5 Digital Marketing Strategies for 2019 that Private Clubs & Golf Resort Brands Should Invest In

Digital marketing for private clubs and golf resorts is a complex operation because, if done correctly, it relies on multiple strategies running in sync to achieve a common goal. When the focus is on the golf and hospitality industry, this becomes even more challenging because digital marketing must improve internal goals like ADR to improve a club or resort's GOP.

So why is club marketing in 2019 any different? Remember that more than 90% of your members and guests go to Google in search of their ideal club or golf course property. Meaning your content must appease Google's best practices while remaining highly relevant in targeting your ideal members and guests.

In 2018 there were several Google algorithm updates that impact how clubs and golf resort properties appear in the search engine today. On top of this, your target audiences no longer inquire on a whim; they engage in tons of online research before that first call is made. From reading review sites to downloading golf guides on luxury resorts, to reading blogs and engaging current and past guests on social media platforms, your ideal customer invests a great deal of time and energy into making a final decision. This is why partnering with a club focused digital marketing agency that has the technology and experience to run a comprehensive growth marketing strategy is paramount to achieving goals and improving your clubs membership and revenue goals.

With more than 15 years of club marketing industry experience, we decided to share some of the strategies we use to help our club partners achieve their goals. This article is meant to assist private clubs and their executive teams in recognizing the value in working with a club marketing team, while also sharing some of our strategies and approaches for those who want to try these tactics internally. These hacks and tips can be powerful weapons for private clubs in 2019, seeking to dominate their industry and outperform their competitors.

Utilizing Facebook in an SEO Strategy, the Right Way

The way SEO and Facebook will work together in 2019 has changed from previous years. In an attempt to limit commercial content from Facebook's news feed, Zuckerberg came forward in January 2018 stating that reducing the amount of this content would be a main focus in order to increase content shared by friends and family.

When commercial content gets shared, liked, and clicked, powerful social signals are sent to Google, letting the search engine know that people favor the content. As a result, the website's domain authority goes up, as well as ranking for keywords and terms in general. This means old strategies won't be as efficient. Not to say that SEO has no place working alongside Facebook. On the contrary, there are tons of leads and bookings that can be generated from a SEO Facebook hybrid strategy. The logic behind the strategy and its working points need to be reset to work in line with the way Google's algorithm has evolved, and how Facebook's filter has changed.

So what does this mean for club marketing? This: generating clicks from user-shared content as opposed to the automation of commercial content (though automating content on Facebook still holds value) is the better play for 2019 IF organic search optimization is part of the overarching strategy. When executing an SEO / Facebook club marketing campaign, the best digital marketing agencies create Facebook user profiles that mirror their client's ideal member persona. Hospitality marketers use these and participate in social groups that focus on the golf, club and hospitality industry where conversational strategies are initiated to extract data to help improve content marketing and audience targeting tactics. In addition such strategies also engage users while sharing content in a natural manner that advocates the precise club property targeting ideal people likely to convert. A conversation strategy is laid out to work with any personality type that might engage in the conversation, and a goal exists to either convert that person into a lead, a booked guest, or an advocate of the property. By sharing target content, SEO can improve, as can direct bookings. This can have a profound impact and proven return on your investment, and is worth running within the parameters of 2019 SEO considerations and Facebook's newly enhanced filter on commercial content.

Define the Right Budget Necessary for Achieving Growth Marketing Goal

The marketing budget must be allocated within the arena of an agile environment that can weather the usual and unexpected storms that naturally come in a competitive space. In the last few years most clubs have made big shifts in their budget from offline channels like print advertising to more measurable online marketing channels. But with all the various digital marketing channels comes the challenge of knowing which ones will best reach your audiences, how to leverage them with other strategies and tools, and how to weave them into the overall strategy while on pace to get a healthy ROI. Without a logic-forward framework and the ability to select and align the right marketing channels, chaos can erupt wasting time and dollars.

Private club digital marketing agencies prove to be extremely valuable in helping hospitality brands overcome the challenges of budget allocation across channels. Unless your club has a limitless budget, this won't be a challenge. But the reality is that any serious club has a budget even if to track their growth and the pace to hit goals while always remaining cognizant that budget dilution across digital marketing channels causes multiple internal issues.

