an out-of-the-way
spot or off-site so that your families experience
the same scenery as their children. If necessary,
provide a shuttle to and from the campus.
- Don't
let parents or grandparents come and go as they
please. Open visitation has two consequences.
First, the camp loses control over the experience.
Second, the frequent visiting interferes with
the camp program.
5. The Bus to Camp Is Your
First Impression; Make It Good
Marketing professionals
agree that first and last impressions are the most
impactful. The first bus ride to camp, whether
to day or overnight camp, is hugely important, particularly for first-time
campers. Here are some tips for improving the quality of the bus ride
to resident camp, some of which also apply to the initial day camp bus
ride.
- Communicate with parents before the
summer introducing the bus leader.
- Choose bus counselors who are friendly
and outgoing. Make sure your bus counselors wear
name tags and introduce themselves to every camp
family.
- Provide the bus leader with a list of
new campers and make sure they receive special
attention.
- Assign seats. The most common, precamp
fear of both first-time and long-time campers
is being without a seat mate. Don't let that
be an option.
- All camp buses should have at least one
sign displaying the camp's name. The signs should
be professional (not scrawled by hand) and should
include the camp name and logo.
- Bring umbrellas if the weather forecast
shows a chance of rain.
- Camp staff should wear camp logoed clothing
and nametags. They should tuck in their shirts
and wear proper footwear — sneakers
or shoes,
no flip flops.
- Give every camper a name tag when she
arrives. Name tags can be used to check in campers.
- Don't assign a nurse to collect meds and
oversee the bus. One person can't do both.
- Depart on time. Camp families should be
rewarded for arriving on time, not punished because
stragglers arrive late. If you are uncomfortable
leaving stragglers to make their own way up to
camp, send an extra van.
Let parents know before camp that you will follow
these protocols. This will ease their anxiety and
increase their confidence in your camp.
6. The Bus
Ride Home
Apart from a safe arrival, the most important aspect
of the bus ride home is the timing of the arrival.
Imagine a parent's frustration
upon arriving at the specified time only to learn
that the bus arrived thirty minutes earlier or
will be forty-five minutes late. Camps can avoid
this scenario by maintaining ongoing contact with
drivers, and periodically
updating camp families, via e-mail, text message,
and cell phone. Not only will parents arrive on
time, they will perceive the camp to be "on top"
of things.
7. Give Camp Families Something to Talk
About
"How are the kids?" is one of the most common
conversation starters. Unfortunately, beyond the
fact that "[name of child] is ‘doing great' at Camp in [name of state]," parents
have little information with which to formulate a response. They hear
little or nothing from their kids, most of whom abhor letter writing.
Camps are left to fill the void and should do so using every means at
their disposal to communicate with parents about all the great happenings
at camp. Day camps should send home daily or weekly newsletters. Overnight
camps should post frequent, online newsletters using the tools available
through the online camp management software or photo posting services.
8.
Cultivate Your Alumni
It is difficult to convince
today's parents to value the "relationship skills," "healthy risk
taking," and "life lessons" that are at the core
of the traditional summer camp experience. Most parents today prefer
that their children use the summer to achieve some concrete benefit
by focusing on a favored sport or area of special interest. While ACA
works to adjust these perceptions,
camps with empty beds should focus their recruiting
efforts on the one constituency already sold on
the merits of their camp — the camp's alumni. Most nonprofit camps already cultivate
their alumni for fund-raising purposes; however, too many others, of
all types, either ignore their alumni or pay them little heed. A strong
alumni outreach program generates new campers. Find your alumni, reach
out to them, and cultivate them.
Alumni outreach should follow a simple, logical
progression. First, identify a diligent, persistent
and meticulous person to spearhead
the effort. Most camps have a twenty-something
"lifer" who wants to be involved with camp year-round.
Hire him or her, or someone else, at a modest,
part-time wage and empower them to gather information,
write alumni newsletters,
moderate alumni chat rooms on Facebook or other
social networking sites, and act as the main alumni
contact.
Second, select and activate an alumni database.
Use the alumni module in your camp's software package
or license a standalone program. Next, create an
alumni page on your Web site and link that page
to your alumni database. Then, find every alumni
name you can. Check cabin graffiti, old yearbooks,
prior owners or directors, old photos, and any
other source you can identify. Enter the names
and any other person-specific information you've
gathered
in your database. Send out periodic mailings and
e-mails inviting alumni to register in your alumni
database. Entice them with interesting news and
notes. Every outreach effort will generate activity
on your alumni Web site, so make the contacts frequent.
