Author: Bob Bodman
Clubs are continually looking for more and creative ways to advertise and market for new members, especially clubs that have IRS 501(c) restrictions on non-related business income and solicitation. Many clubs do not venture very far into this area for fear of losing their not-for-profit status. There are, however, numerous ways for clubs to market outside of the sphere of member referrals and sponsorships, such as image and state of existence (non-solicitous) advertising, sponsoring charitable events, alignment with community and commercial organizations (i.e. "strategic alliances"). Essentially, "strategic alliances" provide the advertising vehicle on behalf of the club and itself to create a great win-win method.
Opportunities are nearly endless, regarding strategic alliances, in that there is always a community organization that would love to team up with a country club to provide a venue for raising funds. The trick in strategic alliance marketing is to find an organization that has a significant database of participants that aligns with the profile of the new members the club is trying to attract and is sufficiently organized to get messages out to their members on a regular basis.
Here is an example of how this can work: In a club in Southern California, we developed a campaign to bring in 25 to 50 new, younger members with families, since we had just opened up a new pool and significantly enhanced our family programming. We wanted to reach people within a 3 to 5 mile radius. We identified one of the largest organization in the area with young families -- The Mom's Club.
This group was active, well organized and eager to have a pool for their young kids. Many of the Moms' husbands played golf, however, being young and having to support a young family with both time and money, joining a private club was a bit out of reach for them during this time in their lives. We met with them and they offered the club to bring in 25 new members right away, if we could structure a membership that allowed the mom's to come to the pool, use the snack bar, attend club events and to have family type of dining in the club. The other part was to structure the membership to allow the husband to play golf. Being fathers of young kids, their time was also very limited and the amount of golf they could play was also limited. The membership also had to be affordable. We required a minimum of 25 new memberships to commence the program.
We accepted the organization's proposal for a "Young Family Golf Membership," that allowed only one adult golfer in the family, allowed the kids to practice and play with dad, allowed mom to take free golf clinics, full access to the pool, dining and club programs, all for a very affordable Annual Initiation and 2/3rd the regular dues. At age 43 they would upgrade to full membership with credit for their previously paid initiation and golf play was restricted on weekend and holiday mornings until after 10 am. They achieved the 25 new members during the first summer and continually communicated the program as one of the benefits of their organization. By the end of the second summer, the club had nearly 50 Young Family Golf Members.
Opening up new channels of marketing by aligning with key organizations that fit the club's targeted audience and objectives is one of the most cost efficient methods of external marketing without advertising.
About the Author
With more than 25 years experience in the private club industry, Bob Bodman has been involved in nearly every aspect of club management, development, acquisition, planning and membership marketing.
Prior to forming CLUB RESOURCES, Bob founded Paciļ¬c Century Clubs, Inc. in 1991 to provide Membership Marketing and Strategic Planning services to clubs under development and ClubSurvey.com which he founded in 1998 to deliver Membership Focus Groups and Surveys to many high-end clubs including Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Cordevalle, and Los Altos Golf and County Club.
Earlier in his career Bob served as General Manager of Burning Tree Country Club (Greenwich, CT), and The City Club of San Francisco, which was part of the largest private club management company in the world.
Additionally, Bob is the author of Standards of Operation and Performance for Private Clubs and Establishing a New Membership Director Position, and co-author of the The Guide to Membership Marketing. ClubResources.com
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