About 40% of a club’s membership visits their club less frequently than the regular member. These occasional visitors spend the same amount of money in the clubhouse per visit as a loyal member but will go to the club not more than 10 – 15 times a year. Occasional members stand outside the social fabric of the club and tend to feel more like visitors than members. The club is less central to their lives than the regular member. Occasional members are far less likely to refer a friend than regular members.

The remaining 25% of a club’s membership base is made up of irregular members who will visit the club a couple of times a year. Again, they will spend roughly the same amount of money per visit as the occasional and regular member but the club is relatively remote from their lives.

A key challenge for clubs is not only to retain the loyal member base but also to convert occasional visitors into regular members. In a typical golf club, marina or private club of 1,100 members, one additional visit a year from occasional members would generate incremental revenues in the order of $15,000 to $20,000. A larger club of 4,000 members would increase income by $60,000 to $80,000. In recent years we have seen progressive clubs use loyalty strategies creatively to underpin regular member loyalty but also to drive occasional member visits.

Club Loyalty

In general, loyalty programs aim to enhance the perceived value of a business and are used as differentiators in competitively intensive markets. For example, food retailers such as Coles and Woolworths both run loyalty schemes. The Coles FlyBuys program has over 10 million subscribers while the Woolworths Everyday Rewards scheme has 5.1 million cardholders. Airlines such as Qantas and Virgin Australia invest significantly in Qantas Frequent Flyer and Velocity programs respectively.  Additionally, all Australian banks offer reward programs associated with credit card products.

These programs share in common a direct link between spend and reward. The cardholder or “member” makes purchases which are rewarded with an allocation of points. These points may then be redeemed for goods and services. The more the member buys, the greater the potential rewards. Members then feel that they are getting something extra for their loyalty to the business be it a grocery chain, airline or bank. These rewards must be desirable so many programs foster partnerships with providers to ensure there is a broad range of “valuable” rewards on offer.

Member Discounts

Clubs are not new to loyalty and have been running programs for years. The most basic club loyalty program is the Member Discount. In this case, a price concession is applied on presentation of a membership card. These discounts are usually applied to food and beverage purchases. Although this approach is relatively simple to operate, it does not differentiate between member types. The member who uses and pays for a broad range of club facilities is rewarded in the same way as an irregular member. Additionally, these types of schemes and associated prices tend to become the accepted norm in the club which erode margin and do not foster loyalty.

Rewards

Many clubs operate reward schemes where members are awarded points for purchases. These points accumulate and may be redeemed for rewards such as club merchandise and/or items promoted by the club such as televisions, electrical appliances and holidays. Rewards programs are often used by clubs to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering outstanding prizes.

Rewards schemes are easy for members to understand and suit well if the club has limited offerings. However, they do require administration time to manage the program, particularly if it is manually operated. It’s important to refresh the rewards constantly.

Tiered Loyalty

A tiered loyalty program is designed for clubs that want to reward their most valuable members. Members collect points and at certain thresholds the reward, discount or promotion escalates. Once a member climbs the loyalty ladder their club is firmly on their mind.

Tiered loyalty programs are effective at encouraging repeat visitations and spend, particularly when linked to outbound personalised targeted marketing campaigns. They also reward the most loyal members as well as encouraging spend in the club rather than in the general retail market.

Good tiered loyalty programs require integrated systems to capture transactions which are then assigned to members where points are attributed. There are IT infrastructure costs associated with setting up a tiered loyalty system.

Partnership Reward

Partnership programs extend the tiered loyalty concept to partners which offer goods and services as rewards. This broadens the number and depth of the rewards available which makes the program more appealing, particularly in a retail environment. These programs are attractive to members and promote the club in the community. They are complex to administer requiring sophisticated infrastructure and time-consuming administration. While compelling for members, the major risk for clubs is that redemptions are often made outside the club at other retail outlets. This dilutes the value of the scheme to the club.

Successful Club Loyalty Programs

From our experience in dealing with over 400 membership clubs around the country and drawing from the various types of schemes, the most successful club loyalty programs have the following characteristics, including:

• Targets loyal and occasional members;
• Contains personalised outbound communication triggers;
• Simple for members and staff to understand and operate;
• High perceived value – targeted rewards for club members;
• Reinforces value for the regular member;
• Targets and draws in occasional members ;
• Rewards are within reach; and
• Rewards are frequently refreshed.

Summary of Loyalty Program Types

There are many ways a club can reward a member. In our view, tiered loyalty strikes the right balance between value for members and payback for clubs since redemption occurs in the club. This type of loyalty program incentivises occasional members to return while giving regular members additional value.

