how the trade magazines that hit your mailbox have shrunk in page numbers over the years or how some have disappeared altogether. This shift is a direct reflection of the changing buying behaviors of the B2B landscape across all categories, the golf industry included.

For years, a company selling a product or service to golf operations followed a familiar formula for closing its share of business: Run some print advertising for awareness, show up at the trade shows and meet prospective customers for drinks and a little golf

or fishing. This formula is still popular, but for most in the golf space that approach to relationship-building and product awareness isn’t producing the results it once did.

Two factors are at work in this new reality — the internet and the inevitable retirement of the “old guard.” There are now more millennials than baby boomers in the B2B buying funnel. These younger decision makers have grown up with digital technology, and they’re utterly reliant on it for virtually

all of their decision-making. We are in the midst of a great transition in B2B golf marketing. Those who get it right the fastest stand to reap the greatest rewards.

This e-book is a quick-read primer to help you understand effective B2B marketing. While today’s buyers rely on modern digital technology, their journey through the buying process is still predictable, controllable and measurable — which gives those in the know the upper hand.

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COMPANY REPUTATION

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We are in the midst of a great transition in B2B golf marketing. Those who get it right the

fastest stand to reap the greatest rewards.

Perhapsyou’ve noticed

The New Sales Paradigm:

Today’s golf course decision makers have more access to information and are more self-directed in the research and due diligence they engage in when evaluating new products and services. In a recent survey by Forrester Research, 74 percent of B2B buyers reported that they conduct more than half of their research online

before making an offline purchase. Success in this new reality requires adjustments to marketing and sales strategies as your old approaches will continue to become less and less effective.

Increase leads and drive sales to golf courses

The golf industry traditionally relied on outbound marketing — cold calling, paid ads, direct mail, etc. We bought access to prospects and then begged for attention. It may sound counterintuitive, but the first step to increasing sales and growing your customer base in today’s marketplace is to STOP SELLING. Seriously, stop thinking of yourself as a marketer or sales agent, and start embracing the value-added approach of inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing strategies have taken hold for a simple reason: Today’s prospects are 70 percent through their decision-making process before they even reach out to a sales rep (SiriusDecisions). By the time you are in the picture, your prospect pretty much knows if he is going to be your next customer based exclusively on what he has learned online. Your website and the online content about your products or services carry the sale for the majority of the buying process. By the time you speak with the prospect, chances are he has already formed deep opinions about your company and your product — as well as your competition’s offering.

Today’s prospects are 70 percent through their decision-making process before they even reach out to a sales rep.

RECOGNITION OF NEEDS

• Buyer recognizes a problem• Buyer defines range of solutions

• Buyer determines decision criteria• Buyer assesses alternatives

• Buyer identifies and resolves• Buyer negotiates final terms

• Buyer implements chosen solutions

EVALUATION OF OPTIONS

RESOLUTION OF CONCERNS IMPLEMENTATION

TERMSWARRANTY

FEATUREBENEFIT

When you become that valuable source of information — and not the one pummeling him with sales pitches — you’re establishing

an effective, long-term B2B lead generation strategy.

In the first stage of the buyer’s journey — Awareness — assume your prospect has little knowledge about your company and your product offer-ing. Your goal during the Awareness phase is twofold: Help your prospect understand he has a need and that your offering will address that need.

Your instinct at this stage may be to talk about yourself — your products, their attributes, your company and its history. It’s human nature to talk about ourselves. But it’s a mistake. Instead, your emphasis should be on the potential customer, specifically his needs and pain points.

How to boost brand awareness among golf course decision makers

Awareness:

Understand that your prospect may very well be on the fence, assessing if he needs outside help at all.

He is researching resources to help make an informed decision.

NEEDSCUSTOMER

YOUR OFFERING

YOUR OFFERING

In the following chapters of this e-book, you will learn how to impact decision makers at each of the three major stages of

their buying journey — Awareness, Consideration and Decision.

Deliver The Right Information ...

The methods used to deliver the content will depend on what channels your target audience engages with regularly. Most prospects will turn to Google — publishing content through a blogging platform is key, as is your website. Consider other channels to deliver helpful content to your target prospects including:

Email LinkedIn Twitter Instagram YouTube

... Right Where Your

Prospect Is Looking

• E-books• White papers• Guides• Blog articles• Infographics

• Tip sheets• Checklists• Videos• Testimonials• Press

Today, 72 percent of buyers turn to Google to research solutions to their problems. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vitally important to ensure your content is at the top of your prospect’s searches. Make sure the educational content you create (a list of good content vehicles follows below) is optimized for search terms your prospect might look for:

With the leadership call complete and the alignment of your goals and values verified, you now have access

to explore more of the proprietary Spring-Green system which supports our strategic partners.

Marketing and Operational Support — the two linchpins in the Spring-Green model — are the

focus of this stage in your journey.

Your interactive call with the Marketing team will cover:

Just imagine, adding all the complexities of another business to your existing business — and your life actually gets simpler! Scaling your business without the stress is possible because of our Operational Support system. You will speak directly with the Operational Support team and gain a clear understanding of how this business will integrate with your current business, how we support you from the start and beyond, and what your role as owner will look like.

