Grow Your Camp

Growing your camp is exciting, but it can also create new pressures on budgets, staff, and leadership decisions. When expenses rise and money feels tight, cutting costs may seem like the obvious solution. Mark and Carl share real stories of camps that faced these challenges, including one that nearly cut its marketing budget despite record new guest group bookings, and another that discovered focusing on just two revenue streams offered a clearer path to growth than trying to improve five at once. These examples show camp leaders how to identify their biggest opportunities, understand what's really affecting revenue, and...

SpringHill Camps has experienced both sides of growth. Its traveling day camp program grew from roughly 3,000 campers to 19,000, creating incredible ministry opportunities while also revealing an important lesson: growth works best when the systems, margins, staffing, and quality behind it can grow too. Eric Bartz shares what SpringHill learned from that season, and how camp leaders can recognize when growth is creating healthy momentum versus stretching the organization too thin.

Those lessons shaped SpringHill’s next chapter. The organization made difficult decisions to refocus its programs and resources, invest in its Michigan property, strengthen pricing and margins, an...

Growth had been strong at Bongiorno Conference Center coming out of COVID, but by 2025 the momentum was beginning to stall. For Executive Director Carl Redding, the challenge wasn’t simply generating more business. It was figuring out what needed to change, and being willing to act on it.

Rather than trying to solve everything internally, Bongiorno partnered with an outside digital marketing agency to take a fresh look at its growth opportunities. That process helped the team see both the potential ahead and the gaps that needed attention. From marketing and lead generation to inquiry follow-up and in...

Camp technology often forces camps to change the way they work to fit the software. The team behind The One App took the opposite approach: learn how camps actually operate, then build technology around them.

Michael John Stanley (MJ), Alan Brown, and Lindy Pinkerton share how that process began with visits to 10 camps and expanded into conversations with roughly 60 camps, plus real-world beta testing. What emerged was a consistent problem: camps were stitching together registration systems, spreadsheets, calendars, contracts, emails, whiteboards, and staff knowledge just to keep operations moving.

Their response...

Empty beds aren’t free. An unused cabin, an open retreat weekend, or a phone that isn’t ringing represents the capacity your camp built, but isn’t using.

Mark and Carl challenge one of the biggest barriers to camp growth: treating marketing primarily as a cost to control instead of an investment expected to produce a measurable return. The issue isn’t spending more for the sake of spending. It’s learning to test intelligently, track results, invest more in what works, and stop funding what doesn’t.

Mark recommends thinking abo...

More than half of a typical camp website’s traffic can come from Google searches, and for some camps, that number reaches 80% or more. That makes one question critical: When parents and retreat planners search for what you offer, can they actually find you?

Senior SEO Specialist Scott Rehnberg of Improve & Grow explains camp SEO without the technical overload. He breaks down how Google understands your website, why dedicated pages for priority audiences matter, how your Google Business Profile affects visibility, and what camps can do to influence recommendations from ChatGPT and other AI...

Most camp websites unintentionally make it harder for visitors to take the next step. A homepage has to introduce your ministry, answer questions, and guide visitors in multiple directions. A landing page has one job: help the right visitor take one specific action.

Oscar Quesada, CEO of Lifedge Marketing, explains why focused landing pages consistently outperform general website pages for camp registrations, retreat bookings, and facility rentals. He shares the framework his team uses to build pages that remove confusion, build trust, and improve conversions.

You'll learn what separates...

Most camps assume they need more inquiries to grow their guest group business, but many already have enough opportunities—they simply need a better system for converting them. Sustainable growth comes from responding quickly, building trust throughout the sales process, and creating consistent follow-up that helps prospective groups confidently choose your camp.

Carl opens the episode with a practical marketing tip reminding camp leaders that every inquiry has an expiration date. He explains why responding within one business day, following up consistently, scheduling clear next steps, and tracking every opportunity in a CRM dr...

Most camps assume they need more marketing to grow. Mark Fisher argues many actually have a capacity problem hiding in plain sight.

Before diving into the main conversation, Mark shares a practical camp marketing tip: share benefits, not just features. Instead of simply promoting climbing walls, zip lines, or beautiful facilities, camps should tell stories that demonstrate real transformation. Parents and retreat planners don't just want information, they want evidence that camp changes lives. By documenting one authentic story each week, camps can create more compelling marketing that connects emotionally with future guests.

...

Many camps dream of growing their ministry, but sustainable growth rarely comes from a single campaign or one great season. It happens through consistent leadership, clear messaging, intentional systems, and a willingness to confront the obstacles holding a camp back.

Mark opens the episode with a practical marketing tip on selling the problem before the program, explaining why camps should lead with the challenges their guests already feel, not simply the name or date of an event. When people recognize a problem they're trying to solve, they're far more likely to engage with...

Word-of-mouth has always been one of the strongest drivers of camp growth, but for many camps, it's still an informal process that's impossible to measure or improve.

Peter Elbaum, owner of Camp Tree and Operations Director at Greystone Camp, shares how camps can turn referrals into a repeatable growth system. Drawing from both his camp leadership experience and software engineering background, Peter explains why great systems free camp staff to focus on relationships instead of repetitive administrative work.

Mark and Carl also discuss why referrals consistently outperform many other marketing channels...

Many camps struggle with visibility—not because their programs lack value, but because the right families, churches, and retreat planners never discover them.

