Erick from Golf Web Design was kind enough to participate in our Marketer’s Spotlight this week. He provides a great deal of insight into how he and his team have helped Golf Courses succeed with email marketing.
What is Golf Web Design and what caused you to see a need for this type of business?
Golf Web Design is a web design and development company for the golf industry. We provide websites and digital marketing services for golf courses and golf professionals all over the country. We saw a need for a better, private label email marketing system that we could offer to our clients. Most of our clients already have large existing databases of customers and we needed a robust system that would handle their email marketing needs.
Since this is such a niche market, what specific marketing needs do you most commonly see you customers needing to fulfill?
Our customers typically need a good email capture form on their website, the ability to drop customer information into segmented lists, the ability to send campaigns targeted at their different lists, and the ability to easily create a great looking campaign.
How has email marketing changed or influenced your marketing strategies for customers?
With the addition of Mautive, we have been able to offer a powerful new email marketing system to our clients. It’s been a great selling point for potential customers. When they see how easy the admin panel is to use, they are instantly sold on it.
Do you find that your customers are in need of a more modern digital marketing approach? If so, what do you help them do to improve?
Yes, most every new client that we bring on is in need of a more modern approach to marketing. Email has been their staple marketing system, but we have introduced them to social platforms as well as mobile marketing platforms such as push notifications within custom built apps for their course.
I imagine many of your customer have very similar branding. What do you do to help them differentiate themselves from the pack?
Most of our clients usually have a unique market that they appeal to. Some are private courses, public, or resort. Each one has a target demographic and geographic market that they cater towards. The types of emails that are sent and the specials they offer usually differentiate one course from the next.
What email marketing tools have you found to be successful for your clients. i.e. segmentation, conditional content, email designs?
The biggest email marketing tool that we have seen success with is segmentation. A birthday month list has proven to really be a big hit with golf courses. Courses will usually offer a special discount within your birthday month if you are subscribed to that list.
What types of campaigns or call to actions have you found work for you customers?
Effective engagement for our clients begins with customers that actually want to read what they have to say in each email. From there, either a newsletter that features past results from tournaments or pictures of members are a big hit. Otherwise, coupons or special rates that the golf course has are the highest engagement emails.
What are the top 3 recomendations you have for digital marketers focusing on a niche market?
1. Be an expert in your niche. Make it your goal to know the ins and outs of that industry and add any kind of certifications or status to your credentials.
2. Target your niche through industry publications or outlets. When other people do the talking for you – it makes you seem that much more credible. Try to get others within your niche talking about you.
3. Follow through on what you promise. This makes your current clients become your biggest fan – which equals word of mouth. Word of mouth is single best form of advertising there is. It’s not a digital form of advertising, but through digital outlets you can make sure people are happy with your services. And happy customers equal repeat business and more referrals.
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