Budget dilution occurs when marketers allocate small amounts of a budget across a wide number of channels as opposed to taking a higher chunk of the budget and using it in a more impactful manner through a carefully selected, customized singular strategy that lives in a multi-channel approach where various strategies leverage one another–something the best club digital marketing agencies are known for controlling.Budget dilution occurs when marketers allocate small amounts of a budget across a wide number of channels as opposed to taking a higher chunk of the budget and using it in a more impactful manner through a carefully selected, customized singular strategy that lives in a multi-channel approach where various strategies leverage one another–something the best club digital marketing agencies are known for controlling.

Creating Owned Assets

Your marketing strategy should work to not only attract and convert the right audiences, but bring in data that helps create and grow owned assets used to ensure audience targeting is always relevant thus enabling a strategy that continues to target the needs of your guests. The goal isn't to create content and tactics that are entirely evergreen, as the club industry and its buyers evolve too quickly. However, most buyer-needs remain consistent and this is where owned assets can add a ton of value to your marketing investment.

Email databases are one of the most valuable owned assets in the world of hospitality marketing. In order to create high-quality email lists that can be segmented into unique cohorts each having their own lead nurturing workflow, customer insights must first be extrapolated in order to create the right kind of content that generates leads. For example, high-quality blogs paired with the right technology and topic-specific downloadable content can capture information on people and convert them into high-quality leads that already reveal topics they care about along with their perceived expectations. These insights will allow for segmentation thus giving your email database more value.

Email Marketing, with Automation Technology, Can Be a Powerful Tool

Email has a bad reputation as being an over-used marketing tool. But if done correctly so not to spam recipients, it is known to be one of the most powerful tools in club marketing. The more bad emails clubs send out, the lower the open rate is. It's simply the consequence of poorly-thought, rushed email blasts that fail to resonate with potential guests.

We already talked about how owned assets, such as valuable email lists, are crucial for private clubs. In order to execute a winning email marketing strategy, you need a high-quality list with content going out that your leads care about. But keep in mind your best email contacts are likely contacts in several competitor databases. This means creating the right content within a workflow with an effective cadence that targets the right groups is key, and something that club marketing agencies offering growth stacks do extremely well thanks to the advanced competitor insight technology they are known for offering their clients.

We recently worked with a luxury development group in the midwest to help them pinpoint data that matters to get a more focused sense of their customers and the solutions they are looking for when researching 2nd home private club properties. Real estate firms and clubs can acquire tons of data, but most of it falls through the cracks due to poorly trained internal teams, and a lack of technology (common pain point).

Our process involved implementing a powerful CRM and analytics tracking tool that recorded and mapped out all the digital touch-points guests went through while exploring the website, as well as the journey they went through to find the website. There was an immediate impact once the data was farmed, analyzed, and used to optimize the website all while the Growth Stack worked to create personalized content strategies, then fueled by automation. The volume of customer data more than tripled in a matter of weeks, and logic-based content addressing newly discovered buyer pain points saw an increase in website traffic, and more importantly, leads that converted to real sales. In addition, being able to pinpoint direct revenue from individual strategies and channels helped improve the marketing budget's effectiveness.

Club Digital Marketing Growth Stacks

We have briefly touched on how using a multi-channel approach for attracting and converting guests is a core part of any club marketing strategy. And this is exactly what a club digital marketing Growth Stack entails (as well as the other strategies covered in this article). Keep in mind that a Growth Stack is a customized set of tools and strategies designed to run in synch to achieve a common goal (or set of goals). Private Club Marketing's Growth Stack uses a logic grounded in understanding how your customers engage with your club property's content, and any content related to your industry. Then, using a multi-channel approach, club marketing agencies attract, educate, and convert leads in a timely manner while staying within budget.

While your competitors are likely investing in paid media, SEO and social media strategies there is likely zero communication from one strategy to the other. And when multiple strategies don't talk to one another, lead quality and flow often takes a dip. This is where clubs that partner with savvy digital marketing agencies can soar above the competition by capitalizing on their weakness. Remember, Growth Stacks empower private clubs to maximize every arm of their marketing strategy while leveraging others all within the same approach. As a result, time is saved, investment is kept within budget, and valuable data can be harvested and used to continue the process thus ensuring the strategy remains relevant and hyper focused to resonate with your ideal guests.

