Rebooting your marketing, part 3

• You know the only thing worse than a tiny Marketing budget?  Consistently squandering the few dollars and time from the budget on useless activities that bring no new revenue.95% of clubs have an abysmal social media presence.
  
  95% of clubs have an abysmal social media presence.
  Signing up for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram four years ago was great, not consistently updating it with interesting and relevant information about your club – unforgivable.
  Your club should look like the most exciting place in town.  Is it?  Than show it off to your members and potential ones.
  How often?  Every day.
  Yes, every day.
  “But we don’t have that much going on, no one could possibly take that on”.
  I bet you do and you can.
  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all FREE + it only takes about 45 seconds to snap a picture on your phone, click the app, and presto.
  Go look right now on your Facebook page.  I bet if you randomly select twenty members, they will each have at least 100 friends.  Some as many as 500.  Each time you post something and they like it, all of their friends can potentially see it.
  “Honestly, we don’t have that much…”.  Yes you do.
  Here’s a sample of few topics to choose from: 

• Pro shop – Did you get a new shipment of shoes, belts, shirts, outerwear, hats, clubs, or pants?  Do you have a sale? Is a member wearing one of your shirts currently?  Tag your member, “Dr. Smith is looking good in the new Polo performance shirt”
• Leagues –  Men’s, Junior, 9 hole ladies, 18 hole ladies, dog fights…they all should be featured on your social media accounts (especially Facebook).  People love to see themselves.  Tag as many as you can.  What did they shoot?  Who got the best score?  Who won the most money?  Who looked like they are having fun?  Did someone buy a new club from the pro shop?  25% rule:  If you have twenty people show up, you should have at least 5 pictures from the event.  60 people = 15 pictures.
• Lessons – Who is taking lessons on the range?  How much did they improve?  Who taught them?  Do you have group lessons?
• Restaurant – You should have a lunch special every day.  Give away a free drink – if they like the picture on Facebook.  Remember, all of their friends can potentially see this.  What does the new salad look like?  Hot soup?  Chips and Queso?  Wings?  Who are the employees that everyone loves in your clubs restaurant?  Who is eating there today?
• Upcoming events – (hint:  it takes about 5 exposures to get a person that has never attended to try something new).  Start promoting a month out.  Show pictures of the past events success.  Tell them to put it on their calendars – simple messages like this work.
• Premier events – Member-guest, member-member, guest days, club championships – make them appear fun on your clubs social media pages with lots of pictures.
• Demo days
• Trunk shows
• Video lessons – 1-3 minutes tops
•  lessons, either video or print
• History lessons from your club, what happened in golf on this date in 19__.
• Weather update
• How to hit it farther.
• How to pitch/chip.
• How to fix a pitch mark.
• How to hit a lob shot.
• How to hit a bunker shot.
• How to properly grip the club.
• How to stop three-putting.
• How to cure a slice/hook.
• Strategy on the course.
• Fitness advice, getting stronger, faster, more flexible.
• What is the difference in balls?
• How to take a drop – most people get this one wrong.
• Funny golf videos – these actual get the most views.
• Did a member get married?
• Did a member have a new baby?
• Who’s birthday is it?  You should have a list of ever members birthday and celebrate on your Facebook page.  Who does this?  You can!
• Upcoming pro-ams.
• Outside events – who’s coming?
• Throw back in time pictures.
• Pace of play tips.
• Tennis, pool, fitness center pictures/events/people.

If you can’t find something interesting to post each day – you aren’t paying attention.

Food for thought #16

If your local sign company gave you four billboards for free, for two months in the busiest intersections of town, with the stipulation that your club had to advertise, “Hands down, the best Ladies program in (name of your city)” or “You won’t find a better Junior program, anywhere”…could your club pull it off?

If not, why?

What would you have to do differently?

Rebooting your Marketing, part 2

Where are the course tours these days?

Why aren’t they on your website?

Do you want google images and golfclubatlas.com (which I love) to get traffic or your club?

Here’s a simple one done on wordpress by my good friends at Sweetens Cove outside of Chattanooga, TN:

http://www.sweetenscovegolfclub.com/#

If you want to be a bit more ambitious, Oak Ridge Country Club in Oak Ridge, TN has a cool flyover.  Bonus points for narration:

http://oakridgecountryclub.org/aerial-tour/#close

Not having a course tour but needing members is like having a hotel website without views of the rooms.  It’s lazy.

(Copy this) The best pin sheet I've ever seen

This is absolutely genius.  So clear.  No ambiguity.

Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, NC

Rebooting your Marketing

Your people (service) and your product (golf course, calendar) are what sets you apart from your competition.

A great golf professional is like a pied piper – if he (and your club) understands the power of marketing.  One area I see few over 35 golf professionals embrace is You Tube.  In short, your website and social media sites should direct people to your professional staff on an at least weekly basis.

Why?

1. It’s free.  Literally, you pay nothing to reach thousands of people.  That should excite anyone without an aol account.
2. It works.  If the the videos are good, people will watch your content, save it, try it (tips, tricks), and then (here’s the powerful part for you) share it.
3. It takes very little time or expertise.  A phone camera and a steady hand are all you need.

Here’s what I would do if I sold less than 20k in lessons per year:

• One tip per week, better if you show real members.
• Include women, juniors, seniors…they statistically take more lessons than males under 40.
• Content:  Etiquette (you would be surprised what people miss), pace of play, rules, basics of golf, advanced techniques, fitness, and the mental game.
• Always include a call to action at the end – 10-15 seconds.
• Encourage questions by including your non-aol email account.
• Keep the videos 2-5 minutes tops.
• Make sure to film on non-windy days.
• Be consistent, post the same day/time of the week.

Domino’s, Ebay, and your Pro Shop

Have you tried the new (well, it’s really not that new now) Domino’s Pizza Tracker app?  Place your order…and the application shows you in temperature gauge fashion where your pizza is step by step until completion.  Really fascinating that the company put so much time and thought into a $7-12 item.

Ebay is another remarkable application.  Individuals sell items to other individuals…and without fail, whether the item is a $5 book or a $50 Hines Ward jersey, tracking information is provided within 24 hours of paying for the selection.

I ordered shoes via the New Balance brick and mortar store a month ago…same thing, but in person.  “Sir, it is showing in stock and we can have it here by Friday.  Should I order it for you”?

Shockingly…I don’t have a ‘membership’ to any of these businesses.

What is the process for ordering at your club, step-by-step?

If sounds like, “we’ll get it ordered and call you when it comes in”, and then your staff is harassed by the member for weeks until the order arrives – That is on you, not your ‘annoying’ member.

$5 pizzas, $10 books, a part for my broken dishwasher all come with adequate arrival information.  It’s not 1975 anymore.  This is blocking and tackling.

Always have an invitation fee

Initiation fees are the ‘temperature’ of your club.  Have one, and potential members will likely view you as viable and healthy.  The absence of an initiation fee is a beacon to the transient bargain shopper.

In short, you should always have an initiation fee (!) – even if you have to concede in another area.

You could creatively defray some of the costs with:

• Cart passes or cart usage included for so many months.
• Guest passes.
• Food credit.
• Locker usage for 12 months.
• Lessons.

…just be cautious when nixing it completely.

The appearance of struggling to survive doesn’t say, “great club, amazing service, exceptional experience, or wow”, it says, “please come, we are dying”.