Marketing camp to parents and children - includes related article

Camping Magazine, Nov-Dec, 1995 by Steven R. Cony

Most traditional marketing pieces are targeted to parents. But, every time you interact with a prospective camp family, you really interact with two target audiences: parents and children. To promote your camp with maximum effectiveness, direct your marketing efforts to each of these distinct decision makers.

Define your target audiences

In the camp decision process, parents and children each think through their own issues. Whether the final decision is a negotiation, directive, or pitched battle, both parents and children usually enter the decision process armed with those perceptions they have developed while each has thought separately and independently about your camp.

Once you accept the dynamics of the family decision-making process, it becomes apparent that a fully-equipped marketing approach for your camp should include messages that communicate separately and effectively to parents and children.

Does this mean two separate packages? Two brochures? Two quarterly newsletters? And, most foreboding, two videos? Not necessarily. Acknowledging the dynamics of a family's interactions need not send the marketing budget through the roof. Look at your current marketing efforts and find room for a child-directed message.

For example, some camps produce two-color brochures that fold accordion-style and are actually perforated at the center. The brochures answer commonly-asked questions; the answers on the left are parent-directed, and the right half restates these issues for prospective campers. Family members are encouraged to tear down the middle and read the half written specifically for them.

Identify audience concerns

The message you want to give your multiple target audiences depends on what each of these audiences looks for when scouting your camp.

Parents

As for parents, the Private/Independent Camps Council-commissioned Maguire research study reported that parents whose children had a previous camp experience look for a tangible return on their investment. These parents defined value as:

* Fun for their children

* Caring counselors

* Safety

* Personal attention

* An overall quality experience

In an American Camping Association-sponsored Boston focus group study with parents whose family had not previously experienced camp, the top three elements of value were identified as:

* Staffing and supervision

* Safety

* Activities

In both studies, a nurturing environment, learning new skills, and a dynamic atmosphere were strongly desired as value components of an overall quality experience at camp. Parents look for these attributes in your promotional message.

Children

From talking with campers, camp directors know that children and teens look to camp for fun, fun, and more fun. Young people might also expect to make new friends and to meet cool counselors. Depict these aspects of camp in your message to prospective campers.

Develop a targeted message

Once you have identified each audience's concerns, the next step is to determine the best approach to convince each audience your camp meets their needs.

In the Boston focus group research, parents told ACA that the strongest influence on their camp decision making is other parents' referrals via word-of-mouth. So, to convince your parent target audience, replicate the word-of-mouth process via testimonials and parent interviews.

Many camp owners receive wonderful praise-filled letters then mis-file or discard them. These are prized possessions; guard them carefully and plan to use them whenever appropriate. When you quote camp parents, make sure the comments sound real and relatively unsolicited.

Since most camps already target messages to parents, the true challenge is to incorporate camper-oriented selling messages. The following guidelines have proven effective.

Print media

1. Determine the age level of your camper target audience.

You may host campers ages 6-16 or 8-17, but you probably recruit at the younger end of that range. Most camper-oriented marketing materials should skew younger in appeal, directed toward children considering their first camp experience.

2. Use words that are easily read and understood.

3. Don't lie to kids.

My son resented his first camp experience because the brochure made a big point about campers being able to choose activities. In reality, perhaps because of his young age, he had no choice of activities.

4. Test your creativity before you roll the presses.

Find children whose ages match your target. Show them your manuscript, your rough sketches, etc. Let them tell you what they like and don't like about the message.

Look to your staff (especially those who are also teachers) to help plan, design, and write your camper-oriented communications. Remember that promoting to children involves creativity with purpose of persuasion, not just creativity for the sake of education or enjoyment.

5. Use action photos that convey fun.

While adults know that fun is the vehicle through which results (such as increased self-esteem, new skills, etc.) are achieved, children and teens focus on the fun. Action-oriented photos can serve both messages.