Wonderland Creative, partners of EGCOA talk about a real back to basics strategy that could really make a difference to your club and its brand.
In the spirit of helping clubs attract members there is a very simple way to expand your brand visually and that is to record a personal interview or camera testimonial to tell everyone why your club is such a special place.
Many people who own or manage clubs often forget that perhaps the most important part of what they are trying to sell is the personality of the people behind the club itself.
The real attraction of a golf club is the social aspect and that is something that gets overlooked when clubs try to sell themselves. Yes, you want people to see how good your course is, what wonderful facilities the club has and how attractive the membership deals are. However, perhaps the most cohesive selling point of the club is you and the passion you put into telling people why your club is such a wonderful place.
Social media has been an increasingly successful arena for businesses with many promoting themselves on Facebook, but perhaps the most successful platform to promote through, especially in terms of return is YouTube. Just so you get an idea of how big YouTube is in terms of activity viewed on it, here are some statistics.
Around 400,000,000 videos are viewed on YouTube everyday. Over half a million videos are uploaded every day (20 hours are uploaded every minute) and there are currently well over 240,000,000 videos on the YouTube platform.
The top categories of uploaded videos are music 20%, entertainment 15%, people/blogs 14%, comedy 13%, sports 7%, educational 6%, automotive 5%, film 5%
Therefore, if you consider that a video in which you are talking about and showing your club to the world is falling into the demographic of entertainment, people/blogs and sport then you are potentially reaching around 36% of the overall viewing market if you get your interview/testimonial right. Add to this the fact that professional and commercial/corporate videos account for 20% of the overall viewing platform then you begin to see how marketing your club and brand through such a channel could have real benefit.
Would an interview/testimonial reach enough people across Europe? Over 30% of videos uploaded and viewed on YouTube are European. YouTube is also the number 3 platform in terms of use, behind Google and Yahoo – and one ahead of Facebook.
Trust is a huge word in the world of promoting a brand and we are sure you have often heard the phrase ‘no one can sell what you do as well as you can.’ But the problem is that few of us take our own advice.
The perfect interview/testimonial video is around the four-minute mark, or about the same length as a standard music video. There is a distinct difference between talking passionately about something in a concise manner and rambling on endlessly with no real point. Therefore, an interview/testimonial has to be well thought out, to get the points across as clearly and quickly as possible, but with genuine emotion as well.
In terms of brands, people often find an affinity to the people behind those brands. Take Richard Branson, Bill Gates and the late head of Apple, Steve Jobs. Of course, there are people who don’t like them but ‘the face of the brand’ has always been an attraction for many. Whether it is from the point of view of admiring their success or wanting to be part of ‘the tribe’ that these people represent, the task here is to take the best elements of these tycoon’s success and emulating that into the way you speak about your brand and business.
Many people feel uncomfortable about facing a camera or talking to an interviewer about what they do. However, it is also about self-belief and the belief in what you are trying to put across. If you are looking to bring in more members, tell them why the club is such a great place, why the course is so good and why the resident professional coach is such a great guy. Promote the social side of the club, the camaraderie, and the friendships that form, the way in which it can be both a place to bring the family and get some much-needed private time. How it could work to improve a member’s business and be a place to bring colleagues and friends to eat and drink.
This is a chance to show how ‘your place can become their place’ as well. At the end of the day most people want to feel a sense of belonging, being part of a community – and if they like and trust the first person they see and hear from, then that is a tremendous door opener to improve membership at your club and inevitably improve the profile of your club and brand.
These videos can be extremely simple and stylish. They can be connected to a website, sent out on a mailer or signposted to and from platforms such as YouTube and other social media.
Wonderland Creative Consultantancy(wonderlandcc.com) has joined with the EGCOA to offer a consultancy service that will help you deliver a club/company brand that delivers!
With over twenty five years experience in leisure brand development, working with businesses such as Virgin, Scottish Courage, Aston Martin, and within the world of golf, Tony Jacklin’s course design company, we guarantee a level of service that will change your business.
We also have a great deal of experience in brand protection, product development, restaurant and bar interior design, apparel, company overviews and TV/radio/media production, including electronic publishing.
We are the same team that created and published The Bible Of GOLF.
For consultancy and brand development please contact us via the form below. Alternatively, contact us via telephone on +44 (0) 1283 769 277, mentioning the EGCOA referral. A donation from any branding commission goes back to helping the EGCOA create more helpful services for its members.