As technology advances, so too does the way your ideal guests search for private clubs and golf resort properties. These are the five main strategies Private Club Marketing generally utilizes in a customized approach for every client running them together to empower business growth for exceptional clubs and resorts. But based on your unique goals and customers, other tactics can be added for maximum results and ROI. In order to stay competitive, clubs must be up to date in their methods for attracting and converting leads, and the Growth Stack is the ideal master strategy that offers measurable results.

The Ultimate Preppy College Books

Our top 10 preppy must read books that have been inspired up throughout the ages from the hallowed wings of the campuses of America's elite, Ivy League universities.

 

 

THIS SIDE OF PARADISE F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: PRINCETON

In the novel that shot Fitzgerald to the limelight, he fictionalises his Princeton youth with the social-climbing misadventures of Amory Blaine, a greedy undergraduate who strongly desires to live in the fast lane. Come for the novel's august reputation, but stay for the prose—this is Fitzgerald at his lyrical best. (Amazon $6.99)

 

 

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED BY EVELYN WAUGH: OXFORD

In the post-war swan song written to the English aristocracy by Waugh, architectural student Charles Ryder falls totally in love with the blue-blooded Flyte family during a debauched, illusion-shattering summer. What started just as a two Oxford co-eds degrades into a thorny web of Catholic guilt. Before everything goes sour, things were very sweet. (Amazon $10.94)

 

 

ON BEAUTY BY ZADIE SMITH: HARVARD

With a charming setting like Harvard, On Beauty is a modern opus of family dysfunction, tenure war and class war at its finest. In pulling and pushing the Belsey family, Smith explores hallmark classroom themes—generational change, multiculturalism and how identity and love are subject to the passage of time. (Amazon $10.31)

 

 

 

WONDER BOYS BY MICHAEL CHABON: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Underneath a haze of pot, Chabon an American dreamer and satire explores how youthful promise and artistic ambitions grow amiss with age. Expect to fall in love with this novel's trio of wonder boys: a student obsessed with Hollywood self-destruction, a professor entrapped by his interminable second book and his randy editor. (Amazon $33)

 

 

THE GROVES OF ACADEME BY MARY MCCARTHY: BARD

At McCarthy's Jocelyn College (a reinterpretation of Bard), The College Groves sees literature lecturer Henry Mulcahy run off the rails upon the termination of his tenure. Only a handful of writers have refashioned the obscure trappings of university faculty quite as faithfully as McCarthy, who skillfully crafts an interdepartmental witch hunt like no other. (Amazon $23.95)

 

 

SMALL BLESSINGS BY MARTHA WOODROOF: SOUTHERN LIBERAL ARTS SCHOOL

Veteran essayist Martha Woodroof in her first novel focusses her attention to a lonesome literature professor charged with the care of his withdrawn mother-in-law. When his friendship with the new-in-town bookstore clerk brought about life-changing news, Woodroof cleverly steers, penetrating narrative about life's changing directions. (Amazon $7.99)

 

THE BROOM OF THE SYSTEM BY DAVID FOSTER WALLACE: AMHERST

If you don’t like novels with Infinite Jest plot, Wallace's seminal doorstopper, takes on The Broom of the System first. Written as an undergraduate thesis at Amherst, where the novel intermittently dallies, Wallace tackles talking cockatiels, disappearing nursing home residents and American society on a rampage. What could be more collegiate? (Amazon $12.19)

 

 

THE SECRET HISTORY BY DONNA TARTT: BENNINGTON

As an undergraduate, if you like your fiction bloody and intoxicating, you'll like Donna's cerebral page-turner about a cultish group of classics students who break with conventional morality under the influence of their smooth-talking professor. While following the students' example by taking up Greek if you like, we advise you steer clear of murder. (Amazon $13.39)

 

 

11 Most Exclusive Private Clubs in America

Private Club Marketing has compiled these 11 most exclusive private clubs in America as some of our favorite meeting places and drinking holes for America's rich and famous. For the most part, these are urban clubs, designed for the city gentlemen to take a break from the often hectic lifestyle they lead on their jobs. Some of them, however, are placed outside city limits and represent a perfect getaway for when you’re tired from the urban jungle and need to relax in nature.

