Marketing and Revenue Management should align…
Golf club’s are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of revenue management and marketing strategies. However, what is less known is that to really see a boost in your revenue the two areas must align. The task of the marketing arm is to generate demand through connection with potential golfers. On the other hand, the revenue management task is to control this demand through profitable pricing strategies. One could not survive without the other. However, merging the two tasks will reap better rewards…
We’ve pulled together some top tips on aligning the marketing and revenue management parts of a golf operation.
Taking Advantage of Organic Search
You can obtain important statistics from sites such as Google Analytics. With these statistics, the revenue management and marketing tasks can be worked together to identify upcoming opportunities. Data regarding the most used sources or mediums when visiting your website is vital information. For example, do the majority of your site’s visitors come from organic or direct search or is it all paid activity? Once this knowledge has been acquired, you will know when to deliver paid activity and offers to maximise revenue.
Optimising
Google Analytics also provides the visitor’s location, age demographic and sex. This is crucial information to to create packages specific to your market i.e. value adds such as buggies/food or even accommodation if your golf club has that luxury. Another key statistic is conversion, here at The Revenue Club we measure sessions to bookings to make sure the pricing is optimised. Factors such as weather, availability and competitors can all have an impact on conversion.
Making Comparisons
One of the tasks of revenue management is to ensure that the golf course ranks highly against its competitors. To do this a competitor analysis is required. This is where benchmarking comes into play which can be a combination of reviews from sites such as Golfshake.com or Google and what the pricing is at similar local golf clubs. If you feel demand is waining it could be the reviews, or an aggressive rate from a competition!
Effective Communication
The importance of looking at both marketing and pricing together cannot be stressed enough. It’s key that if there is a low demand period and a special offer during this time, that this offer gets to market as soon as possible, which in turn can help with better management of your average green fee price!
Conclusion
The correct marketing strategy will drive web traffic and generate green fees. Separately, the correct revenue management will optimise availability and speed of play whilst maximising revenue growth. Both are key processes for a golf course to have and develop. However, when combined, the two processes are enhanced to form one of the best ways to make your golf course thrive.
