Ways to Develop and Communicate Differentiation in the Golf Industry

As a golf course owner, the management and administrative functions play a crucial role in the life of your business. But there are many other functions that require your attention in order to make your course and golf services stand out amongst the competition. Many times that means contracting other golf professionals to aid in the delivery of complementary services to the game of golf. It is through this strategy that a course can really start to differentiate its offering in order to gain clients.

A clear understanding of how your business is different is the cornerstone of a sales and marketing strategy. Some may choose to develop the course as a renowned place to play while others choose to create a sense of community around the facility.  However, clearly defining the differentiated value and communicating it effectively (especially on the Internet) is a non-trivial task. This issue is especially exacerbated by the expense of building and updating marketing communication vehicles such as websites.  

However, if a golf course uses a state-of-the-art Internet platform such as Ocoos, it can build an interactive learning process for discovering, building, and communicating a differentiated value statement.  Here is how it works:

1. Build an initial view of the differentiated value of your company:

1. Write it down in a way to communicate to customer.

2. Think about your proof points for building credibility.

3. Identify competitive alternatives and answers to customer questions.

4. Identify your target market (customers).

2. Build a website that communicates your initial point-of-view. In a platform such as Ocoos, this will take 5-10 mins.

3. Build a small survey in the platform (5-10 mins within Ocoos), which asks the consumers specific questions:

1. Do they gain a clear understanding of what your facility offers?

2. Do they understand how you are different?

3. Do they find the information credible? If not, what sort of information would convince them?

4. What are reasons they would choose not to come to your business?

4. Run this survey with your example customers and gather feedback.

5. Iterate on steps 1-4 until you have settled in on your unique differentiation point, as well as focused on the market segment for which you are the obvious choice.

Once you have settled into a core strategy, the next step is to amplify your offering. How do you do that on the internet? The short answer is to build content around your core points of differentiation, establishing yourself as a “thought leader.” The long answer is to continue to poll customers and develop a facility that meets their demands.