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I love the idea of creating holiday-specific messaging for your camp. Most camps have a good brand voice, but don't often change their brand voice to focus on timely events. We talked yesterday about how to set long-term and short-term holiday goals for your summer camp. Once you have completed that, it's time to figure out what messaging you are going to use to reach your goal. Usually when creating messaging I recommend figuring out the following first: What three main...

Holiday planning for summer camps

Posted on September 25, 2013

It may only be the end of September, but camps should definitely be thinking about the holidays already. Why is that, you ask? Because most moms decide what they are going to get their kids in the months of October and November. We all know that a summer at camp makes an amazing holiday gift, so it is very important to stay in front of these moms. I'll be doing a series over the next few weeks about how to...

Social media and summer camp video trainings

Posted on September 23, 2013

I have a lot of video trainings available on my YouTube channel and I wanted to make sure that you all had access to them. I'm uploading more each day, so make sure and check out my channel here. Here are some of the most useful video trainings available: Top three ways to target Facebook ads for summer camps How to track social activity using the Google Conversion Tracking Pixel and the Facebook Conversion Tracking Pixel How to build Twitter ads for summer camps...

Creating a Pinterest board for your summer camp

Posted on September 18, 2013

in Social Tools

If you love pinning on Pinterest as much as I do, then this post is for you! Pinterest is a great marketing tool for camps to share photos, articles and tips in a fun and engaging way. It can be difficult to get started pinning, but once you have your boards set up it can come pretty easily. Here are some ideas for Pinterest boards for summer camps: - Packing list and tips - Camp recipes and foods - Camp activities - Camp staff -...

Thoughts on “marketing” as a bad word

Posted on September 16, 2013

in Camp Inspiration

A lot of camps I talk to don't want to prioritize marketing as one of their main goals for their summer camp. I hear a lot of people say that it just isn't a priority, or they don't have time to fully focus on it and a number of other excuses for why marketing isn't that important to them. But the more and more I think about camps who think that "marketing" is a bad word, the more and more...

How does your email open rate compare?

Posted on September 11, 2013

One of the most successful ways for camps to market is through email. I happen to love email marketing, especially if like most camps you already have a list of parents and campers who have opted-in to receiving your newsletters and updates. That being said, I am definitely concerned about email marketing open rates and how camp email marketing has become less effective in the past few years. There is no exact email marketing open rate benchmark for summer camps, but...

How to make your Instagram photos beautiful

Posted on September 9, 2013

in Social Tools

One of the keys to having a really engaging Instagram account is to post beautiful photos. Summer camps have it easy because most of their photos are already beautiful (lakes, mountains, trees, etc.), but it's always fun to add a little something extra to your photos. My favorite app for making beautiful Instagram photos is Over. You can add text, pre-made images, borders, colors, etc. to your photos using this app. It's pretty awesome when it comes to making your Instagram...

How much money should a camp spend on ads?

Posted on September 6, 2013

Most companies, all the way from start ups to huge corporations, don't feel like they need to pay anything for advertising. I'm sure this stems somewhat from all of the awesome free social media tools that are available to companies. Even though these tools can be extremely powerful in driving results, I feel very strongly that summer camps should at least be spending a small amount of money on ads. Well, how much money you ask? As much money as...

Social Media Roundup for Camps- September

Posted on September 4, 2013

in Social Media Roundup