July 22, 2019 3 min read

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At the annual Funnel Hacking Live Conference hosted by Clickfunnels, Emily Richett sat down with Tyler Shaule, a teacher, camp director and entrepreneur, to learn how he revived a struggling summer camp and helped it reach seven figures in revenue. Here are the three things Shaule did to scale the camp.

1. Leverage video content in online marketing.

Shaule says that focusing on video content in his online marketing helped generate excitement about the summer camp. This is especially effective due to the emotional marketing value of a camp. Parents don’t just want the facts, like the schedule and cost. They want to actually feel what their children will experience, and what better way than to show them?

“We’re able to use online marketing in a really new and exciting way,” Shaule says, “to do what we’ve always tried in the past to do in an offline way, which was build trust and get people excited about an experience for their child.”

2. Don’t underestimate the power of testimonials.

“If we were just out there all the time, telling them [parents] that we had the best camp experience around, nobody really cares,” says Shaule. He says people value recommendations from their friends and family most.

So, how do you go about getting such great testimonials?

Shaule offers an incentive to parents through what he calls a “viral share funnel.” When parents register their kids for camp, they are encouraged to share their registration on Facebook or Google Reviews to earn points and win prizes, like a free week at camp.

“Facebook has an online community that does an incredible job of making sure that people who know each other know more about each other,” Shaule says. “So if we’re able to be a part of that conversation, then we’re actually the winners.”

3. Use the right marketing channel.

There are a lot of options when it comes to marketing your business.

Shaule explains that “offline business owners have a really hard time getting online and figuring out what to do. They either waste a lot of time and money trying to … work with Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Instagram. Or they market really well in the wrong way and they get really bad prospects on the phone.”

For his offline summer camps, Shaule uses a phone funnel and SMS (text message) marketing to increase sales.

“The phone funnel system is really carefully designed to be a mobile responsive advertising method that captures interest, captures a phone number and then we use SMS or text marketing to nurture that prospect and book an appointment,” says Shaule.

Watch the full interview for more.