To find out more about how Micropower’s integrated systems enable loyalty and reward schemes, please fill out the contact form.

Richard Berry, Micropower

Micropower CEO, Bill Owens, commented, “Ian’s depth of knowledge about golf is priceless and we are thrilled that he will be able to use this to assist in the development of our Next Generation suite of golf solutions that are due to be released in 2012.”

Ian’s NSW clients will be managed by two of Micropower’s most experienced Business Development Managers, Richard Berry and Rob Woodland.

Richard Berry has over 20 years experience serving the club industry. He has firsthand knowledge of club operations and has worked at a senior level at several golfing venues in the UK before joining Micropower four years ago. He is a member of both Great Britain and Australian PGA’s.

His outbound marketing and loyalty knowledge has assisted many Micropower clients in generating repeat member visitation leading to incremental revenue growth.

Rob Woodland has been with Micropower three years and is the Business Development Manager Southern Region Golf & Marinas.  He has successfully worked with clients to identify opportunities to streamline their operations and drive overall financial performance.

Rob continues to provide clients with not only cost saving solutions but also profit generating and member benefit programs that add real value.

Bill Owens said, “Ian has made an outstanding contribution to Micropower over the years and we look forward to his continued involvement during this next phase of his career”.
He added also that, “Richard and Rob will make a very positive impact on the NSW golf market with their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm”.

Richard Berry and Rob Woodland will be contacting clubs in NSW over the coming weeks to introduce themselves.

Club Events is our latest online event registration solution.

visit clubevents.micropower.com.au

Online Events for your Members

Members can login to the club’s website at any time to make, change or cancel bookings for private member events. This convenient feature will enhance the club experience for the member and further simplify functions administration of club management.  Events can be easily found using the calendar or the search function.  Any costs for the event can be effortlessly charged to the member’s account.

Easy Event Management for your staff

Club staff can readily create events using simple templates and have the flexibility to make changes with a few clicks of a mouse.  Details such as venue, date, times, number of people (including number of guests), waitlists and more can be managed through Club Events.  Details of the events are then uploaded to the club’s website for members to view and make bookings.  Clubs also have the flexibility to decide when events are promoted through the website and when tickets are available for sale.

Affordable Pricing

Club Events is available at these special introductory prices

$149 per month for clubs with 2,000 members or less
$179 per month for clubs with more than 2,000 members.

There are no additional upfront fees. Terms and conditions apply*

Register your interest

For a simple solution to manage your event registrations, Micropower’s Club Events ticks all the boxes.  Club Events will be available to download from January so click here to register your interest.

• Club Events requires Micropower’s Membership and Club Link; pricing for these available on request.
• Minimum contract period of 36 months. 
• $79.00 per month for clubs with up to 500 members.
• $149.00 per month for clubs with 501 to 2000 members.
• $179.00 per month for clubs with 2001 plus members.

Social Media has been referred to as a form of “word of mouth” marketing that, if used correctly, can do wonders for your club.  One way of sending out “instant” messages to your contacts is using Twitter.

Twitter is essentially a free, social networking site that allows users to send and read each other’s messages (known as “tweets”).  “Tweets” are text based messages up to 140 characters in length.  With more and more people using “smart” mobile phones with access to the internet, Twitter is fast becoming more popular than SMS as a means of sending instant communications to a large number of people.  Plus, you are able to add links to websites, photos, video footage and more to your messages.

Twitter helps you connect with customers on a personal basis.  While it may not result in new business immediately, it helps to encourage repeat business and increase the number of referrals.

So, how do you get started?  First of all, you need to set up a Twitter account for your club.

How to set up a Twitter account

1. Go to http://twitter.com and fill out the sign up form.
2. Create your user name.  If it’s available, it’s best to use your domain name without the “dot com/net/etc”.  For example, for “Club Micropower”, the user name would be http://twitter.com/clubmicropower.
3. You are now ready to start adding contacts.  Twitter gives you the option to do this by checking any contacts you have in your web-based email account address book and seeing if they are already on Twitter.  You then have the option of choosing which of your contacts you would like to follow.
   If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, you have the option to click “skip” this step.  You are also given the option to invite contacts in your address book to join Twitter if they are not already on there.  This is a great way to let your contacts know that you are now on Twitter and that they can start following you.
   Another great way to add contacts is to use Twitter’s search function to look for other people on Twitter that are in your industry or area of interest.

Starting the conversation…

Now that you have set up your Twitter account and started following some of your contacts and others in your field of interest, you are ready to start “tweeting” yourself.  It is very easy to get bogged down in responding to every tweet or to feel overwhelmed with how to get started but the best way of managing your Twitter account is to have a plan in place before you start tweeting.

