Marketing is one of the key pillars of success of any business. As the hospitality, tourism, meetings, and events industries become more competitive, venues are fighting to capture the attention of consumers, both locally and online. Marketing trends can change rapidly, and successful golf resort marketing professionals are constantly redeveloping their strategies to connect with their target audience.
In this post, we look at a variety of techniques and tips that venue owners and marketing managers alike can use to improve their efforts. We take a deep dive into golf resort marketing trends, effective campaign techniques, and strategies that are focused on driving more business.
Reach more customers by improving your golf resort marketing
From creating a brand identity to expanding your venue’s listing strategy, we explore nine ways your golf resort marketing team can expand its audience and boost business.
1. Promote your golf resort as an event venue.
Increase revenue by marketing your golf resort as a premier destination for meetings and events. Connect with thousands of planners by advertising on the Cvent Supplier Network, a go-to sourcing platform for venues looking to drive more group business.
Through the Cvent Supplier Network, you can quickly create an attractive listing that highlights the best of your venue, showcases resort amenities, and inspires planners. Grab the attention of planners by adding experiential marketing content such as videos, venue image carousels, photos, and text. Show off your property in a dynamic way and create an immersive experience that helps event planners visualize how your resort can deliver a memorable meeting experience.
2. Make SEO a priority.
Search engine optimization is a method that golf resorts can — and should — use to increase discoverability and maximize traffic. SEO is a vital part of any golf resort marketing strategy because, at its highest level, it helps your resort's website show up higher in search engine results. Combine that with the fact that 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and it's easy to see the opportunity that proper SEO presents.
When your website is properly optimized, it's viewed by search engines as relevant, making it more likely to earn one of the top spots on search engine results pages (SERPs). Seventy-five percent of users never go past the first page of search results, according to internet marketing firm imFORZA, so earning a high search ranking is key for gaining visibility.
Here are a few tactics that can help improve your SEO:
- Post high-quality content at a regular cadence that's aimed to help your target audience — event professionals, potential guests, etc.
- Start your own blog or begin guest blogging on other authoritative sites in the industry to build your brand reputation and establish yourself as an expert and trusted thought leader.
- Choose keywords relevant to your audience and include them in website content and blog posts.
- Create a well-optimized FAQ page to answer your customers’ questions, help them to navigate your site, and showcase your knowledge.
- Obtain quality backlinks by reaching out to journalists, participating in online forums, and suggesting your relevant content for broken links.
3. Engage with your online audience.
Just like any business, a golf resort's online presence can have a massive impact on its success. But it's not just about being findable; it's about engaging with your audience and giving them an online experience that matches the in-person one.
Put simply: Engaging with members of your online audience increases the reach of golf resort marketing campaigns. Consistently post content that your audience finds relevant, but also make sure you comment, promote events, read, and respond to customer reviews.
Take it a step further and encourage resort visitors and online audience members to post their own user-generated content and engage with your pages online. Promote event hashtags, host a social media contest, create community groups, send event invitations, and go live to engage with your online audience.
4. Record drone footage for immersive marketing content.
Show off all your golf resort has to offer by giving guests a sweeping bird’s-eye view of the entire property through high-end drone footage. Capture the beauty of the winding course, highlight the clubhouse, and show pools, rivers, streams, and all of the recreation facilities located throughout the property. Add the drone footage to the resort’s website, your Google listing, social media pages, and online venue listings.
5. Partner with local businesses and host local events.
Digital marketing may be king, but word-of-mouth marketing is far from dead. If you haven’t already, connect with your local Chamber of Commerce and become a member. Grow your relationship with area businesses and network with potential partners by hosting monthly networking meetings, fundraisers, or other corporate events. New chamber members typically host a ribbon-cutting event, attended by other chamber members, which introduces their business to the community.
If you’ve recently revamped your golf resort marketing, host a ribbon-cutting of your own to launch a new initiative. Promote door prizes and food and beverage offerings. Give guests a tour of the venue, showcase event space, setup opportunities, potential menus, and show off the best the resort has to offer.
6. Attract more wedding business.
Appeal to engaged couples and wedding planners everywhere by listing your golf resort on Cvent Wedding Spot, a venue-only wedding directory. Wedding Spot gives couples the tools to successfully find the right venue and gives suppliers the opportunity to drive more wedding business by eliminating distractions.
Unlike other sites, Wedding Spot doesn't promote other wedding vendors or services, and venues that partner with Cvent can know that their listing visitors are on the hunt for a wedding venue. Additionally, Wedding Spot's dedication to SEO allows venues to expand their exposure, driving targeted wedding business right to their resort.
In fact, "Golf Course" and "Hotel/Resort" are two of the main venue types that users can select when searching for venues. Showcase floor plans, cost estimates, capacity details, high-quality photos, and much more — all on your venue's landing page.
Wedding venue marketing made simple
7. Drive repeat business through automated email marketing campaigns.
Market research continues to show that email marketing is a valuable strategy that can be utilized across a wide variety of industries, including venue marketing. But 40% of companies report that their email marketing efforts are under-supported or under-resourced. Invest a portion of your golf resort marketing budget into automated email marketing — a tactic that continues to promote your business even when you’re relaxing at home.
Encourage repeat visits by using email marketing to reconnect with customers who have not visited your resort in a while. Promote upcoming events and exclusive offers, or market a new loyalty program to entice previous visitors to return. Use ad retargeting to connect with consumers who visited your website but did not make a purchase (i.e. book lodging or reserve a tee time) during their visit. Email consumers to remind them that the tee time they recently viewed is still available, that upcoming event tickets are going fast, or to upsell consumers by displaying upgraded options.
8. Cultivate and market your brand.
Your brand tells consumers what to expect from your golf resort: Who you are, what you stand for, and what you do best. It represents the relationship between a business and its customers.
Building — or revamping — a brand begins with developing a keen sense of the brand’s identity, or the design of the brand. Brainstorm and develop a brand for your resort that you will use in golf resort marketing campaigns to make your business more identifiable. Start by asking the following questions to help establish your brand identity:
- What are the key features of your golf resort?
- What do you do better than any of your competitors?
- Who is your target audience?
- What do your customers want in a golf resort?
- How do you want consumers to feel when they see your brand?
Creating a brand design that's appealing to your target audience will help your logo and design stand out in crowded online search results. Develop a color scheme, logo, layout, design, and font for your brand design. Use the brand design consistently in order to help consumers connect future golf resort marketing directly to your business, solidifying your brand’s identity. Add branding to event websites, social media accounts, and online listings for your business.
9. Locate existing online listings for your golf resort.
When a customer finds your golf resort in online search results, they may see a listing for the resort or the course, as opposed to your actual website. Even if you didn’t create them, listings for your business may appear on a variety of channels, including:
- GolfNow
- TripAdvisor
- Yelp
- Yahoo Local
- Bing Places
- Google My Business
Upon searching their business address and name on the channels above, many industry professionals are surprised to find that their listings include incorrect or outdated information. If you have not claimed your business listings and taken control of them, you may see incomplete contact information, an incorrect address, or notice that pertinent resort information is missing from the listing. It may not seem like much, but you'd be surprised what goes unnoticed.
Start expanding your business with improved golf resort marketing
With fresh marketing strategies in your pocket, and Cvent’s expansive suite of tools at your disposal, you’re ready to take on modern marketing challenges and outperform the competition!
Next up, take a deep dive into the world of customer loyalty and see how you can increase your profits by improving your guest retention marketing.
