#70 The Ballketing Letter
Golf Manager & what sport brands can learn from scaling a SaaS for golf facilities, resources for "product lead growth, sustainability in major sport brands, more on sports + web3, & more!
Hey there Ballketers,
Welcome to post #70! Going back to the history books, many believe the 1970 World Cup was the one that elevated Pele to “legend” status. And, from there, he became a worldwide sport business icon and an example for many future generational talents.
The best “no goal” ever will always remain as one of the classics from that tournament…
This week:
We extract the lessons that sport businesses can learn from Golf Manager, a SaaS product that is driving the digitization of some of the top golf courses.
The conversations around web3 and technology in sports keep heating up.
More business content that will hopefully help you take your sport or fitness brand to the next level.
Let´s get down to business!
“Leadership is about creating an environment where people can be their best selves.”
David Marquet (Retired Navy Captain)
An inspiring and “modern” definition of what leadership is in this episode of All The Hacks. Leadership today should not be about telling people what to do all the time. Effective leaders adapt to each individual in a way they adapt the playing field so they feel empowered, accountable and feel connected to others.
Golf Manager- Lessons from growing a Golf SaaS business
Golf has been one of the sports with most remarkable growth over the past several years. Based on research from The R&A, between 2016 and 2021, the number of total golfers around the world increased 9% (from 61 to 66,6 million) driven by the major regions:
This has lead to an increase in demand for green fees around the world, which makes the running of a golf facility more complex. Moreover, new customer behaviors, market dynamics and the rising interest in golf among younger segments of the population has driven a new wave of digitization and adoption of new SaaS products among golf facility managers worldwide. As a result, the market is seeing how the number of golf specific SaaS businesses is growing and even raising important rounds of investment. For example, precisely last week, Woosh, announced an investment round of $6 milllion.
With this context in mind, we want to share with you the lessons any sport business can learn from Golf Manager, a Golf SaaS that is focused on helping courses adopt digital technology within their core business model.
Before moving on though, we want to give credit to the team at Marketing4eCommerce for sharing an awesome interview to Golf Manager´s CMO on their podcast (in Spanish), in which many of the details you will see below are shared.
Origins, customers & pricing
Golf Manager was founded in Spain back in 2018 with the aim of becoming the main digital transformation partner for golf courses through its module-based SaaS product. While it offers standard modules for any given course such as online reservations, tee sheets, auto check-in, member fees management or security management, it also offers specialized modules that adapt to a club´s specific needs. Some examples include restaurant reservations, stock management for stores, CRM, business intelligence and/or dashboards.
One of the keys is that it was founded by former professional golf players, which helps them understand well their target and their needs. The product features rely on “breadth of modules” but also on ease of use and is regarded as a product of high quality within the industry (In fact, they have received several 5-star reviews on Capterra).
Among their list of customers we can find top golf facilities like Finca Cortesín, Marco Simone (Home of the 2023 Ryder Cup), West Cliffs in Portugal or Costa Navarino in Greece. In total, they have a portfolio of 150 clients across 13 markets of Europe, North America & LatAm. Precisely this week they have signed an agreement with Discovery Hotel Management, which confirms its leadership position in the portuguese market.
Their pricing depends on the number of modules each facility purchases but generally it starts at a base of 199€ per month (if paid annually) / 239€ per month (if paid monthly) for the basic software and each additional module costs around 49€.
Lessons to learn to from scaling Golf Manager
Despite being a very specific niche-oriented product, Golf Manager gives any sport business many lessons to learn from:
From Product Lead Growth to Community Lead Growth
Initially, the company focused on “Product Lead Growth” initiatives, essentially looking to demonstrate the value of the product to potential buyers. On that note, make sure you check out the article referenced below on PLG for a masterclass on the matter...
They recognized though, that this had capped potential and new levers needed to be pulled to reach the next level. As such, they shifted to “community lead growth,” which makes complete sense.
This approach basically implies organizing a series of recurring events in the form of webinars, podcasts, etc. in which executives from the facilities they work with share best practices, lessons they have learned, resources, etc. with other members of the community.