Following are some tips for how to set up your plan which should be incorporated into your general marketing and communication plan:

1. The first and most important thing to remember is to have a goal for being on Twitter.  Ask yourself the question, “What do I want to achieve by being on Twitter?”.
   This could be to attract more members, establish your brand, or to connect with other clubs.  Once you have your goal in place, it will make deciding what and when to Tweet much easier.
2. Allocate a certain time of the day to check-in to Twitter and plan your tweets.  This can be at any time that suits you and, of course, your other work commitments.
3. Have 5-7 pre-planned tweets ready to go.  These don’t have to be just text based; include pictures, links to interesting news articles, videos, etc.
   Remember that Twitter is a 2 way conversation so you might like to ask your followers a question such as what do they think of the club renovation or new menu item at the restaurant.
4. Make a “tweet list” of things that you want to tweet about.  The list could be for that day or for the next few days, depending on what you are tweeting about.  Plan the order and timing of your tweets.
5. Go to websites such as Twuffer or Social-Oomph that will allow you to schedule your tweets in advance.  These sites are free to use and allow you to plan what messages you want to send out and when.
   Of course, if you have something you wish to share straight away, just go ahead and tweet.
6. Use Social-Oomph to set up an automated message welcoming new followers.  This will create an instant feeling of good-will and will ensure they keep following you.

As with any marketing that you undertake, having a set goal and putting together a plan will increase your chances of success using Twitter as a marketing tool.

Some more tips for using Twitter:

1. Build your network slowly and carefully; think quality rather than quantity.
2. Post regularly enough to build relationships and keep people interested but not so often that you flood your followers with useless information.  Interact and reply to other users when you have something interesting to say.  But don’t have a public conversation that should be private; instead use the Direct Message function to send personal messages.
3. You don’t need to read or respond to every tweet.  Instead, tweet about things that interest you and that you think will interest your audience.
4. Be sincere and don’t just use Twitter for self-promotion or the “hard sell”.  Instead, think of it as a PR/Marketing tool that can be used to spread information about your club as well as being a means of damage control by enabling you to respond directly to critics.
5. Create a network of “brand champions” who will promote your club to others on your behalf.
6. There are a number of sites such as Ping.fm that will allow you to post updates across all of your Social Media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook from your Twitter account.  The Twitter for Facebook application forwards your Twitter posts directly to Facebook as status updates.

As the leading software solution provider to the club market, Micropower is able to provide you with the right marketing solution to suit your club.
Contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or visit our website www.micropower.com.au to find out how.

Micropower’s Next Generation of Competition Management Software is about to go through the next testing phase of the process.  This is an important stage of the development as it ensures quality control.  Once this stage is complete, Micropower will commence Beta testing.

By taking golf competition management online, Micropower’s Next Generation Golf products will offer clubs greater flexibility.  Staff will be able to manage the club’s competitions via any computer with access to the internet.  Keep an eye on the website, www.micropower.com.au, for more information.

Club Events

Development of Micropower’s online events registration application is progressing well.  We are currently working on enhancements to the look and usability of the product with the aim of making the system as intuitive and easy to use as possible.  Beta testing will be starting soon after which we will make any necessary enhancements before releasing to market.

The beauty of this product is that members will able to log-on and register for club events at their own convenience.  Future releases of Club Events will expand on the types of events that can be used including those that are available to the general public.

Service Yard

Marina Focus Service Yard is designed to make the day-to-day management of commercial boat yards more efficient and cost effective.  This product is being developed as a result of feedback received from customers wanting a product that would accurately and efficiently manage the costing, quoting, tracking and invoicing of service yard jobs.  Marina Focus Service Yard will soon be released to the beta testing site to iron out any bugs before releasing to the general public.  We will also have more information on our website www.micropower.com.au over coming weeks.

Some of the solutions Micropower has released already this year include Club Scan (Golf Scorecard Scanning) and Club Space (Website Content Management System) with many more to come.  Following is information about solutions that will be released over the coming months.

We will be keeping you up to date via our newsletters and website so stay tuned.

For more information about these or any of the products featured on the Product Roadmap, please contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or phone 1800 443 654.

Next Generation Golf

Micropower has been developing and enhancing our extensive suite of golf products with the first release in May of Club Scan, our Next Generation scorecard scanning software.

Since that release, our developers have been busy working on more of our Next Generation Golf products with the launch of Next Generation Competitions due in December.

