Your organization’s success depends on how well you communicate your value. But the biggest mistake organizations make is building their strategies around what they want to say rather than what their audience actually wants or needs to hear.

Audience research closes this gap. It gives you actionable insight into motivations, hesitations, and perceptions so your marketing reflects reality, not assumptions.

Whether you're a day camp in a bustling metro area or an overnight camp competing with dozens of summer alternatives, your prospective families don’t want generic mass emails. They want to feel seen. They want clear, helpful information. They want to know why your camp is best for their child. And they especially expect communication that is short and authentic, not walls of text.

Your homepage isn’t just there to look nice, it’s your digital storefront and the entry point for your marketing efforts. Clearly communicating who you are, who you serve, and the unique value you offer is mandatory And by the way, you have mere seconds in which to get these points across.

Giving Tuesday is just one day…that also kicks off the most generous stretch of the year.

Studies consistently show that:

• 30% of all annual giving happens in December.

• 12% of all giving occurs in the last three days of the year.

Your November lead-up and December launch communications need to work in sync. Developing a smart plan in October sets you up to capture attention early, tell a cohesive story, and stay top of mind when donors are most ready to give.

Camp directors wear a lot of hats from programming to staffing to operations to community engagement, and more. Marketing can often feel like another full-time job, and for many camps, it becomes a reactive scramble: a quick push before a tour or open house, a few throwback social posts here and there, or an urgent enrollment email when numbers look low.

Marketing doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be guesswork or “throwing spaghetti at the wall.” With the right data, you can prioritize your efforts, make smarter decisions, and ensure your message resonates with the families you’re trying to reach and ultimately enroll.

Creating content can be fun…until it’s not. 

You’ve got a million ideas, but how do you get them out of your head and into action? Enter: batching. Instead of writing one piece of content at a time, you create batches of content to use over a set period, e.g. 2 weeks, a month, two months. Blocking time to draft a couple weeks of social posts or several blogs enables you to give content creation your full attention, remove distractions, and let the writing flow.

Hiring a marketing consultant can feel overwhelming, especially if you don’t know exactly what you need. The good news? That’s okay. In fact, some of the best consulting partnerships begin with open-ended conversations that surface your true priorities, address short- and long-term objectives, and evolve as your organization grows.

Here are some common ways that organizations bring on marketing consultants.

A family toured your camp this summer. They peeked at activities in action, swam in the  lake or pool, walked through bunks or gathering areas, maybe even joined in on a spirited song session. They left smiling, excited, and saying “We’ll be in touch.” Next step: Move them from “interested” to “enrolled.” What comes next can make a significant difference. 

You’re posting consistently. You’ve diversified your outreach. You’ve invested real time and effort into your strategy. But somehow… your metrics are still not what you expected.

The marketing landscape is constantly changing. What worked last year might already be outdated. If you are not keeping up with trends, especially on social media, your strategy and accompanying tactics may be collecting dust. 

Social media is more than just a tool; it’s a vital channel for connecting with audiences, building relationships, and driving action. While it may seem easy to share posts and hope for engagement, this approach often results in forgettable content that fails to make an impact. 

Having a strategy is essential to turning your social media presence into something memorable. Here’s why.

Visitors decide within seconds whether to stay on your website. What makes them stay? A homepage that’s visually clean, emotionally engaging, and strategically structured.

Your homepage is not just a welcome mat, it’s your optimal shot at communicating your value proposition and showing who you are. 

When someone lands on your homepage, they should immediately know:

• What you offer

• Who it’s for 

• Why they should care

• What to do next 

Between managing multiple social media accounts, staying abreast of trends, creating content calendars, replying to DMs, editing reels, managing expectations, and keeping up with ever-changing algorithms, social media can be… a lot.

In a speech that wove personal narrative, historical reflection, and present-day urgency together, Senor made a compelling case for immersive Jewish experiences as the antidote to fear and disconnection. He called out Jewish day schools—our schools—as among the most vital institutions in securing a bright and resilient Jewish future.

Consumers today are inundated with messaging at every turn. They experience decision fatigue over even the smallest choices — from what to make for dinner to which summer camp to choose for their children.

When someone is already exhausted by constant decisions, the last thing they want is more work. If your messaging isn’t crystal clear and they can’t quickly find the information they need or understand what step to take next— you’ve confused them and risk losing them. This is true for prospective constituents and your current ones.

You may have recently noticed that when you Google a question, instead of receiving a laundry list of search results, you get an AI-generated answer at the top of the page…without even having to click. This feature, dubbed AI Overviews, is changing the way people find information online.

If your organization relies on search to attract new community members, constituents, families, donors, etc., it’s time to understand this trend and have a plan

Marketing teams often achieve big wins that directly support business goals—but the street cred is still lacking.

Why? Because marketing success is often framed in marketing language, not business language.

To get buy-in, you need to translate marketing insights into strategic impact. Impressions, clicks, and engagement rates in isolation does not equate to revenue, efficiency, and growth.

Your website is more than just a collection of pages and a repository of content—it’s the home base of your marketing efforts. It is the first impression for prospective members + families, donors, other constituents, and those that happen upon your site from Google, Bing (seriously), and even still Yahoo. While investing in a comprehensive marketing program is critical to moving your objectives forward, some organizations neglect the very thing that these tactics are directed towards…the website. 

Marketing has long been viewed as a support function—the department you call when you need a flyer, a social media post, or an email blast. This outdated perception and subsequent use of a marketing department is a disservice to not only your marketing team, but your organization as a whole.

Marketing is not a flyer factory. It is a strategic partner, a collaborator, and a driver of growth. If your head of marketing does not have a seat at the decision making table, they should. If you don’t have a head of marketing, rather solely an implementer, that is also a conversation to be had.

When it comes to school and camp, families don’t just want to know what they are paying, they want to know why it’s worth it. The tuition, rates + fees, investment–-whatever verbiage you use on your website to express how much it costs for a child to attend–should be accompanied not only by a value statement, but proof of concept. 

AI is everywhere and if your organization has not yet punched its ticket, now is the time to explore what tactics may/may not work. 

Marketing professionals are tasked with balancing impactful messaging, prompting engagement, raising more money, meeting the exponentially growing demand for personalized communication, all the while with limited human resources.