This helps them in two main areas. On one hand they are able to generate new customer insights by staying in touch with their buyers on a regular basis. On the other, such events, if done correctly, create such an amount of value that they drive word of mouth.
Building a successful community enhances all the stages of marketing funnel:
Top of funnel - Acquisition of new members happens through word of mouth for the most part, which is critical to keep CAC under control.
Middle Funnel - Those that are not fully bought into Golf Manager´s solution, can get questions answered by other members of the community or the sales team.
Lower funnel - There comes a point where the value of belonging to the community goes far beyond the product. The networking opportunities, the knowledge, etc. are intangibles that minimize churn and maximize LTV.
Be very strategic about your growth strategy
Golf Manager follows a similar approach as many other leading SaaS brands around the world do. Rather than going directly after the biggest accounts, they set out to become leaders within a sub-segment of the market as a way to gain credibility.
In their case, rather than targetting the main golf facilities all around Europe, their plan is to establish a leadership position in Spain and Portugal, then do the same in Italy or Greece before attacking aggresively the UK & US markets (the biggest markets of the industry). This implies two things:
They hope to keep gathering “logos” & “credentials” for the when the time comes to pitch major customers.
In some instances, it is even those big accounts who actually get in touch with them after seeing that affiliated clubs already work with Golf Manager.
An education-based inbound marketing strategy
One of the benefits of really understanding your customers is that it helps you define the approach towards your content strategy. In Golf Manager´s case, they were dealing with a target audience of executives that were passionate for the sport, their job and very skillful at running a golf facility. They lacked however, knowledge around the benefits of adopting digital solutions and new technology.
Golf Manager decided to educate on the “digitization for golf managers” category. As such, their content revolved around topics like business best practices, digital tech and web design. They even created a “Golf Manager Academy” full of resources like eBooks, webinars, or podcasts for community members to use as learning material.
In this sense, their CMO highlights two critical aspects to take your inbound tools to another level:
The creative output marks the difference, it is what makes potential buyers “stop” and actually show interest in your solution.
Focus on the business assets you have to determine the foundation of your inbound marketing strategy (logos, customer success, reviews, etc.)
Customer Acquisition & Activation
Golf Manager drives acquisition mainly through organic efforts. Rather than investing in paid media, they are focused on reducing onboarding and time to value. The objective is clear, WOW the customer as soon as possible which accelerates the referall dynamics.
It is true though, that their budget is still somewhat limited to invest heavily in paid marketing, which would widen their top of the funnel.
A third lever they pull is PR. For this they have two pieces of advice:
Focus on what the platform or media outlet obtains in terms of value for publishing a piece of information from your brand. Avoid focusing solely on “how good you are” and “what´s in it for me?” and rather make sure the publisher also “wins” in the deal.
Choose your platforms well depending on the objectives of each PR campaign and the target audience you wish to reach. In their case, they have collaborated with niche publications for either golf/club managers that wanted more “operational” content or for sport business journals that looked for more “financials” related information.
Identifying upselling opportunities
After Golf Manager started working with a few clients under this approach, they noticed that some of them would benefit and would be open to hire them as an “Agency” that would help them with web design, social media strategy, etc.
The metrics that matter
These are the ones that help your brand demonstrate that the customer is getting value out of your business. In Golf Manager´s case:
In 2021, according to this report in El Economista, there were 2.4 million reservations managed through Golf Manager, servicing 750K customers worldwide. More product usage usually leads to less churn, which is why this is relevant. Again, make sure you check out the PLG article for more “value oriented” metrics.
Time to value (Onboarding) is another metric they relentlesly focus on, although they recognize they need to balance between speed of setting up a new customer and comprehensiveness for the specifics of each account, given that in some instances they need to incorporate a unique bundle of services into the platform.
From our point of view, Golf Manager is a “text book” example of putting into practice what winning B2B SaaS companies do (not just in sport).
They understand their customer, they educate on the category, create a community around the needs of the members of the community which also fuels insights that help Golf Manager drive its strategy.
This puts in place a sustainable growth flywheel that minimizes CAC and, if done well, maximizes LTV.