We are currently doing initial testing with deployment to Beta sites occurring in October.

Some of the key features you can look forward to are:

• Online application enabling remote access
• Intuitive, easy-to-use user interface
• Integration with GolfLink for handicap calculations and course rankings
• Integration with Membership & Financials solutions
• Unlimited competitions on the day
• Multiple score types
• Multiple competition types
• Multi rounds
• Versatile player registration
• Countbacks/grading/draws
• Hole-by-hole score entry
• Scorecard printing

For more information about this or any of the products featured on the Product Roadmap, please contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or phone 1800 443 654.

Club Events

Club Events is Micropower’s new, web-based events registration solution.

With Club Events, members will be able to login and register for any club based events from the comfort of home.

Club Events enhances the member experience by providing added convenience.

It also helps the club’s event staff manage club functions with easy-to-use templates, reports and waitlist facilities.

Some of the key features include:

• Access online via club website
• Automatic email confirmation
• Event entry charges posted to member’s account
• Event templates to make setting up new events easier
• Generate event performance reports

We are currently in the process of testing the product and putting on the final touches with deployment to Beta sites occurring in the coming weeks.  Club Events will be available in November so keep watching this space for further updates.

For more information about this or any of the products featured on the Product Roadmap, please contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or phone 1800 443 654.

Marina Focus Service Yard Manager for Commercial Marinas

The latest enhancement to Micropower’s Marina management software, Marina Focus, is our Service Yard Manager.

This gives managers of marinas with commercial boat yards the ability to efficiently quote for and manage jobs.

Key features include:

• Easy-to-use interface to produce estimates, work orders and job sheets
• Generate a work queue to easily manage daily operations
• Captures actual labour and materials used on individual jobs to help control costs
• Creates invoices which can be posted to Micropower Financials
• Ability to export to other financial packages
• Graphical scheduler allows real time scheduling of haul out machines and cradles
• Maintains a list of pending jobs to substitute for “no-shows”
• Generates reminders for recurring jobs

Our developers have been working hard on the Service Yard Manager for a number of months and we expect to start testing shortly, ready for the launch in January.

For more information about this or any of the products featured on the Product Roadmap, please contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or phone 1800 443 654.

Given the immense popularity of Social Networking, it is highly likely that at least some of your employees are actively engaging in this media.  As a result, it is important for your club to have guidelines in place to avoid being exposed to risks.

These risks range from employees “social not-working” on company time to an employee posting sensitive or damaging comments that can cause serious harm to your reputation and even result in legal action.

By having clear guidelines on what is and isn’t considered appropriate, a Social Media Policy will help mitigate these risks and contain fallout in the event of a breach of conduct.  It will also help mobilise your employees to become your greatest advocates.

Your employees play an important role in shaping your reputation and the more people you have sharing relevant content about your club the greater your reach.  The policy should strike a balance between guiding appropriate behaviour and encouraging staff to support your social media activities.

Prior to finalising the policy, a draft version should be made available for staff to review and provide input.  This will encourage a sense of ownership of the policy from the beginning and should result in better outcomes.

The draft policy should also be reviewed by a Human Resource professional and/or an Industrial Relations lawyer to ensure it complies with club policies and relevant employment standards.  Once finalised, review the policy at a staff meeting to ensure it is fully understood and make certain all staff sign a copy.

Make sure it is included in the orientation pack of any new staff.  Any external contractors should also be given a copy and sign off on the policy.

Following is a sample policy to get you started.  Remember that this is just a guide to get you thinking about what should be included in your club’s policy and that you should always seek legal advice before implementing a policy of your own.

1. Objectives
The club is committed to utilizing social media to enhance its profile and reputation, to listen and respond to guest opinions and feedback, and to drive revenue, loyalty and advocacy. We encourage employees to support our activities through their personal social networking channels while adhering to the following guidelines.
2. Definition
For the purpose of this policy social networking refers to the use of web-based and mobile applications for social interaction and the exchange of user-generated content including video and photo sharing. Social media channels include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, review sites, forums, online communities, location-based networks like foursquare and Gowalla, and any similar online platforms.

3. Key Contacts
Employees are encouraged to become fans and followers of the club’s profiles and to share company-generated content within their personal networks. However, the club’s channels are administered by designated key contacts only, and all official messaging must be approved and distributed by them. If you have content you wish to share via these channels, please forward it to them for review.

4. Conduct
Rules of conduct as outlined in the employee manual apply to social networking activity. Employees are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, to respect the views and opinions of others, and to demonstrate respect for the club, its committee and management, members, guests, vendors, employees and competitors.

