We are all waiting and watching as authorities begin to deal with how to safely open up our economy again. As of today (April 14, 2020), the National Golf Foundation (NGF) reports that roughly 48% of U.S. golf courses are open for play which is up from 44% the week prior.

Whether you’re open or closed right now, there are many important marketing action items to do now. I've put together a few action items to consider for your email, website, social media, and search engine marketing.

Email Marketing

• Create new segments for enhanced targeting of customers. This can be done by adding more classes or groups to your POS and your email marketing database.
• Prepare surveys designed to increase your knowledge about your customers’ preferences and be sure to provide an incentive to complete the survey.
• Prepare target lists for selling prepaid rounds, memberships, gift cards, lesson plans, etc.
• Prepare plans and brainstorm for ideas to build your email lists
  • Example: Prepare a giveaway for new subscribers (like emailing a voucher for a free bucket of balls).
• Create and update email marketing templates
• Review your overall email marketing strategy to make sure you are maximizing effectiveness

Website

• Review existing content to update all information (like staff members, contact info, FAQs, rates, policies, etc.)
• Create New Content including:
  • Golf Tips from the teaching staff
  • Recipes and Cooking tips from the Chef
  • Gardening and maintenance tips from the Super
  • Stories about your facility’s history
  • Interesting stories about people who are members or customers at your facility
• Video content including drone flyovers or random interesting videos
• Check all the links in your website to make sure they are working and current
• Update meta keywords and meta descriptions on your pages
• Review your Google Analytics and check out the following:
  • Where are visitors coming from?
  • Which pages do they visit the most?
  • Which pages have the highest bounce rate?
• Use the above info from analytics to fine tune your marketing strategies and adjust your content and calls-to-action on your pages.
• Review your listings (like Google My Business) on local search directories and make sure all of your contact info is up to date and consistent (name, address, phone, website url, etc.).

Social Media

• Learn how to supercharge your social media posts
• Create new social media headers & profile images
• Have your teaching staff prepare some quick videos with “at-home” game improvement and fitness tips.
• Conduct a Facebook Live broadcast to “Ask the Pro”
• Have your Chef prepare some quick videos to post with cooking tips and recipes
• Run a contest on FB or Instagram, examples include:
  • Most creative “backyard” practice set-up
  • Best images or videos of the golf course
  • Funniest images or videos from a round at your course
  • Funniest true story from a round at your course
  • Craziest location you’ve hit your ball on the golf course
  • Wildlife images or video on your course
  • Best sunset image or video from your course
• Share some images and video of the course conditions. Many courses are telling me that they are very green without the play. This is a good way to remind your audience of why they’ll want to return soon (or come out now if you’re open)

Search Engine Marketing

If you’re open for business, it may be a great time to run Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns since many of your competitors will not be doing this. People are sitting at home going stir-crazy spending way too much time in front of their screens and you can also pay less per click since bid prices will be lower due to lower demand for advertising.

If you’re not open, then you can get ready for the surge of demand when things begin to bounce back. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns take a little longer but you can be reaping the benefits of a smart strategy when the demand and activity returns. If you’re already doing SEO, then now is not the time to stop. You’ll lose valuable ranking while your competitors will gain advantages (especially if they keep going).

If you need help with any of the above, please reach out. We have best in class technology designed to help you check all the boxes. Be ready now and in the future.

Stay safe,

Aaron Dyer, PGA | (407) 459-8200 ext.1 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.