I was so glad that so many of you were interested in my 2021 golf club marketing trend predictions. Reading through these, I see that I was not very wrong. On the contrary!
How did you see the year 2021 in terms of golf club marketing? What do you expect in 2022? Share it in the comment box!
I still consider these golf club marketing trends to be relevant and timely. The 2022 golf club marketing trends (9) will be the following.
Conversational marketing
Before I will detail the TOP 8 golf club marketing trends, it is worth having a look at which marktech solution types grew with the highest rate (see below). The first 2022 golf club marketing trend is related to this: conversational marketing (one-on-one communication via chatbots, live chat, messenger apps).
In the last couple of years, it proved its business value by shortening the sales cycle and significantly improving the marketing funnel.
We’ve been talking for a long time about how beneficial would be for golf clubs to be truly flexible (e.g. tee time booking). The same goes for their marketing activities & marketing engine.
New customer journeys
New customer journeys will evolve as golf customers’ pandemic channel preferences persist. They will want over half of pandemic-era services to become the “new normal“. We can see in many golf clubs that the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of their golf club operations.
Golf club marketing leaders (or whose marketing is one of the tasks) should become customer champions and be able to bring together a range of data and insights to capture and anticipate customer needs and reflect the values of customers/guests.
Value-based consumers/golfers
This reminds me of how important to become purpose-driven. The value-based consumers are here to stay with us. This is why I told at the Annual Conference of the Finnish Golf Club Managers to rethink and rephrase their mission statement to align with this need.
Your Reason for Being should be about:
- It focuses on the impact to the world and people;
- Is NOT centered on financial gain;
- Is something attainable;
- Ignites employees.
Your employees’ social media networks are usually stronger than any relationship the people in their networks may have with your golf club or brand.
Employee advocacy programs
This is why I recommend turning your golf club employees into brand ambassadors. An Altimeter Group study found these are the TOP3 benefits of employee advocacy programs:
- Increasing reach of brand messages in social media;
- Drive increased understanding and brand health of our organization;
- Engage employees more deeply in our company mission & their work.
Social commerce
Today, social media is not only about building brand awareness and brand in general. Various social media platforms (e.g. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.) have developed e-commerce features that can help you to sell your services on their platforms too.
By utilizing these e-commerce features you will simplify the customer journey & increase the demand. By 2025, US social commerce is estimated to be nearly a $79.6 billion industry.
Track your success through native platform analytics and website referral traffic.
Mobile commerce
Let’s face it, the golf industry is lagging far behind in mobile commerce. The mobile app of most golf clubs provides only very basic services (e.g. tee time booking, weather).
The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated the process/trend where consumers are migrating more of their physical needs onto mobile. Adobe found that we spent $188,2 Billion via mobiles in 2020.
Everybody with a smartphone is a potential customer for golf clubs (too). The golf industry must capitalize on mobile commerce as soon as possible!!
What few people think about is how we can use our employees’ smartphones to empower them to deliver exceptional customer experiences for golf club guests and members.
Influencer marketing
Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, according to Mediakix data. It is not a big surprise, especially when we understand how important social media is in consumers’ lives.
Micro-influencers tend to be knowledgeable about their niche, and their followers are more likely to trust their recommendations. This is the real influence!!!
To succeed in influencer marketing in 2022 you should understand:
- Social media’s organic reach is all but dead.
- You can’t be in 400 places at once & how do you make yourself worthy of attention once you get there?
- Popularity does NOT equal influence -à going viral does NOT equal influence à Being famous does NOT equal influence.
- Engagement is more important than the number of followers. This is why you should consider cooperating with micro and -nano influencers as well.
- Influencer marketing is not advertising. A typical misunderstanding about influencer marketing is that an influencer can shout out or post about a product and have it will automatically sell, like any old ad.
- Look for ongoing partnerships with influencers.
If you are interested in more details, please write to me: mikibreitner@gmail.com or call me +36 30 279 0054.