by Steve Cony
An often overlooked issue is the circumstances under which your marketing
message is seen, heard, and felt. While careful attention is usually given
to gathering the information for each marketing message, this same level
of attention is not always applied to when and where the message is viewed,
heard, read, and digested.
With any specific marketing tool — brochure, video, Web site,
etc. — there are several issues to consider:
- Who will view this message?
- Who will view this message first?
- Who will view this message together?
- Where will this message be viewed?
- When will this message be viewed?
- How many times might it be viewed?
- How much time will be devoted to this message?
Of course, the definitive answers to these questions can never be known.
However, applying some logic and evaluating some previous experience can
help you to craft each message for maximum impact in the actual reading/viewing
environment.
There are some general hypotheses upon which many camp professionals
agree:
- In today’s hectic environment, people
desire short messages. It is important to keep it simple, sticking
to a carefully crafted story about your camp with a single core value
proposition that can remain memorable. Avoid flooding your brochure
and Web site with endless copy. For those who either skim relentlessly
or refuse to read at all, rely on the value of photos that tell stories
all by themselves.
- Children are an important partof the camp
decision process. Every year we hear more and more stories about
parents allowing children to make the “which camp” decision
for themselves, and there are certainly many situations when the children
are the first to see the marketing materials. You must make sure that
elements of your messages have specific appeal to kids.
- Not all media lend themselves to a shared
experience. The preferred environment for discussion of your
camp remains the valuable interaction between parents and children,
children and their siblings, children and their friends, etc. Brochures
and videos continue to allow these kinds of opportunities for sharing,
but Web sites tend to be surfed by individuals in more solitary settings.
Do not rely on your Web site alone to lead to a well-rounded consideration
process.
- Many people will absorb your message in
an atmosphere of apprehension. We all tell each other how difficult
the camp decision process is for many families. But do we understand
why? Often the reason is a basic apprehension. Am I ready? Will I like
it? Will I feel safe? Will I fit in? Will I achieve? Will I make friends?
Will I like my counselors? The list sometimes seems endless —
and parents mirror these same concerns along with others of their own.
You score major victories in communicating when you exhibit an understanding
of people’s concerns, by addressing these very issues in your
message.
- People need forceful reasons to interact
during the decision process. You want parents and children talking
more about your camp than about your competitors’ camps. You want
them saying “Hey, look at this!” and “Hey, you’ve
got to read this!” And, if word-of-mouth is indeed your best source
of new enrollments, you must give people something to talk about—with
other parents, relatives, and more. Dramatic photos, creative video
sequences, and fun-filled Web sites must be included in your total marketing
tool kit.
- The cover of your brochure gets noticed
over and over again. Remember that, no matter what you print
inside your brochure, it is usually the cover that sits there on the
coffee table or kitchen table for several days or longer during the
decision process. Make sure your cover presents impressive and interesting
images and that it says more about your camp than just the name. A plastic
box with a full-color cover enhances the excitement of a VHS cassette
or a DVD more than do those standard white cardboard sleeves.
- Readers are conditioned to expect the
big news first and the details later. Too many camp brochures
and Web sites bury discussion of the mission and character of the camp
somewhere way below the rates and dates. If the most important thing
you have to say about your program is when it starts, when it ends,
and how much it costs, you need to re-evaluate much more than just the
marketing message. However, most camps do have wonderful, big stories
to tell; it is just that we operate in an environment of schedules,
and this tends to make us want to push the dates to the foreground.
- People get frustrated with surfer-unfriendly
Web sites. Even more important than what you place on your Web
site is the issue of how easily it may be accessed. Navigation through
every corner of your site should be simple, and all roads should lead
back to the home page. Remember that those who visit your site possess
varying levels of sophistication in dealing with the Internet, and it
is your job to make the experience enjoyable for all. In addition, they
do not yet know your camp lingo so make sure not to use unfamiliar terms.
- Lots of unsolicited mail gets thrown away
without being opened. If you use direct mail, which can be a
very effective medium, make sure to compel the recipient to look inside.
This task begins in the lower left corner of the mail panel, where you
should include copy which “teases” and/or promises the benefit
to be had by simply opening the mail piece. Sorting through the daily
mail is generally a rather “disengaged” process. Thus, if
your mail is not anticipated like a letter from Grandma or a check from
the U.S. Treasury, you need to make it very, very intriguing.
- Camp tours often happen at the wrong time
of the year. Many camps — most often day camps —
invite visitors year-round — particularly if the camp office is
on-site. This is risky, because camp cannot possibly look like camp
in January or February. If you entertain visitors on-site during the
off-season, you must be sure to make camp come alive. This replicating
of the summer experience is best done via video. Remember, though, that
this version of your video must remain brief, so that you and they do
not have to sit through a long presentation.
If you concentrate on what you have to say, you have addressed only
the first half of the communications dynamic. If you analyze the target
audience in terms of demographics, you have begun to complete the second
half of the equation. However, the quality of attention that any marketing
message receives is actually more important than the number of people
reached. When your message enters the home of a target prospect via your
Web site, brochure, or direct-mail piece, it must then gain and hold attention,
or it might as well not be there. Think carefully about when, where, and
how your message is being seen, heard, and analyzed — and you will
most certainly strengthen your marketing approach.
Originally published in the 2003 July/August
issue of Camping Magazine. |
