_November/changeofdirections.jpg "Change of Directions")
By Kyle Darbyson
After management reversed its decision on how to market the club, Two Rivers began to thrive
For most of its existence, Two Rivers Country Club near Williamsburg, Virginia, boasted a marketing department of zero. The club’s Tom Fazio-designed course served as the centerpiece of an upscale private golf community, built in a time when developments could put out a glossy brochure and sit back while new members poured in.
As more and more new communities sprung up, however, competition became fierce. Then, in 2008, everything changed. The real estate bubble burst, and as Americans tightened their collective belts, golf participation plummeted. When Twin Rivers’ membership dipped below 270 (from a one-time high of 415 full members), general manager Ken Underwood knew he had to do something.
Underwood’s first move was to hire a full-time sales rep, who he quickly put on the road to prospect at a number of real estate expos up and down the East Coast. The club also tried print ads in local magazines and direct mail campaigns that, in Underwood’s estimation, netted exactly zero conversions. That’s when Two Rivers officials put out a request for proposal (RFP), seeking an advertising agency to take over all aspects of marketing. “We interviewed two firms in Richmond [Virginia] and invited one out to present to the board,” Underwood says.
During the presentation, the agency wowed the members with slick new branding and a plan that spent heavily on direct mailings to affluent zip codes in Maryland. Nearly all were impressed. There were two members, however, who weren’t swayed by the fancy presentation.
Madigan Pratt and Ann Hughes are a husband/wife team with decades of advertising experience. They’ve been part of some of New York City’s biggest agencies and have worked on many of the world’s most popular brands. After running their own successful firm in Connecticut, they decided to slow down and move to Virginia.
But sitting in that room, hearing what they knew was the wrong strategy for the development they’d grown to love, both Pratt and Hughes were stirred into action. “I told Ken after the meeting that it wasn’t the right way to go,” Pratt notes.
This exchange initiated a conversation between the couple and Underwood, one which resulted in the club signing up with Pratt and Hughes’ agency, MP&A. Underwood admits that selling the board on the added expense of the new marketing plan was a tough fight. “Basically, we were going from spending $15,000 a year a decade ago to somewhere around $150,000 today,” he says.
The long-time general manager says he was blunt with members, suggesting that doing nothing was tantamount to giving up on the club. Members agreed, even going so far as to approve an increase in their monthly dues to fund the work.
MP&A has built a niche by marketing destinations, resorts and other travel products. Their strategy blends traditional advertising with customer relationship marketing and a strong digital presence. It’s an award-winning mix, and the creative duo would need every aspect of it to help Two Rivers.
“We needed to fix the website, first and foremost,” Pratt says. The archaic site was a relic of the club’s early, in-house approach to marketing. Hughes remembers there being far too much copy and tiny, blurry images. “It was a classic example of design by committee,” she recalls.
In addition to re-skinning the site, MP&A simplified navigation, making it easier for prospects to find information, whether it was for weddings, real estate or moorage at the marina. The updates also extended to the community’s new set of brochures, a collection that replaced the single brochure that was once sent to all prospects, regardless of their wants or needs. “It didn’t matter if a lead wanted information on weddings, golf or real estate, they all got the same, big piece,” Pratt says. Now, each of these different business lines has its own brochure.
This same diversified marketing focus was used in the digital space. MP&A manages a robust pay-per-click campaign on behalf of Two Rivers. They focus on terms like “private golf community” or “waterfront wedding,” and use sponsored search results to generate a robust number of well-qualified leads.
Underwood says the results of the new marketing plan are undeniable. “This year, for the first time in years, we added a new member for every one we lost,” he boasts. “As they say, flat is the new growth.”
Where the efforts have had the biggest impact is in the private club’s non-golf business. “We’re probably averaging a lead a day on the website for weddings,” Underwood says. The club’s banquet business is also up 70 percent, a number the GM calls “astounding.”
All stakeholders at Two Rivers are thrilled with the decision to engage with the agency, but Underhill says there’s still a lot of work to do. “We need to add more golf members,” he states while pointing out the fact that golfers generate five times the revenue of a social member. “We’re up to about 310 full golf members, but I think there’s room for at least 350.” Up for the challenge, Pratt and Hughes say they will boost their digital focus to attract membership leads.
It’s heady, time-consuming work, but leaving it to experts allows Underwood and the rest of his staff the time they need to focus on providing members with the kind of service they’ve come to expect.
Kyle Darbyson is a Vancouver-based freelance writer.