Legendary Marketing Meets Golf in Scottsdale
June 8, 2010
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What's Really Killing Golf!
Dear Reader:
If you saw the year to date participation figures in Golf Business Magazine recently you should have cause for alarm! Yes, I know the winter was bad, the economy is bad and discounting is hurting everyone but that's not the real reason the golf business is in the toilet!
Today I went to 10 random golf websites, not one had a blog, not one was Tweeting and only one had a Facebook page.
So I kept surfing, eventually, after another 15 minutes I did find a couple of clubs that had all three. None had been updated recently thereby missing the whole point of the social media revolution. For that's what it is my friends a revolution, people today, (under 40) just don't get information the same way we did!
Even my own clients often give up blogging and tweeting before they really start. Too busy, no immediate feedback, not that type of club, take your pick of excuses…
Then of course you have the big management companies, who are simply scared of social media! What if people bad mouth a course or insult a staff member? What, no control, no way! All tweets will go to corporate first to make sure the spelling is correct, blogging will be done from a central location and in corporate speak only!
But the golf industry's general disregard for social media is only a small part of a MUCH bigger problem.
I just came out with a killer loyalty program. Open rates and pass around on our first e-mail where staggering, in some case 300-400% higher than normal. Can you really afford to IGNORE those kinds of numbers? I hope not, go ahead and sign up now its $99 a month and all you have to do is send me a picture and a logo… That's it, you're done, a years worth of contests, downloads, data building campaigns, viral campaigns and entertainment for your customers, DONE!
http://www.LegendaryLoyalty.com
BUY NOW, cancel any time… reap the rewards forever!
The time it takes to play is a problem; a big problem that most owners agree has to be tackled… Personally I have rarely, in thirty years, seen a ranger demand the group behind be allowed to go through or heaven forbid they actually throw someone of the course, for playing quicker than wounded snail!
We could talk about sales training, I frequently do. It's something they do in just about every industry, especially industries that compete with us like professional sports (entertainment) but I have NEVER, been to a club where a professional sales system was in place (other than a couple I put in) or where sales training of any kind was even considered.
Because no club actually invests time or effort in sales training the industry as a whole is sadly lacking in professional sales people. The very people we need to grow memberships, book events and sell tee times. But even this is just another symptom in a far bigger problem.
I know people are busy. I know they are short staffed, I know money is tight and I know it's hard out there but the real reason golf is in the hole is apathy. There I said it.
APATHY
Apathy to change, apathy to marketing, apathy to sales training, apathy to social media and apathy to new technology or even new ideas!
If we want to grow golf again the industry has to be:
More open to change
More open to adopting new technology
More open to marketing aggressively
More open to professional sales
More proactive in fixing problems like slow play
Less up tight about typos in an e-mail and more proactive in providing entertainment for our customers!
Think I'm wrong? Then go ahead and flail me in the discussion forum here (best place) or e-me, all responses will be posted!
What's Really Killing Golf!
This was the title of an article I received in the Scottsdale Greens mailbox from Andrew Wo0d of Legendary Marketing, a man who claims to the world's leader in golf, resort and destination marketing, and he may be right, I don't hear anyone else claiming that title so vociferously! He comes down pretty hard on golf courses that don't Tweet and golf clubs that don't Facebook, YouTube or Flickr. I think the higher end courses such as the Troon's, Grayhawk's and TPC's of my town, Scottsdale, AZ are getting it but they charge premium bucks for an 18 hole round in season. To a course in Sandusky, OH, just how important to their bottom line is social media marketing?
Knowing a bit about social media myself I was ready to condemn everything the man said about the use of social media to promote a golf course, skipping ahead to see where the hook was – and instead I found myself wanting to join his affiliate program! I have no doubts after reading his stuff that he is right on the money, golf courses do need to take more advantage of the free social media marketing platforms that are out there. I just feel that he takes a hard line, hard sell kind of approach that would turn me off from the 1st tee.
Because he is a great pitch man he was able to sell me on the idea of using social media to promote golf, golf courses, golf equipment and anything else connected with golf, even though I have been advocating social media marketing for some time. But the focus here and now is on the subject of golf courses and if I was a proactive kind of golf professional I would integrate social media into my media plan. I would find someone who knows social media marketing, knows the Scottsdale golf scene from the inside out and someone who understands seasonal demands in a resort type destination.
Wait a minute, that sounds like me!
HELLO! Is anyone out there? Payson Web can do these things for your Golf Course!
But lets first see for ourselves just how well Scottsdale golf courses measure up on the social media marketing scale. Do they get social media, and if they think they do what are they doing about it? Is it just endless self-promotion of no real value to a golfer or is there some strategy involved. What are golf course management companies doing to satisfy the new challenges that their golf course customers face with marketing budgets in times of less play.
