I've spent three whole nights at Eagle's Nest Camp and have had a great time. I've met a whirlwind of campers, parents and counselors who have begun teaching me the camp lingo and culture. As a suburban baby-boomer I think I'm holding my own pretty darn well. Granted, I'm not roughing it -- I have a comfy twin bed with clean sheets I brought from home, by own squishy pillow, screens on the windows to keep out critters, and really good coffee from a local roaster in town. I even admit I went to the local WalMart and bought some very non-organic, generic sugar substitute to sweeten my coffee. I have my computer, a wireless connection and my yoga DVDs. Life is good. Right now I'm sitting on the back porch just off the staff lounge where I'm blogging and caffeinating among the sounds of nature -- chirping birds, cicadas and laughing campers. Ahhhh -- the sounds of summer. My porch feels like a tree-house as it is about 50 feet off the ground nestled in a grove of pine and oak trees.
I see marketing opportunities everywhere and plan to share as many as possible, here, on my blog. So whether you are in the residential camp business or work with a park and recreation department, faith based, non profit or private day camp -- you'll sure to find lots of great tips of the next few weeks -- direct from my adventure in camp marketing immersion.
Immediately, I'm struck by the counselor commitment. Most camp counselors are young -- very, very young. Senior counselors age out of their jobs by their early twenties.
In a era of crummy customer service, it's overwhelming to witness how compassionate and empathetic these young adults are, whether tending to a homesick child or dealing with a parent suffering from separation anxiety. (Who me? Couldn't be!) Because most counselors grew up as campers, they intimately experience the camp "products." Their opinion is golden. Further, their ability to recruit other great staff as well as campers, in the off-season should be amplified by meaningful incentives and motivators. If you want to spend less time, energy recruiting next year's staff -- talk to this year's team. Ask them:
- What could we do to motivate you to help recruit great counselors, like you? Don't be shocked if they ask for money. More importantly, don't push the idea of generous cash-incentives aside because you are a "non-profit" or have limited funds. Think of these incentives as part of your recruitment budget and see #4 below. I'll bet staff incentives would be a better use of your money (not to mention your staff really need the money!) than some of your other recruitment expenditures. And, if cash seems too impersonal, consider gift cards, travel vouchers, gas cards, camp gear, high end apparel and time off.
- what could we do to motivate you to recruit campers? Again, I'll bet 70 to 80 percent of your new campers are referred by current or previous campers and staff. Invest you marketing funds into what (and WHO) works for you!
- What tools do you need us to provide for you to make this recruitment job easier? (Brochures, business cards, encouragement, rather than discouragement to talk about your camp experiences on your MySpace/FaceBook/YouTube posts, promotional items that you could give to friends, family, strangers with the camp logo/website/slogan)
- How did you find out about this job? Document these answers to see if you are getting sufficient ROI (return on investment) from your marketing tools. In other words, are spending too much money on traditional recruitment tools (ads in directories and on line; job fairs, print advertising)? Should you be spending more of your recruitment budget on employee incentives? Referral rewards?
No matter what your "business" the best salespeople are super-satisfied customers. The second-best salespeople are super-satisfied staff. 
However nothing is better than a customer who evolves into a top-notch staff member like Innes Gamble (pictured at the left) who, after spending her childhood as an Eagle's Nest Camper graduated from college and is now a full-time, year round member of the management team.
Over the next week I will be surveying Eagle's Nest Staff like Innes to find out the answers to these and other critical marketing questions. Check back often to find out what I've learned. In the meantime -- COMMENT below to let me know what gems your staff have shared with you over the years that have helped you better promote and market your camp and programs.
