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It's that time again for most of you...budgeting time. Great fun right! So we have decided to discuss different aspects of the budgeting process from green fees and tee times to marketing in our next few newsletters.
Today we will start with marketing, and more specifically internet marketing.
In early 2015 techcrunch.com reported that digital marketing accounted for 30% of advertising spend in the US. And that TV advertising was still the leader at 42%. But in the world of golf course marketing we know that TV is too expensive to play a large role for most facilities. For this reason we believe that digital marketing is even more important.
But before you can begin to allocate your digital marketing dollars it is important to know more about some of your options:
Digital ads (Banner, Box, Leaderboard etc)... Your digital ads may be static or may incorporate video, audio or other animation and are most often clickable. Delivery of banner ads can be based on geography and behavior. When a banner ad is clicked the user is directed to a website landing page. The number of clicks that the ad gets is trackable. In this way you can measure the value of your ad purchase.
Geo-targeting... Websites may offer the service of having your ads geo-targeted. This uses a computer's IP address or a phone's GPS receiver to direct ads to users in a specific geographic area. You can target your ads to users within our own geographic area or other specific geographic areas. In a similar way 'behavior targeting' taps into a users past internet activity.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)... also known as Website Optimization, refers to the methods used to improve a website's organic (not paid for) search rankings. Methods include writing content with keywords and phrases, hyper-linking and back linking, targeting image and video searches and more. The methods used to improve a website's SEO are ever-evolving because the search engines change their search formulas (also know as search algorithms) on a regular basis. Some of the methods can be done by your own staff with your own time and resources but entire companies are now out there that are dedicated to advanced SEO.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)... occurs when an advertiser pays for a top search results location for certain keywords on search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc). For example, a golf course may pay for the keywords 'Golf [plus their city] to gain an advantage over the competitors in their region. Sponsored ads are also keyword based and appear on your search results page when you use the keywords that have been purchased. Advertisers often buy keywords through a real-time auction.
These are just a few ways that your digital marketing dollars could be allocated. These do not include social media advertising platforms which are becoming more important and should also have some marketing dollars allocated.
But what is most important in your budgeting process is that there is a clear distinction between your % of traditional marketing spend and who you are targeting by it and your % of digital marketing spend.
If you would like to chat more about Marketing give us a call at 604-506-2226.
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