Summer Camp Marketing: Tips to Engage Campers & Parents! [Part 2]

April 23, 2025

As a camp director or administrator, part of your role is to ensure your camp stands out online. Bring your camp to life with engaging content. Parents and campers want to know what makes your camp special—so show them!

Your camp can use storytelling, social proof, and word-of-mouth marketing strategies to keep people engaged.  Plus, tap into the loyalty and enthusiasm of past staff and campers. 

Welcome to part two of our four-part series on summer camp marketing! Our last article, "Summer Camp Marketing: Turn Uncertainty into Excitement," discussed common worries camps face. These worries can make parents and campers unsure about registering. It included strategic marketing tips to help address those concerns. 

In this article, we will build on that knowledge. We will discuss how your camp can engage campers and their parents and how to do this through your marketing channels!

The first step, of course, is to show camp families what your camp is all about.

3 Ways to Showcase Your Camp's Unique Vibe

Your camp is more than a fun summer hangout session. It is a lively community full of adventure, friendships, and lasting memories. 

A camper may find that spark that leads them down a lifelong path to a hobby or career. Your camp may have a future Olympian learning to swim, kayak, or rock climb for the first time! You never truly know which camp experiences may be life-changing. 

Help families tap into that excitement before they even set foot on-site!  Give families a glimpse of the unforgettable experiences your camp offers with great marketing tools like: 

1. Behind-the-Scenes Videos 🎥

Use storytelling to share a day in the life of a camper. A fast-paced, first-person view can show the adventure, relationships, and personal touches that make your camp special. If the budget allows, hiring photographers and videographers can noticeably improve quality. This includes college students who are learning the trade.

2. Camp Life Spotlights 😎

Highlight staff, traditions, and camper stories to showcase your camp’s lasting impact and build a sense of community. When you share these spotlights on social media, have your team use relevant or trending hashtags. For example, try #CampLife or #CampTraditions to appear in more places and increase your impact.

3.  Gamification & Quizzes 👾

Keep your audience engaged through fun interactions! Set up digital scavenger hunts to search for things across your web page or social media accounts. Create a "Which Camp Adventure Suits You?" quiz to showcase the variety of experiences your camp offers. Try a week-long contest to score points or entries toward winning a prize! 

Now that you’ve got some of your audience paying attention, it’s time to get them talking! 

5 Tips to Get People Talking (Word-of-Mouth Strategies)

The best marketing doesn’t come from ads—it comes from real stories, shared by excited campers and parents. When families and kids love their camp experience, they naturally spread the word. Make it easy for them to do so with fun, engaging strategies that spark conversations and generate buzz. 

Encourage people to share their love for camp and spread the word. Here are a few ways you can make it happen!

1. Launch a Parent Ambassador Program 🎤

Happy parents = the best marketers!  Ask them to do community outreach, live Q&A socials, and a long-form video to feature on your website. Ask them to highlight the lasting takeaways of camp, such as building childhood confidence and independence. 

 2. Double the Fun! Bring a Friend 👥

Implement a friend system to allow campers to invite their classmates and friends along for a summer adventure at camp. This tactic can help first-time or shy campers overcome anxiety and get excited for the camp experience. Plus, there are a ton of other benefits that we discuss in more detail in "The Case for Bringing Friends to Camp." 

3. Share Camper & Staff Success Stories 🤗 

Returning campers and staff are your camp’s most loyal ambassadors. They keep coming back because they’ve found something truly special. Invite returning staff and camp families to discuss their favorite moments and why they’re returning to camp.

When sharing their story on social media, encourage them to share it with their friends for an immediate boost. Don't forget to maximize these stories by sharing them across your marketing channels. Include quotes, photos, videos, and review or testimonial links throughout your website, mailers, newsletter, emails, and beyond!

4. Social Media Contests & Challenges 🏆

Social media is a great place for word to spread quickly. Create interactive social media challenges to encourage following your camp’s page and sharing posts with friends. A #ThrowbackThursday post can challenge past campers and staff to share their camp photos. Try a #CampFun video challenge where staff and past campers share a clip talking about their fun camp memories. 

5. Camp Countdowns & FOMO Tactics 👀

On the surface, these tactics might not feel like a Word-of-Mouth approach. But the fact is that parents tend to talk to each other about great deals, deadlines, and upcoming events. Here are a few share-worthy tactics to promote action as well as camp!

• Build anticipation for camp and draw attention to important deadlines with a #CampCountdown campaign on social.
• Add fear of missing out (FOMO) with an “Only X spots remaining!” registration reminder.
• Use limited time offers to encourage families to fill final spots; “It’s not too late! Register now to get...”.
  

P.S. If you use iCampPro's Camp Management Software, add an Express Registration Link in your post. This link will take viewers straight to an event (or a series of events) to register!

Check out the Registration Portal feature page to learn more. Explore Express Registration Links and other awesome marketing tools that enhance the customer experience with our camp software.

What's Next?

Show off your camp’s special vibe. Make your camp shine online with engaging content and activities. Share real stories. Use word-of-mouth to create excitement. This way, parents and campers will feel like they belong, even before they arrive. And they will stay invested, even after summer is over.

Need help with where to start? Pick an action below to help you begin implementing these tactics:

• 🎥 Put on a wearable camera and film some behind-the-scenes footage as if you were a camper! Have your staff fill in key roles to show different interactions.
• 🗣️ Recruit 3 parents for a video-taped round table or one-on-one Q&A sessions in-person or online. Ask questions about why they chose your camp, how they heard about you, and any feedback from their children about their experiences.
• ⌚️ Schedule time to ask a handful of repeat staff members why they choose to keep coming back to work at your camp.
• 🧠 Consider what makes each of your camp experiences great for a future camper. Draft a “Which Camp Adventure Are You?” quiz!

If you take some of the advice in this article, we'd love to see what you come up with! Mention @iCampPro in a comment on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn when you share your new content.

Stay tuned for part three of our series. We will look at marketing strategies to help you build a community around your camp to keep campers coming back for more. 

Let’s work together to boost camp retention and turn those one-time campers into lifelong fans!