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Business Women Are Missing Out By Skipping The Golf Course

Jhaneel Lockhart

As more women move up to senior positions in the workplace, they might need to start spending some time on the golf course. 

“Golf is a great way to build relationships with clients, prospective clients, people within your company,” says Adrienne Wax, co-author of Even Par: How Golf helps Women Gain The Upper Hand In Business. “If you can talk about golf, all of the sudden, you have a reason to talk to the CEO or your boss two levels above you ( via The Glass Hammer).” 

Despite the fact that golfing can increase your relationships and possibly help you get ahead, there's a reason women aren't rushing to golf courses en masse.

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Private members’ clubs find favour with conscientious Millennials

In the cavernous, smoke-filled rooms of the gentlemen’s clubs of the late 1800s, men would gather after work under the light of gleaming chandeliers, surrounded by fine oriental rugs, wine-coloured Chesterfield sofas and plush wing-back chairs. Here, they could swill whisky, play billiards and relax with like-minded aristocrats.

But these stuffy, labyrinthine clubs have increasingly become monuments to the past as new and exciting players firmly establish themselves as a fixture in the Millennial routine.

In other words, standards are changing: while well-off Millennials still want the prestige and exclusivity offered by private clubs, they are also looking for a holistic lifestyle experience. This could include a technologically advanced workspace, a sophisticated spot in which to network and drink, or a dedicated area for fitness and wellness.

While legacy clubs still exist in dusty old buildings, young entrepreneurs are eschewing the cigars and pageantry in favour of airy, modernised townhouses where business and pleasure blend together seamlessly.

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The Tennis Club at Newport Beach partners up with Private Club Marketing

We are pleased to announce Private Club Marketing has entered into a Club Management Partnership with The Tennis Club at Newport Beach, next to Fashion Island and Newport Beach Country Club.

Private Club Marketing will work with the existing ownership and management. Many new improvements are already underway including; resurfacing of tennis courts to US Open Tennis Championship's quality (with US Open colored courts), addition of 12 Pickleball courts, match arranging, a new food and beverage partnership with Newport Beach Country Club and some great upcoming social member events.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

Private Club Marketing Named ‘Membership Consulting Firm of the Year’

After overseeing the most exclusive private club reopening in the United States, Private Club Marketing receives top award by club industry peers as the Membership Consulting Firm of the year.

Private Club Marketing has been recognized by independent industry judges as the 2016 Membership Consultant of the Year by GolfInc Business. The accolade follows a year of stellar growth and success as Private Club Marketing further solidified its position as the leading membership consulting and management agency in America. Revenues have increased by over 100 percent, while agency staff has grown to include photographers, content writers, and social media experts.

Meanwhile, Private Club Marketing continued to grow its client list of prestigious clients to include top ranked Golf, City and Yacht Clubs, as well as acclaimed luxury resorts in coastal California.

Notable work over the year has included new clubs to its membership management portfolio (Private Club Marketing successfully oversaw the sales and marketing efforts of the new $40 million dollar Newport Beach Country Club – which opened to a sold out membership with initiation fees increasing to over $100,000).

Further, Private Club Marketing established a professional resource platform for Membership Professionals called ToolKit; creating the industries first online resource center for membership and marketing professionals of private clubs to connect with best practices, featured interviews with membership directors and a Q&A forum for club-type specific inquiries.

Zack Bates, chief executive of Private Club Marketing, said: “We’re thrilled to be named Membership Consulting Firm of the Year by GolfInc Business. We’ve had a brilliant year helping private clubs and luxury resorts grow influence and revenues. It’s great to be recognized for something we are passionate about and love doing.

Private Club Marketing Hosts Tastemaker Dinner at the New Newport Beach Country Club

Zack Bates and his ‘CEO Tastemaker’s’ strike again.

Bates, the CEO of Private Club Marketing and his elite Tastemakers group have been holding a delightful series of social food and wine events at private clubs and luxury resorts around Southern California, celebrating the epicurean pleasures of the region with partner Touring and Tasting Magazine. The latest such event took place at the historic Newport Beach Country Club in their newly redesigned “California Craftsman” styled clubhouse, recently completed after club officials wrote a cool $40 million dollar check toward high-end improvements.

