Masters of Marketing (an analogy taken way to far)

A few weeks ago I started teasing out an analogy between two things. One that I’m good at (Marketing) and one I’m ok at (golf). It was one of those concepts that felt like a run on sentence as analogy kept getting deeper and deeper it’s comical. Whether you like to golf or have never touched a club, let’s dive into some core marketing concepts we can learn about to help make you a Master of Marketing.

The Game

Golf is very similar to a marketing funnel. The goal is to put a small ball into a hole that’s a few hundred yards away. The fun part is, it’s one of the only sports where efficiency is prioritized over volume. Instead of scoring more points, your goal is to reach the same target with fewer swings. Like marketing, everyone is trying to move customers towards a target that can feel hundreds of yards away. It’s hard to accomplish if you are an amateur, but professionals can make it look effortless. The more “Swings” it takes marketers to move a customer to a conversion the more expensive it becomes, ruining your ROI. A good marketer will provide a lot of value without a lot of cost.

In order to play the game you need to keep score, and like most golfers (obnoxiously) talk about it all the time. Golf strokes are recorded over the course of the game, and you need to keep score of what value you are providing to your clients. It needs to be specific, and monetary. The reason salespeople are compensated well is because the career strongly correlates to the success of the company, and most importantly revenue. Marketers are playing the same game (although maybe not as obnoxious as a golfer), but you have to keep score and ensure your clients know about it.

While score is one thing, context is another. Every course, every hole has a Par or expected number of strokes to reach the hole. Before starting out with a campaign, you need to do some research to set you a realistic performance benchmark. Knowing your “par” for a campaign and communicating it to your clients is going to help them evaluate your effectiveness and provide context on how well you are doing.

The Three Phases of the game

There are three phases to playing golf, tee shots (long game), approach shots (mid game), and finesse shots (chipping and putting game). These phases are very similar to the marketing funnel for Awareness (Top Funnel), Consideration (Mid Funnel), and Conversion (Short) aspects of the marketing funnel.

Tee Shots are when you are the farthest away from you goal. These shots are less accurate and more about making progress towards the hole. You want to hit the fairway, but the more progress you can get the easier your next shot becomes. For marketers when you are on the “tee” this correlate to awareness messaging and lead generation. Marketers should be taking the most chances at the top of the funnel to discover new segments that give you the best opportunity to make a conversion. There may be an audience you can reach (100 yards away), but they may still be a long way from your goal (200 yards from the hole). It might be more efficient to target audiences that show signals like your customers that will put you in the best position for your next shot.

The mid game or approach shots are more precise and about distance. If you are 150 yards from the hole, pros have their irons dialed into a few yards of that number. They are going to pick the best club and shot to avoid danger and get on the green. This gives them the best opportunity at getting the ball in the hole on their next stroke. The marketer’s goal is to inform their potential customers in the consideration step. This messaging needs to be dialed in to your audience. You should be creating personalized content and copy to engage customers on why your product has value specifically to them.

Finesse shots or chipping and putting are often the most difficult and precise shots in golf. Where once you were 300 yards away you are now only a couple feet. Missing a shot here can be extremely costly. This is a brands website and user experience. You have found a strong potential customer segment, informed, and communicated the value of your product, but you miss the putt because they get confused or lost on your website or worse, they get an error. There is no worse feeling than missing a putt within 5 feet, because the cost is the same as your 250-yard tee shot (a stoke), but you only missed it by a few inches. There is a saying “Drive for show, put for dough”. Gaining attention is hard, but you have to have an excellent user experience in your conversion funnel to actually make any money. Short game should be prioritized above all else, if customers struggle to convert don’t worry about getting people to your site.

You might be thinking great analogy, but fun doesn’t stop there. Like I said I took this way too far.

Hazards

Every golf hole is going to have an obstacle the golfer is going to attempt to avoid. Generally, these are things like tree’s, tall grass, sand bunkers, or water. Some of these hazards you can recover from, with a little extra effort. It doesn’t cost a stroke, but the shot is a lot more difficult than being in the fairway or on the green. Others are extremely costly. If you end up in the water, that ball is gone, and you are going to have to take a penalty just to get back in the game. Hazards can be seen like breeches of trust, experience, or environment that we must be considerate of when we communicate to our customers. This can be things like a recent purchase, life stage, or even a poor experience. If you your content isn’t personalized, you may just end up putting yourself in a hazard and losing the attention of your lead. Hopefully you are in a spot that’s recoverable, but sometimes that lead me be dead in the water.

