Video marketing is an essential part of the sales process for private clubs. Video can be used on your private club website or social media.
How can you leave a lasting impression on a prospect after leaving your private club, or even before they walk in the door? Video Marketing.
It’s no secret that video marketing is making a huge impact on the industry. This form of advertising isn’t just for big corporations, but also for smaller, independent establishments. If you aren’t using video to connect with prospects at your private club then you’re missing a huge opportunity to sell memberships.
Why is Video Marketing so Powerful?
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. Video marketing offers the opportunity to visually and verbally share what makes your private club stand out. For private clubs, this may include: flyover videos of your golf course, current member testimonials, a sales pitch from your GM, or a video tour of your private club’s amenities and grounds.
Videos can help to establish trust by creating a personal connection with viewers. Video marketing allows creators to add personality, similar to an in-person meeting with a prospect. What does your Membership Director or General Manager say to prospects during that first meeting at your private club? Where do you take prospects while on the grounds? What amenities are you highlighting? These in-person messages can easily be replicated by creating a video that embodies those messages. This can mean creating a brand new video for this purpose, or even using existing videos you may have in the vault to craft a different type of message than originally intended.
Need an idea on how to shoot your video, or what type of content to use? Read how Allie Callahan, Marketing & Membership Director at Parkland Golf & Country Club (Toll Brothers) created a powerful marketing video targeting new members and prospects.
It’s not just the fact that video is a more effective way of sharing your message, but the fact that consumers actually WANT to see more video! In a recent study performed by Hubspot Research, 54% of consumers preferred to see videos from companies rather than email newsletters, or just static images. If you’re allowing a single, in-person meeting to tell your story, then you’re missing a huge opportunity to extend that message via a medium that consumers actually want to use.
Where to Use Video Marketing
Once you’ve crafted that personal prospect message in a video, how should you get the message out to the public or to known prospects? Luckily, this can be used in a variety of places extending the impact and reach of the video:
- Public Website Page
- Social Media Marketing
- Facebook Cover Photos
You can easily add video content to a public website page within the Editor by using the embed code from various 3rd party video hosting platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. This is a great way to showcase video marketing content to potential website visitors. Websites containing video content also tend to have a lower bounce rate, which in turn improves your SEO. This will ensure that visitors to your website, that you may have never talked to before, are getting the right message before the step on the grounds of your private club. Prospects that you have spoken to will also be able to reconnect with the in-person message, at any time during their decision making process.
Social Media is also a popular route for posting video content. While more social media users are watching video content compared to static content. This is the perfect medium to share video content. Use short pieces of video content to share to your private club’s social pages as part of an effective social media marketing strategy to speak to potential members or even current members. Sharing updates via your page is no longer enough, especially if you’re a Facebook user. Instead of cover photos - it’s all about cover videos.
A recent update to Facebook is now allowing individuals and pages to add a video to their page’s cover photo, so you can build you message directly into your Facebook page. This is important as new visitors may look at your Facebook page to understand the value of your private club. Most visitors to your Facebook page won’t be scrolling through past posts, so the cover video allows you to get your message out to the public is 90 seconds or less. An added bonus here is that this message can change over time, whether you’re targeting new members, pushing an event, or trying to engage with current members; it’s easy to change out the cover video to reflect your message goals.
Facebook Cover Video Specs:
- Video width recommendation: 820 x 462 pixels
- Video length recommendation: 20 - 90 seconds
- Video must be saved as an MP4 and not hosted on a 3rd party site
To change your Facebook cover photo to a cover video, click on the cover photo.
Next, click Choose from Videos if you’ll be using a previously uploaded video, or choose Upload Photo/Video to add a new video. You will then be able to choose a video saved to your computer.
Private Clubs Using Facebook Cover Videos
Who is using Facebook cover videos? Many private clubs across the nation are already latching onto this powerful social media marketing opportunity by delivering a BIG message in a short video.
Broken Sound Club of Boca Raton has a Facebook cover video that features the General Manager, John Crean. The video starts with John talking directly into the camera, which creates a sense of personalization, almost as if you’re meeting with John in-person. Then, the video cuts to video and still imagery of the club’s amenities and culture. This video is best to watch with the sound on, but even without listening to John’s voice over, you can still see what life is like at this private club within a private residential community.
Marena Wellness & Spa does not employ the use of voice over in their Facebook cover video, however, the video walks the viewer through a “day in the lifef”. This video really paints the picture of what’s it like to visit Marena Wellness & Spa from the moment you check in at the front desk. An array of staff is seen in the video, which creates a feeling of a real in-person connection. You don’t always have to use voice overs to tell your story, which can be seen in the enticing video imagery used.
The Future of Video
With video growing in popularity, what’s on the horizon? We can only guess that the use of video will be more commonplace for all businesses, and that use will extend beyond marketing. Many companies are already turning to video as a means of support, since video adds the necessary human element that’s missing from our high tech world. Not only will use of video increase, but where we share video is also bound to change. As of today, most email providers do not support the use of video playback within an email, but as growing demands increase I am certain this technology is on the brink of exploding.
Video is hurtling us towards a more personal connection online, and it’s a connection that private clubs just can’t afford to miss out on. You may only be able to connect with a prospect once or twice in person, but with a video, you can connect with that prospect countless times. So, what’s your message?