Being a golf car dealer in this day and age presents an interesting challenge. As a dealer, how do I find effective means of marketing that provides a return on its investment? That’s the whole point of spending marketing dollars. Each dollar spent should return a profit. There are so many ways to advertise but none of them seem to really target your customer. As a golf car dealer, the means to have a marketing budget like a car dealership is not in the cards. Therefore, you have to get creative with your marketing approach, and what a better way to do this then going to events and representing your business in front of the end user. Don’t rely on a printed advertisement to drive traffic to your store. Go to your customer through events and market in front of them. Everyone loves looking at golf cars and the joy of doing so will always be a helpful to remind that you are there to help.

So you want to start by getting in front of your customers, but how do you actually go about doing so? We will discuss several ways that you can either create marketing events or join local events. From holding education seminars to being a part of local community events, let’s break down some ways for you to get in front of your potential customers.

Seminars

In retirement communities where the demographic age is above 55, holding golf car educational seminars is a huge value. People over the age of 55 are more likely to engage with someone face to face and hear what they have to say. They want personal contact, and providing a seminar gets you in front of the customer. Most communities have rooms that can be rented out for less than half the cost of a printed advertisement, or they may even let you hold a seminar for no cost as it provides a benefit to the community. Gaining the trust and loyalty of at least 5 golf car owners will reap its benefits for years to come.

Local Community Events

Undoubtedly, there will be several communities near your business. The key is to get involved with a local chamber of commerce so that you can be up to date on all the local events taking place. One benefit you can offer as a dealership is the use of your 4 to 6 passenger golf units for a variety of events in exchange for involvement. For example, a local high school in a community was in the playoffs for football. This was going to draw a huge crowd to the stadium and our local dealership offered up 2 units for transportation from far away parking spots to the stadium and in exchange we were listed as sponsors with a huge banner! Events like this are always happening from car shows to farmer’s market. Get involved locally and the customers will follow.

Golf Course Events

This should be an easy one for most of us to get involved. Golf  courses are always holding events. You can always sign up to be a sponsor, but take it one step further and get your vehicles to the course for golfers to see. As a golf car dealer, most OEMs will provide a manufacturer backed hole in one program for you to enroll in. This reduces the cost of hole in one insurance significantly. In addition, be sure to ask the golf course if they offer demo days to the members to try out clubs. Demo days are a perfect time to allows members to test drive your vehicles. Test drives are key as they say, one in three test drives buys.

Overall, they are great ways to get involved with events to use as a marketing stream. Events will have a greater return than a full page ad in a newspaper or magazine, so be sure you are getting out there and getting involved.

Caleb Amundson is Vice President of CartPros.com, an online golf car parts store designed for fleet managers and consumers alike. He is a golfer that has been involved with the golf industry for over 6 years now working with golf car fleet managers from a dealer level and also worked as a manufacturer rep for a major Golf Car OEM. Reach him at [email protected].