If your golf course relies upon golfers from outside your local area, then a digital marketing strategy is strongly recommended. Word of mouth may work well to keep loyal customers (and their friends) playing your course. However, if you are in an area that frequently has out-of-town visitors who come and want to play golf during their stay, then online marketing strategies are essential to get them to your course (and not a competitor’s course). In this review, we discuss digital marketing for golf courses, highlighting some of the most trusted and proven strategies.
Digital Marketing for Golf Courses Explained
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is a broad strategy that is designed to increase your outreach, visibility, and conversions via online channels. Golf courses, in particular, can benefit greatly from the following digital marketing strategies:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Website design
- Social media
- Paid advertisements
- Reputation management
Of course, we recommend a personalized approach based on the specifics of your golf course and current marketing strategy (and results). Below we discuss these common digital marketing services in greater detail.
SEO for Golf Courses
SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is a way to rank higher in Google’s search engines. The goal is to establish more trust with Google, which allows their algorithm to rank you better for key search terms such as “golf courses in [city].” There are a number of actions an SEO professional may take to achieve better results in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). For example, a strategy may include:
- Cleanup all technical SEO issues
- Optimize your website’s internal links
- Gain more high authority backlinks
- Create more content (i.e. blog posts)
- Improve website performance (load times, conversion funnel, etc.)
Content Marketing for Golf Courses
More content quite simply provides more traffic sources for your website. For example, publishing 100 well-written content pieces that are optimized for the ideal keywords and proper SEO entities, could lead to major traffic sources and subsequently more golfers. Of course, there are other forms of content as well. Notably, video creation and personalized graphics are great ways to improve your outreach and golf course reputation.
Website Design for Golf Courses
Golf courses greatly benefit from a professionally designed website. A website that has a nice design and is easy to navigate immediately establishes trust with potential golfers. Additionally, it allows for easy reservations. Far too often golfers decide they want to play a course, only to abandon the idea after they become frustrated by not being able to easily book a tee time online. In other cases, they may migrate to applications such as GolfNow, which (as you know) can cut into your profits. The easiest solution is to simply invest in a professional website that almost always delivers a sizable return on investment.
Social Media for Golf Courses
Golf content has exploded on social media in the past five years, largely due to the sudden rise of TikTok, Youtube Shorts, and other short video content platforms. Along with the rise in social media for golf courses, there is now a much larger popularity of influencer marketing as well. This involves paid influencers playing your course and leaving a video review.
Ideally, influencers will have tens of thousands of followers within the golfing community. However, more notably, your golf course should at the very least have a social media strategy that involves regular posts, active response to anyone who engages with you on social media, and strategies to increase the number of followers and online engagements.
Paid Advertisements for Golf Courses
Paid advertisements (i.e. PPC advertising campaigns) are often a great way to quickly acquire more golfers. Of course, how effective and valuable paid ads are depends on your unique situation. If the paid ads cut into your profits more than you desire and cause a crowded course, then it may not be a good idea. However, if you are more of a luxury course and have excellent margins even with paid ads, then it can be a great way to attract golfers who are searching for one of the nicer courses in your area.
Reputation Management for Golf Courses
Golfers are very particular about the course they choose to play. If you have poor reviews, regardless of their accuracy, they can impact your bottom line. Reputation management services aim to improve your online reputation. This may involve responding to reviews, encouraging good reviews, and releasing press releases, among a range of other potential reputation management strategies.
Tunl Agency Offers Digital Marketing Services for Golf Courses
Are you interested in a free online marketing strategy recommendation? If so, then reach out to our team at Tunl Agency today. eWe are glad to provide you with a free, no-obligation marketing proposal and answer any questions or concerns you may have.