Know-How Exchange : Branding

So are you the only sponsor? If you can clarify this, it will save me some time and allow for a more focused response.

Thank You!

And there are other mortgage companies sponsoring other holes? What hole do you have? This sounds like fun!

Get #3 if at all possible. You want to be one of the first to make an impression. By the 11th hole, it will be hot, people get tired, and are starting to get into "game mode" and may not be paying much attention to the sponsors. Plus, that means you can get out of the before everyone else if necessary.

A few ideas I have for you to make a lasting impression are centered around customized golf "stuff". Place your logo, tagline and web address on driver socks, golf towels, golf shirts (not too intrusive so they will actually wear it), sun visors, etc.

Suppliment your free gifts with some sort of refreshment; beer, Gator-ade, bottled water, red bull, coffee or all of the above.

These may not be totally off the wall, but I believe it will help them remember who you are and perhaps let you send out a vibe that you take care of your clients needs.

I have some excellent contacts for custom embroidery and some web links for other promotional goodies. Just send me an email (click on my name).

I will keep an eye on this question and think about it some more.

BKO, did you put this question in the "email" category by mistake? No matter.

I've only been involved in a few goof tournies like this, and you can't show up without goodies to give away. You know, the lame items like koozies and keychains. But that's just what's expected, it won't cement you in the mind of the builders who are on the green!

You've got to have presence -- in numbers, visibility, and charm. Get a gang of your most outgoing people there, put them in bright shirts and hats with logo-screaming embroidery, and get them to chat up people (no sales pitching allowed) at the hole and at the clubhouse social moments. Maybe you should even tell them their goal is to find people they like (as opposed to getting people to like them). Friends do business with friends!

And if your hats and shirts are REALLY fantastic, the golfers will beg for them. Take some extra to hide in the beer cooler, and give them ONLY to your new best friends.

- Shelley

Hey great advice!

You definately do not want to just stand there passing out shirts like robots! Getting chummy with thm is a good thing.

You might want to bring a good mix of folks, even if they are not employees. Bring the cute girl, the handsome guy, the professional, the cheery one, the beer drinkers, the comedian, the golf fanatic, etc. Try to pick up on the different temperaments of the players and use your crew to match up in a "man-on-man" strategy.

BKO, my brain has been simmering some more about your question, and I decided to add another layer to my earlier response.

Okay... so let's say that your outgoing-est staffers have found their favorite builders at the third hole. Get on your cell phones and call the best internet digger at the office to find out what you can about those builders.

Now, dust off your senior guy/gal (CEO, whatever) and make sure s/he is committed to showing up at the tournament's award ceremony and bar-b-q schmash. Get him/her (let's call him Frank) to agree to this kind of introduction, and try NOT to make it sound TOO cheesy:

"George, this is our mortgage company's top dog, Frank. Frank, I'd like you to meet George from Bubba's Builders. His company is breaking a lot of ground in the hottest part of the city, Flamingo Acres. George made quite an impression on me at the third hole by knocking a whole family of squirrels out cold in the rough."

The point is that George didn't tell you a THING about his company -- your internet sleuth did that work and fed the intelligence back to you before the golfers arrived at hole 18. And George will be pleased to meet the boss, impressed that you remembered the dead squirrel, and proud that you know something relevant about his company. Hopefully Frank will carry on the conversation graciously and end it with "I hope you'll call BKO if there's anything we can help you do for your new homeowners. Or their squirrels."

Get it? Hope so.

- Shelley