Random ruminations - maximizing marketing efforts for youth services

Camping Magazine, March-April, 1995 by David A. Hilliard

Two consonants and a vowel can make all the difference. So said Stephen Kanhert of Columbus, Ohio to members of the Easter Seal organization recently assembled to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Kanhert is a fund-raiser and marketer extraordinaire. Once, when he served as a consultant to Wyman, we worked together for six weeks and raised $300,000 cold-calling local corporate executives. And he left us with an "investor relations" strategy that has helped us raise and earn millions more. So when Kanhert says two consonants and a vowel can make all the difference, I listen for wisdom to follow.

"Take the word 'compassion,'" Steve said. "Many people are lead to human services or youth work because of sincere compassion for people. We want to help, to make a difference. But most of us struggle along with inadequate resources to make that difference. Because being compassionate isn't enough."

"Now, drop the first two consonants and the first vowel and what do you have? Passion! That's what we need. More importantly, that's what we need to instill in those who buy from or invest in us." Steve is right. That summer we raised a lot of money by raising the level of "passion" in our corporate funders.

Our shared experience and Steve's ideas about three little letters caused me to think about ACA's public relations campaign. 100 million media exposures this past summer raised the passion level in a lot of us in the camp field. Puffed us up and made us feel good. And I'm sure it raised the compassion level of people who saw the results. But media exposure alone will not instill passion for our product. Building on the success of the media campaign, we need to focus on forming strategic alliances with leaders in education and child development. When people like Marian Wright Edelman and Jonathan Kozel talk about the importance of the American Camping Association and the work of its member camps, then we'll be in the position to instill passion for our work among those who buy or invest in our work. The same holds true of our individual camps. So long as we let others define us, so long as the public perceives us as a discretionary purchase, we will labor with too few resources and we will teeter on the brink of being considered "expendable" by society.

What to do?

Measure the results of what we do and then tell the world. Distinguish between what is vital to our success and what we cling to for tradition's sake.

Then ACT. Hey, another vowel and two consonants! Credit again to my friend, Steve. He used it in conjunction with the word NOW, of course! Here's how he put it to the Easter Seals organization: "Can you conceive of an idea, which if implemented, would make a fundamental difference in the success of your organization?"

We all have lists of such ideas. Given the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Easter Seals, Steve challenged those assembled to write down their idea and then to define where they would be toward fulfillment of the idea in 75 days, 75 weeks, and 75 months. I'm sure a lot of people left that Easter Seals assembly with dynamite 75-day and 75-week ideas and plans. I'm equally sure most ideas ended up being filed, shot-down, or rung through second-thoughts upon return to every day life. I know I've let go of good ideas for being tentative or risk-averse. We fail to realize our dreams when we lack the will to act, to change, to commit to a given outcome within a given period of time, and then to devote energy and resources to making it happen. (I've just made a 75-day/75-week commitment to an idea that could be worth millions to Wyman Center. Ask me how I'm doing when you come to Orlando.)

Support systems

People lose focus without a support system to sustain their passion. Wyman Center recently struggled against losing focus.

Many readers know that over the past five years, Wyman Center has bought land and improved our facilities. The management team believed that having plenty of land, proximate to St. Louis, secure against development and replete with the finest facilities, would give us a secure future. We devote 15% to 25% of our dollars to maintaining our facilities.

Many readers also know we believe in hiring from outside the industry, appreciating the value of someone from outside viewing our world with us. Brad Sharpe recently joined Wyman's senior management team after spending fifteen years in commercial banking. He's a rock solid businessman and a brilliant marketer. His first question in a recent strategic planning session was "Why do you own all this land?" We patiently explained to him how the magical, mystical milieu of children, counselors, programs, and the outdoors makes wonderful things happen for all. "I buy that," he said, "but, do we have to own and maintain the land? It seems to me that putting that money into staff and programs would create more demand to serve more children."

"Banks," Brad pointed out, "have learned that owning the asset doesn't add to the quality of service or the bottom line. In fact, banks don't want you in their lobbies. Too much overhead. They want you at the ATM or at the branch in the local grocery store. Controllable, predictable overhead, greater public access and, therefore, greater volume and greater profits."