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Cuisine

The October event featured an exclusively designed surf and turf menu for a four-course dinner with something to please any foodie, or bon vivant. Tastemaker diners enjoyed the panoramic view in Newport Beach Country Club’s ocean boardroom, while dining on lavish plated selections, like:

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Grilled Spanish Octopus

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Artisan greens, Humbolt Fog goat cheese, blistered butternut squash, pomegranate, with apple vinaigrette.

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Hot smoked Scottish salmon, braised porchetta pork belly, de Puy lentils, rainbow chard, and buerre rouge.

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Traditional sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

Wines

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The meal featured four delightful dinner wines, including three regional selections from California, as well as a Graham Beck Brut Champagne, from the Graham Beck Winery located in South Africa. Although this highly-rated champagne is a sparkling white grape selection, sippers were delighted by the pale slivery-pink tinge of this fine brut. The blush color is accompanied by “aromas of raspberries, cherries…and subtle berry flavors.”

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Other dinner wines included a dry chardonnay from Plume Estate Winery in Napa Valley, a robust and spicy pinot noir from Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma, and a 2009 port from EOS winery in Paso Robles, CA.

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The group of reception wines included a light-hearted duo of choices, also from California wineries: a full-bodied Napa Valley chardonnay from Plume Estate Winery, and a ripe, fruity cabernet sauvignon from the Sextant Winery,

Newport Beach Country Club’s unique and decadent take on “California cuisine” continues to delight diners, whether they are serving members of the elite “CEO Tastemakers” club, their own membership, or guests.

 

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Class Meets Superyachts at the Monaco Yacht Show 2016

The Monaco Yacht Show is an unmatched insight into the world of luxury; with 125 superyachts berthed in Port Hercules, a brand-new Car Deck showcasing some of the finest supercars on the market and an asset of exclusive lifestyle exhibitors. With so much on offer, we’ve compiled a rough guide to help you navigate through the luxury lifestyle showcase of the Monaco Yacht Show (September 28th – October 1st, 2016).

Statement Pieces
UlysseNardin is a historic founder of the Monaco Yacht Show, and also has a heritage in the skill of crafting some of the finest wrist pieces on the luxury market. For 170 years, the work of UlysseNardinhas progresses to capture the very essence of success and sophistication; after just launching two statement pieces.

The Marine Chronograph Annual Calendar and the Grand Deck Marine Tourbillon are the latest watches to emerge from UlysseNardin, which was initiated to coincide with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the contemporary Marine collection. These watches and countless other pieces will be a major attraction for the millionaire and billionaire class walking the docks of Port Hercules.

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Automotive Debuts
Yachting and automotive often go hand in hand, and the Monaco Yacht Show is introducing its first ever edition of the Car Deck this year to celebrate that fact.

This platform is to display some of the most exciting automobiles available on the market. Some of the ten-car-exhibition brands to be presented include the new Tesla Model S P90D, the recently launched Rolls-Royce Dawn and the Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder. Flip through the full run-down of the Monaco Yacht Show Car Deck here.

The Height of Aviation
Jetcraft, Dassault Aviation, NetJets, and DC Aviation will all be attending the show, and looking to provide the unmatched service available in the sky – from purchase to management – while the superyacht display has the water covered. Later this month, there would be a documentary of the Aviation industry at the Monaco Yacht Show, and this will provide you with everything you need to know about the experts of business and leisure travel.

Resident Luxury
The homeware and luxury residence exhibition of the Monaco Yacht Show is an incredible look into the world of the elite homestead, not to mention a perfect opportunity to discuss the inspiration for your new home styling with the people that knows it all.

Linley – world famous British furniture and interior decoration brand – will also be there to display after announcing a new autumn catalogue and offering the finest in wood and hand-crafted products fit for superyacht or study. Also available on display is the interior styling and expertise of Sabrina Monte-Carlo with a range of outdoor and indoor furnishings and presenting a harmony of styles across superyacht, residence and private jets.

StudioArt provides leather interior options for the entire home, while Crystal Caviar, a leading brand in the craft of crystal which has worked on superyachts and homes across the world, will showcase the delicate reflections of true art; from architectural details and artwork itself to chandeliers and lightings.

These are just a glimpse of the luxury legion on display at the Monaco Yacht Show; however, we'll be delivering further insights into the brands, glamorous events and glittering products on display as the show approaches.