Club Management - May/June 2008 - (Page 31)

Your members’ inbox is cherished online real estate. Treat it that way. Otherwise, it may not be worth their time. Clubs should deliver relevant, timely content that reflects the lifestyle choice your members have already made. through a communication program that tells members how “right” your club is for them. Not only do members and customers need to believe your club is the right lifestyle choice for them and their families, they also need to see themselves reﬂected in all of your communication with them. That’s where the relationship is reinforced and nurtured. Loyalty and active use of your facility follow when you demonstrate to your membership, through word and deed, that your club is committed to delivering a superior experience and that you value the relationship you have with them. Feeling the Membership Pulse Today, members and prospects are in the driver’s seat, and clubs need to consistently conform to their needs if they want to gain loyalty. You should also take the pulse of members regularly and immediately act upon feedback. For example, you may be using e-mail newsletters, but are you actually reaching your audience in a meaningful way? Is your newsletter primarily viewed as a core part of your member relationship? Who does it beneﬁt directly? Determining what happens once your recipient gets your message has real meaning because it is a view into whether or not you are truly engaging your audience. Companies around the world are committing massive amounts of marketing dollars to new, online media channels, all in effort to deliver the types of highly relevant communications that readers demand. One of the huge beneﬁts the club industry already has going for it is the pre-existing relationship. After all, the people with whom you want to communicate are already your members. That’s a great starting point, but it also makes the 10-20 percent attrition at some clubs very troubling. Where did those relationships go wrong? One of the most effective things clubs can do is proactively engage members – regularly, with relevant, personalized and timely communications. Also, measure your delivery with the goal of continuous improvement. Use data from all available systems to create targeted messages. Integration between e-communications and other club databases is the easiest way to create personalized campaigns that support the relationship you’re trying to achieve. Believe it or not, it can be as simple as cross-referencing some of the data already housed by other systems to create highly focused and targeted messages. Speak to your members individually. Individualized e-newsletters go beyond just basic personalization with a ﬁrst name. There are systems today that allow clubs to deliver completely different messages for each recipient within a single campaign. It’s called dynamic content. Your members’ inbox is cherished online real estate. Treat it that way. Otherwise, it may not be worth their time. Above all else, clubs should deliver relevant, timely content that reﬂects the lifestyle choice your members have already made. Because dynamic content allows you to build messages piece by piece, based on speciﬁc recipient characteristics, it is one of the best e-mail relationship-building techniques available. It allows for improved targeting and relevance, which makes each communication that much more meaningful to your recipient. And since presentation is paramount, make sure your e-newsletter has a rich, interactive and user-friendly look. Finally, let your numbers tell the story – or at least let the data from your e-newsletters inform you about how your members view you, your communication and your club. The online communication world revolves around data. If you want to understand more speciﬁcally how your club is performing, look at the numbers. In fact, look beyond the numbers. Open rates and clicks are just the start. What you’re really looking for is relevant and actionable information. Truly understanding the results of your e-communications can help develop the “in-person” programs that make the membership experience equal to members’ expectations. No other platform can provide the depth and immediacy of such informative data. For example, how do the open and click rates of your most active club users compare to those of occasional users? What are the differences in these groups? By membership category? By age? By family size or length of membership? This type of information can be enormously helpful in driving increased club usage. Think of how valuable it would be to know exactly which readers clicked on a mini-lesson video by your golf instructor from within the newsletter or which prospects watched a video club tour. Build brand with every communication. Since clubs are already dealing with a permission-based, pre-existing relationship, your focus can properly be placed on strengthening the club’s perceived value in the lives of your members. Every communication creates a brand impression, and email’s ability to inspire brand recognition and loyalty will have a long-term beneﬁt if clubs succeed in delivering their relationship-building message in the way that club members want to receive it. Delivering the ultimate membership experience and maintaining a lasting, profitable member relationship are as much about communication as the daily physical interaction. In today’s Internet era, e-newsletter marketing is one of the best ways for clubs to strengthen their place as a central part of the member lifestyle. ❚❘ About the author Dan Sharry is vice president of VCT Corporation. For more information, please go to www.vctcorp.com. MAY/JUNE 2008 • 31 http://www.vctcorp.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Club Management - May/June 2008

Club Management - May/June 2008 Contents President’s Message Accounting & Financial Management Board Governance Wine Society Quenches Thirst for Knowledge, Camaraderie Building & Facilities Management Tennis Pro Education Increases Your Bottom Line Cover Story: BMI Golf Management Golf/Sports & Recreation Management Human & Professional Resources Relationship Building in the Internet Era The Ultimate Cellar Raid Products and Services Marketplace External & Government Influences HFTP Insight: HITEC 2008 Features Latest in Club Technology New Directions Global Outreach Advertiser Index/Advertisers.com Club Wrap

Club Management - May/June 2008

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