15 Ways to Increase Your Golf Club Online Visibility in 2022
The popularity of golf is increasing as more people are attracted to the sport due to its low cost and high health benefits for those who participate regularly. As a result, golf club owners have a unique opportunity to grow their business by taking advantage of online tools that can help them reach out to new customers and engage current ones.
To do so, they need a plan to increase the online golf club visibility. Here are 15 easy ways to do it.
A Mobile-Friendly Website
Club owners should make sure that their website is mobile-friendly. More people use their smartphones or tablets to find information about clubs they are interested in joining, including courses they might want to play for fun with family and friends.
Therefore, the site needs to be user-friendly so people can quickly access important information such as course maps, fees, locations, hours of operation, and contact phone numbers without wasting time-pinching and zooming while trying to figure out what is on the screen.
When you create your website, make sure that it loads fast so that your website visitors will stay on your site. Sites that load too slowly are not immensely customer friendly.
Strong & Consistent Social Media Presence
The rise of social media has changed the way businesses communicate with their customers and promote themselves online. Club owners need to establish a presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and use them to share information about their business, target new customers, and generate interest in the sport among potential participants. A robust social media presence is essential for modern-day golf club marketing.
Online communities that allow people to share opinions about companies such as golf courses are another opportunity for engaging members of your community interested in playing golf.
Club owners could even encourage club regulars to post pictures on Instagram or Pinterest that show how much they enjoy playing golf and then tag the golf club’s official account.
Professional Photos
Professional photography is an affordable way for clubs to increase online visibility by highlighting course features such as fairways, water hazards, sand traps, bunkers, and greens.
In addition, a professional photographer can capture photos of players enjoying themselves with friends and family. After finishing 18 holes of play during specific times when shadows and light fall just right to show details that can’t be captured using a smartphone or at any time of day.
You can then use these photos on the club’s website, social media channels, and email marketing.
Custom Videos
Another way for clubs to increase their online visibility is by producing custom videos that highlight what makes their course unique so people can see themselves before visiting, even if they live far away from the property.
These videos should include highlights showing golfers playing on scenic holes and enjoying familiar features of the course such as its clubhouse, beverage cart service, and food options after finishing the play.
They can also show non-golf amenities like swimming pools, spas, workout rooms, locker rooms with premium bath products, or dance studios with lessons available upon request. In addition, they could have sports bars with TVs tuned into golf tournaments taking place around the world at all times of day or night (weather permitting), outdoor patios (again, weather permitting), and more.
Expert Golf Tips on YouTube
Another way club owners can engage current customers and attract new ones is by posting expert tips on YouTube to help golfers master the game. Videos should cover all aspects of the game, including the following:
- Putting
- Driving (including how to hit longer drives that fly high in the air rather than veering off into the rough or sinking into sand traps)
- Bunkers (how to improve bunker shots with practice tricks anyone can do even if they are learning)
- Approach shots (what clubs work best for hitting over water hazards and avoiding trees blocking the path to landing areas where players want their ball to stop rolling so they can use one of many options available around the green)
A Single Golf Scorecard that Works with Every Mobile Device
The most annoying thing for serious golfers who want to post their scores online after finishing 18 holes of play is finding out the course, they are playing doesn’t use a scorecard compatible with their mobile device.
It means they can’t upload scores or see how well they played compared to other players in their group or on the course during any given round. Instead, club owners should determine which type of electronic scorecard service works with every mobile device brand.
That way, members can record individual and team handicaps for entire groups playing together and stats such as fairways hit, putts per hole, greens in regulation, driving accuracy percentage (including driving distance), sand saves, and more.
An App for Tee Times, Cart Fees, & More
The most convenient way for customers to make tee times and cart rentals after finishing 18 holes is by using a single app downloaded free of charge from their mobile device’s respective app store (iTunes, Google Play).
Once players install this app on their smartphone or tablet, they can access it to schedule tee times and cart fees between any two points on the course as designated by outdoor signs pointing the way depending on which tees golfers choose to play.
Additionally, to save time at check-in, players should receive custom wristbands either via email with QR codes they can scan with their mobile devices when arriving at the course or through a local distributor to save time during check-in.
Interactive Hole Maps with In-Play Scoring
To help golfers improve their game, club owners should provide them the opportunity to post scores online for each hole they play and track how many strokes it takes them to finish from tee to green and from putting green back onto the next tee.
