Spring Fling or Summer Romance?

A New Camp Parent’s Thoughts on Creating Customer Loyalty

by Camarin Wanamaker

A few weeks ago, when the camp brochures started rolling in, our 7-year-old daughter Frankie said, “Mom, I don’t want to go back to Day Camp X. Please don’t send me there!” My heart twinged with guilt and a will to make her summer great this year. As both a parent and a professional working with camps across the country, I wondered what this camp could have done differently to win our attendance for another summer?

If you think of it like dating, there are 3 critical phases to ensure a second date:

1.    Before: First Impressions Count

How many hoops do parents have to jump through to “date” you? Registration is a prime testing phase for new relationships. Day Camp X’s process was paper-driven and confusing, requiring several trips to complete. Show parents you ‘get it’ by leveraging the automation of technology with a personal touch that reflects your camp’s brand.

2. During: Woo Us

Kids: Last year, Frankie started Day Camp X’s summer session a few weeks late. By that time, connections had already been established and she never felt included.  This risk period could have been mitigated by assigning buddies, alerting counselors, and emailing extra orientation collateral to us.

Parents: We don’t mean to forget swim day. It was bad enough that I had to reschedule meetings and trek home for Frankie’s forgotten swimsuit, but the well-meaning counselor who pointed out where I should have seen the reminder (on the checkout sheet), didn’t help. A reminder text that morning, an email the day before, or a take-home calendar for the following week to stick on the refrigerator would show you understand and care how much we’re juggling.

4. After: Call me, maybe

A post-camp survey (and follow-up) tells me you’re interested in a relationship. If there was chemistry, we can provide great quotes and references for you. If we struggled, we can be encouraged to give camp a second chance.

Day Camp X’s generic fliers that were identical to last year’s made me feel as if we’d never met. Compare that to one camp that asked campers to write a short postcard about their camp experience. When registration opened the next summer, the camp sent this note to the camper’s parents. It’s a thoughtful way to say ‘Remember all the fun we had together?’ 

I want Frankie to grow up with awesome camp memories, not ones that are merely satisfactory.  That’s why we’re still playing the summer camp field, knowing that her perfect camp is out there somewhere, waiting to embrace her. 

Camarin manages the Youth and Education Account Management team at ACTIVE Network.

12 June 2013 ·

Not Your Grandmother’s Word of Mouth

We’ve been digging more into the Mom Market this year. Just recently, we stumbled upon another aspect of the female phenomenon that could make sense as a way to get your camp name in front of moms.

There’s an Internet niche called the Mommy Blogosphere. Tech savvy women with ideas and opinions, smart writing skills, and dynamic online personalities have become an advertising channel that some of today’s biggest brands are plugging into. The Mommy Blogosphere has taken word of mouth to a whole ‘nother level.

This is important because word of mouth from other moms is Mom’s most trusted source of information. When a blogger with thousands of followers talks about a product, service or YOUR CAMP, the message goes out to those thousands of followers. But then, many of those followers may tweet, repost or share the blog post to their entire online community. That could be a lot of eyeballs on your camp’s name.

The cost of sponsoring one of these bloggers to write about your camp directly correlates to the number of followers the blogger has, but the targeted, word-of-mouth factor makes this a far better value than traditional advertising.

Find out more by downloading our free resource: Best-Kept Camps Marketing Secret: The Mommy Blogosphere. You’ll learn three ways to tap into the Blogosphere to market your camp, and a few tips to be aware of, if you decide to go in that direction.

27 May 2013 ·

Anonymous asked: This is our first year of camp and while the response and interest from the community has been overwhelming, I still don't have any registrations in yet and it's 12 days til deadline! Advice??

Congrats on your first year and the response you have received from the community.   We have seen some camps offer discounts for their first year to help drive registrations. Something like sibling discounts do a great job of both encouraging parents to register and getting more kids at camp.

Please keep us posted as to how you are doing!

Good luck!

22 April 2013 ·

Is The Customer Always Right?

The motto of “old-school” customer service was “The customer is always right”. It is usually credited to Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909, to compel employees to give customers good service and to convince customers that they would get it at his store.

Taken to an extreme in our day, many customers believe this motto to be a constitutional right. It has been badly abused and is being abandoned by many companies who realize that trying to meet the needs of everyone is a costly and ineffective way to meet the needs of those who truly want, need and value their services.