Celebrate anniversaries, new buildings, dedications,
retirements, anything of significance to alumni.
Once you've established a large contact list, start
organizing reunions, gatherings, and an alumni
scholarship fund. Alumni and their friends will
eventually begin to contact you to discuss enrolling
their children in your camp.
9. Attend to, Maintain, Optimize, and Advertise
Your Web Site
Apart from the quality of the camp
experience
you provide, and the positive buzz that generates,
your Web site is your most important marketing
tool. Almost every prospect visits your Web site
at some point during the sales process. It's the
first place a parent will go after hearing raves
from a friend or co-worker. If your Web site is
disappointing, you've jeopardized a sales opportunity.
For guidance on the look and feel of your Web site,
hire a designer, read the many excellent publications
on camp Web site design, or do both. In addition,
make sure to keep your Web content current. Avoid
the embarrassment of showing last year's dates, tuition rates, and information.
Once you have a current, well-designed site, it's
important to drive traffic and prospective families
to the site. Do this in several ways. First, make
your Web address part of your identity. Put it
on your letterhead,
newsletters, e-mails, office door, and, especially,
in your advertising.
Second, analyze the paid directories (KidsCamps,
mysummercamps, camppage, etc.) and advertise on
the ones that best meet your needs. List the ten
or twenty search queries that prospects use to
find your camp and enter the queries on the Google
search engine. For example, if you run a Christian-based
sports camp for boys in Oklahoma, type "Christian
boys sports camp Oklahoma" in the Google search
bar. Print out the top ten search results for each
query. Determine which directories appear most
frequently at the top of the Google search results.
Only advertise on the highest rated directories
and search engines — i.e., Google. More than 80 percent of all camp-related
searches are done via Google.
Third, analyze your own Web site's Google search
rankings for the same, commonly used terms. Determine
your rank for terms likely to bring you qualified
prospects. Focus on narrow, targeted terms and
not broad, general terms like "summer camp" or
"camp." Then, optimize your Web site for the terms
that are likely to bring you strong prospects.
If you can afford to, hire a Web optimization firm
to get your camp onto the first page of your preferred
free searches. Purchase the appropriate Google
AdWords. If you are unfamiliar with AdWords, speak
with a Google sales representative.
10. Measure and Analyze
the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Efforts
Always
ask prospective camp families how they found you — and track their
answers. Calculate how many leads and enrolled
campers generated from each source. Adjust your
marketing accordingly. For example, if one Internet
ad costs $850 and generates twenty leads and no campers, and another
costs $250 and generates fifty leads and five campers, eliminate the
costlier ad, and purchase a larger ad on the other site.
11. Use the
Funnel Approach
Great organizations, including camps,
differentiate with whom they work. Analyze prospects
on a variety of criteria — home state, referral source, and alumni
connections, family composition (e.g., all boys, boys and girls) — and
determine which are more likely to enroll. Treat all prospects well,
but give priority to the highest rated. For example, your best tour
guide should accompany your highest rated prospects on tour.
12. Eliminate
Fracture Points from the Sales Process
The sales
process "fractures" when you lose touch with a prospective customer
after a contact. Strive to maintain continuous contact with every prospect
until they either enroll or go elsewhere. Highlighted below are several,
common fracture points and ways to eliminate them.
- The sales process fractures when a prospect
first calls and reaches an answering machine.
Eliminate this fracture point by answering the
phone. If you leave your office, transfer your
calls to a cell phone. If you go on vacation,
transfer your calls to your assistant. Answer
calls at night. If you are not able to talk,
take a number and arrange for a call-back time.
The same goes for your e-mails. Check them and
respond promptly.
- Quick follow-up is essential. Don't wait
more than a day or two to call after sending
a brochure. Avoid appearing nonresponsive, particularly
when others call right away and try to take the
prospect off the market. Likewise, follow up
quickly after the camp tour. Don't wait for summer
to end and let the prospect sign on at another
camp in the interim.
- The re-enrollment application can also
fracture the sales process. Returning families
often "sit on" the application because they don't
want to take the time to complete it. Eliminate
this fracture point by offering online registration,
which enables a returning family to re-enroll
using a pre-populated, online form.
Editor's Note: Tips
for Running a Better Camp Business appeared in the 2006 September/October Camping Magazine. Additional tips from
Zenkel will be featured in the 2010 March/April Camping Magazine. Archived
issues of Camping Magazine and subsequent articles may be found on ACA's
Web site at www.ACAcamps.org/campmag/.
Originally published in the 2009 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine.
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