Hence, players visualize where they need improvement (and the data to prove it) before playing again after taking a break or returning home. Club owners should also consider offering GPS wristbands and topographical maps that show slope ratings and yardages between different points on the course.
The more information golfers can access, use, and share during play via technology like smartphones, tablets, and GPS devices, the better their golf game will become.
Answer Questions on Online Forums About Golf
People typically want more details on service at the club, food and beverage availability, the quality of greens (including speed and any significant damage caused by pests such as bees), tee boxes for different skill levels, and which golf courses offer the best value.
Owners can help them find this information on their golf club’s website by answering questions posted in online forums by customers wanting to know more about their services. In addition, club owners should include a “Contact Us” link to submit online inquiries and requests directly to the person tasked with handling them.
Promote a Rewards Program for Repeat Golfers
Any business that wants to increase the number of rounds of golf played per month can do so by providing rewards to return customers who play a minimum number of rounds every month.
In addition, club owners should consider offering special discounts, free tee times, invitations to exclusive member-only tournaments, and sneak previews of new services and amenities for the club as incentives to come back more often.
When club regulars feel like more than just names on a list of more than 1,000 club members who pay dues every month, it inspires them to tell their friends and colleagues about the course.
Incentives that drive sales also provide club owners with new ways to increase revenue through consumer spending.
Use Social Media Influencers to Drive Sales
People are far more likely to listen to other people they know rather than advertisements from businesses, no matter how convincing.
Therefore, club owners should consider hiring social media influencers with large followings who play golf at their course or in general to cover special events and post photos of themselves playing on the course for their audience.
This approach capitalizes on the influence of these online celebrities to generate interest in their clubs for free, unlike advertising that customers will ignore after the first few seconds. Additionally, influencers who use their posts to promote giveaways and contests with free rounds of golf as prizes can help fill empty tee times.
Golf Instruction & Coaching
Golfers who are just now learning the game will appreciate free golf lessons from an experienced instructor or coach. This way, new players can learn how to play more quickly and improve their skills even if they don’t have much experience to start with.
Club owners should also provide opportunities for these novices to meet other beginners through organized events, so everyone has a chance to make friends who share the same love for golf.
In addition to in-person coaching, clubs could offer virtual training modules that demonstrate advanced techniques and strategies for improving a novice player’s handicap. These could be available during the day and night, primarily if they use virtual reality goggles or headsets.
Invest in Online Ads to Increase Visibility
Any business needs to invest in advertising to stay visible online. This investment in ads will allow clubs to compete with other golf courses marketed by their owners, rather than only appealing to customers who live locally.
Advertising platforms should be chosen based on how much traffic they send, determined by the website’s popularity or page.
Club owners should avoid popular platforms but have low engagement because this wastes their advertising budget while generating no actual results. Owners can also advertise on other blogs or websites to attract new customers to their own, no matter how popular their platform is.
Be Active on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social media platform dedicated to professionals, so it is especially effective for reaching out to players looking for a new club to join and those who are already members of other courses.
Owners can use LinkedIn groups and pages to create discussion topics that encourage people with common interests in the golf industry to share their thoughts and experiences, which brings in more potential members.
Club owners can also use LinkedIn to look up professionals in the industry who are not currently club members and message them about what their courses offer. This method of using LinkedIn has a higher chance of success than just cold calling or emailing these people out of the blue because they will already know why they were contacted.
Offer Virtual Tours of the Course
Many golfers considering joining a course prefer to see what it looks like before they do so, especially if they live far away or will be traveling for long periods to play at that specific club.
Virtual tours allow them to do this by virtually walking around the course’s property online.
These virtual tours can be accessed through a website accessible on almost all devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.
For example, these web pages could have videos showing holes on the course and panoramic photos of each one. Club owners should also provide interactive maps to make navigation easier for new visitors who are used to driving from hole to hole. With drone photography, these tours will look even more realistic and immersive.
Conclusion
Increasing your online golf club visibility will pay huge dividends in 2022, but it’s not as simple as just posting a few links on social media. With so many other clubs vying for customers, traditional marketing methods such as advertising and networking may seem outdated or ineffective to prospective members.
However, the principles we’ve provided should be enough to get you started thinking about how you can create a digital strategy to increase product sales without having an expensive team of experts at your disposal.
