This is a guest post by Emily Henry.
Marketing for summer camps is not an easy feat. You don’t have just one audience to market to but multiple ones. You need to sell your camp to not only campers, which are a younger audience, but to their parents, future staff members as well as students. The same marketing approach just won’t cut it. You need to use different marketing strategies to entice all the above parties to get involved in your camp.
Why one tactic for all doesn’t cut it?
Basically, you are trying to attract the attention of three very different groups, one is a 9-12 child, one a mother, and the other is a college student home for the summer, looking for a job. They all have very different needs and trying to find a marketing strategy that will cater to the needs of all three is nigh impossible.
This means you are better off creating individual marketing strategies. This is made slightly easier with digital marketing, as you can create very content-specific marketing, which will target each audience perfectly, but it relies on everyone being tech savvy and using technology in the first place, a trait that not all parents are comfortable with.
Marketing to Parents
Parents of new and returning campers are the most obvious choice for targeting your marketing campaigns. They are the ones after all who make the final decision on whether their child is attending your camp, and they pay the camp bill.
Parents tend to be a bit harder to cater to, marketing wise, as some are very tech-savvy while others shy away from social media. Using a combined social media and direct mail marketing approach works best for winning over parents.
LinkedIn is a great social media platform to advertise to parents, as they tend to be professionals who stay off of Facebook and Instagram. It is one of the most accessed social networking sites on the web today. If you have never used it before, simply create a business profile for your camp and share updates, post content and be sure to interact with parents of returning campers as well as prospective new ones.
Direct Mail marketing is old school, and many parents are more comfortable and will pay attention more to this marketing technique. 56% percent of customers say print marketing is the most trustworthy kind of marketing, and chances are it’s your camp’s parental audience. Use this to your advantage by sending out regular updates to returning campers.
Marketing for New and Returning Campers
The success of your camp relies on not only getting returning campers year after year but also landing new campers. Returning campers eventually age out of camping, so getting a younger generation in is essential to keep your camp in business.
Campers must want to choose your summer camp, therefore marketing to them is critical and an important part of your marketing campaign. The best way to do this is by using social media. Instagram is a great place to showcase to would-be campers how much fun they will have, diving into your camp’s programming. This also helps remind returning campers how much fun they had previously. Advertising the camp packages way before the season begins. Be sure to highlight the lasting friendships that are forged at your camp.
Another way is to partner up with schools. Arranging and hosting in-person events are great ways to get students thinking about the summer and going to your summer camp. You can make these open to the whole family, marketing to parents as well.
Marketing to Counsellors
You have wooed campers and parents alike with your creative marketing strategies, but your camp cannot run without staff.
Marketing to your future camp employees is also just as important. There are a lot of summer camps to choose from and you need to be able to stand out, so you will get the best staff.
Keeping in touch with your return counsellors as well as advertising for new hires on LinkedIn are excellent ways to reach out to prospective staff.
Different marketing strategies are essential for targeting parents, campers, and prospective summer camp staff members.
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Emily Henry is a writer at UK Writings and Academic Writing Service. She writes for college students.
Thanks very informing