During Summer Marketing Strategy

Ever since I started Social Summer Camp, I’ve been baffled at how summer camps focus on marketing and recruiting all winter and spring long, only to completely stop marketing when summer starts. This isn’t just bad business, this is a crucial mistake! Summer is THE most important marketing time of the year.

During this time, we have an amazing opportunity to amplify your message to the friends and family of your campers and significantly grow word of mouth. What we do in the summer sets the stage for a fantastic next year.

Google Search data from the last year confirms this trend. As you can see, searches for “summer camp” greatly increase from April through July.

When you look at searches for “overnight camp” the volume is even more drastic. Below you can see how searches are greatly increased during the summer months.

Google is just one of the ways that we can reach this increased audience during the summer. Parents on Facebook who have an interest in summer camps tend to over index on having high home market values. This indicates that we have an opportunity to reach a very high household income audience during the summer.

Parents on Facebook with an interest in summer camps are also active Facebook users. They often click on ads and are an opportunity to gather leads during the summer.

So what should you be doing during the summer?

1. Active posting – Take advantage of the increased attention for your brand by actively posting about your camp. Make your content shareable so that parents can help you grow word of mouth.
2. Promoting your best content – Don’t expect your best content to go viral on its own. Promote your best content to reach new audiences with your core messages.
3. Advertising to drive new leads – Use the trend data to drive your advertising strategy for the summer. Work to drive new leads and get a head start on your 2018 marketing.

Camps who don’t take advantage of this lucrative time of year miss out on an opportunity to increase their business for 2020 and beyond. If you have any questions about during summer marketing, send us an email!