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Golf Marketing: PROMOS
Marketing professionals share their easy and creative golf promotions

BY DIANE A. HARDY

If you're responsible for marketing your agency's golf course, roll up your sleeves and take note of the following easy, workable marketing ideas from agencies across the state.

Get local media on course

Meredith Zucco, Peoria Park District's marketing coordinator for golf says that sponsorship is the key. For their golf pro shop, Zucco hooked up with a local radio station that was looking for some added PR.

"We scratch their backs, they scratch ours," says Zucco. "They give us free advertising on their station and we put their name on our communication vehicles...even our golf pencils."

A partnership is a hole-in-one

Many successful tournaments are the mark of good partnerships. More than a buzzword, any partnership is a win-win situation. Local TV stations, radio stations and newspapers are starving to do some joint ventures-especially if you do the work. Beyond the handshake or verbal agreement, mark your relationships with letters, follow-up phone calls, and a passion for selling your course.

A fresh item on Peoria's marketing lineup is a round-robin radio contest. The plan was quite simple. A radio personality came to various facilities including the golf pro shops—and bought specific items while on the air. Listeners had to keep track of what the radio personality purchased to win a prize.

Holiday promos score

Schaumburg Park District offers a Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot that is an annual success. What's the prize? Turkeys, of course.

Zion Park District presents a three-day, preseason St. Patricks Day tournament that brings extra round sand funds into the golf course at a non-peak season. They offer cash prizes for placing top 5 to 10 and smaller door prizes. The shamrock theme is featured throughout the course, including clever tee markers.

The Skokie Park District finds that packaging works. In February, the Weber Park Golf Course offers a fun Valentine's Day gift idea called "ScoreWith Your Sweetie." A bright red bag is filled with all types of golf paraphernalia, including five gift certificates for rounds of golf, a chocolate golf ball wrapped in cellophane, a key chain, a red pencil, a score card, a small golf gift from a local vendor and information about Skokie's par-3, 9-hole golf course.

No ad dollars are used for this promotion. Word-of-mouth, bulletin board displays, flyers to businesses and corporations. Chamber of Commerce member mailings, repeat golf league/visitor mailings, and signage across town help spread the word.

Another successful moneymaker is Skokie's annual

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Golf History Day, sponsored by a local sporting goods manufacturer. The golf course supervisor wanted people to become aware of the rich history of golf, so a historic "factoid" is placed at each hole, prices are slashed (like in the good o)' days of golf), old-fashioned lemonade is served and award-winning safety mascot, Seymour the Safety Turtle™, distributes free golf safety tips to adults and coloring books to all the kids. Seymour also takes a few swings while on the course.

Mailing lists are a marketing must

Mandatory: If it's not a conflict of interest, create a "Golf Pro Shop Mailing List." Every time you print a golf event flyer, send these shops 10 to 100 flyers with the agreement that they'll display them on their counter tops. You can even provide them within expensive plexiglass display units from local office supply stores, costing under $20 each.

Also make a mailing list database from league, event and tournament players. Everyone likes a good raffle. Ask each patron to sign their name and full address on their score card and return it to your main window to enter a raffle. Sometimes area shop sare willing to donate golf goods for some free publicity, so take advantage of their good will efforts.

Don't settle for the same event

According to Ann-Marie Arzt, a nonprofit PR specialist in Skokie: "If an event doesn't work, don't keep trying it year after year. Sell your directors on doing something else...something with a new twist."

"And get board members involved," she adds."They know different people in the work force than you. Ask them to help get corporate teams for a golf tournament or business sponsors they may know. Ifthey believe in your event, there's no telling what will come out of it."

Basically, keep an open mind and be flexible when "teeing off" into any promotion. Listen to any feedback you can get and tailor your marketing tomeet the needs of sponsors. And don't give up; it's well worth me effort. Just like a hole-in-one.

DIANE A. HARDY
is the marketing manager for the Skokie Park District. If you need help getting started on your maketing efforts, call the Skokie Park District's Marketing Department, 847.674.1500, ext. 4531. Photo above of Weber Park Golf Course Promotional merchandise by Diane Hardy.

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