Tenerife is the ideal place to play golf. You’ll find a variety of stunning courses to choose from, excellent facilities and perfect weather all the year round. If you’re in the local golf business, you know that.
But most European golfers and even some golf holiday companies simply have no clue. They have no idea that Tenerife is a marvellous golfing destination, let alone just how much this island has to offer golf lovers of all budgets and skill levels.
It’s time to change this situation! It’s time for the whole golfing community to get together and work as a team to brand Tenerife as the place to play golf in Europe. Over the last year, we have been building awareness with a blog at TenerifeGolf.info and several other social media sites. That’s a good start. But surely a multi-million Euro golfing industry can work together to come up with a common strategy to promote itself, and claim a massive slice of the European golfing market share.
Tenerife Golf
It’s time to think outside the box
For such an ambitious initiative to succeed, the entire Tenerife golfing community has to get involved and come up with a master plan that unites all the parties involved. There has to be a clear plan of action, with goals and strategies defined in writing. And most of all, it is time to get creative and embrace new ways of marketing golf in Tenerife.
The focus of the plan should be using Digital Media to promote Tenerife Golf both at home, and especially abroad to an audience that is 70% English-speaking. We need to embrace modern techniques of online marketing and use social networking to spread our message. There is no point in using all our resources to shout at the top of our voices with old style ads and campaigns. There is more bang to be had for the advertising buck by using the Internet to rope in the whole European golfing community to promote Tenerife as a golfing destination to their friends and colleagues.
This will involve making an extensive use of the Social Media accounts we have been running for the past year – posting photos on Flickr, videos on YouTube, updating the Facebook fan page for Tenerife Golf or twitter, publishing more news and articles on TenerifeGolf.info and so on. The whole idea is to build social networks of people who are interested in golfing, and to promote Tenerife Golf using each of these social media platforms. All news and promotions would be encouraged to run through these accounts, so that the new information instantly reaches the masses of avid golfing followers, who will in turn pass it on to their friends.
Another vital part of modern marketing is getting to know what your audience wants. For this purpose, we could set up an island-wide Comment Card system. Each golfer will be asked for their email before they start playing golf, and is later sent a comment card asking them how they enjoyed their round. These comment cards will allow the golfing community to build up a database of subscribers for marketing purposes and, just as importantly, to gain invaluable insight and information as regards what golfers in Tenerife are after.
At the same time as we are wooing European golfers, we also need to get together and network better with tour operators – invite them over for a few rounds of golf and give them a taste of what Tenerife has to offer their clients.
Working together towards success
We have success in our sights and we’ve already started working for it! What about you? If you have involved in any way with the golf or golf-related services in Tenerife, join the Tenerife Golf Network on LinkedIn today, and get networked with the rest of the golfing business.
Directors of courses, associations, societies, golf holiday organisers, golf shops, hotels, golfing bloggers etc. all need to connect online, so tell your friends and colleagues to join in too. This LinkedIn group will give us a common platform through which to communicate and work together to promote golf in Tenerife.
You know how widespread the I love NY brand is. Now picture a concept like I love TF Golf being promoted across the European golfing scene with the help and cooperation of everyone involved. Just think of the effects such a change a brand would have on the local golfing business. And that’s just that start of what can be achieved if Tenerife’s golfing community all work together as a team!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, its about time we all got together as one voice rather than as individuals. As we all know in this world crisis there are other places in Europe and beyond working very hard for the Golf Dollar and if Tenerife does not get its act together from all sides soon, it will be too late if indeed it is not already…No use spending money on Magazines nobody sees the way forward is sound internet communication to a much wider and golf pacific audience.
If a clients clubs don’t come on the plane we have lost a customer.
I agree SOG, there needs to be united voice singing the same tune and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. We need to start competing with the likes of Portugal and Spain, the internet is the best way to do that.
Some people don’t yet realise that a short U-Tube Video can be seen by thousands of people on the first day, most of which will have some interest in golf, and that it hangs around for years picking up an audience all the time.
What an excellent post!
Those involved in promoting golf in Tenerife ought to sit up and take notice. You have given them a blue print of social networking and internet marketing that, if they only knew it, is worth ten times their annual advertising spend in traditional media.
Yes, Tenerife golf courses and golf promoters should work together to promote Tenerife as a golf destination via all the new and highly effective avenues that social and viral networking has opened up to them.
The Tenerife tourism authority should also take notice of this article. They have a lot to learn about using the same opportunities to promote the island as a whole.
You’re absolutely right John. The power is in the numbers. Working together as a group, not as individuals. Reaching millions rather than hundreds, which is possible through the internet and viral marketing. And as Julie says, the same principles need to be applied to marketing the island as a whole.
Dear John, I am convinced that digital media is the future, as you rightly say!! Great post, full of positive comments and vibrations:)
I also agree that working all together in this ambitious project is the only way to succeed!
The ball is rolling and step by step the puzzle is falling into place!!!
Thank you for your professional advice and all your efforts!!
Thank you all for your positive feed back. You are right Joe, the power is in numbers. I think the first thing we need to do is connect at one point like The Tenerife Golf Network on linkedin once there I’m sure the flow of ideas, tactics and practical networking will happen much faster.
You will have to play your part Nathalie as the representative of the Tenerife Golf Association to help unite the golfing community.
Using both the local media in Tenerife (all languages) and regular press releases to the UK Media will I am sure encourage more people to consider Tenerife as a viable venue for golfing holidays or interclub competitions.
But I agree with many of the other members it needs a co-ordinated approach under one umbrella – “Tenerife Golf” if it is to be driven forward.