Building a solid brand takes more than hiring a great designer. It takes more than just an owner’s blood, sweat and tears. And way more than just launching a spiffy online presence.
Brand building takes time. It takes attention. Constant revisiting, adjustment, and recalibration.
And, according to what I learned yesterday from a very successful camp’s director, more than anything, brand-building lies squarely on the shoulders of the people you trust to propel your message.
Interviewing Cheley
Nine years ago DK journeyed west to Colorado by Greyhound from Durham NC, where we’re now based once again, to become part of the summer staff at Cheley Colorado Camps.
Then, a few years ago, I ran into someone I met at Cheley Colorado Camps on the streets of Seattle. It was like reconnecting with a grade school friend, and we immediately went for drinks to catch up. Both of us were camp counselors in 2000. The summer program is for children of all ages in the blue-and-purple mountaintops of Rocky Mountain National Park. Sound amazing? It is. The setting is absolutely impeccable.
But the camp’s marketing materials did a lot of the selling, too.
How to build a brand
I remember receiving the application package, and getting excited with its sheer weight and size. Now I know that the brand was there, strong and clear and evocative right there. Standing on the front porch of our apartment on Ninth Street, the sale was made right then.
When I look back over the decade intervening, I realize I’ve never seen a better sewn-up package for marketing a brand experience. Cheley did a good job delivering on the promise, too. The friend I reconnected with in Seattle and I shared a long leisurely evening talking about the camp, the rituals, the scenic beauty, and the people. All of that was part of the brand promise, right from the start.
Clearly, Cheley has done a lot of work to build its organization.
Yesterday I asked Jeff Cheley, the director of the summer camp that’s been in his family for four generations, how they did it.
He said: staff, strategy, and quality.
“We have two people who just hire staff, all year,” said Jeff. Identifying the right people to share enthusiasm and push energy forward to create a brand experience is that important.
“Some people will just work for a paycheck,” he said. “They don’t really care where a company’s going.”
But real leadership means people can rally their people around a clear and well-articulated vision. They can infuse a sense of enthusiasm into everyone who works for them. Cheley employs 12 people year-round, and expands by the dozens during the summer season.
Leadership and vision
Without leaders who communicate confidently what it is their company is about, staff won’t buy in to their ideas. The meaning of the Cheley camp experience—that nugget that I got a sense of when I got my application packet—runs deep through generations of the Cheley family. “It’s in our blood,” Jeff said.
High-quality marketing materials are another key to their success, he said. From the time the camp began in 1921, “everything sent out was very high quality, from brochures to bills to letters.” Now things are done more often by e-mail, but the idea is the same: communicate quality.
Take the time to recalibrate
Cheley revisits its strategy plan several times a year. The idea is to stay in touch with the vision and mission. It’s worth paying for an outside consultant to come in and ask the right questions. They’ve worked with a group of strategy consultants on different occasions, including Cathy Sunshine of Sunshine Consultancy in Denver.
“Most of the smartest people out there realize they’re not the best at what they do,” Jeff said. Hiring an experienced person or team makes the time spent thinking about big-picture questions more focused, more productive, and well worth the money spent. “I’d rather spend more and work with someone who knows the right questions to ask.”
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