The National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) will host the 2017 Golf Business TechCon in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 27 and 28. The organizers designed this two-day event for golf course owners, operators, and other industry professionals.
“Technology can both open doors to new markets and better customer engagement in golf. And it can help golf course operators save time and money,” says Jay Karen, CEO of NGCOA. “This event is about the intersection of technology and the golf course, so we can learn and explore all the possibilities.”
In the panel discussions will feature Greg Norman, Greg Norman Company; Maury Gallagher, Allegiant Airlines; and Andy Rhodes, USGA.
The National Golf Course Owners Association tried to put together a really useful program for golf industry professionals:
- Social media (including Facebook Live usage)
- Website development
- Content marketing
- Clubhouse & POS Systems
- Email marketing and how to create sales funnels that drive sales
- Technology & Golf Experience (why golf and not customer experience???)
- On-course operations: dynamics pricing
- Technology for on-course management: from mobile applications to irrigation systems
- Technology for facility management: GPS for fleet management. Point-of-sales systems for tee time booking and customer data collection. Automated timesheet management.
What could be added to the agenda of the 2017 Golf Business TechCon?
We all can agree that it is impossible to condense into 2-days all of the latest technology and marketing trends. Taking this into account, the 2017 Golf Business TechCon will be really useful for those who were not involved deeply until now in these issues and would like to catch up.
These are my other remarks about the agenda:
- I hope there will be speakers and participants who will highlight that social media is NOT equal to spamming the golf club’s social media channels solely with promotional content.
- It is really great that there will be a dedicated program about Facebook Live usage for golf club business. I believe live content development is already very important and its importance will only grow. Live streaming services are great ways to ignite excitement about the golf club, but also to answer various questions about membership opportunities, event organizations, real estate sales etc. However, I really miss is the usage of chatbots and the evolution of conversational experiences. Chatbots can be a great help in customer service.
- There should be more attention to customer experience development!!
- What is totally missing from the agenda is influencer marketing. To gain customers’ attention and trust online is getting really difficult. The 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer found that the most trusted people for us are our friends and family. You have to provide customers and prospects transparent and value-based online conversations and content. It is also a nice challenge to identify the real and right influencers who can convince them to join your club. If you find the right influencers than you have to learn how to nurture these relationships with them.
- One of the great ways to differentiate your golf club from your competitors is via service personalization. Personalization creates also better customer experience. Wearables and Beacon technologies can help you a lot to achieve the desired service quality.
- Hire a super data analyst who can find the most important actionable insight for your future marketing and golf club operations. Data analysts can enable you to have more relevant communication messages, services, and offers.
- Marketing is getting more and more visual centered as customers are preferring consuming videos (especially!!) and photos. Just think about the popularity of Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube etc. By the way the engagement on Instagram is bigger than on Facebook.
- Artificial Intelligence. Have you heard about Pebble Beach Company‘s virtual concierge (in cooperation with IBM Watson) that shows guests around the Pebble Beach golf resort.
What would you add to my list???