Many courses are gearing up to face the yearly challenge of the off-season, the difficulties that come with the winter months, and the end of tee times. While it can be challenging to find opportunities for improvement and ways to generate revenue without tee times, this is when the best are separated from the rest. The off-season is the perfect time to make use of some of your alternative revenue sources and to update your marketing strategies in preparation for next season. Here are a few ways you can use the off-season downtime to your advantage:
Utilize Venue Space
One of your most valuable assets in the off-season is your clubhouse or venue space. While many courses utilize their event space year-round, the off-season is the time to aggressively market it. Demand is high this time of year for places to host holiday parties and celebrations. If you aren’t getting the big weddings and birthday bookings going into your off-season, office holiday parties always need local venues. Furthermore, community events, such as bake or craft sales, can draw people to what would otherwise be an empty, unused space. No venue hall? Try making your clubhouse a useable space for some of these small parties and gatherings.
Reinvest in Your Newsletter
During the busy season, it is hard to focus on some of the finer details of your marketing strategy. With so much importance put on social media, paid ads and other marketing channels, your newsletter may have been neglected lately. However, your newsletter can still be one of your most effective means of communication with your membership base and regular customers. Your newsletter is the perfect way to offer off-season specials and event information to subscribers, and it provides an excellent means of keeping them engaged with your golf course when tee times are unavailable. Ideally, you should be working all year to build up a solid email list that you can utilize, but if you haven’t been doing so, now is the perfect time to start building one while you have the time. If you’re working to create a list of consumer contacts, try a special sign-up deal they can use when the course is playable again if they join now.
Bolster Your Marketing Efforts
There is a lot to do for any course during the off season. There’s equipment maintenance to take care of, course upkeep, landscape duties and more. While the physical aspects of your course certainly need attention, this time is also a great opportunity for you to plan and prepare a marketing strategy for the upcoming year. Use this time to create a content plan for email blasts, brainstorm some event promotions, update your website copy and replace any outdated information, and refresh your marketing materials. True success for your course in the upcoming year means planning now, and your off-season is the perfect time to improve your marketing strategy.
Remarketing Ads
While we’re on the topic of your marketing strategy, if you aren’t already investing in Remarketing ads for your course, now is the perfect time to start. While you work on your budget for next season, find some dollars to allocate towards a digital remarketing campaign. Remarketing ads are a cheap and cost-effective way to generate awareness for your course, and to re-engage customers who have already expressed interest in your website. If you have already been running remarketing ads, take the time to update your messaging to relate to your other off-season products and services, like gift cards, your event venue, or memberships for the new year. Keeping your ad images and messages fresh and relevant is simple and can have a big impact on how your ads register with consumers.
Your off-season doesn’t have to be a slow season. With some creativity and planning, you can still generate revenue, and ensure your course’s success in the months to come. These are the times that set apart good course owners from the great ones, and 121 Marketing is here to help you be great! We offer our services year-round, and even have non-ad strategy options for those who don’t want to advertise during the winter months. For more information about the golf course marketing services we provide, or for help with advertising your off-season services, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
