The best way to do this, of course, would be to hire a marketing company in order to refresh the resort's branding, and to create and manage marketing campaigns. I'm guessing the LLC can't afford to hire a professional marketing company, so it will need to continue it's self-marketing efforts and accept whatever incremental benefits it can get from them. One available marketing tool is Facebook.
If you haven't heard yet, Kahler Glen Resort has a Facebook (FB) page. This is an excellent first step toward building a marketing platform--the next step is to leverage this FB page in order to generate revenue.
Let's skip ahead and consider the possible outcome of a successful Facebook initiative. Assume for example, that in March 2012 the KG Facebook page has 647 followers (users who have clicked the "Like" button because they WANT to receive special promotions from KG).
To kick-off the season the resort posts a promotion on Facebook, and within a day or two, it will be seen by up to 647 people who are interested in receiving Kahler Glen promotions. The beauty here is that none of them had to check the KG homepage for promotions, and the resort didn't have to send a mail message that some would perceive as spam. Instead, the promotion just shows up on each follower's news listing when they open FB to see if their friends have posted any updates. If any of them click the "Like" button for the promotion entry, then their friends will end up seeing the promotion too. This is the social effect of promotions. And the only cost is the time it takes to post a free message on Facebook.
This is better than maintaining mailing lists. Mail recipients are less likely to forward an advertisement to their friends. And if they do, these secondary recipients are hidden from the resort. In other words, the resort doesn't have a direct connection to these secondary recipients, so future promotions are less likely to reach them.
The resort's challenge is to create a communication machine that successfully reminds customers to think about Kahler Glen on a recurring basis, and to do so without becoming a nuisance. An important rule of marketing is to build a big, Big, BIG list of candidate customers, and FB has proven to be an effective way for some businesses to do that. But it doesn't happen on its own, it takes work to get there.
So the goal is to build a large group of FB followers. A logical starting place is to send a message to KG owners and invite them to visit the page and click the Like button so they can follow the resort. Ask for photos, stories, whatever owners are willing to contribute. Explain that the resort is asking for help to get the message out. This will likely result in friends of theirs finding the FB page, which is perfect, because many of these friends might never have heard of KG.
Every time the resort sponsors or hosts an event, the LLC should post a short summary to thank the participants and invite comments. Dynamic (or changing) content like comments, posts, and photos are a great way to create a living brand.
I would post a sign (a gorgeous professional one) in the pro shop that invites people to visit the FB page for promotions. I'd include this messaging on rental contracts (or include it as a special flyer). I'd make sure renters see the message both after making their reservation, and after checking out, and I might even offer an incentive for them to post a testimonial. I'd definitely include the Facebook url on golf course business cards with a teaser like "Visit us on Facebook for super specials". I would also include a link to the FB page on the KG web site!
Additionally, when collecting green fees at the register, I would ask every golfer if they'd like to receive a link to the FB page for promotions, and if so, I'd collect their email on the spot. Alternatively, they could be asked if they'd like to receive promotions via email, and use that as a way to collect email addresses. The resort might start sponsoring a weekly or monthly raffle (meals, green fees, apparel, balls, whatever). To enter the raffle customers just need to drop a business card in a jug. Have blank cards available so customers can write their name and email address and drop it in the jug. To collect the prize, they'll need to come back to KG! Either way, the goal is to collect as many email addresses, and to stimulate as many FB connections as possible in order to fuel the communication engine.
If I were managing the resort, I'd want my employees to be as creative and productive as possible. Recognizing limited resources, I'd consider offering incentives for employees who successfully promote the business. There's a lot to know about internet-based marketing, including how to measure the activity and effectiveness of specific campaigns. Fortunately, there's a lot of information available to learn the basics, which can be enough to make a measurable difference. But it takes time and effort, and trial and error. Though it may feel a bit daunting, one could start by googling "facebook marketing", there's a ton of information available. I tend to prefer books (see Amazon books on Facebook marketing) because usable information is more organized and easier to apply.
A great place to begin learning about internet marketing is HubSpot. This company hosts occasional free webinars on web marketing, and has some great free materials that are available online. At first glance, the marketing vocabulary might feel intimidating, but after pressing through the introductory concepts, incremental knowledge is much easier to understand and put to use. It recently published a short eBook on social marketing, and it also has some good information about search engine optimization (SEO), which is the subject of a future article.
Like the ideas I suggested in Nurturing Brand Loyalty, Facebook marketing isn't going to save the resort, but it can easily add incremental benefit at low cost.
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