Page 6 - GBC spring 2016

Message From The Publisher • Jeff Calderwood
The First Tee
For the past 15 years, we have used
the same rating system for delegates
to score the speakers and content of
our Golf Business Canada Conference &
Trade Show. We can easily compare those annual scores and I am proud to announce that our 2015 event in Toronto was the highest rated ever!
So, in this issue of Golf Business Canada Magazine we are presenting articles by some of the top rated speakers. Each article provides great insight for your golf course’s strategic planning, and is right on time for your 2016 implementation.
Of particular note, the cover story is written by our Opening Keynote Speaker, Ron Tite, who applies his wealth of business experience into a focus on the new Expression Economy and how your golf business must adapt.
Jeff Calderwod is decked out in hometown gear as he provides
the opening remarks at the 2015 Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show.
The True Meaning Of Your Brand
As CEO of a content marketing agency, an award winning ad writer and creative director, producer of business TV shows, book author, named Top 10 Most Creative Canadians by Marketing Magazine, whose client list includes well known global brands as well as Canadian golf courses; Ron knows what it takes to succeed.
His message includes the pros and cons of today’s technology, including the reality that those tech solutions have caused niche marketing to take over and that changes how a golf course needs to compete. The solution to your perception that over-supply is golf’s worst enemy may lie within the reality that your big- gest competitor is actually the Internet!
Ron scrutinizes the time factor, not- ing that people no longer vote with their wallets, rather they now vote with their time. Your golf operation needs to win the battle for a golfer’s time, in addition to providing good value. Ron explains how to solve that dilemma.
In my opinion, the good news is that discounting is not necessarily the solution for many of those ‘time’ customers. The challenge is to combine strategies to at- tract the ‘time’ golfers as well as the ‘price’ golfers, hence the emergence of dynamic pricing.
Ron also does a great job focusing on the true meaning of your brand in the eyes of golfers. He provides great exam- ples to illustrate how customers react to every aspect of your behavior. For in- stance, I had not considered Red Bull as a media company that happens to sell bev- erages. They want their brand to repre- sent that life is better when lived to the extreme. There are analogies there for golf to contemplate.
Ultimately, Ron’s cover story makes the case that your golf course can cut through the clutter by building customer loyalty through consistent expression of your higher set of values. It goes beyond the basic golf experience and it is a cul- ture to be established within your staff team, not just policy or posted signs.
Happy reading, all the best for the upcoming golf season, and plan now to join us November 17-19 for our next Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show in beautiful Whistler!
Jeff Calderwood, CEO NGCOA Canada jcalderwood@ngcoa.ca
6 Golf Business Canada