I've been seeing lots of cool new products hitting the market lately and wanted to take a moment to share a few of my favorites.  Think of this as a unique golf gift guide.  The is perfect for dad, for co-workers or buddies from your club.  Let me know if you have a cool idea that I missed.

The average person checks their mobile phone nearly 150 times a day and spends almost 3 hours per day on a mobile device.  They have their phones with them all the time and are much more likely to read a text than an email.  

In fact, text messages are read 5 times more frequently than email messages

Text is an extremely powerful (and inexpensive) medium to get your message out, opened and READ!  In fact, text Messages Get Opened 9 of 10 Times, and according to Frost & Sullivan, the real statistic is a "97% open rate."

If you have an iPhone like I do, you can't ignore the text message. It pops up, rings, and boom - I just     opened and read it at the same time.  But most businesses and organizations getting into text message marketing are doing it all wrong.  

Some use the infamous Club Promoter Method: Blasting anyone and everyone in sight about your party of offer. Don't do this.  It's the fastest way to end your relationship with your subscribers. It's repairable no doubt, but not the route to go down.

Instead, do this...

Send messages to your customers and subscribers just like you're talking to a friend. Don't be afraid to use LOL, ROFL, or other short words to get the message across. Friends talk that way. So talk like your talking to a  friend in your text messages. 

Then there's folks like Samantha J. who use text message marketing the "right" way to grow her business. A simple coupon text message to her customers on Black Friday turned into a simple 160 character text into $1,578 of new found profits straight into her business.

Not too shabby. :)

If you'd like to learn how to do this for your business, how to get started fast, and discover simple     effective strategies to "move the needle", then check out Call Loop.  

I was able to secure my readers a free account & 25 free messages.

Get your account by clicking here before it's too late.   

Enjoy - and come back and tell me how the service helped you!!

I am always out looking for new places to find great information to share.  Recently I ran across the "IAMA" threads on Reddit.  Reddit calls itself the front page of the internet and the "IAMA" threads are where folks post "I am a (insert what they are) - ask me anything" threads.  

The one that caught my eye was one where the poster said he was going for broke with a few buddies opening their very own indoor mini golf facility.  The post got over 180 comments and probably a high multiple of that in terms of  views.  Many of the posters even said they would come visit when he was open.

Considering the IAMA post is free, I put it on my list as a unique approach to getting some free exposure.  More interestingly, many of the responses asked questions that seemed to help the original poster.  I saw a couple things on trademarking questions, licensing and more that the poster indicated he hadn't considered and appreciated being raised.

If you are not familiar with Reddit, I would take some time to become familiar before jumping out with your first post.  I've included a link to several golf related IAMA threads to help you get a feel for how these work.  I would suggest learning how the subrettids (sections of Reddit of related topics) are organized so you can find the best one to post.  You want to find the section most relevant to your post (I.e. golf or your town).

Folks reading these posts seem to want proof of legitimacy, so I see lots of photo's included to prove the authenticity of the poster.  These are typically a picture of hand written note saying "reddit - IAMA" in front of something that demonstrates legitimacy of the poster.

Good Luck!

I know most of you are probably thinking email is dead and that social media is the way to go, but that thinking is wrong.  Ignoring email as a way to connect with your customers is a perilous choice.  Here are a few facts to consider:

• 91% of consumers check their email every day
  
• 72% of consumers check their email 6 or more times a day
• In an article by Advertising Age, a study of 1,400 U.S consumers, 42% said they prefer to receive ads for sales and specials via email
• 44% of consumers made a purchase based on an email offer
• Per Experian (a credit bureau), for every $1 spend on email, the average return is $44.25

Do I have your attention yet?  Cultivating a robust email list is essential to driving traffic to your facility.  What better time to collect email than when you have folks in your golf center.  Make collecting email part of every conversation, ask for it at the time of payment, offer giveaways for business cards, collect it on your website in return for a coupon . . .you get the point. 

One awesome tool I've used to help me collect nearly 1,000 emails and quadruple my Facebook likes is JustUno.  The have an awesome set of case studies on how business are using their tools to increase subscribers, likes and followers:

Do you have any great ideas on how you get email? Have a reaction to the article?  Please comment!!

I've been reading a lot about the business model canvas and it looks like a very interesting way to test a number of business models and ensure you've really thought about 9 aspects that can drive business success.  If you are not familiar with the business model canvas found a great video series (6 short videos) that show you how to use the business model canvas. The video series “From Idea to Business” teaches entrepreneurs how to design and test business models that help their ideas have a better chance of succeeding.

