The Camp Messaging Problem: Why Clarity Beats Cleverness
How camps can simplify their messaging, improve visibility, and stop losing guests to confusion
In this episode of the Grow Your Camp Podcast, Mark and Carl explore one of the biggest marketing problems camps face today: trying to say too much all at once.
But before diving into messaging strategy, Mark opens with a deeply personal tribute to one of his earliest mentors, Neil Fichthorn, the longtime executive director at Sandy Cove. Neil helped shape the way Mark thinks about leadership, ministry, and camp growth — including the phrase that eventually became the foundation of this podcast:
“You can’t minister to empty beds.”
That idea frames the entire conversation. Camps can have incredible programs, strong missions, and passionate staff, but if their messaging is cluttered or unclear, families and retreat guests may never take the next step.
To unpack that challenge, Mark and Carl are joined by Casey Fuerst, owner of Tic Tac Toe Marketing and a former StoryBrand Guide who spent 18 years serving at Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries. Together, they discuss why so many camp websites overwhelm visitors, how the StoryBrand framework helps organizations simplify communication, and what camps can do right now to improve clarity online.
They also cover a surprisingly overlooked marketing tool that may already be costing camps bookings: their Google Business Profile.
Quick Camp Marketing Tip: Why Your Google Business Profile Might Be Costing You Bookings
Carl’s quick marketing tip focuses on something many camps rarely think about after setting it up once: their Google Business Profile.
While most camp leaders still think of their website as their primary digital asset, Carl explains that Google Business Profiles now play a massive role in visibility — especially for local and retreat-related searches.
When someone searches for phrases like “Christian retreat center near me” or “summer camp near me,” Google often prioritizes the local map listings before showing traditional website results. On mobile devices especially, those listings dominate the screen.
That means camps with incomplete or poorly optimized profiles can quietly disappear from searches before guests ever reach their website.
“Your Google Business Profile is nearly as important as your website.”
Carl shared several real-world examples of how small profile issues created major visibility problems.
One retreat-focused camp wasn’t appearing in retreat-related searches because its profile was categorized only as a “children’s camp.” Even though the organization regularly hosted retreats, Google didn’t understand that based on the profile setup. Once retreat-related categories were added, visibility improved significantly.
Another organization changed website domains but forgot to update the URL inside their Google profile, temporarily hurting their branded search visibility.
Carl also described a camp that began appearing in school field trip searches simply by updating its business description to clearly mention field trips.
The takeaway was simple: Google relies heavily on the information camps provide.
Small Updates That Can Improve Visibility
Carl encouraged camp leaders to regularly review and maintain their profile, including:
Verifying business name, address, phone number, and website
Choosing the correct primary category
Adding updated photos
Writing a keyword-aware description
Posting seasonal events and promotions
Actively requesting and responding to reviews
He also noted that review activity matters more than many camps realize. A steady flow of current reviews often performs better than dozens of outdated ones.
“Don’t treat it as set-it-and-forget-it. This is an active growth tool.”
For camps trying to grow retreat bookings, summer registrations, or community visibility, these small improvements can directly impact inquiries and conversions.
A Mentor Who Shaped the Mission
Before the featured conversation began, Mark reflected on the recent passing of Neil Fichthorn, one of the earliest leaders who influenced his approach to camp ministry and marketing.
Neil hired Mark years ago at Sandy Cove and taught him several lessons that stayed with him throughout his career.
One came during the interview process when Neil intentionally watched whether Mark salted his food before tasting it.
The lesson?
Before making changes, take time to understand what’s already there.
Another lesson became foundational to the Grow Your Camp Podcast itself:
“Your job is to fill beds so that ministry can happen.”
Neil believed camp growth and ministry impact were deeply connected. Empty beds meant missed opportunities for life change.
Mark also shared a third lesson Neil taught him while attending camp conferences together:
“We do not go to get. We go to give.”
Those leadership principles still shape the heart behind the podcast today.
Why Casey Fuerst Still Believes in Camp
Casey’s connection to camp began long before marketing strategy and StoryBrand frameworks.
As a camper growing up in a small town, camp became one of the first places where she felt free to fully discover who she was.
She described camp as a place where identity expanded — where she realized there was a bigger world beyond the narrow roles she felt expected to play back home.
Later, while working at camp in college, she met her husband. Camp eventually became deeply woven into nearly every part of her family’s story.
“If every young adult worked at camp, the world would be so much better.”
After spending 18 years serving at Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, Casey initially thought leaving camp work meant walking away from that world entirely. Instead, other camps quickly began reaching out for help.
Many organizations lacked internal marketing staff but still needed strategic guidance. Over time, that demand evolved into Tic Tac Toe Marketing, an agency focused heavily on camps and nonprofits.
Today, Casey and her team help camps simplify their communication, strengthen positioning, and build marketing systems that actually connect with families and retreat guests.
