Change is something people on P.E.I struggle with, but if Island golf courses are going to stay up to par, their marketing style needs to change, a golf symposium was told this week in Charlottetown.
P.E.I golf courses have been struggling to keep players over the past several years and their marketing approach needs to change, says Kent Hudson, president of The Hudson Group.
Hudson was one of the speakers at the 13th annual Atlantic Golf Symposium at Holland College.
“We have to start using inbound marketing, we can’t continue to use outbound marketing, going to trade shows and having people line up at your door just isn’t an option anymore. We need to get our customers to become ambassadors for us,” he said.
“If your golf course has 600 members, you need those members to be your sales person as well, they need to spread the message.”
More and more high-end golf clubs are seeing members move down to less exclusive clubs and now private clubs are turning into semi-private clubs, he said.
“The worst thing a golf course can do in this situation is to lower their price. They say it’s only going to be a ‘one-time deal’,” he said.
“So what happens next year when the members come back looking for the same deal, or something even cheaper, it becomes more then a one-time deal.”
He said it’s important for Island golf courses to start inbound marketing now.
“Because of the fact it’s a way to generate traffic from visitors and it’s built for that tourism base destination. They’re going on line and not doing the traditional methods anymore.”
But that doesn’t mean to stop outbound marketing.
“We still need to advertise in the paper, and go to the local trade shows because we need to attract the people that live on P.E.I too,” he said.
Golf courses also need to become more personalized to their customers.
“When you have people come in, you have to get as much information out of that customer as possible,” he said. “You have to find out if that person likes notifications through Facebook, e-mail, text message, and then you need to cater to their needs.”
He said that information can be very useful.
“If the Weather Network says it’s going to rain today, and all of your tee time bookings are cancelled but it’s sunny in the afternoon, you can then notify certain members that, ‘oh from one to three we have half price on 18 holes.
“This way, if you have the information on how they want to be notified, you notify them that way, instead of one member getting home at six and finally checking his e-mail or Facebook, you could of texted him and he would have known by two.”
There is one key goal when trying to sell, said Hudson.
“We want someone to come visit the first time, we need to wow that person when they come, so they tell more people to come check it out. Make your customer your ambassador. “