If you've never seen a business model canvas, there are many version online, but here is a quick view of one:

The notion is that unlike a business plan, this is a living document that you test and change until you settle on the best model.  A short description of each of the elements of the business model canvass:

1. Customer Segments: Who are the customers? What do they think? See? Feel? Do?
   
2. Value Propositions: What’s compelling about the proposition? Why do customers buy, use?
   
3. Channels: How are these propositions promoted, sold and delivered? Why? Is it working?
   
4. Customer Relationships: How do you interact with the customer through their ‘journey’?
   
5. Revenue Streams: How does the business earn revenue from the value propositions?
   
6. Key Activities: What uniquely strategic things does the business do to deliver its proposition?
   
7. Key Resources: What unique strategic assets must the business have to compete?
   
8. Key Partnerships: What can the company not do so it can focus on its Key Activities?
   
9. Cost Structure: What are the business’ major cost drivers? How are they linked to revenue?
   

Anyone do this and want to share theirs for feedback?

YNOT GOLF is a brand new golf center that just opened in Pittsburgh.  They've got a great facility, fantastic simulator technology and a list of 85 courses you can play on huge 15x15 screens.

With Pittsburgh only averaging 60 days of sunshine a year the weather WILL NEVER be an excuse to put your clubs away because YNOT GOLF is open YEAR ROUND!

YNOT GOLF hosts leagues, charity and corporate events as well as different golf clinics. If you are in Pittsburgh, check out YNOT Golf.

What Gives?
Is golf getting so bad that it is driving people to drink?  Are more establishments adding liquor sales to bolster their bottom line?   What is your opinion?  Share a comment.

About the Data
Everyone who reads this blog knows I am really into golf and data.  I recently found a great data source called Enigma.  It has tons of public data sets and cool tools for easy perusal.  The graph above is from a liquor license database on their site filtered by company name including "Golf".

I continue to be dumbfounded as to why new businesses going in around my town so seldom put up a sign very early to say what the establishment is going to be.  The ones that do put signs up create all sorts of buzz about coming to town, and many end up getting a big following and seem to do quite well. 

When businesses do put up a sign, it's usually a tiny little sign that you have to get really close to read, or it only has a business name.  It should be a big banner that is plain and easy to see with information on what your business will be.  Why not?  The cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the construction and your ongoing marketing costs.  Everyone's eyes are drawn toward construction sites.  Everyone's immediate question when they see construction is "Oh, I wonder what is going there".  It becomes a conversation piece that people tell their friends about.

Granted, you might be so busy with so many things going on to open your store that you don't think about getting a sign up, but that would be a mistake.  Get a big sign up early and get up a website - even if it is only a coming soon website.  You can start collecting names for marketing use later.  You can do something simple like give us your email and we'll send you a special grand opening invitation or offer.  I've seen construction take many months to get some places open - this is very inexpensive advertising that creates anticipation for you to open.

One of the most important things you can do for your golf center is to develop strong and profitable local marketing strategies.  There are countless ways to do this and I've reviewed a couple in previous posts about fun budgets and college partnerships.  

Another way to develop traffic locally is to work with groups in your area. Quite often, many groups will need a place to meet or things to do with their members.

Research your area to determine which groups are the most active and have membership that is likely to be interested in golf.   Once you find these groups, craft an offer that suits their needs. For instance, a business networking group might need space and a screen for projection and want to meet early.  You can use these offers to tap into new customer groups and drive traffic at your store during a time when you are slow.   

Here are a few ideas with thought starters on unique offers you could make to some of these groups:

Networking Groups – I mentioned these above.  These are typically business people looking to meet others in their industry.  They often need venues where they can meet before work to socialize and connect. 

Senior Groups – This is often a group who has flexibility in the time of their outings, so you can focus here to drive traffic when you are slow,  You may target very active senior groups with offers that either give free tips and pointers, or with ones that provide a meal.  If you think about senior centers, you may want to offer transportation.

Kids Groups – I'm talking about groups such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and YMCA “Guides” groups.  As a dad of several of these, I was often looking for new activities to entertain and educate the kids.  

Civic Groups - By civic groups, I am referring to membership organizations that are active in the community.  Offering your facility for a fundraiser will help get you free PR as these organizations publicize their event at your location.

Church Groups - This is often a very large group and can be a diverse bunch.  Creating awareness with these groups is key.

Sales people offering a free seminar. . .you get the point.  There are lots of potential groups to go after.  Find those that work best for you.

Now it is just a matter of finding groups, seeing how many members, thinking about their needs and creating targeted offers for them.  But where do you to find groups?  You can use the list below as a starter – go to the various sites and add your geography to searches and see what your find:

·         LinkedIn
·         Google+
·         Facebook
·         Reddit
·         YMCA
·         Yahoo groups
·         Meetups
·         Alumni associations
·         Sports leagues


If you found this of interest, please share it with a friend.