"A Snapshot" Look at Our Industry - Strategic Marketing - October 2011
Maximizing Technology - Strategic Marketing, E-mail and More
Last month we talked about the importance of technology utilization, particularly when it comes to Internet tee time reservations. This month, I’m going to continue to focus on utilization, but this time let’s look at how you can maximize technology when it comes to your marketing strategy.Bringing in new business is an important component of any organization’s marketing strategy, but for the golf industry in particular, retaining customers and generating maximum dollars out of current customers is critical for any golf course’s success. The customer information in your Fore! Reservations database should be the central force driving your marketing efforts, so the key is figuring out how to leverage that information to do more effective marketing.
Many people think the terms “marketing” and “sales” are interchangeable, but “sales” is only one part of “marketing”. One of my old bosses once defined marketing as having the right product in the right place at the right time at the right price. Although this may sound simple, if you give it a little thought you will start to realize that marketing is really a complex process:
• Product Development and Production – Are we producing something that people want?
• Competitive Comparison and Research – How do we stack up against others offering a similar product?
• Customer Identification – Who are the logical candidates that want the product we are marketing?
• Product Awareness – How do we make customers aware of the product we offer through advertising, public relations, face-to face customer contact, word of mouth, or other forms of marketing?
• Product Pricing – Are we accurately priced in terms of the product we offer compared to our competition?
The one common denominator in virtually every phase of marketing is communication. Businesses start by communicating what product is desired from the production staff (design at first, then maintenance standards on an ongoing basis). Then, communication tools are utilized to research competition, assess relative strengths and weaknesses and determine the price. The goal then becomes to make as many people aware of the product as possible, while continuing communication with customers that have successfully been attracted to the business and product(s) offered.
In the past, communication methods were basically available in three forms:
1. Advertising and Public Relations – Traditional Print, Radio and TV
2. Telephone Interaction
3. In-Person Customer Contact
Today, many new methods of building customer awareness and maintaining contact with existing customers have been added; most of which involve the use of Internet-based electronic communication. Let’s examine today’s communication tools and how your course can maximize technology to use these methods to improve your marketing strategy. When it comes to implementation, the most important thing you can do is setup a schedule and stick to it. I’ve estimated the time investment for each of these tools, and I think you’ll be surprised at how little time is required to implement new technology. Let’s look closer at an “ideal” strategic marketing schedule.
1. Course Website – As I said in last month’s article, your goal should be to drive as much traffic to your website as possible. Driving customers to your site can best be achieved with a well-designed webpage that catches the customer’s eye, makes it easy to book tee times online and features updated content.
Webpage Management (1-2 hours per month) – Utilize website tools that make it easy to update content, so you’re regularly promoting course happenings to keep customers well-informed. Set aside time each month to revise your home page with current promotions, update your event calendar and make certain your Fore! Internet Specials Calendar has monthly specials posted. You should also run Google Analytics reports to track website visits, as well as your Fore! Reservations Online Bookings Reports to view your Internet reservation statistics.
2. E-mail Marketing – As I have outlined in previous articles, every golf course should have broadcast e-mail marketing capability. Golf courses should avoid “blanket discount” messages that go out to the entire database at all costs. Messages should go out to customer segments sorted by value, location or customer type (new or non-returning, member vs. non-member, etc.). Utilize an e-mail service provider like Fore! Marketing to send the following e-mail communications with little time invested.
Monthly Newsletter (1 hour per month) – Every golf course should send out an electronic newsletter every month! It can be simple - upcoming tournaments, last month’s winners, featured beer of the month, merchandise specials, etc. Have an issue ready to send on the first of every month of your season. Utilize a Fore! Marketing newsletter template to efficiently create this monthly e-mail to your customer base.
Thank You Notes (1 hour at beginning of season) – This automated e-mail in Fore! Marketing should be setup at the start of each season. It can be as simple as “thank you for visiting us” with a link to your website to make a future reservation. You can also include a customer feedback survey, or even a comeback offer to return; make sure to setup a specific SKU to track the results for incentives offered. Then, take a few minutes at the end of each month to analyze your survey results and view your e-mail marketing reports to see the results of your comeback offer.
Defector Messages (1 hour at beginning of season) – This is another automated Fore! Marketing e-mail campaign that every course should utilize. Again, this can be setup at the start of the season and can be a simple “we miss you” message with a link to your website to make a tee time reservation. If you include an incentive to return, setup a specific SKU to track the results. Like with the Thank You campaign, take a few minutes at the end of each month to view your Defector e-mail marketing reports.
3. Mobile Apps – Mobile Apps is a very fast-growing area of technology usage. According to Google’s new research site, www.ourmobileplanet.com, 31% of cell phone users in the U.S. have converted to smart phones such as the IPhone, Droid or Blackberry. Using mobile technology is really a necessary extension of your website and Internet reservation technology. Most web developers can convert your entire website to a language that is “viewable” on the “mobile web” for a nominal charge. If you would just like to dip your toe into the mobile world, you can begin by providing a convenient way for golfers to book tee times through your website from their smart phones with a Mobile Booking Interface. Fore! Reservations Mobile Booking Interface is included with your Fore! Internet package and free to utilize. Don’t miss out on this fast-growing opportunity to make yourself accessible to this new area of customer service.
Mobile Booking Activation (30 minutes) – Setup shouldn’t take very long at all, and once activated, mobile technology really doesn’t require any more time on your part. Just make sure your website is updated to prominently display a link to download your mobile app and promote this booking tool in your e-mail communication. Like everything else, it’s important to set aside some time to run your Fore! Internet Booking Reports so you can track the number of mobile reservations each month.
