KEEPING YOUR CUSTOMERS SAFE IN THE OUTDOORS
A guide for businesses
Needs a headline
AdventureSmart can help you engage your customers with the information they need to enjoy the outdoors safely. AdventureSmart is here to help you keep your customers safe and comfortable in the outdoors, so they return to regale their friends with wonderful stories of their great adventures.
- AdventureSmart is a campaign that is delivered by the many partner organisations to provide all the essential information needed for people to get outdoors, confident that they have prepared for a great day.
- AdventureSmart messages are developed by experts from leading safety and sporting organisations
Thousands of people set off for an adventure in the great outdoors every day. Some choose strenuous sports such as rock climbing or coasteering, others take a less extreme approach such as walking, cycling or simply playing on the beach with the family. The majority will have a fantastic time and will take home treasured memories; for a few their day will be marred by discomfort, brushes with danger or accidents and some will have to be helped by rescue and emergency services. Many of these incidents could have been easily avoided; with a little preparation, everyone can help to ensure that their adventure is a treasured memory, not a nightmare.
We have created this toolkit to make it easy for you to help promote the Adventure Smart messages to your customers. We have provided a suite of resources and ideas ready for you to use, so please read on, get busy and let’s get people out enjoying our coast and countryside!
By working with AdventureSmart you are supporting our Mountain Rescue teams, by working together we can reduce the number of avoidable incidents that the rescue and emergency services deal with each year.
BE ADVENTURESMART
Make your good day better
AdventureSmart provides a narrative to guide conversations about safety.
By promoting the AdventureSmart messages you can be sure that you are providing agreed, good practice, based on the latest behavioural science.
Working with the ASUK messages
If your customers are aware of the importance of being prepared for their outdoor adventures prior to their visit, the more likely they are to set off kitted up and in the know to stay safe. From the start, when people start to think about and research their activity, through their booking process and repeatedly through their visit we want people to keep coming across AdventureSmart messages. Your connections with your customers play an important part in this communication.
It’s not about scaring people or giving instructions, it’s about gently reminding people that there are simple things they can do to ensure that they have a more enjoyable (and safer) day.
The best starting point for communications around outdoor safety is the AdventureSmart 3 questions;
Ask yourself 3 questions before you set off:
– Do I have the right GEAR?
– Do I know what the WEATHER will be like?
– Am I confident I have the KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS for the day?
These questions are a useful reminder for even the most experienced. AdventureSmart is a one-stop shop providing comprehensive answers to these questions. AdventureSmart messages cover a wide range of outdoor activities; follow the links below to find out more:
Making your customer’s good day better
Being adventure smart isn’t just about staying safe, it’s about enjoying a day’s walking without getting cold, wet and scared, or setting out on the water knowing you have the knowledge and skills to embrace the conditions. By being clever in how you provide safety information you can increase the chance of your customers having a really enjoyable visit and heading home eager to return. It’s not about lecturing or providing a list of do’s and don’ts, it’s about simply providing some gentle prompts to nudge people to consider their safety.
Make safety messaging part of your regular communications with your guests/customers
Touchpoints
Where – Think about your touch points with your guests and the opportunities they offer
• Marketing & promotional materials
• Arrival – reception & public areas
• Socials, blogs, vlogs, newsletters
• In-room information
• Booking forms & payment confirmation
• Menus
• Pre-arrival mailings
• Conversations with staff
Opportunities
How & When – Consider how and when you might be able to encourage your guests to think about safety when planning their day.
Hospitality
• Booking
• Arrival
• Check-in
• In-room information
• TV screens in bedrooms
Marketing
• Newsletters
• Vlogs and blogs
Retail
• Purchase of goods
• Add a leaflet into the bags
• Put a website link on the bottom of your receipts
• Display the AdventureSmart QR code at your point of sale
Ask yourself 3 questions before you set off:
– Do I have the right GEAR?
– Do I know what the WEATHER will be like?
– Am I confident I have the KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS for the day?
What
The AdventureSmart three questions are an ideal starting point, use them to encourage people to plan to ensure they stay safe and comfortable.
You can provide some advice by including some AdventureSmart messages in your content; feel free to lift content directly from AdventureSmart UK, it’s been designed to make it easy to use; All we ask is that you comply with the AdventureSmart Brand and Communication Guidelines.
Alternatively, you can link to adventureSmart.uk; a one-stop shop for the answers to all their outdoor safety queries. The QR code link to AdventureSmart.UK is an easy and effective way to link.
We’ve put some more ideas together to get you started:
CASE STUDIES
Hooked On Granite Ltd t/a Joe Browns and The Climbers Shop
With a combined history of over 120 years, our established climbing and technical outdoor equipment shops are a key stop-off for visitors to Ambleside, Llanberis and Capel Curig.
During the covid pandemic, we saw a large influx of new customers accessing the outdoors for the first time, whose route into choosing their outdoor adventures was informed via social media rather than the more traditional school, university or club route. The questions we were being asked changed, as did the acceptance of our advice for example; when we highlighted the mountain weather forecast posted daily in our shops, this was greeted with surprise and sometimes disbelief that the weather may be different on the hilltops than in the valleys.
