Summer Camp brings varying degrees of memories for many of us. For one camp in Central Texas needing assistance bringing marketing efforts back to life, we hope we’ve helped continue building memories for generations to come.
Many moons ago I attended my first pre-teen summer camp. My older sister had attended a few years, and now I was tagging along. I made it till Wednesday and with tears streaming, called home for mom to come get me.
Nevertheless, over the next few years, I gained an appreciation for camp during our hot Texas summers. I have fond memories, albeit the one I most remember involved a toilet, some “bigger” kids, and a poor “mouthy” soul who has a genuine understanding of a swirly.
Camp Cedarbrook Texas is located in the heart of Texas – Rosebud to be exact. It operates a week-long summer camp in beautiful country near the Brazos river between highway 77 and 6. Cedarbrook has a rich history of providing a fantastic Christian summer experience for kids 1st grade through high school. In fact, many campers have graduated to become volunteers for the new generation of kids.
However, Cedarbrook began to see attendance decline through the ever-growing competition of summer activities. The intuitive staff of Cedarbrook reached out to us to evaluate, optimize and revamp their marketing efforts. Cedarbrook needed to engage in the ever-changing and overwhelming world of digital marketing.
In our initial audit, we noted the need for a website revitalization. We created a UX that aimed for simpler navigation, modern, responsive graphics, a stronger video presence, and an intuitive registration process to target the 30-45-year-old parents with eligible kids. We also came up with processes that beefed up the backend communications to ease the work of the all-volunteer staff.
Finally, we introduced Cedarbrook to the wild wild world of marketing automation using open-source software called Mautic. Mautic allows us to send newsletter email blasts and rank/score recipients based on opens, clicks, and engagement. In other words, we meet the parents where they are in our marketing efforts rather than expecting them to come to us. Mautic also gives us insight into return visitors using smart, URL-tracking, lead-generating forms, and trigger notifications.
Though we’ve not reached summer 2019 to measure the results of our initial efforts, we’re excited at the dramatic difference thus far. We’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeves as well to continue driving parent/camper signups and volunteer recruiting.
The people of Cedarbrook Texas have a genuine heart to invest in the lives of our next generation. We’re glad we can lend a hand in continuing this legacy of admirable work.
I think I’m now in the mood to grab a guitar and sit by my fire.
