5 Reasons Why Virtual Tours Are Core to Marketing Summer Camps

Camp websites often offer features such as colorful pictures and videos of fun things kids can do there. These pictures and videos are great, but they are saying, "Look at this and look at that." They take the viewer on a more passive journey. A 360 virtual tour, however, says "Come on in and experience our camp on a whole other level."

Having a section that draws more visitors in and encourages them to visit your website allows for more informed decision making. Viewers can select which images they would like to view and navigate as they choose.

When creating a marketing plan for your summer camp, you're probably thinking, "How can I be creative in advertising to my target audience: the children and the parents"? With two different audiences, you may think about creating separate marketing strategies for each.

Virtual tours allow you to reach both audiences simultaneously because you can captivate the attention of the younger generation by focusing on activities your camp has to offer. Then market to parents by giving them the answer to, "Why should I sign my child up for this camp?" 

We'll show you 5 reasons why virtual tours are core to marketing summer camps and how they help create a versatile, well-rounded marketing plan.

1. Safety Tours for Parents

For parents, sending their child off to summer camp means they're instilling a lot of trust and faith in you. A virtual tour allows parents to move through your facility at their own pace, looking in every direction to understand where their children will be spending their summer. How can you do this effectively? Give them a panoramic view of these places:

• the dining hall
• the common area
• the entrance to your campground
• the outside area where the dorms or cabins are located
• the inside of dorm rooms or cabins
• the main office

Take a look at how Lake of the Woods, Camp North Star, Camp Agawak, and Camp Corey are doing this successfully. Camp Cayuga goes a different route and uses panoramic photos instead.

All of these virtual experiences go a long way in saying that you are providing a comfortable and safe environment for these children.

2. Activity Tours To Get Both Parents and Kids Excited

Clickable interactive map tours are great ways to showcase virtual tours. Concept3D's platform helps you add descriptions that give details, and incorporate any other features into your map tour experience. River Valley Ranch does this in a great way by combining a map tour with 360 videos to make the activity tours come to life. . Both parents and kids will be excited, and you can promote your sports programs, clubs and activities in a new way. These virtual activity tours give parents an understanding of what they can expect for their child's experience.

3. Showcase the Wilderness Access

You can also use these maps to provide a panoramic aerial view of your camp. This showcases the wilderness access while highlighting the beauty of the landscape. You can also provide a map with interactive hotspots so that users can find directions to specific amenities, read informative descriptions, see pictures, and videos. This makes navigating a sprawling camp more simple.

4. Easy To Share

Another reason why virtual tours are core to marketing summer camps is that they can be prominently embedded on your website and linked to share on social networks, emails, blogs and more. Potential customers will be motivated by the the tour because it will bring more visitors to a website, increase the number of returning visitors, and word of mouth circulation. Virtual tours, when shared, can also help boost and push your local business Google ranking in local searches.

5. Create the Right Expectations for Parents and Kids

Lastly, as we stated earlier, by creating this richer and exceptional customer experience, you are targeting both groups you are advertising to, children and their parents. These immersive, virtual experiences will inspire greater confidence because it provides a communication tool that connects them to all the information they need. Parents rely on digital media and web-based resources throughout the process of researching, planning, and booking these experiences for their children. Virtual tours can play a significant role in strengthening their decision to buy, when you showcase your facility in a realistic way. 

As you can see, high-quality virtual tours are really impressive and will keep viewers on your website longer; which is a key factor in gaining new customers and retaining the ones you have. Virtual tours provide a tool that transports parents and kids right to the middle of a beautiful campsite–even if that camp is actually a few states away. Because they are also alluring and fun, this is key in creating a versatile, well-rounded marketing plan. 

We'll bet you're now wondering, "What does it take to create these great virtual tours"? Satisfy your curiosity by creating your own and start telling your story in a whole new way.