by Steve Cony
Marketing your camp often involves communicating with parents who are
not experts at the selection process. In many cases, you are presenting
your camp’s story to people who have never before made such a choice.
For the purpose of this discussion, let’s call these people “neophytes,”
defined as a novice or a beginner.
Parents in these families may or may not be camp veterans themselves.
If they themselves are former campers, they carry their memories and perceptions,
positive or otherwise, with them. If they are not camp veterans, their
approach to this first-time process is based solely on what they have
heard and what they have read.
Educating the Neophyte
You must take these people from their current perceptions, defined by
the issues they raise, and gently yet purposefully move them to a higher
point of awareness and understanding. The process of effective marketing
is to explain your product and to position that product in its most favorable
light. For the marketing of your camp, this process involves educating
neophytes about those issues that are truly relevant to the decision.
Conversely, it is equally important to use the marketing process to help
neutralize issues that get in the way of an intelligent camp decision.
Answering parents’ questions
The questions parents ask you and your staff reveal common issues parents
face as they consider sending their child to your camp. Here are sample
quotations from parents and suggestions for appropriate marketing responses.
Many of the quotations were provided by educational psychologist and camp
consultant Barbara K. Sugrue.
- “She’s so disorganized. She’ll get so nervous if she can’t find her
lunch!”
- “Do you have a lost and found? My son will be a regular visitor!”
- “How do you keep track of every child throughout the day?”
These questions express concerns not so much about the child . . . but
about your camp! These parents want to know if you are the one who is
organized. The very first way you can begin to communicate your own commitment
to organization is through the appearance of your marketing materials.
Typographical errors may seem innocent to you, but they suggest a lackadaisical
attitude. Various flyers, none of which bear resemblance to each other,
eat away at perceptions of consistency. Remember, most of your prospects
do not know you, and they are not familiar with your camp operation. What
they see is what they think they get.
- “Will my child have enough choices at mealtime? He’s a picky eater.”
- “Who takes care of my daughter if she gets hurt or sick?”
- “Will my child be able to call home whenever she wants to?”
These are in the myriad of important and practical matters that worry
parents. Find a way to answer them up front, and you will project dependability.
However, make certain that these issues do not become the primary focus
of your communication. You do much more for your campers than serve salad
bars and employ responsible medical professionals. The practical matters
should be covered fully, but separately from more enduring and more value-infused
messages about what makes your camp special.
Perhaps the best way to treat the practical issues is to include a Frequently-Asked-Questions
(FAQ) piece with your marketing materials. The answers you provide in
the FAQ will help parents recognize your care about their concerns and
your willingness to deal with all of them. It is important to reinforce
that anything not answered in the marketing materials can be discussed
on the phone. Encourage this interaction and reassure neophytes that there
are no stupid questions.
- “How will they know when to push and when not to push my son?”
- “His Grammy just died. How will they handle his tears?”
- “How do I know he’ll be safe from being exposed to . . . ?”
These questions tell you the parents need to understand and believe in
your philosophy of caring for and nurturing children. They will entrust
their priceless possession to you — or to someone — and they must have
reassurance. Use a consistent, reaffirming message from the directors
— in your brochure, Web site, and video. Include yourself and staff in
your video.
- “How will the counselors handle it if someone hurts his feelings?”
- “Will he be safe at swimming lessons?”
- “Do the camp directors check on the counselors? After all, they’re
human too!”
Find a way to uniquely feature your staff and your training program.
Remember, if all you do is talk about your mature, caring, professional
staff, the words will dissolve into the sameness of too many other camps’
messages. Design your staff recruitment and training messages around the
following questions: Where and how do you recruit your staff? What do
they look like? How do they feel about children? What is orientation like?
How do you monitor their work throughout the summer?
- “I can’t do anything with him. YOU try!”
- “I hated camp, but I have to go to work!”
- “She’d better have fun! This is costing me a fortune!”
Well . . . take a deep breath, then carefully plan to deliver a high-impact
value message about the camp experience at your operation. Parents who
approach camp with any of the above perceptions are in critical need of
a deeper understanding about the camp experience and about their own children.
These parents will not benefit from a camp story describing equipment
and facilities. Even if you base your entire story around programming,
you have not gone far enough. To talk about only equipment, facilities,
and programming is limiting yourself to talking features, not benefits.
You can make a compelling presentation based on a personalized version
of your camp’s key messages about the value of what your camp has to offer!
The first statement —“YOU try!” — lacks an understanding that the camp
experience is a partnership in parenting. Parents who claim to have hated
camp must understand that everyone is different, including their offspring,
and that camp can be a life-altering experience. They must understand
that, as a camp director, life-altering experiences are your goals. Finally,
those who repeatedly discuss the issue of high cost must be encouraged
to see their child’s camp experience as an investment in growth and development.
- “She wanted to go to a different camp, but I want this one!”
This is a big issue: Who makes the ultimate decision? Parents should
retain decision power when the implications are significant. (Would the
same parent abdicate the nursery school decision or the college decision
totally to the child?) Parents should be encouraged to take the lead,
but they should also recognize the reality of “child empowerment” in today’s
society. While you encourage parents to make good mature camp choices,
your camp’s marketing message should include appeals to the child as well
as the parent.
Clear, well-planned messages explaining the value of the camp experience,
your camp’s philosophy, and your commitment to excellence are powerful
tools to help you answer tough questions and change parents and campers’
perceptions of you and your camp.
Originally published in the 2001 September/October
issue of Camping Magazine. |
