Start the Presses!

Many marketing pundits and bloggers have written obituaries for printed newspapers and magazines the past few years, but too few have stopped to think about the value of good old-fashioned dead-tree-and-ink communications.

Fortunately, our pal Joe Pulizzi stepped in to do exactly that in the latest Folio magazine. Here's the entire article (http://www.foliomag.com/2010/seven-reasons-print-will-make-comeback-2011) but let me summarize Joe's key points:

1. People are actually starting to pay attention to print things they receive in the mail. In a world where our banking, our communications with family and friends and our access to news is largely digital, that beautiful printed magazine in your mailbox is....different. And different is good when you're trying to get noticed.

2. Magazines like ours still do the best job of identifying and capturing data about customers. It's EXPENSIVE -- as you might know -- to track down and get information about customers. We do it for you and, when you advertise, you take advantage of that work.

3. Print still excites people. Let me ask you this question: If a reporter called you and wanted to interview you for a story, would you be more interested and more proud to be a source if it was in the printed publication vs. an online source. Print has gravitas.

There's one final reason that print MUST be a part of a good marketing mix that Joe doesn't mention: the concept of BIGNESS. A print presence in GCI or other good industry magazines reinforces the strength of your brand or, if you're still a growth company, puts you shoulder to shoulder with established brands.

Superintendents consistently say that the main thing they value from print advertisements is a sense that the advertiser is a sound, stable company that supports their profession. Isn't that pretty much the baseline message you want to send to all of your customers?

Season in Review

What a weird an wonderful (depending on who you are and where you are) season in the world of golf. A few observations...

- This was the first "crisis" year in the new recession/downturn paradigm for golf. The do-more-with-less chickens came home to roost for many facilities where budgets had been cut and experienced superintendents were let go to save a few bucks. That short-term thinking led to major turf loss, "closed for the season" signs and general disgruntlement among golfers who actually wanted to play and enjoy the hot sunny days.

- Many Northern and Transition zone facilities felt the pain of early warmth/humidity -- perfect disease conditions -- then extreme heat and heavy rains. As a result, the Poa annua just checked out. Patchy fairways became the norm around the country -- even at higher-end facilities -- and golfers were scratching their heads and looking for a patch of grass to roll their ball onto.

- Chemical manufacturers, who had been licking their collective chops early on, quickly noticed something strange about this "great" disease year: they weren't selling all that much more product than in the past few good weather years. Why? A lot of clubs in hard-hit areas simply let their fairways go after the initial damage was done. Yes they treated greens to keep them alive, but many decided not to try to save the larger fairway acreage out of sheer frustration or tighter budgets.

- For basic manufacturers and larger formulators, generic pressure obviously made margins thinner.

- For the first time in many years, guys who lost turf also lost jobs. In some cases, the agronomic problems could have been the straw that broke the camel's back (other factors may have already put them at risk). But in a few cases we've heard about, superintendents who had performed extremely well over the long term just got canned because members didn't like what happened this summer. Patience does not appear to be a hallmark of clubs in a tighter, more competitive market.

I think we're seeing the beginnings of the "new sense of normal" in the golf market. Combine what happened this year agronomically and economically with the "brown is beautiful" rhetoric being espoused by USGA and it seems like we'll begin to see a new segment of facilities who are placing less emphasis on tee-to-green lushness. Others (high-end private clubs) however, are still sticking to the Augusta National look and not putting up with any diminishment of quality because they think they can always find a better superintendent if they're not happy with what they have.

Basically, the market continues to segment itself and you should too. Think about the demographics created by this new paradigm and how your product line fits. Do you appeal to that new segment of facilities who are willing to roll back quality a bit for economic or environmental reasons? Or, should you hone in on the money-is-no-object, quality-at-any-cost clubs? Think about that as you make your marketing plan for 2011.

Speaking of which, our Media Kits are done and will be distributed beginning this week. It's time to plan for 2011...and it's time to make GCI the centerpiece of your new program.

2011 Editorial Planners Are Done

It may only be August, but our roadmap for key editorial coverage for 2011 is already done and ready for your planning use.

GCI's 2011 Editorial Calendar is complete and we'd be happy to do a review with you to answer your questions about topics, the focus of particular articles, etc. The plan includes all of our technical features, case studies, product focus articles and themes for each issue, so it's extremely detailed. It doesn't include cover stories (which we like to plan closer to publication to keep them topical) or "Real Science" research articles which need to be flexible since we're often working with PhDs who don't necessarily understand the concept of a "deadline." (Just kidding.)

Our complete electronic media kit will be posted soon. But, in the mean time, our sales team will be scheduling calls with many of you to discuss the 2011 Editorial Calendar with our editors and make sure we have the right industry and customer sources lined up. To schedule a call or get a copy of the calendar, just contact your GCI sales rep or e-mail me at pjones@gie.net.