The club and its employees are committed to conducting ourselves in accordance with best industry practices in social networking, to being responsible citizens and community members, to listening and responding to feedback, and to communicating in a courteous and professional manner.

Behaviour and content that may be deemed defamatory, disrespectful, dishonest, offensive, harassing, threatening or damaging to the club’s interests or reputation are not permitted. The use of social media channels on club time for personal purposes is not allowed.

5. Transparency
The club is committed to honesty, authenticity and accountability in all social media communications. Employees must disclose their identity when engaging in discussions or sharing content related to the company. If voicing a personal opinion, employees must include a disclaimer stating that the opinions expressed are their own and not those of the club or its employees.

6. Confidentiality and Copyright
Employees must not disclose private or confidential information about the club, its committee, members, guests, employees or suppliers on social networks. Employees must respect trademarks, copyrights, intellectual property and proprietary information. No third-party content should be published without prior permission from the General Manager.

7. Enforcement
The club maintains the right to monitor company-related employee activity in social networks. Violation of policy guidelines is grounds for disciplinary action such as verbal or written warning and may include dismissal.

Following are Micropower’s Top 10 Tips for using Facebook to help your club maintain and increase membership by making the most of this powerful marketing tool.

1. Give people a reason to “like” your club.

   This is probably the most important point and yet it is often neglected.  You can offer specials, include vouchers to print off, have recipes of popular dishes or handy tips & tricks.

2. Keep people engaged by uploading photos of your events.

   Encourage dialog between your club and members, as well as amongst the members themselves.  By keeping your profile new and interesting, you encourage members to keep going back to your page.

3. “Humanise” your club by including profiles of your staff.

   Make announcements of any new employees.  Use Social Media sites to attract and recruit younger staff.

4. Share any other websites that are related to your business.

   Make comments about current affairs that are relevant to your industry.

5. Promote any associations or organisations your club belongs to.

   Mention trade shows and events you will be attending.

6. Highlight community involvement or charity associations your club is connected with.

   Promote special causes you support.

7. Post seasonal greetings to customers

   such as “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Valentine’s Day”.  These can then be linked to any related events or promotions you have running at the time.

8. Update customers of any changes in your contact details

   such as telephone number or email address.  Celebrate business milestones such as your 25^th anniversary.

9. Post Notifications

   Advise of any changes to opening hours or other operational issues such as planned renovations that will affect your customers.

10. Cross Linking

    Have links between your Facebook page and your company website to make it easier for both current and potential members to find your online presence.

With a planned and well-executed approach, social media sites such as Facebook can be a powerful tool for reaching thousands of new customers but remember that it is a two-way dialogue.

It is important to keep in mind that Facebook is not like traditional marketing where you just broadcast your message and hope that it gets across to your customers/members.  Instead, it is more about creating long-term relationships and loyalty to your brand.

If you feel your online presence needs improvement, contact Micropower on enquiries@micropower.com.au to see how our Marketing Solutions will help your club’s bottom line.

Websites such as Facebook help individuals connect with family, friends and professional contacts.  Setting your club up with a business page does even more: It opens up a conversation with potentially tens of thousands of people about your organisation.

You can update them about any changes in your business, promote special offers or sales, network to find new contacts or members and create a place for your customers to talk

 Setting up a business page on Facebook is easy once you know how.

1. Go to www.facebook.com and click “Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business.” Clicking this link takes you to a new page.
2. Click either “Local Business or Place” or “Company, Organization, or Institution” depending on the type of business for which you wish to create a page.
   Most clubs would fall into the category of “Local Business or Place”.
3. Provide the required information for the type of page you selected.  This may include the category of your business, its name and its location.  Click the “I agree to Facebook Page Terms,” then “Get Started”.
4. This opens a window prompting you to enter a certain set of characters into a box.  Enter these characters as they appear, then click “Submit”.
5. Click “I do not have a Facebook account” on the next page.  Enter the required information – your email, password and birth date – and click “Sign Up Now!”.  This takes you to your new business page.
6. You can now add images and information to your page, suggest that your members become fans, promote events and much much more.

Why not look up Micropower on Facebook to see an example of a business page in action?  By “liking” the Micropower page, you will stay up-to-date with all of the latest news and special offers as soon as they are released.

Micropower’s booth at the event was very well attended, with many of our current and prospective customers coming to see demonstrations of how our integrated solutions will help improve their club’s bottom line.

Given the great response to our stand at the AGE, Micropower is already in the process of planning an even bigger and better presence at the next event to be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from 21 to 23 August 2012 (www.austgamingexpo.com).

We hope to see you there.