Mark opens the episode with a practical camp marketing tip on following up with retreat inquiries that have gone silent, sharing a simple email subject line that can restart conversations and recover lost bookings. Then Carl shares how an unexpected project at Refreshing Mountain Camp introduced him to Google Ads and ultimately launched a career helping camps grow through digital marketing.

The conversation then turns to one of th...

Many camp leaders assume the only way to grow revenue is to add more guests, build more facilities, or create more programs. But what if growth starts with better stewardship of the capacity you already have?

Mark Fisher shares the personal story that reshaped his career, including the health crisis and board decision that led him from camp leadership into consulting. That journey sets the stage for a practical conversation about one of the most misunderstood topics in camping: pricing.

Mark and Carl discuss why many camps underprice their highest-demand dates, how waitlists reveal hidden...

Refreshing Mountain has doubled revenue over the last decade while maintaining a strong focus on guest relationships and retention. In this episode, Administrative Director Justin Harnish shares the principles that helped the camp grow without losing the culture that built its reputation.

Mark opens with a personal dedication to his mother’s 85th birthday and reflects on the people and experiences that shape camp leaders over time.

Carl’s quick marketing tip explains why camps should stop sending every audience to the same homepage and how dedicated landing pages can improve conversions and lead...

Hume New England launched with a bold mission: bring the Hume camp experience to the Northeast and expand gospel impact in a region with fewer large Christian camp ministries. But early years brought operational setbacks, financial pressure, staffing challenges, and a camp model that didn’t fit the realities of East Coast churches.

Before the interview, Mark shares a marketing tip about “riding the wave” instead of trying to create one. He explains how listening to church leaders led Hume New England to shorten camp sessions, lower pricing, and redesign programs around what churches and families actually needed...

Hume New England launched with a bold mission: bring the Hume camp experience to the Northeast and expand gospel impact in a region with fewer large Christian camp ministries. But early years brought operational setbacks, financial pressure, staffing challenges, and a camp model that didn’t fit the realities of East Coast churches.

Before the interview, Mark shares a marketing tip about “riding the wave” instead of trying to create one. He explains how listening to church leaders led Hume New England to shorten camp sessions, lower pricing, and redesign programs around what churches and families actually needed...

In this episode Mark opens with a tribute to one of his earliest camp mentors, Neil Fichthorn, the longtime executive director at Sandy Cove. Mark shares the leadership lessons Neil taught him — including the phrase that became foundational to this podcast: “You can’t minister to empty beds.”

Carl’s quick camp marketing tip focuses on why your Google Business Profile may be quietly costing you bookings. He explains how local search results work, why reviews and categories matter, and how small profile updates can improve visibility for camps and retreat centers.

The feat...

In this episode Mark shares a quick tip about rebooking—the most affordable and often overlooked path to growth. He explains why camps should aim for 60–80% rebooking, how it reflects guest experience, and why low rebooking points to a systems problem, not demand. He also outlines practical steps: know your numbers, pursue rebookings immediately, and protect dates.

Carl then interviews Kathi and Bob Terrell, who share how Emanuel Pines Camp grew from roughly $900,000 to over $2 million in a few years. Their story begins with a plateau—limited growth, aging facilities, and reactive leadership—until they chose to...

In this episode, Carl shares a practical marketing tip on turning past guests into your next booking engine—one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to increase occupancy without chasing entirely new leads. By segmenting your audience and sending timely, relevant follow-up emails, camps can unlock a major source of repeat business that often goes underused.

Then Mark interviews Bob Briscoe, Executive Director of Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center, brings a long-term perspective shaped by decades in camping—from his early experiences as a camper and trail guide to leading the organization through seasons of change. That back...

In this episode, Mark shares a practical tip on using virtual tours to help camps close more bookings by making it easier for planners to visualize and sell the experience internally.

Then Carl and Mark sit down with Dusty Ledbetter, Digital Outreach Manager at Camp Cho-Yeh, to unpack a different approach to summer camp marketing—one focused less on driving traffic and more on converting interest into action.

Dusty explains how his team built a system to capture leads, follow up quickly, and guide families through the decision process. Instead of relying on pa...

In this episode, Carl shares a camp marketing tip on how answering unasked questions on your website can dramatically increase retreat inquiries. Then Mark sits down with John Schwieterman, Executive Director of Cross Oaks Camp and Retreat Center, to unpack how he transformed a struggling camp into a rapidly growing operation.

John shares the real story behind that growth—from cold calling hundreds of churches with limited results to implementing a system that now generates consistent inbound leads and an 88% close rate. They walk through the practical changes that made the difference, including website improvements, digital marketing st...

In this episode, Mark shares a camp marketing tip about the importance of asking for and responding to reviews. Then Carl and Mark explore how camp websites can significantly boost guest group bookings by improving website structure, messaging, and inquiry processes. They share practical strategies, real-world examples, and a special offer to help camp leaders grow their retreat programs.

Keywords

camp website, guest groups, retreat bookings, marketing strategy, camp marketing, website optimization, inquiry funnel, camp revenue, digital marketing, camp leadership

Key Topics

Website...

In this episode, Carl shares a tip on how camps can get to the top of Google quickly by leveraging the Google Ads grant and Mark interviews Ryan Moore from Kaleidoscope. Ryan shares insights on strategic planning, camp growth, and the importance of clarity and courage for camp leaders. Discover practical tips, inspiring stories, and a special offer for listeners to enhance your camp's impact and sustainability.

Keywords:

camp growth, strategic planning, camp leadership, camp marketing, Kaleidoscope, camp development, non-profit, camp strategy, camp sustainability, growth tips

...