Tell Your D*mn Story!

Marketing Summer Camp MUST be Personal.

New camp parents don't care about your 2 to 1 ratio or being "nestled down by Lake Whatsitsface".  

They have no idea what you mean by the words "traditional summer camp".

You won't reach them by spouting these clichés of summer camp marketing.

You have to reach out to people emotionally if you want to develop the kind of relationship that culminates in them handing over care of their children to you! People are not going to do that if they only thing they know about you is your email address.  They won't do it if they have no idea what the people in charge of your camp look like.  It will not happen.

How do we reach new camp parents then?

Tell your stories.  Tell YOUR story.  Not just how and why camp was founded (important, yes, but not essential), but your own story, too.  You're going to have to get personal.

As an extrovert, I acknowledge, this is not my struggle.   Beth might tell you that I've been known to share more than is necessary.

If this is your struggle, then I encourage you to find a way that doesn't freak you out.  Try a podcast or a photo essay or a whiteboard video or have someone interview you (and keep saying to yourself: I'm only talking to ONE person, this person in front of me).

One of the things that I have been thinking about a lot this year is how to make story-telling easier for everyone.  How can we teach this skill to our staff and campers? How can we make this our strongest marketing tool?   I'll let you know what I come up with.

Using Story Telling in a Surprising Manner

Check this out (hat tip to Ann Handley from Marketing Profs for bringing this to my attention!): a political ad that is new and interesting (who'da thought).

What makes it interesting?

Story.

What camp story are you going to tell?