The Hall Closet Problem on Camp Websites
When Casey looks at a typical camp website, one issue shows up repeatedly: clutter.
Too many messages. Too many priorities. Too many departments fighting for homepage space.
To explain the problem, she introduced what became one of the most memorable analogies of the episode: the “hall closet.”
Casey described the family closet where everything got shoved whenever guests were coming over. Because everyone believed their stuff belonged there, the closet eventually became overloaded, disorganized, and impossible to navigate.
She sees many camp websites functioning the same way.
“If everybody thinks their stuff belongs on the front page of the website, it becomes the junk drawer.”
Summer camp wants homepage visibility. Retreats want homepage visibility. Development wants homepage visibility. Events, fundraising campaigns, registrations, staff hiring, and donor messaging all compete for space.
The result is often a homepage filled with competing priorities that overwhelm visitors instead of helping them take action.
The Problem With “Communicating at an Eight”
Casey tied this challenge directly into Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework.
Using a scale from zero to ten, she explained that organizations typically understand their own programs at a “ten” because they live inside the complexity every day.
Visitors, however, only need enough clarity to understand the value and take the next step.
Most camps communicate at an eight when users only need a two.
“Most organizations are communicating at an eight when customers only need a two.”
That overload creates friction. Instead of simplifying decisions, websites unintentionally make visitors work harder to figure out what matters.
And when users feel confused online, they usually leave.
How StoryBrand Helps Camps Simplify Their Messaging
Casey explained that the StoryBrand framework helps organizations organize communication into clear, understandable messaging.
At its core, StoryBrand forces organizations to answer a simple but difficult question:
What problem do you solve?
For camps, that can be surprisingly hard.
Summer camp may provide faith development, friendship, adventure, confidence, leadership skills, mentorship, outdoor experiences, and personal growth all at the same time.
But Casey argues that trying to lead with everything often weakens the message.
“You can have all of those things, but you can only talk about them one at a time.”
The process of simplifying messaging usually involves identifying the primary transformation camps want to emphasize.
Sometimes that message becomes the organization’s differentiator. Other times, it simply becomes the clearest way to connect with the audience emotionally.
Features Don’t Move People — Transformation Does
Throughout the conversation, Mark and Carl reinforced the importance of shifting from features to outcomes.
Instead of saying:
“We have a zipline.”
“We offer outdoor adventure activities.”
The messaging becomes:
“We help kids build confidence.”
“Give the gift of adventure.”
Carl shared an example from a retreat center that dramatically improved gift card sales after changing its messaging to focus on the emotional outcome rather than the product itself.
That shift reflects one of StoryBrand’s core ideas: organizations should position themselves as the guide, not the hero.
The parent, retreat guest, or camper is the hero of the story.
The camp exists to help them succeed.
Clear Is Kind
One line from Casey especially resonated throughout the episode:
“Clear is kind. Clever is not.”
Simple messaging is not about sounding less creative. It’s about reducing confusion so people can confidently take the next step.
For camps, that may mean simplifying homepage priorities, clarifying calls to action, or narrowing the focus of a campaign instead of trying to communicate every possible offering simultaneously.
Where Messaging Matters Most Right Now
The conversation also explored how messaging changes depending on where audiences encounter it.
On social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, camps are interrupting attention. That means ads and content need to stop the scroll immediately with strong visuals and clear messaging.
On Google, however, users already have intent. They’re actively searching for solutions.
That changes how messaging works.
Carl explained that Google ads often perform best when they clearly confirm the user’s search intent rather than trying to sound overly creative.
At the same time, once someone clicks through to the website, the landing page still has to build trust and clarity quickly.
“If you don’t have a scroll-stopping message, they’ll never reach your website.”
The group also discussed how denominational camps are increasingly trying to expand beyond traditional audiences.
Casey shared that many organizations are experimenting with cold outreach, subject line testing, and affinity-based targeting to reach new groups while still maintaining theological alignment.
Even small wording changes can significantly impact engagement rates.
As Mark pointed out:
“The subject line is the ad for the email.”
What This Means for Your Camp
One of the clearest takeaways from this episode is that clarity drives action.
Camps don’t necessarily need more programs, more pages, or more marketing tactics. Often, they simply need clearer communication.
That starts with asking a few honest questions:
Does your homepage pass the “grunt test”?
Can visitors quickly understand who you are and what makes you different?
Are you trying to communicate too many things at once?
Is your Google Business Profile helping or hurting your visibility?
The good news is that clarity and visibility are both highly improvable.
“Clarity and visibility are things you can improve right now.”
As the episode wrapped up, Mark and Carl also celebrated a milestone: Episode 10 of the podcast and more than 36,000 views on podcast clips so far.
They encouraged listeners to keep learning, keep refining, and most importantly, keep taking action.
Because at the end of the day:
“You can’t minister to empty beds.”
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