Through our established relationships with our local Mountain Rescue Teams, and indeed, our own staff members who are MRT volunteers it was clear the number of call-outs was increasing rapidly, so we asked ourselves the question – what can we do to help? Our answer came in the form of a small double business card asking the 3 key AdventureSmart questions, providing a basic kit list and offering website addresses for the Mountain Weather Information Service, the Country Code and the sister website to our online shop; The Joe Brown Outdoor Academy, offering a wealth of free advice online. Above all, they are designed to encourage our customers to stay safe and have fun.
Printed on recycled paper with bio-degradable inks they offer an environmentally friendly way of encouraging people to take a breath and think before heading out into what can be a hostile environment. The outdoor environment is beneficial to all of us in so many ways but demands respect by its very nature.
We have the cards available at each till point and have placed them with local accommodation providers and cafés to leave on tables or add to welcome packs. The idea is that they become an unobtrusive point of discussion over breakfast or a coffee……and perhaps a gentle advert for our fabulous, specialist shops who offer just that little bit more than great gear.
Retail – purchase of goods. Add an AdventureSmart QR code to your point of sale as this could certainly help your customers plan ahead and prepare for their next adventure, whatever it may be!
▪ Embedding some of the AdventureSmart messaging into the existing content of your information leaflets etc. will ensure that your customers just keep coming across it, without having to search for it.
▪ bar TVs, leaflets, posters
▪ Menus in restaurants
▪ Why not add a link to the weather here or perhaps go one step further and add the daily weather information to your daily menus
▪ Add an AdventureSmart QR code to your menus could certainly help your customers plan ahead and prepare for their next adventure, whatever it may be!
What – The AdventureSmart three questions are an ideal starting point, use them to encourage people to plan to ensure they stay safe and comfortable. You can provide some advice by including some AdventureSmart messages in your content; feel free to lift content directly from AdventureSmart UK, it’s been designed to make it easy to use; All we ask is that you comply with the AdventureSmart Brand and Communication Guidelines.
Alternatively, you can link to AdventureSmart.uk; a one-stop shop for the answers to all their outdoor safety queries. The QR code link to AdventureSmart.UK is an easy and effective way to link.
Your Socials
Do you find yourself wondering what your social media topic of the day should be? Our key messages might just help you along.
For example, it’s not long in the UK before the conversation turns to the weather! If the forecast for the weekend looks great and you are offering a special weekend deal, then you might tweet;
Your Business
Seen the forecast? Pack your suncream and walking boots and head to the hills this weekend! We’re offering a warm welcome and magnificent countryside in our last-minute offer! #beadventuresmart
Your Business
Do you fancy exploring our wonderful coastline from the sea – then sea kayaking is for you! Stay with us this weekend and let the experts @yourbusiness show you the way #BeAdventureSmart
The AdventureSmart messages have been designed to take the effort out of providing safety advice via your socials, so whether your social media channel of choice is Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, take a look and get posting!
At different times of the year, some messages are more relevant than others, our AdventureSmart Campaign calendar will help you think about what your guests/customers need to know season by season.
AdventureSmart Campaign Calendar
still being written!
Your website
It’s a well-known fact that safety information is often dull and most people are unlikely to click on a tab with safety in the title, all the more reason to get creative! You know your customers better than anyone and will be able to find new ways to weave the AdventureSmart messages into your narrative.
By embedding advice into your general content rather than presenting stand-alone safety messaging you can begin to encourage people to consider what they need to do to have a great day. You can take content directly from AdventureSmart.UK and include it in your site, or embed some of our videos and graphics; take a look, download and embed.
Why not a link to our suggestions for core kit and optional extras to keep you safe and comfortable in your ‘Things to do in the area’.
Talk the talk
With the right knowledge and understanding you and your staff are one conversation away from ensuring that your guests have a fantastic and safe day out….you might even save a life!
AdventureSmart can help your staff include some simple safety information in their conversations with guests. They need to know the right information to give and the best way to say it. AdventureSmart can give your staff the confidence to say “if you are going to do that, you need to…” It’s all about being positive, not scary.
- Discuss AdventureSmart at your staff meetings and give them the time to get familiar with the website and the messages.
- Encourage your staff to use the AdventureSmart 3 questions when chatting to customers about their plans for the day.
- Encourage your staff to direct customers to www.adventuresmart.uk; make sure the QR code is easily accessible, it could be on your notice board, or on your menus…?
- The right advice will vary with seasons, weather, location and activity, so the time your staff spend considering the relevant messages for your guests is time well spent.
Here are some examples of frequently asked questions and some suggestions for AdventureSmart answers.
FAQs from visitors… PD and EEJ still working on this
Working with the ASUK assets
AdventureSmart.uk has all the safety information your customers might need in one place! You can link to the home page or to specific topic pages. Whatever their chosen activity there are activity-specific messages and gear lists developed in partnership with the leading safety and sporting organisations.
