• No print ads, which require lead time and inability to change/cancel copy on an existing ad. • No capital investment to support running new programs until activity is a “go.” Let’s examine a few of these steps in a bit more detail so you can put them into action. They also apply to your core camp business, too, so they are skills you will want to develop or buy. Add Page to Web Site Just as you would add a new page to your Web site to highlight new programming at camp, each discrete business initiative Case Studies The following case studies provide examples of how camps are using the Web to test and promote new camp ventures. Marissa Goodman Alliben, the second-generation associate director of Rolling River Day Camp in Oceanside, New York, has begun to leverage her staff’s skills and the camp’s facilities in running programs (such as birthday parties) for children to bring more folks onto the camp’s physical site, thereby cross-pollinating (more off-season children can become summer campers and more of those campers can engage in off-season programming). She has also been working to carve out niches for the next generation of owners that provide some autonomy and commensurate income. The successful foundation laid by the first generation provided the assets and capital to test and build on extensions. Science Camps of America, operated by Mike Richards, a retired software entrepreneur from Oahu, Hawaii, completed its first summer and realized in order to thrive as a summer camp, it needed to expand its mission to provide yearround science education programming to children across the Hawaiian Islands. It actively strives to provide science experiences to children that might last from an hour a week to several weeks during the summer with many stops in between. Richards is working to build alliances and develop programs for clients with some capacity to pay. The camp may or may not be the sun around which the new programming rotates or vice versa. Using the camp’s Web site, Richards is able to quickly provide highly customized content to support the rapid testing and deployment of most every program. This means Science Camps of America has the freedom to evolve into what best serves its community. Both Rolling River and Science Camps use their Web sites and appropriate Web tools to deliver content quickly to introduce and test programming. Rolling River has a strong database of more than 4,000 families to broadcast its message. Science Camps is building its database. Both camps use search marketing selectively to augment their efforts. This is an out-of-pocket expense — mostly to Google and Facebook — but it puts them in the game very quickly and gets the key data for faster and more robust decision making. Importantly, it allows them to broadcast beyond their communities. 48 CAMPING magazine • November/December 2013 undertaken needs its own Web page. (If it becomes a “no-go,” you remove it). If it’s new and material, this is nonnegotiable; otherwise you end up with a catchall page cluttered with disparate offerings that only obfuscates. All marketing initiatives need to send Web site visitors directly to the page in question on your Web site from an e-mail, Facebook, search marketing (Google, Yahoo, Bing), or other source. If our Web site visitor has to navigate her way there, we will lose many visitors to fatigue and confusion. Our goal is to get a Web site visitor to take an action we want (conversion) that advances toward purchase. The more impediments the more prospects drop off. If you want to run a birthday party business, you could advertise all sorts of equipment/capabilities you may not even yet possess — if the decision is a no-go, you haven’t purchased it; if it’s a go, you can invest having removed much of the risk, maybe even with a stream of firm bookings. E-mail Info / Flyer with Link Your community trusts you and likely opens your e-mail at a much higher rate than widespread e-mail marketing rates of about 19.7 percent in 2012 (Silverpop, 2013). Top-performing companies have rates twice as high. For almost any offering, this is a wonderful, free place to start. The beauty of building up your community is this free platform just grows. You might be done after this step insofar as getting enough data for your birthday party business decision. Add to Facebook Page If this is a spot that is a hangout for your community, then it is a logical place to Table 1. Action Plan Activity Target Market Time Frame Out-of-Pocket Cost* Add page to Web site All visitors Three to ten days $0–$500 E-mail info / flyer w/link Your community One day $0–$200 Add to Facebook page All visitors One day $0–$200 Add to e-newsletter Your community One day $0 Search marketing (one campaign) Interested searchers Varies based on results Varies but you control Analyze results using analytics N.A. Ongoing In-house or outsource *Note: Range reflects activities done in-house or outsourced. In-house may have no out-of-pocket, but it is more time-consuming.
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