Gratitude

Hey Everybody...

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did. Here's a special column I wrote (click link below) because I wanted to share my sense of gratitude for our readers, our clients and all the wonderful things that have happened in my life since coming to GCI full time earlier this year. Enjoy...and thanks!

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=10W0KgxLwwGrFoUcJWg0or9lbi5OzYoqXdS9NPYb58ww

Does Your Ad Really Work?

That's a worrisome question for any marketing manager who invests significantly in print advertising. You can have the best program in the world and make the best media buys (like, for example, Golf Course Industry!) and still not achieve your goals if your creative is off target.

Well, your nice friends at GIE Media are about to help you stop worrying and stay ON TARGET. We've gone old-school and hired Readex Market Research to conduct an independent "On Target" study of the effectiveness of all full-page and spread ads in our January issue.

And it's FREE.

All you have to do is place an ad at your regular rate in the January issue and you'll get an amazing report back detailing how customers (superintendents in particular) felt about your ad's visual appeal, ability to deliver information, clarity, etc. You'll also see the basics of how other advertisers' ads performed and get dozens of verbatim comments from customers regarding your ad.

Did I mention you get this for FREE?

We're also doing this type of study in Lawn & Landscape and several of our other magazines in different markets, so you can get feedback on all of your creative targeted at different segments.

And, by the way, it's FREE.

Got a question about the Readex On Target study in the January issue of GCI. Call me or your rep right now. Don't miss a chance to find out what customers really think of your ads.

Planning and Integration

I recently spoke at the ITODA meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., to a group consisting of of key suppliers and independent distributors from around North America. My presentation covered a wide range of marketing topics, notably using social media (like this here blog!), e-newsletters, YouTube-style videos and other newfangled stuff.

Yet, the concept that commanded the most post-presentation questions and comments was an old-fashioned one: integrating your marketing plan.

I think that too many marketing managers were shoved into the digital corner too fast by owners and CEOs who said, "Hey, we can check our marketing plan off the to-do list for 20% of what we used to spend by going digital. Besides, all the cool companies are doing it."

A lot of those marketing managers have since felt a little air escaping from their brand balloons as they've noticed that their non-print programs, while often targeted and interesting, don't have the same "bigness" as their old print-centric programs. In short, they pushed the pendulum too far to the digital side.

The solution -- as with most problems -- is to find a happy medium. The solution is to build an integrated program that starts with the branding presence that ONLY print can give you and then achieves specific marketing goals that leverage the strengths of digital: targeting, differentiation and technology platforms that allow you to bring your story to life through video, animation and other e-media.

One senior product manager for a supplier approached me after the event and said, "For the love of God, please send me your presentation so I can convince my boss that we can't abandon print." I was, of course, happy to oblige him and I'll do the same for you. Just e-mail me at pjones@gie.net and I'll send it your way.

Check Out the 2011 Media Kit!

Here's the fabulous new 2011 GCI Digital Media Kit.

http://mediakit.golfcourseindustry.com/gci/magazine.html

It contains everything you need to know to create a complete, integrated marketing plan to sell more effectively and efficiently next year.

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.