Creative Ideas For Email Marketing Golf Resorts

Are you struggling to come up with some creative ideas for email marketing golf resorts? Are you the owner of a resort trying to increase the level of customer loyalty in your brand, retain them for longer, and convince them to come back to your golf course greens? Do you wish that more of your existing golf club members would visit more special events you’re hosting like golf tournaments?

Email marketing is one of the most effective methods that many golf clubs and resorts are currently using to attract specific targeted groups to their golf courses. Find out how you too can utilize the potential of email marketing to reach your target audience, create interest in your golf course, and convince golfers to make a tee time booking.       

Identifying The Target Segments For Golf Courses

You need to be aware of the demographics of your customers that you wish to attract. Your ideal customer is the middle-aged golfer who travels for both business and pleasure. They have plenty of disposable income, are wealthy, and are usually business professionals. They are the most likely to be able to afford memberships at golf clubs and travel to an exotic location to visit your golf resort. 

While the middle-aged demographic is still your best bet to bring in more revenue, industry trends have been changing in recent years. Many in the millennial demographic are now displaying some interest in golf and golf enthusiasts that travel with kids are also potential customers. To learn more about these segments and industry trends, read Identifying Your Golf Resort Target Market.

Identifying Booking Channels

Email marketing is a tool best used for reaching golfers that have already visited your golf course in the past. This type of customer may be an existing member that is very local to your golf club, golfers that used online booking sites, or even guests that simply accompanied their friends. If you’re a resort that caters to a wider market in the hospitality industry, this could also be guests who tried playing golf for the first time at your golf course during their stay. 

To send email campaigns, you first need the email addresses of people. You must build a customer database and identity the booking channels people used whether it’s your own website, a tee-time booking site, or a mobile device app. You can request this information when they arrive at your resort. When a new golfer pays their green fees, your staff at payment processing can convince the guest to subscribe to your loyalty program. This can be done by educating them on the many benefits like special promotions they will receive in return. 

With this information at your fingertips, you can send emails that will convince guests to use your preferred channel such as your website the next time to make their booking. We’ll discuss more on how to convince them as we go on.  

Creative Ideas For Email Marketing Golf Resorts

Here are some email marketing ideas that your business can utilize for creating interest in your golf course, its services, and events. This will improve brand loyalty among golfers, increase your click rates, and deliver more sales through your own booking channels.   

Customer Loyalty Programs

If you have a customer loyalty program at your golf course, you could set up your email marketing platform to automatically send a message to your most loyal guests when they reach a specified amount of loyalty points. You can start by thanking them for playing, updating them on their point balance, and giving a friendly reminder on how they can spend those points. 

You could reward your guests with loyalty points in several ways. One way could be to give points whenever they reach personal milestones like playing their 10th round of golf at your resort for example. Another way could be to reward them for reaching an improved handicap as they get better at playing golf. Including a light-hearted congratulatory message in the email subject line might go a long way to give them a sense of accomplishment. 

Birthday Promotions

Many people like to plan ahead for their birthdays. If you know when a loyal customer’s birthday is coming up, you can schedule your email campaigns to send a special promotion in the weeks leading up to it. Naturally, the subject line here should include birthday wishes.  

Pro Shop Promotions

You should pay attention to which guests at your resort have been visiting your pro shop to purchase branded gear, merchandise, and clothes. The next time you’re planning to have a sales promotion, your email marketing can target these customers. Whether it’s an online store on your website or at the cashier’s counter in your resort’s pro shop, you can remind these customers at payment processing to utilize their accumulated loyalty points for even better discounts.  

Target Golfers That Haven’t Returned To Your Golf Course

There may be members that haven’t visited your resort in a long time. You can keep track of who used to visit your golf course regularly but has stopped coming recently. You can create marketing emails to target these players specifically and give them an additional incentive to return to your greens. This could be a reminder of how close they are to their next loyalty milestone which they can reach in a few more rounds. 

Improve Your Marketing Emails

There may be golfers that have read your emails but have not taken any action afterward to book a stay at your resort. To convince them in future emails, you need to work on making the contents of your email look more appealing. Any graphics, images, or call-to-action elements need to be improved to deliver a stronger message. 

There may also be golfers that don’t even open your emails. They may have even thought your emails were spam. This means that your email subject lines are the issue that’s preventing them from checking out your email. The tone of voice, the copy of your subject line, and your sense of humor can all contribute to your success here. For more top tips on how to write your email subject lines, copy, and more, read Top Tips For Golf Course Email Marketing Campaigns. 

Ready To Launch Your Email Marketing Campaigns?

Reaching out to the relevant target segment through clever use of email marketing is a great way to retain existing customers, and get them to visit your golf resort more often. Of course, email is just one way of marketing a luxury golf resort, with plenty of other digital marketing methods being utilized by the hospitality industry today to reap additional benefits. To learn more about these benefits, read Golf Resort Marketing: 8 Benefits Of Investing In Marketing In 2023.  

To learn more about digital marketing, how the hospitality industry can benefit from them, and how services like search engine optimization, social media management, and web design can help your golf resort, visit Inquivix today!

FAQs

Do I Need Email Marketing For My Golf Resort?

Yes. Email marketing can be a great way to keep in touch with your existing members and other visitors to your golf course. You can provide them with additional value to convince them to return to your golf course in the future. 

How Do I Use Email Marketing For My Golf Resort?

You can use emails to remind your subscribers about upcoming promotions, and customer loyalty offers, and pat them on the back for reaching personal milestones when they play.