As I talk to customers over this scorching summer, I’m hearing some common threads that seem to place golf course operators in three distinct camps. Some want more customers. Others don’t want more customers but do want another 18 holes. Then you have those who just want to keep the foot on the gas while the boom is still happening. I think everyone wants more employees!

Here’s a quick summary of the three camps:

Camp #1: Don’t Want More Customers | Need More Employees | Need Another 18 Holes to Sell

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “…Aaron…we don’t need more customers; we need 18 more holes to sell, and we need employees!” If you’re in this camp, then you need to ask yourself if you’re able to do everything you can to drive customer loyalty and maximize wallet share. My guess is that you can’t because hiring staff is so difficult this year. If you can’t staff up to run your critical operations, then where do you find the time to manage the day-to-day marketing tasks that are critical to growing your customer database, driving customer retention, and increasing your revenue per customer?

It’s the elephant in the room. You know that you might be missing out on opportunities down the road to get these golfers to come back as competition for their recreational dollars and time increases. With the exponential increase in demand for golf experienced over the last year, why not make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep more of these returning or new golfers; like bring in marketing reinforcements?

If you’re in this camp, you really should consider our Managed Marketing Services (MMS). Our MMS saves you valuable time, taking these critical marketing tasks off your plate and ensuring that your email marketing, social media, and website are managed with ongoing campaigns that are designed to drive engagement and growth in your most important revenue categories. You will have all of those bases covered at a fraction of the monthly cost to hire a qualified marketing manager.

Camp #2: Slowing Down | Need to Look at Customer Acquisition Again

While demand is still strong, we are seeing a softening in the amount of activity in certain markets. More people can travel this summer, competing for those recreational dollars. This only reinforces the need to get in front of this audience. We all know that demand has increased exponentially across the country (view my blog post from earlier this year on the YOY increases in demand by State). These new and returning golfers have been tagged and identified by Google, Facebook, and Instagram, creating new and larger audiences of golfers ready to be targeted with your advertising. Now is the time to go after them and keep them coming back.

If you’re in this camp, you need our IGNITE Marketing Service. IGNITE utilizes search engine marketing and social media advertising to target these audiences at the most opportune moments, helping you acquire new customers AND “retarget” customers who may be “defecting” from golf after dipping their toe in it!

Camp #3: This Won’t Last Forever | Capture New Customers While I Can

We have many customers who are keeping their foot on the gas and getting in front of as many potential customers as possible. We all know deep down that this boom will subside on some level, and many are already seeing a little softening. So why not try to capture as many of these new and returning golfers as possible? The acquisition cost has never been cheaper as many advertisers are still sitting on the sidelines.

If you’re in this camp, let us help you capture these customers with our IGNITE Marketing Service. We’ll help you keep the pedal down and increase your market share!

Wrapping Up

Are you in one of these camps? If so, let’s have a quick chat about some ideas to help. We can identify opportunities for you to retain more customers, increase wallet share, and/or capture new customers. All our services are “a la carte” AND month-to-month, so you can run either (or both) only when it makes sense.

If you’d like to have a quick call to discuss some ideas, please contact me anytime. You can reach me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and/or my direct line at (407) 395-4705.

Stay in the shade! It’s hot out there!