"People don't buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it"
And yet sales go up after a big win. And to veer to the tragic, when a friend is struck with a serious disease, we're more likely to go to the doctor.
Because proximity is truth.
This article has some interesting implications for how we think about selling camp.
One of my biggest take-aways from Seth Godin’s altMBA was the idea that “mindset” is essential to understand in order to earn the right to sell to people.
Because we are such social animals we run around our world with the statement “People like us do things like this” in our heads (or “*don’t do things like this*“). We validate our own choices based on whether they fit our own story.
Families that don't send their children to summer camp are simply saying to themselves "people like us don't send their kids away to camp". ( or PLUDSTK to be "raised by other people", or, PLUDSTK away from their families during vacation time, or, PLUDSTK away for seven weeks, etc.)
Reaching new customers involves finding a piece of common philosophical ground so that they can say “Oh, people like us DO send their kids to summer camp!”
Classic Simon Sinek line:“people don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it”.
This is why (and how) camps can convert some surprising families to become camp families - the WHY of the camp and the WHY of the family line up.
This might help a Camp Maverick like you focus on clearly defining the WHY of your camp.