In November 2012, my article, “Search Marketing on the Web — Drive New Camper Enrollment and Alternative Businesses,” appeared in Camping Magazine. Now, five-and-a-half years later, we revisit this topic for the first time. The 2012 article was a primer with basic strategies and some examples for camps.

Summer is here and the campers are on their way! You're busy making last-minute preparations, training staff members, and getting ready for a summer filled with memories. You can put your marketing plans aside until the fall, right?

Think again. Marketing your camp is a year-round effort and summer is the best time to kick off your campaign for next season. Keeping positive memories alive in campers' minds throughout the year is essential to generating repeat business. It can also help you attract new campers in the future.

If you've ever taken a high school or college marketing class, you probably learned early on about the "Four Ps of Marketing." Since the 1940s these Classic Ps (Price, Product, Placement, and Promotion) were used to steer communications activities for businesses and organizations. However, over the course of my twenty plus years working primarily with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses, I've found that there are at least four more Ps that need to be added to this classic mix.

“Online reputation management.” Even if you’ve never heard this phrase before, you probably have a good sense of what it means. The first part (“online reputation”) is easier than ever for you or anyone else to find — just search for your camp’s name in Google.

Finding your online reputation is easy due to two main factors:

We live in an era of experiences and community. What does that mean? Camp directors and staff just spent the past months creating memorable experiences for their campers, ensuring that every child felt welcome, engaged, safe, and inspired at camp. Parents were reassured that their children were having fun and were well cared for — and they were entertained during visiting days. Relationships were forged, and memories were made.

Marketing has changed drastically over the last few years. We are now in an era where brands are expected to be online — listening and engaging with their customers. There are so many avenues open to camps to get their message out to consumers. Where should you start? How did we get here? In this article, we look at how we arrived at this time of heightened consumer engagement and review the top five social marketing tools camps can employ to get their message out to prospective parents and campers. Brochures and registration forms used to be the bread and butter of summer camp enrollment.