Do they use social media, and if they do who does it and how often. Just how do they use social media effectively to get more players to their course?
Andrew starts off his article by pointing out some scary statistics:
If you saw the year to date participation figures in Golf Business Magazine recently you should have cause for alarm! Yes, I know the winter was bad, the economy is bad and discounting is hurting everyone but that's not the real reason the golf business is in the toilet!
Today I went to 10 random golf websites, not one had a blog, not one was Tweeting and only one had a Facebook page!.
I thought man, Scottsdale courses cant be that dumb can they? So after reading this section I decided to go out and see just what some of the Scottsdale Golf courses are doing with social media like Facebook and Twitter.
I randomly chose 5 of my favorite Scottsdale golf courses to see where they rank on Andrew's social media marketing scale, 1 being bad, 10 being best.
Grayhawk GC – Nice blog, Twitter and Facebook, YouTube Score: 7
Andrew continues;
So I kept surfing, eventually, after another 15 minutes I did find a couple of clubs that had all three. None had been updated recently thereby missing the whole point of the social media revolution. For that's what it is my friends a revolution, people today, (under 40) just don't get information the same way we did!
Even my own clients often give up blogging and tweeting before they really start. Too busy, no immediate feedback, not that type of club, take your pick of excuses…
Then of course you have the big management companies, who are simply scared of social media! What if people bad mouth a course or insult a staff member? What, no control, no way! All tweets will go to corporate first to make sure the spelling is correct, blogging will be done from a central location and in corporate speak only!
But the golf industry's general disregard for social media is only a small part of a MUCH bigger problem.
I just came out with a killer loyalty program. Open rates and pass around on our first e-mail where staggering, in some case 300-400% higher than normal. Can you really afford to IGNORE those kinds of numbers? I hope not, go ahead and sign up now its $99 a month and all you have to do is send me a picture and a logo… That's it, you're done, a years worth of contests, downloads, data building campaigns, viral campaigns and entertainment for your customers, DONE!
http://www.LegendaryLoyalty.com
BUY NOW, cancel any time… reap the rewards forever!
The time it takes to play is a problem; a big problem that most owners agree has to be tackled… Personally I have rarely, in thirty years, seen a ranger demand the group behind be allowed to go through or heaven forbid they actually throw someone of the course, for playing quicker than wounded snail!
We could talk about sales training, I frequently do. It's something they do in just about every industry, especially industries that compete with us like professional sports (entertainment) but I have NEVER, been to a club where a professional sales system was in place (other than a couple I put in) or where sales training of any kind was even considered.
Because no club actually invests time or effort in sales training the industry as a whole is sadly lacking in professional sales people. The very people we need to grow memberships, book events and sell tee times. But even this is just another symptom in a far bigger problem.
I know people are busy. I know they are short staffed, I know money is tight and I know it's hard out there but the real reason golf is in the hole is apathy. There I said it.
APATHY
Apathy to change, apathy to marketing, apathy to sales training, apathy to social media and apathy to new technology or even new ideas!
If we want to grow golf again the industry has to be:
More open to change
More open to adopting new technology Think outside the Tee Box Dude! you cant talk to the golf industry that way. Golf took the Pro out of pro-active
More open to marketing aggressively
More open to professional sales
More proactive in fixing problems like slow play
Less up tight about typos in an e-mail and more proactive in providing entertainment for our customers!
Think I'm wrong? Then go ahead and flail me in the discussion forum here (best place) or e-me, all responses will be posted!
Stay tuned to see how TPC Scottsdale and Legend Trail Golf clubs stack up on the Scottsdale Greens social media scale.
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Read the same article. I doubt any course will get more than a 7. I love the emails I get from competitors that have obvious typos in the header!
John Carson, June 14 2010, 1:53 pmAll I can say is Scottsdale in Arizona rank among the world's truly elite golf destinations.
Arizona Golf, June 14 2011, 7:12 pmArizona Golf´s last blog ..Golf Zoo seeks experienced Golf – Travel Salespeople
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Albert, July 17 2011, 4:38 amAlbert´s last blog ..7 Rules to Get Your Ex Back
I really like the place. It is really good to play golf there. I hope I can visit and play golf there someday. Thanks for posting this article, I enjoyed reading.
Dave@ Destination club, August 4 2011, 11:56 pmBeautiful scenery, such a marvelous experience if you go this place. Wish i can go there and playing golf and watching wonderful views.Its been my dream to go beautiful places such as this which away from city hustle.
Dave's Billboard, September 20 2011, 7:33 am