Environment & Conditions

Revolutionary, but golf is played outside. Its experience is susceptible to the environment. I’ve tried playing golf when there are 30MPH wind gusts. It doesn’t matter how good you are, those days are going to be rough. If conditions are bad, it will cost you strokes. Sometimes it’s better to just sit this one out and wait for a better day. Don’t spin your wheels on a campaign that was never going to be successful in the first place. You need to set expectations with your clients when setting goals. Understand their industry and communicate factors that are going to influence your performance. Do your research. If Forbes is predicting a 30% decline in consumer takeout and 50% of your clients’ conversions come from takeout, that’s going to impact your performance targets. Set expectations and exceed them. Targets don’t always need to “be better than last year”, but they do need to have a concrete rational and buy in.

Let’s keep going.

Tools & Technology

Golf has a huge industry around equipment and tools to help you shoot your best, much like marketing technology. You can’t play golf without golf clubs, and some products are better than others, but it’s one of the most confusing and intimidating aspects around the sport. Much like mar-tech, a lot of it’s predatory to sell you the “longest, best club ever” which is only a net increase of 2 yards over last year’s version with a 50% markup. They will sell you anything to improve your game and make you a better golfer, but the net gain may not provide value. There are people out there that are always going to have the expendable income (or budgets) to drop thousands on the latest, “best” gear. That may help their performance, but getting value doesn’t require being on the cutting edge. Value can be driven from knowing your needs and spending your money in ways that gives you the best chance at success.

Let’s say you are playing a short par 3 course with no holes over 200 yards. Do you need a driver that you generally hit 250? Nope. It’s a waste of money. You need the tools and equipment that is going to best accomplish your goal. Overselling clients is going to put you in a position where client investment is high, but value is low. This is a bad spot to be in, and often leads to short engagements. Don’t tie yourself on the latest and best tool. Remember the adage “to the hammer everything is a nail”. Be diverse and identify technology that is most going to fit and drive value for your clients.

Even with technology, there is one thing more important than the technology.

The Golfer

To play golf some equipment is needed, but good golfers are going to always perform if they have the basics. Golf is renowned for how meticulous professionals are in their clubs down to the cm and degree. Here is the thing, a good golfer can pick up an old club and play well, and a bad golfer can pick up a new club and play terrible. The more experienced and skilled you are the less technology matters. Having the “best” tools may make things easier, but the number one contributing factor is you. Develop the skills to play the game. Don’t be a reduced to a tool expert, it doesn’t matter how well you know Google Ads. In 10 years, it won’t look or work anything like it does now. Take the extra steps to understand how and why something works.

The reason good golfers are good is they understand the game and their ability. They can put the ball exactly where it needs to go and where they intend to put it. Most good golfers have been playing for a long time. It’s not something you get good at overnight. You need to develop your skill in the industry and that takes time. Any investment in developing your talent or playing the game is going to make you a better golfer. You’ll have good days and bad years, but if you’re improving you are making progress. If you think this article is already too long, let me be clear… I have more, but to save time I’ll put them in a quick list of hits below.

Course Knowledge – the more you play a course or are in industry the better you get at it.
Caddies – a good caddie (consultant) is someone who knows you and knows the course to give you the best chance to be successful.
Play the shot you have – if something on the course isn’t working, prioritize what is working.
Yell FORE! – if you mishit and it impacts some else, don’t stay silent.
Cheaters – the easiest way to improve your score is to lie (don’t be this guy). If something seems too good to be truly make them prove it.
Scramble – your will score better if you work with a team.
Hit the range – practice makes perfect, you need train and test your tools before going live.
Mental fortitude – golf is a mind game do you have the patience and fortitude to keep going even when things go bad?
Celebrate – One good shot can save a bad round. Focus on what worked and what was fun.
Calibrate – you must review performance. What worked? What didn’t? what do you need to improve next time?
Handicaps – set realistic expectations going into the round.
Alignment- it doesn’t matter if you can execute if you can’t aim, you’re screwed.
It’s fun – well… I think both are fun.

Let me know if you have any more, I missed and enjoy the masters!