Filling your summer camp isn’t getting any easier. Between rising ad costs, distracted parents, and increased competition, many camp operators find themselves scrambling to fill spots each year, often later than they’d like.
In this guide, you’ll discover 17 proven summer camp marketing ideas—from email and SMS to referrals, SEO, and automation—that you can start using today to boost registrations and build long-term demand.
We’ll cover both traditional and modern strategies, including:
✅ = Proven, foundational strategies
⭐ = Advanced or emerging tactics
Author’s note: I’m Olivier, and I share the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the past ten years as the owner of a children’s sports program. Over the past decade, I’ve spent over $200,000 on Facebook and Google ads, sent hundreds of email marketing campaigns, and tried dozens of summer camp marketing ideas, all aimed at increasing enrolment in summer programs. Today, as the co-founder of Activity Messenger, I help hundreds of summer camps across North America streamline their operations and boost their revenue.
Email marketing remains one of the most overlooked opportunities for summer camps, yet it consistently delivers the highest return when done properly.
At Activity Messenger, we regularly see camps using email to remind past campers to register, which is a great start. However, many camps limit their outreach to former participants and miss opportunities to nurture future families.
By adding opt-in forms to your website and events, you can build a long-term pipeline of interested parents.
1. Segment Your Audience
Separate your list into:
This prevents parents from receiving irrelevant emails and improves engagement.
2. Use Automated Welcome Sequences
When someone subscribes, send a welcome email that includes:
This builds trust immediately.
3. Grow Your Subscriber List Consistently
At Sportball, proper segmentation and automation led to:
✅ Lower unsubscribe rates
✅ Higher open rates
✅ Increased registrations
Parents appreciate receiving information that matches their needs and schedules.
👉 Want help automating segmented email campaigns? Book a demo to see how Activity Messenger simplifies camp email marketing.
📌 Pro Tip: Many parents aren’t ready to register immediately. Capturing their email early lets you re-engage them next season and build predictable enrolment.
One summer, I was trying to enrol my eldest in a summer camp. I visited a summer camp website, ready to sign up, but registration hadn’t started yet. Days went by, and I finally ended up at a competitor’s camp, and my son loved it.
The original camp that opened registration later lost not just one child’s enrolment, but potentially all three of my children’s enrolments for multiple sessions.
This story illustrates a critical point for summer camps: timing can be the difference between a successful summer camp and one that struggles to fill capacity.
Here are the actionable insights for summer camps:
📌 Read More: Enjoy a full how-to guide on how to start and grow a summer camp.
Early bird discounts are one of the simplest and most effective ways to increase early registrations, stabilize cash flow, and improve planning. By opening registration earlier than competitors and rewarding early sign-ups, you gain valuable insights into demand before peak season.
1. Open Registration Early
Launch registration several months in advance to give families time to plan.
2. Create Time-Limited Discounts
Offer reduced pricing for:
3. Promote Across Channels
Highlight early bird offers through:
4. Track Demand Trends
Use early registrations to:
📌 Pro Tip: We’ve been using this marketing strategy for years, and we’re usually 25 to 30 percent enroled before most of our competitors have even started. And because I know which summer programs need more visibility, I can better target my digital marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing campaigns to where we have more openings.
Conducting a summer camper survey can provide deep insight into your camp experience and areas where you can improve.
With Activity Messenger, you can set up an automated email to go out 2-3 days before the last day of camp.
How to turn your end-of-session email into a digital marketing strategy:
📌 Pro Tip: As an operator, collecting feedback used to be a tedious task that I often overlooked. With Activity Messenger, however, I’ve streamlined the process by setting up an automated message that goes out to all campers when the camp is almost finished. This has become one of our favourite summer camp marketing strategies.
The power of trust and credibility that comes with personal referrals makes them an incredibly effective summer camp marketing strategy.
Much like how a friend’s suggestion for a great restaurant carries weight, people place similar trust in recommendations for camps from their friends and family.
📌 Pro Tip: You’ll want to make it simple for past campers to recommend you to others. Have easy ways for them to share and be rewarded for bringing others to your camp, such as flyers, social media posts, and personalized certificates. Your clients do the work for you, and when they refer friends and family, they are more likely to sign up again next summer.
Leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful strategy for boosting online visibility. By optimizing your website and creating engaging content, you can improve your search engine rankings and position your camp as a leader in your community.
Understanding SEO:
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, involves enhancing your website to appear higher in search engine results, like Google, to increase visibility to new families.
Actionable Insights for Content:
Actionable Insights for Content SEO:
📌 Pro Tip: Prioritize long-tail keywords and local search terms to improve your ranking quickly before your site builds more authority on Google.
Summer camps benefit greatly from using bulk SMS as a key communication tool. Mass texting allows camp directors to reach parents and ensure that camp updates, special events, and registration details are seen immediately.
Bulk SMS provides a direct line to families, making sure important notifications and promotions are seen on time.
Sending text messages to former campers can effectively reignite their interest in returning to your camp.
By incorporating mass SMS into your camp communication strategy, you can dramatically improve outreach effectiveness, family engagement, and ultimately enrolment and retention.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is when you pay each time a user clicks on one of your online ads. This allows your camp to rank highly in Google search results for targeted phrases like ‘summer camps for kids’ or ‘camps near me.’
