Crushing Club Marketing

Feeling like you're always one step behind in your marketing efforts? If you're a club marketer, you’re probably nodding your head. It’s a perpetual feeling on this side of the club world, as marketing trends continue to evolve at a much faster pace than most can keep up with.

But before you feel overwhelmed by the thought of adding more hiccups to your current marketing plan, keep in mind that there's one thing that will always remain the same when it comes to marketing — the story behind your club. And there’s no better way to showcase your story than through video.

The ways we consume video have changed tremendously over the past decade with the rise of hosting sites like YouTube, social media and other digital platforms, which means the power of video as a marketing tool has grown exponentially. This is a trend this week's Crushing Club Marketing guest Jason Hsaio predicted when he started the web-based video creation service Animoto roughly 10 years ago.

Connecting with your target audience is essentially the purpose of marketing. The challenge is, relating to an audience that continues to evolve. From baby boomers, millennials and rising Gen Z-ers, your marketing tactics need to continually embrace generation change to be successful in relating your message to the right crowd.

This is a hot topic and the focus of our podcast conversation with Karen Hinds, the CEO and Founder of Workplace Success Group, a firm that focuses on the next generation of leaders.

Though she doesn’t work in club marketing specifically, her expertise in engaging multi-generations is well-aligned with a very present challenge for private clubs — how to address an aging membership and appeal to the “younger” generation.

In this episode, Rick and I break down his model to better understand how clubs can create an organization that’s built to endure and solve complicated challenges.

Columbine Country Club just outside of Denver Colorado has experienced exponential growth over the last three years due to what Director of Sales and Marketing Leader, Robert Cuillard says is a "sales culture" at the club. After a 7-year decline, Columbine has a new clubhouse and a full membership. What's more, Cuillard, who started with the club in 2015, also has an annual marketing budget in excess of $400,000 - a number not often associated with private clubs. He's accomplished this by taking 11 percent of all new member initiation fees and earmarking that for marketing, an aggressive play that has worked well for Cuillard in his years at Columbine and in previous positions.

Earlier this year, Facebook changed its algorithm to eliminate spammy content and reward content that is actually interesting to people. In this episode, Shanna Bright of Private Clubs Online shares the reasoning behind the changes and how club marketers can create posts that will still be seen.

Look around online and it's hard not to see video - in your social media feeds and on websites and yet it's not enough to produce one video and post it on your club website. Video is a strategic digital marketing tool and it's critical you have a strategic vision for your video assets. Not only does it help to know what you want to produce, but also how you're going to produce your video so you can turn your project into a cost-effective tool that can be used in multiple places on various digital platforms. In this podcast, Ed Heil shares his insight on the types of video to produce to bolster your online marketing efforts and tips for maximizing your video budget. 

When did you last update your club website? If it's been more than three years, you're likely not realizing the full potential of your online presence. Your website is more than a digital brochure. It should be your greatest sales asset. But creating a website that accomplishes all of your various initiatives takes careful planning and thoughtful design.

In this episode, Joe Jerome from Brand Builder Solutions joins us to tell you where your website might be falling short and what you can do to get it to drive more leads. By leveraging data, designing for the buyer's journey, and articulating the site's true purpose, you can create the perfect website for your club's needs.

Do you still expect people to find your club by typing “golf club near me” into their favorite search engine? That might have worked in the past, but now people expect geotargeting to handle the “near me” portion, and voice search is replacing all of it. So, what does your club need to know about search marketing to keep getting found?

Mike McAnally is a co-founder and partner of NordicClick Interactive, a digital agency that specializes in helping businesses get found online by expanding their digital footprint through paid, owned, and earned media. And he understands the challenges of private clubs. In fact, he even belonged to one that shut down when its land became more valuable for housing development. He has some easy to understand answers, and some smart places to start.

Robert Sereci has a unique background and a unique approach to leadership as the general manager at Medinah Country Club, just outside of Chicago. Medinah has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA championships, and the 2012 Ryder Cup matches, yet some of the outside-the-box things he's done to build the brand have caught the attention of people inside and outside of the club industry. Who else would add a chicken coop and a food truck to one of the nation's great private clubs? Robert is a results-driven service provider who believes the success of Medinah has to go deeper than its golf pedigree.

When things go wrong, we like to point the finger at people or policies, putting the blame on individual personalities or misguided plans. But more often than not, problems arise simply because of a breakdown in communication. Within a private club, effective communication is critical for achieving shared goals and developing a productive and respectful culture amongst members and leadership. By taking simple steps, leaders can enhance their communication skills and improve operations for the entire club.

In this episode, we're joined by Kevin MacDonald. Kevin is a coach and facilitator, a communicator, a storyteller, and a teacher. He partners with people who are passionate about performing at a high level and achieving great clarity about who they are and what they want. He spent over 20 years as a manager in the hospitality industry, including management roles at two prestigious clubs, before turning to coaching.

Storytelling has become popular vernacular in the marketing world, and why not? We love stories! Especially stories that inspire us or make us feel something. Best of all, for marketers, people remember stories and share them (more on that in a moment).

What's your email strategy for your members and for prospective members and club clients? Is it spray and pray? Do You have a routine schedule for communication that goes to all members regardless of their interest? How much more effective would your efforts be if your strategy was targeted, segmented and even automated based on recipient's preferences and opening habits. In this episode, we visit with Mike Donnelly co-founder of Seventh Sense, an email optimization platform. Mike'sinsight and expertise will have you thinking about your email communication in a new way. 

It's been proven for years that businesses that blog receive more leads than those that do not. Even businesses like private clubs are benefitting from blogs that are built-in to their existing websites. Not only are blogs an ideal platform for you club stories, they're also an excellent medium for communicating club news.

In this episode, Ed Heil and Evan Dean, a channel consultant for HubSpot, talk about the benefits of blogging and how clubs can create content that helps them increase membership and drive member engagement. If you're not familiar with blogs, no sweat. It's a high-level conversation intended to help you better understand how blogs can help drive revenue to your club.

How does a club with more than 130-years of history transform its member communication and drive engagement? With tremendous vision, team buy-in and persistent commitment to execution and member benefit. That's what Jackie Singleton and the team at The Country Club in Brookline, MA learned when shifting their member communications. In this episode, we talk to Jackie about what prompted the change, how The Country Club made it possible and what they've done to get staff buy-in.

Derek Sussner, President of Sussner Design Company shares his insights on how clubs can leverage their best stories through branding.

Branding is about so much more than your logo or brand colors — it's about the impression you leave with every interaction you have with a visitor, prospect or member.

We're joined by Ruth Glaser, Director of Sales and Marketing at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, MN. After implementing inbound marketing best practices, Ruth has helped Hazeltine add over 250 new members and increased catering revenue year over year.

Ruth tells her story of transforming the marketing process at Hazeltine and how she began to implement this new way of thinking for her club and shares some lessons she learned along the way.