I recently read and ACA article titled Why Camp Marketing Isn’t Seasonal.
I couldn’t agree more with the position of the article.
So, where do we go from here? What should my fall marketing look like for my summer camp?
Here are 3 marketing tips for your summer camp that should drive more leads and ultimately help you get more campers.
- Create a social media calendar and post regularly.
A very obvious but needed marketing todo during the fall is to set up your social media calendar. What is that exactly? I recommend white-boarding all messaging and content for off-season months (September-May). Create 2-3 posts per week (8-12 per month) that center around why your camp exists. Each month can have a new theme. One tool that I recommend and use that makes this easier is Hootsuite.
- Connect with your families who have yet to enroll.
One barrier to camp being over is that it is harder to connect with families. Camp is not going on, and your families are obviously less engaged. Communication is everything during the off-season. Communication is also the way you care for your families, be it ones who have already enrolled or who have yet to enroll. Consider setting up a communication calendar for both groups, including touch points each month. This could include a postcard, Christmas Card, or personal email that reminds your camp families that you are thinking about them. If you don’t communicate, then you are not thinking about them!
- Set up your sales funnel so that it’s a well-oiled machine come January.
Here at Grow My Camp we regularly say, “It’s all about the funnel”. Fall marketing for your summer camp is ultimately about getting your funnel set up. What is a sales funnel? It’s essentially a way to connect all marketing tools and communication so that you are nurturing prospective family conversations in a timely and relevant way. It also leads to signing up more campers. What does this practically look like in the fall season? The big thing here is to make sure all your tools are updated, connected, and ready to go. For example, you want to make sure that your new lead email automation is current, relevant, and truly answering your prospects’ biggest questions.
In short, building a social media plan, communicating regularly with your camp families, and tuning up your sales funnel are key to filling up your bunks come summer.
Have questions about how to build a sales funnel or grow your camp enrollment? Feel free to email me at travis@camphuawni.com.