A “technology & sports” update
Microsoft´s Legendary Acquisition
Christopher Lochhead analyzes why this move by Microsoft is actually legendary to position themselves as a key player to engage the digital native consumer. Then, he uses the operation to ask what your business is actually doing to do the same (create categories that matter to digital natives).
How web3 could help sport properties monetize their communities.
Insightful conversation on “Are you not entertained?” in which they cover opportunities and challenges around web3. Particularly interesting is the conversation around the practical application of DAOs in sport and how sport brands could monetize communities of fans around the world.
Also, if you are into sport investment related topics, there is an interesting discussion around how could DAOs and private investment groups work together or the approach towards acquiring the X games through a DAO.
Opportunities in sport tech for 2022
The Sports Pro Media podcast reflects on their list of the 20 sports tech ideas to invest in now, ranging from personalisation to digital betting, NFTs, the metaverse, youth sport or college endorsements.
Improving the fitness experience through AI
The Halftime Snacks Podcast interviews FittyAI´s cofounder in an episode that may be a glimpse of what the future of the fitness industry may hold. The product basically provides a virtual trainer that gives real-time feedback to the user on his training which can then be integrated into multiple online fitness platforms.
They also talked about connected fitness as the disruptor, threat, and competitor of gyms and traditional fitness programs, and more!
More sport brands embracing the environmental challenge
“Make better things in a better a way”
Is the recipe for the winning business models of the future:
“Focus on attributes that customer value and doing so in sustainable way without a price premium”?
This is the approach that footwear brand Allbirds is embracing as explained on this episode of Cold Call. Based on their results, it seems to be working....
Behind the scenes on Rugby´s 2030 environmental plan
Another major sport property that wants to embrace the fight against climate. The Sustainability Report dives into how Rugby 2030 is carrying out their ambitious environmental plan, around 3 pillars:
Climate action
Circular economy
The natural environment.
It stands out they want to reduce their carbon footprint without offsetting...
Better marketing = more revenue
The 2X formula for better marketing
The Not for Lazy Marketers podcast shares a practical framework to elevate your marketing game based on two elements: Audit & Assess. They go into practical detail on how to tackle each of them.
Learn from the best to play the Tik Tok Game
Do you want to learn how the NFL or Gatorade play the Tik Tok game? If so, tune into this episode of GaryVee´s podcast in which some of the best brands around share their tips and advice on how to win in Tik Tok. In sum, you need to be authentic, adapt to the context of the platform and be willing to learn...
Marketing masterclasses fo your sport business
A masterclass on the Product Lead Growth User Journey
For each stage of this journey, they share great level of detail so make sure you check it out if this topic is of interest.
Measuring content marketing from a “a brand, trust or demand” angle
Springboard shares this awesome framework to measure your content marketing efforts from the lense of “Brand, Trust, and Demand.” It provides examples of metrics and a concrete action plan you can implement to put in place a marketing engine that optimizes for those 3 variables.
Google´s launch of Topics looks to find middle ground between user privacy & advertising revenue
Marketing Brew shares a nice overview of Google´s shift from FLOC to Topics, in an effort to protect user´s privacy against targeted marketing campaigns. In a nutshell, Google will use the user´s most recent browsing history to pick 3 topics which advertisers will be able to target against,. Then, every 3 weeks each of the topics will be updated...
Inspiring leadership frameworks
The control / responsibility Matrix
Four cuadrants, one awesome framework by Seth Godin to define leadership:
Seth argues most of us are victims...would you agree?
The race towards Net Zero is a team effort
You know we are huge believers that the sport industry can influence stakeholders to embrace climate change. Sports Pro Media shares another fantastic example in which competing broadcasters work together to implement joint “cloud based” solutions that would accelerate the journey towards Net Zero
And that does it for The Ballketing Letter #70! If you have any feedback, please reach out and, if you believe someone will enjoy or benefit from reading The Ballketing Letter, do not hesitate to send it over to them!
Remember you can access our resource center, where we share every useful content we find over time, through the following link:
Thank you if you made it to the end of the post and we hope to see you again next week.
Keep safe.