4. Social Media – How should you be using social media? With Facebook being the dominant player, I would recommend that every golf course establish a Facebook business page. You can easily do this yourself for free, and your website provider should be able to provide the necessary links as part of your normal update process at little or no extra charge. Twitter can also be an effective social media application as long as it also costs you little or nothing to implement. Both Facebook and Twitter can be valuable as long as you actively promote the sites, regularly maintain fresh content, and continuously try to grow your “fans” and “followers”.
Facebook (1 hour per week) – If you setup a Facebook page, set aside time for yourself or someone on your staff to look at it every day. If there are messages that require a response, checking daily will ensure that these issues are dealt with on a timely basis. You can also use Facebook to send out specific offers to your fans or use it to let them know you have openings on a last-minute basis - don’t forget to setup the appropriate SKUs for optimal tracking. I would also recommend activating the Fore! Reservations Facebook social media integration, which promotes your Facebook site on the golfer’s tee time confirmation page encouraging that he/she become a fan. Here are some additional Facebook pointers:
• Monitor your Facebook activity daily.
• Respond to every wall posting that requires a response i.e. slow play comments, thank “friends” for compliments, etc.
• Encourage Facebook promotions such as Find-a-Game specials.
• Engage golfers in wall post contests that enlists their participation.
• Be mindful of online reviews that can occur on Facebook or anywhere else on the web. When setting up your Facebook page, avoid activating sections such as “Reviews” or “Recommendations”. Most importantly, respond immediately to any negative reviews.
Twitter (1 hour per week) – If you start a Twitter account, make time to “tweet” often and follow similar instructions as listed for Facebook above. Like Facebook, utilize the Twitter social media integration on your Fore! Internet tee time reservation page to enable golfers to “tweet” about their reservation at your course.
I am by no means a social media expert, so for more information on how to utilize social media, read 10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips. The first two tips are on Facebook and Twitter, and each includes a basic and advanced strategy. Another informative article I came across that’s a quick read is 5 Key Tips for a Successful Social Media Content Strategy.
All of the new methods of marketing technology can be very effective in attracting and retaining customers. I will tell you, however, that every course’s market and customer base is different, so you should not necessarily eliminate all of your traditional advertising automatically just because you have adopted new methods of electronic communication. Here are a few pointers on how to keep “past” marketing methods relevant:
• Every newspaper, magazine, radio or TV ad should contain an offer with a specific SKU tied to the ad.
• Every ad should contain a reference to your website address.
• Review how much you are spending in “dead tree” directories (i.e. yellow books).
• Check your listings for accuracy on Internet directories (online telephone books, golfcourse.com, etc.).
• In-person customer contact and telephone interaction still holds importance today.
After you have taken all of the steps to do the marketing initiatives outlined above, you need to set aside time to evaluate the results to see how much activity was generated by each promotion and compare it to your cost. This should be done at least monthly.
Most of you are probably laughing by now, because most of you know you are not doing many of the things I have outlined. I know, for example, that not every Fore! Marketing user has setup the automatic Thank You or Defector E-mail Campaigns. I also know that many of you are not creating specific SKUs for every promotion your course runs, and that most of you are not sending out regular newsletters. However, I do have a number of clients that are implementing most of the above technology (and more), and virtually all of these courses are having successful seasons in 2011.
If you find that your course struggles to find the time to implement new technology, or just doesn’t have the expertise to properly manage your website, create e-mails that make an impact, or try out methods like mobile booking or social media, I know Fore! Reservations offers marketing services that could help you in these areas. You would need to contact them directly for more information such as the program details and costs associated.
Speaking of marketing costs, I keep telling you I’m going to get around to discussing the costs of all this stuff. I’ve given you some hints on what some of these things should cost; but I’m actually far more concerned about getting you setup to track how much revenue your course generates from marketing promotions. Until you are prepared to measure results, it doesn’t make any sense to spend the money on any initiatives beyond the basics I outlined in last month’s article.
While we are on the subject, how many of you went back and figured out how much you are spending on Internet technology “basics”? Internet Connectivity? Internet Reservation Interface? Web Design and Hosting? Broadcast E-mail?
So again, before you can effectively evaluate the costs and results of your investment in technology and other marketing programs, you need to setup the necessary tracking tools and commit the time to analyze your data to determine whether you are getting your money’s worth or not. It’s virtually impossible to successfully do strategic marketing until you dedicate yourself to tracking your results.
Next month, we’ll talk about marketing partnerships, and tie up the loose ends of our cost and benefit analysis. After November’s article, you should feel armed with helpful information on industry trends, recommendations for success, technology implementation ideas and beneficial marketing strategy tips to help you make decisions in the best interest of your business. I look forward to concluding the year with my December article on how you can take everything learned in 2011 to prepare for a better 2012. Until next time...
Stuart Lindsay
"Lindsay, a lifelong Milwaukeean, has made a career of a seemingly thankless task: Helping businesses and individuals understand the inner workings of the golf industry. He began delving into golf course economics while with Deere & Co., and continued after founding Edgehill Golf Advisors in 1989. The work combines his naturally analytical mind with his passion for golf." - Golfweek, April 2008
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Edgehill Golf Advisors
10134 N. Port Washington Road
Mequon, WI 53092
Telephone: 262.241.7088
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