Burr Ridge, Illinois, April 21, 2009 – Fore! Reservations, the leading provider of golf course management and marketing software, today released its White Paper regarding “Proper Implementation of Third-Parties” written by CEO Harry Ipema. This article describes how the golf industry can evolve their relationship with third-party tee-time resellers and use these industry forces to maximize their marketing potential and create a lucrative, long-lasting Internet Marketing strategy.
Is Your Internet Marketing Strategy Hurting or Helping Your Business?
Harry Ipema, CEO of Fore! Reservations – Have you ever thought about your Internet Marketing Strategy and wondered if you are making the right decisions for your business? At a time when every dollar matters, marketing decisions are more important than ever before. Valuable lessons can be learned from the travel industry’s experience with third-party Internet reservation websites. Airlines and hotels once negatively impacted by websites like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, or Travelocity.com, discovered how to properly use these sites so that their partnerships didn’t hurt their business or hinder their customer base.
Take a look at the following websites: Southwest Airlines: http://www.southwest.com, American Airlines: http://www.aa.com, and Hampton Inn: http://hamptoninn.com. What do you notice about these sites? They all have a similar Internet Marketing Strategy – they brand themselves. Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and Travelocity.com are not found anywhere on their website. With the exception of Southwest Airlines, these companies do however use third-party sites to help sell their products. American Airlines customers can search flight options at Expedia.com, but at a higher price. They are training their customers to know that the best airfare will always be found on the American Airlines website. Golf courses should adopt this same Internet Marketing Strategy. You are training your customers where they can find the best price, and anyone who tells you otherwise may not have your business’ best interest at heart.
So why do so many golf courses use third-party Internet reservation systems on their webpage? Are the golf courses trying to brand the third-party Internet reservation company or the golf course?
In fact, an alarming trend is developing with consideration to third-party Internet bookings vs. golf course website bookings. A Fore! Reservations Annual Internet Reservations Analysis concluded that 265 courses booking tee times online in 2008 actually had a decrease in Internet rounds booked; that is double the number of courses that experienced a decrease in 2007. This illustrates the growing number of customers booking tee times at third-party websites as opposed to golf course websites.
To combat this growing trend, we encourage golf courses to use a booking system on your webpage that will private label your webpage and maximize the branding of your golf course. It’s alright to use third-party Internet tee time providers like golfnow.com, golfchannel.com, teetimewatch.com, etc. as long as they drive customers from their website to your golf course.
Rules for a Lucrative Internet Marketing Strategy:
Brand your website and use the booking tools of a company like Fore! Reservations. For example, the Internet Specials Calendar enables you to determine the discount amount and when to offer the special.
Don’t give any company the chance to farm your customer data. Make sure your agreement is strong in the area of customer data ownership and penalties for misuse.
Offer the Lowest Guarantee Internet price at your webpage.
Make sure your third-party Internet tee time provider sends you the customer data when customers book a tee time. They are your customers – they should be in your database and you should never be managing two different customer databases.
Don’t barter – pay the third-party Internet tee time providers a commission.
They are your tee times – manage them accordingly. Remember, without your tee times the third-party Internet tee time vendor is out of business.
These recommendations on how to properly use third-party Internet tee time providers will help ensure your Internet Marketing Strategy works for your business and not against it.
For more information about this article or the Fore! Reservations software please visit our website at http://www.forereservations.com or call us at 630-789-9705.
About Fore! Reservations
Fore! Reservations, established in 1995, is the leading provider of golf course management and marketing software. Its software provides courses with an easy-to-use Tee Time Reservation System, Integrated Online Tee Times, E-mail Marketing tools, a sophisticated Customer Database Management, a Point-of-Sale system, and unrivaled Customer Service. With over 1,800 golf course installations represented by every state in the U.S. and numerous installations in Canada, it is the number one selling tee sheet in the golf industry. Fore! Reservations is a privately held company with offices in Burr Ridge and Wheaton, Illinois.
Contact:
Scott Merchant
630-789-9705, x.117
merchant@teeitup.com
