Hi Folks,
Wel.. I�m sorry you need to hear (see0 some words from
someone who�s just beggining to change his own grips but,
that�s my field, marketing...
In tech industry (computers) we had the same problem some
years ago (someone remember how hard was to sell anything to
companies in 70�s except IBM packages? ) so, i think some
things could be simmilar...
First of all, i think (And what i saw here n Brazil is what I
have as a sample) ist that very few peolple understand that a
golf club is more than a "shinning stick". I mean, they see
yellow shafts, big heads, strange head putters and.... that�s
it :) I mean, doing my researches and talking a lot with a
lot of weekend players, and the unique clubmaker here in my
area, we shared some interesting things about perception of
golfclubs.
1 - the "I can�t say what is good in this club" effect:
new golfers can�t say what they improve with new clubs �cos
they simple have a solid (or at least a regular) base in the
fundamentals and it make A LOT hard to them to "help the
helper" (clubfitter/clubmaker) to do a normal fitting
section. Ok, that�s the fitter job, but.. fitting (at least
to me) is like everything else in golf, a feedback pcentric
process, so I think that most average and high handicapers
jsut can�t see the advantages in fitting... and THOSE are the
guys who buy more clubs in the market, cos they are the
mainstream... That�s the niche of OEM marketing campaigns and
etc (remember the "great shots can even cures cancer"
campaign from Callaway)
2 - We have some BIG companies in OEM...
So.. BIG MONEY for advertising.. and FEW brands to
recongize... and ... more secutiry in terms of an aquisition
of 2k dollars in a new set of clubs... So, it means that i
can fell guity buy buing something "no one knows" and, as
told in #1, I cant proudly say: "hey, u don�t know this brand
but its CUSTOM MADE TO ME, bla, bla". It�s the same thing
about buing a taylor suit and and Armani...
3 - Clubmakers are, in soul, engineers... and busines is a
world of perceptions, not ideas
think in the different arguments YOU discuss in this forum
(and btw, thank all of you by all of this knowledge) and in
wich terms you discuss: TECHNICAL FEATURES... but, like
anything, only techies knows techies... so, what make the
OEM ? Work on PERCEPTIONS..."Hey boy, you own a PIECE OF
STATE-OF-ART stik" (like the new nike clubs web campain) or
the new Ping campaings ("Easy to hit") etc.
What clubmakers need to do is just change the worlds... Like
i friend of mine allways say "It makes a huge difference a
line to a girl 'Hey, what about sex' X "hey, I love you' :)
4 - Marketing is an act of brute force
Average consumers, anyone, buy somethings by impulse... of
based in some unconscient desire, or something like it...
rare of them made rational choices.. so, marketing is in
essence a war for the little box of perceptions you have in
your minds... Waht means that what appears more, has more
chance to have one of this boxes... OR, what is
more "fashion" (like, it�s cool to have Nike clothes,
callaway irons and taylormade drivers, whatever)... So,
again, OEM has a huge list of acts to conquer mind-sharring
of
customers... events, ads, pro-sponsored players, PR, b2b
actions, etc.
And anothe issue is... You have PGA events.. company
events... professional sponsored by the OEMs .. .but... how
about an PCS event? and how many top players run a PGA
events with a "Wishom Golf" set of clubs? this is the most
tuff point... What customers don�t see in TV (or
ads ,whatever) they think is "low price" equipment... But, if
they don�t see even a pro player using it, then they just
think "LOW QUALITY"...
But, think about TINY clubmakers... what EACH ONE can do to
have the same mind-sharing? That�s the tricky point... I
think if the ASSOCIATIONS (pcs) start making a nation-wide
campaing about the benneficts of at least fitting clubs and
how a golf club works, and the bennefict of consulting the
nearest clubmaker/fitter near you, etc, could be a good
start.
Here, I�m talking with our "USGA/NGF" equivalent to start
doing speaches about how a golf club works and at the same
time, doing a world-of-mouth action with the other guys here,
talking with the pros and amateurs about how they can improve
their games fitting. And, of course, buiding a culture about
it...
It�s a tuf task, but i think the next big move in golf
industry is the "mass customization" of equipment and the
barrer is just .. PERCEPTION... what makes a huge sense to me
is that since this perception change A LITTLE (average people
understand that clubs ARE ABOUT fitting, for instance) and
the clubmakers organize themselfs in some kind of comunity
(I�v registered the brand GOLFRARIA here, wich means Golf
Confrary) and share marketing, business and promote
a "quality stamp", it will turn like the wine industry.. .a
complex system of zilions of custom makers... Like the
software industry, with a lot of Independent software
vendors...
That �s what makes sense to me ;)
That�s it folks.
BR,
Courtnay Sanchez Guimar�es Jr.
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