You can't market from 30,000 feet

 Last week when I was returning from Idaho, I had a short layover in Las Vegas and when we left, I snapped this shot of the Strip as we made a pass over the city. It's kind of a cool pic, but it occurred to me that that's not the best way to see the Strip in all it's amazingly gawdy glory. 

To really experience the Strip, you've got to get down on the ground and walk the sidewalks. You've got to see the lights, watch the people, listen to the sounds, and "feel" the city. To experience the Strip this way is completely different than sitting in a plane looking down at it from high above.

If I were to try to market the Strip experience from 30,000 feet here's what would happen. I would start making assumptions about the experience and even worse, I'd start making stuff up. Of course when I'm making stuff up, I'd fall into the most dreaded of marketing traps...I'd start marketing to myself. I'd start writing from my own perspective because I don't really know what the experience is like first hand. And that's bad.

As a camp marketer, it's easy to sit in your office at your desk and think you know what the camp experience is...even though it might have been months since you've had a conversation with a camper or her mom. You begin to make assumptions about what the camp experience is like when you've never spent a night in the cabins or gone down the zipline or done the midnight trail ride yourself. 

You can never be an effective marketer at arm's length. You've got to get down there in it. You've got to hear the sounds, smell the smells (yeah...smell the camp smells), taste the food, and really FEEL what the camp experience is like. 

If you are outsourcing your marketing or web work, that's fine, even understandable. But does that vendor or volunteer really FEEL camp? If not, you might not be making the valuable connection you need to be making. Good marketing begins with great listening and a willingness to take the time to thoroughly understand and to get down on the ground and experience things up close and personal. 

Comments

[Wayne Chapman]

Question on the outsourcing issue: if you are outsourcing for "the cost factor", what are the options (instructions we can give) to get "the camp feel"? Do you know of examples of outsources available with this understanding or are you saying that we need to do things ourselves because we are really the only ones with first hand feel for our camp, even when our skill levels aren't as high?

[Michael]

Wayne,
I think you've got a couple of choices here. First of all, you'd want a marketing person who knows what they don't know and they give you plenty of latitude for input, content, copy writing, etc. They may know marketing, but YOU KNOW CAMP. And that's a very critical piece. Or you could take the lead and just get the marketing advice you need when and where you need it. Or...you could talk to someone who knows both worlds and knows them well. Hmmm. I wonder who you could get with that kind of experience? Let me know how I can help. mstaires@gmail.com

[Ben]

Wayne, There are places that specialize in camps, so that is an option, Michael's point about finding people that live in both worlds (or at least have experience in both worlds) is very true. I think that when it comes time to find somebody to actually create your brochure/video/web site one of the most important job of a good designer is to ask good questions of you. If they are doing their job they will help you organize and apply your knowledge to find a unique and effective solution. If your designer just does what you tell them then you are missing out on their knowledge and problem solving skills, on the other hand if they just come up with there own idea without taking the time to really understand your market, target, needs, message, etc, then you are not going to end up with an effective solution. Just some thoughts.