This is the Referral Rundown, the newsletter that helps camps grow through word of mouth.

We're a better end-of-summer tradition than the banquet slideshow that somehow runs 40 minutes.

Today’s estimated read time: 1 minute 49 seconds

Pickup day is the most emotional day of the year.

Parents in the parking lot, watching their kid say goodbye to people they met four weeks ago like they've known them their whole life.

If you've run a camp, you know the scene.

Here's what I think most camps miss about that moment:

That parent will never feel more strongly about your camp than they do right now.

But then something predictable happens.

School starts, sports start. The trunk sits in the garage for three weeks before anyone unpacks it.

The feeling from camp doesn't disappear, it just goes quiet.

That’s the thing I've come to believe about referrals:

They aren't driven by how happy a family is, they're driven by how recently that family felt happy.

The standard playbook misses the moment.

Most camps run their referral push in the winter.

On a spreadsheet, that makes sense. That's when enrollment is open and when you need the bunks filled.

But that's five months after the feeling.

You're asking a parent to recommend you at the exact moment they're least connected to why they loved you.

The camps that do this well ask in a different window.

The two to four weeks right after the last bus pulls out.

Here's what that looks like this month:

Start with the parents already writing to you.

The ones emailing unprompted about how much their kid grew this summer.

Those aren't compliments.

Those are referrals nobody has asked for yet.

Ask for a name, not a favor.

"Tell your friends about us" gives a parent nothing to do.

"Who's one family you think would love this place?" gives them one thing to do.

Make it take ten seconds.

If your ask requires a parent to explain your camp, find your website, and remember a promo code, you've built a chore.

A link they can text is a different thing entirely.

And don't wait for it to be polished. A plain email this month beats a beautiful program in December.

The takeaway

Word of mouth has a half-life.

It's highest the week camp ends, and it decays every week after.

The camps that grow ask in August, because August is when parents actually want to tell someone.

The bunks get filled in the winter.

Camp gets shared in the next three weeks.

Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of speaking with Mark and Carl of the Grow Your Camp Podcast.

We had a great conversation about camp, technology, and running referral programs.

Check it out here:

📚 Contagious by Jonah Berger

This book asks a simple question: why do some things get talked about, and others don't?

One of Berger's ideas has stuck with me – triggers.

People talk about what's top of mind, not necessarily what they love most.

Your families still love camp in January.

They're just not thinking about it.

Until next time,

Peter “Salad Bar Slayer” Elbaum