Golf Marketing: Winning Methods
Marketing is a tricky business. Popular opinion says that the best marketing minds have de facto dual majors in psychology and sociology, and that makes sense. To market is to tap into the collective subconscious of the consumer base, a rather expansive base, especially in the United States, because this country runs on consumption. More and more, factory jobs are leaving the country; we don’t make a whole of actual, tangible products anymore. We do spend, spend, and spend a little more, though, making marketing and selling to the American consumer the target of any business. Golf marketing follows the same principles.
1. Know your base. Golf marketing is targeted at a certain market – hence the name “marketing.” You need to understand what makes golfers tick. Is it celebrity endorsements? Is it a focus on the superior technology? Or is it a focus on the facts? Your job, as someone attempting to succeed in golf marketing, is to tap into the golfing consumer community and appeal to their desires and feelings.
2. Know where your base congregates. Just like someone who sells video games has to advertise in forums and mediums where gamers tend to congregate, so does golf marketing seek to advertise where golfers hang out. Some ideas: advertise at golf courses, at golf tournaments, at golfing supply shops, at sporting good stores, or even at country clubs. It’s actually pretty basic and intuitive, figuring out where golfers hang out, but you need to actually go through with it.
3. Expand online. Don’t limit yourself to the old standbys: magazines, billboards, signs. Go digital. The world is changing, and the golf marketing world right along with it. Adapt or fail.
Golf marketing is tricky, but so is every other kind of marketing. Just stay honest, think on your feet, and don’t limit yourself to ideas that simply don’t work, and you should be on your way to an effective career in golf marketing. |