Experience the Spring-Green advantage from the people who create it.

3S T E P

Peel the onion.

Systems that help find, grow and retain customers.

An industry-leading direct mail program.

Online marketing programs.

Our national call center that helps maximize sales and delivers a seamless customer experience.

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INDUSTRY REPORT

Even at this early stage in the buyer’s journey, you should be gathering information about their needs, pain points and interests. Marketing automation platforms

like Hubspot, Pardot and Marketo track user behaviors

and score leads based on actions such as webpage visits,

the emails a user opens and the content they download.

If you aren’t working with a platform,

you can still gather data on your prospects.

One way to do this is to require users to

input their information into a short form to

access valuable content like e-books and

white papers. Based on the topic of the

content downloaded, you’ll have some

insight into their interests and pain points.

Send me information

Subscribe

Email updates

Gather Insights

By the time a buyer moves to the Consideration phase of his journey, he has an awareness of what is causing pain or standing between him and an opportunity. He is actively looking for solutions, researching and comparing all available options and methods. He’s asking questions. Questions like: “I know we need to sell tee times online. What are my options? Which option best fits our budget and integration needs?” If you want to make it to the golf course decision maker’s short list of possibilities, you need to help them answer their questions and develop trust in your brand.

Relevant content should be provided in the form of webinars, videos, e-books, case studies and guides. The content should be gated behind lead capture forms on your website. The content they engage with should tell you where they are in their buyer’s journey, and it

can be used to inform the nurturing activities you deploy to move them closer to making the decision to choose your product or service.

To reduce the sales cycle, these leads should be nurtured through emails that provide additional relevant content to help them and establish trust.

Content For The Consideration Stage Includes: • Product/service data sheets • Videos • Demonstrations • Case studies • Webinars • Email nurture campaigns

The prospect is still using online searches to shop and compare their options. Create blog content that

compares your solution to others in the marketplace. You don’t have to call competitors out by name but you can. Optimize the content for searches that might be conducted at this stage. The content on your website should answer commonly asked questions and address common objections buyers have to choosing your solution. Email drip campaigns are critical for staying top of mind as the prospect moves into the Decision stage.

Content Delivery for the Consideration Stage

Differentiating your brand in a crowded marketplace

Consideration:

of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make B2B purchasing decisions than they did a year ago.” - DemandGen Report It’s time to make a decision. Buyers know the solution they need and are looking for validating information and/or endorsements to make a final choice. Their questions become more specific.

At this point, golf course decision makers will be researching supporting information to make sure they make the right final decision. Your association with industry experts and public relations professionals can be a powerful influencer. Prospects are likely to be swayed by what credible sources

have to say about a product or service. Free trials, demos, webinars, case studies and vendor comparisons are also important.

If you didn’t already pick up the phone and attempt to make contact with them in the Consideration stage, it’s time to make that call. Use the conversation to gather very specific information regarding the prospect’s needs. Provide customized information based on what you learn. Share this information as you hand the prospect off to the sales team to ensure a smooth transition. The role of marketing in this final phase is to support sales. Strong customer testimonials and case studies can help to gently push the lead across the finish line. Buyers want solutions but they don’t want to be sold to. Help to crush any remaining barriers that might exist between them and the purchase with content such as ROI calculators and cost breakdown guides. As part of setting the sales team up for success, you also should set expectations as far as what they will experience after the purchase. Simplified processes or implementation plans and user guides can get prospects thinking beyond the purchase and minimize concerns about long onboarding timelines and complicated functionality.

How to sell your products & services without selling Decision:

“67%

“I know of two online tee time providers that the majority of golfers use for bookings, but one is flat fee and the other has a barter program and requires us to switch to their

POS system. Which is best for us?”

Although this is the third

and final phase of the buyer’s

journey, your job is never done.

Content should be used to

build the trust necessary to

move a prospect from lead to

buyer to long-term customer.

When deployed as part

of a comprehensive marketing

and sales strategy, quality

content will get the vendor

into a long-term relationship

with the golf course customer

more quickly.

You may very well be thinking: “Wow, this is all so new and unfamiliar. Content and automation platforms and e-books and white papers … it’s too much to think about. Besides, we’re doing alright.”

Adapting to a changing marketplace is never easy. Considering how rapidly today’s marketplace is changing, it can be downright overwhelming to think about transitioning away from what is familiar. But even if your business has not begun feeling the effects of the new B2B paradigm, it is just a matter of time.

Think about it. We all trust the same sorts of digital resources outlined in this report to guide our daily buying decisions about electronics, appliances, autos, restaurants and so on. It’s delusional to think your customer is not using the same tools right now to make business decisions. It’s time to get in the game. Are you equipped to do it on your own? Consider it this way: A young golfer comes to you desperate to make his game scholarship-worthy. Do you tell him to wing it and hope all the mysteries of the swing and course

management solve themselves? No, you steer him to a golf professional for help.

The B2B golf professionals at 54 are ready to help you elevate your marketing game. Visit, call or email to learn more: engage54.com, 844.360.5454 or info@engage54.com.

Ready to succeed with these new tools, technologies and techniques?

Trust a B2B golf professional.