PPC campaigns can position your camp’s website link at the top of search engine results pages. This ensures a higher level of visibility to potential attendees who are actively searching for camps.
PPC advertising provides immediate visibility, which is critical for new or competitive camps, and bypasses the lengthy process required to achieve high organic search rankings.
By combining PPC with a strategic social media approach, summer camps can quickly increase enrolment, expand their reach to new families, and significantly increase their market presence.
You can’t overlook the power of open houses and free camp tours as one of the best summer camp marketing strategies. It gives prospective campers and their families a risk-free opportunity to experience the environment and activities your camp offers firsthand. It’s an engaging way to introduce new campers to your camp, allowing them to meet the team and have their questions answered directly.
Improving the online registration process on your summer camp website can improve the customer experience. Families now expect a seamless experience with a mobile-first and customer-centric registration process.
1. Mobile-First Approach: Make sure that your registration form is easy to navigate on mobile devices. Simplify the process, minimize text entry, and make visuals clear and functional on smaller screens.
2. Customer-Centric Registration Forms: Use conditional logic in your forms to reduce clutter and unnecessary questions. This approach guides users through a customized registration experience, displaying only relevant fields based on previous answers.
3. Offer Payment Options: Integrate various payment options such as credit cards, wire transfers, and payment plans. Clearly communicate payment terms and conditions to avoid confusion.
4. Confirmation Email: Make sure your confirmation emails are comprehensive, including details such as session dates and times, payment confirmation, and next steps. Post-purchase communication is an important part of the online registration process and can help prevent buyer’s remorse.
5. Summer Camp Website: Embed the registration form directly on your site. Keeping potential registrants on your website throughout the registration process maintains brand consistency and trust.
6. Waitlist Management: Implement automated waitlist systems that notify prospects immediately when openings occur. Personalize notifications to increase the likelihood of conversion when a spot opens up.
👉 Want to streamline your registration experience? Book a free demo for a personalized walkthrough on how Activity Messenger can help you.
📌 Pro Tip: A form that is difficult to navigate can turn off potential registrants. By focusing on the user experience, you can streamline the path from interest to enrolment. Flexibility in payment methods can accommodate a wider range of customers, from those willing to pay in full to those who prefer installment plans.
You can dramatically increase efficiency, personalization, and engagement by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into your summer camp marketing strategies:
AI-Generated Marketing Materials:
Social Media Marketing:
AI-Driven Email Campaigns:
Camps can achieve more personalized communications, create content more efficiently, and ultimately build stronger connections with prospective and current campers by effectively incorporating AI into their marketing strategies.
If you prefer to watch a video describing techniques for marketing your summer camp, our webinar acts as an effective walkthrough to boost sign-ups and utilize all available channels to showcase your camp.
“When you market a camp, you’re not marketing in January. You’re really marketing the summer before.”
In the episode below, Oli and Will discuss 5 proven marketing strategies to attract more leads, encourage early registrations, and turn your clients into enthusiastic ambassadors.
👉 Want to check out more videos? Discover our YouTube channel to watch a range of additional walkthroughs, webinars, and marketing tips to help boost your camp’s enrolment and daily operations. You can also find the latest episodes from our podcast, AMplify, for tips you can utilize right away.
Email marketing is consistently the most effective and overlooked strategy. When you segment your lists properly (past, current, and potential clients), you’ll see higher open rates, lower unsubscribe rates, and increased enrolment.
Open registration as early as possible, ideally 3-6 months before your camp starts. Camps that open early with early bird discounts typically achieve 25-30% enrolment before competitors even begin.
Yes! AI tools like ChatGPT can help you create engaging content, optimize email subject lines, and generate social media ideas more efficiently. However, always review and personalize AI-generated content to maintain your camp’s authentic voice.
Automate end-of-camp surveys, personally follow up with families who provide positive feedback, make the review process simple with direct links to review platforms, and show appreciation with thank-you notes or small gifts like discounts on future enrolment.
Building a successful summer camp marketing strategy doesn’t require implementing all of these ideas at once. Start with the strategies that align best with your camp’s current needs and resources.
Based on our experience helping hundreds of camps, we recommend starting with:
The camps that consistently achieve the highest enrolment rates are those that automate their marketing processes, making it easier to stay consistent without overwhelming their staff.
Ready to streamline your summer camp marketing?
📅 Book a free demo to see how Activity Messenger can help you:
Social Media Marketing
With organic reach declining, paid social media advertising is now essential for consistent visibility. Facebook and Instagram ads allow camps to reach local families actively searching for summer activities, often at a low cost.
How to Run Effective Social Campaigns:
1. Create Session-Based Campaigns
Instead of posting daily, build focused ad campaigns for each session. This saves time and improves performance.
2. Use Simple, Visual Ads
Create ads using:
Keep messaging clear and benefit-focused.
3. Target Locally
Set geographic targeting within a few miles/kilometres of your camp location to maximize relevance.
4. Start Small and Scale
Begin with a modest daily budget and increase spending on high-performing ads.
Recommended Ad Setup:
Why It Works:
Even a small ad budget can:
📌 Pro Tip: Over a 7-day period, I usually see a cost of $7 to $10 per enrolment through Facebook ads, which is quite effective. However, this is just the beginning of the overall value. Many people register without directly clicking on the ad or after the initial 7-day period has passed. Additionally, a notable percentage of people subscribe to our newsletter, providing us with opportunities for ongoing engagement.