For example, Author Alexander Kjerulf tells the story of a frequent Southwest flier who complained after every flight. After repeated attempts to appease her, her final grievance (about the sportiness of the flight attendants’ uniforms) was forwarded in desperation to the CEO, Herb Kelleher, who immediately wrote back, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”

“New-school “customer service is different:

·       It’s targeted to the customers you want to keep

In terms of ROI, customers who are “not right”—for your camp—are simply too expensive, time-consuming and exhausting to try to keep.

At the same time, camps’ target market is MOM. She means business and you HAVE to keep up with her! There’s a fine line here that must be understood.

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8 April 2013 ·

What I learned at the ACA Conference

 My name is A.J., and I have been an avid camper my entire life. I attended traditional and sports camps throughout  my childhood, and leadership camps during high school. Since then, I’ve had an opportunity to sit on both sides of the interview table, both as a job candidate and as a recruiter. I’ve hired a multitude of positions, ranging from minimum wage to six-figure income  positions, and have interfaced with everyone from small business owners to Executive Vice Presidents of Fortune 500 companies. I’m here to share my knowledge of the transferable skills that camp provides for young people today.
 
The American Camp Association National Conference ended last Friday in Dallas, sending hundreds of camp professionals back to their respective parts of the world with new ideas for the summer of 2013. The theme of this year’s conference was “Learning For Life,” paving the way for summer camp professionals to collaborate on new, fresh perspectives that are going to transform the way our nation’s future enters the workforce.
 

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6 March 2013 ·

8 Signs It’s Time to Rethink Your Camp Management System

You’ve learned a lot since you began managing camps and now you’re better able to evaluate the processes, systems and technology your camp needs to be successful. Camps have evolved and camp technology has too.

We’ve assembled a list of eight signs that mean your current approach has outlived its usefulness.

1.     Your online registration form is a downloadable PDF on your website

Because your form is “online” doesn’t mean you offer online registration… Families expect 24/7 convenience to complete the camp registration process at their leisure – from selecting camp dates, to choosing a transport option, to indicating dietary restrictions, to adding extra activities, all the way to requesting bunk buddies and buying camp merchandise. Look for a system that can handle all that, plus more.

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5 March 2013 ·

Trust Your Gut, But Use Your Data

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21 February 2013 ·

And the Winner is….

CAMP TECUMSEH YMCA WINS ACTIVE NETWORK CAMPERSHIP GRANT, GIVES DAY CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS TO 10 KIDS

Camp Tecumseh YMCA of Brookston, Indiana, was selected as the winner of the ACTIVE Network Campership Grant Contest on January 15, 2013. The $1,000 Grant was open for entries November 20 to December 31, 2012, and was established to support camps that were looking for funds to sponsor deserving children. More than 450 camps from Canada and the U.S. submitted a Grant entry form and the winner was selected at random among qualifying applicants.

“Camp Tecumseh YMCA is very honored to receive this $1,000 from ACTIVE Network! We will use the funds to provide scholarships for 10 day campers from our surrounding counties this summer,” comments Ben Meyaard, Director of Camper Support at Camp Tecumseh YMCA.

Located on 500 acres of riverfront woodlands, Camp Tecumseh YMCA offers day camps and resident camps to youths aged 8 to 15, along with retreats, leadership training and outdoor education. The camp aims to offer superb experiences to campers within a caring Christian environment.

“Our programs have a huge impact on less-advantaged youth. One parent recently commented on how a yearly week-long day camp at Camp Tecumseh had transformed her son, allowing him to grow in confidence, joy and faith over the years,” adds Meyaard. “Thank you again, ACTIVE Network, for supporting our mission and campers across America!”

“Our team’s vision is to help transform our youth to be more engaged and active. Giving more kids the opportunity to experience camp via our ACTIVE Campership Grant is a logical program for us to offer,” says Stephen Branstetter, General Manager of Youth & Education at ACTIVE Network. “We’re thrilled to support Camp Tecumseh YMCA in their mission.”

ACTIVE Network is the reference in activity and participation management technology, serving over 50,000 customers nationwide, including more than 2,000 camps. ACTIVE’s camp management solutions help GET more campers, MANAGE camps operations efficiently and BUILD an engaged camp community.

ACTIVE Network is a member and supporter of the ACA, PCCCA, CCCA and OCA.

21 January 2013 ·