Golf Marketing Meets Behavioural Science
Sue Shapcott, PhD, PGA
Owner: Change Golf Instruction and Sports Query
Madison, WI
For small business owners like me (and probably you), technology means that we are a jack of all trades. Things we used to hire people for we now do ourselves. Take, for example, marketing and advertising. Many of us now do this ourselves. This is a good thing, right?
Well, maybe….
Although I am no marketing expert, I am a behavioural scientist.
And I know that the content of your marketing and promotional material may impact how your customers, and future customers interact with your business. Considering that is the point of advertising and marketing, this is important! So read on…
In 2014 I conducted a study with a professor at the London Business School. Both she and I were interested in how the perception of ability (popularly known as mindset) affects consumer behaviour. We knew that people with a growth mindset – who believed that ability can be developed – had higher levels of motivation than people with a fixed mindset (who believe that ability is innate and natural). But what we were curious about was whether framing ability in a growth- or fixed-minded way would affect the motivation of consumers to engage with an online promotion for coaching services.
OUR STUDY
We developed three adverts that contained the same facts for a golf coaching business. The coach was called the same name, he worked in the same location, and he had the same coaching experience. The difference was how the three adverts talked about ability.
One advert talked about learning golf in growth-minded language,
“Jack Smith is a new golf instructor at a golf facility in your area. He has over 20 years’ experience as a coach that will benefit your golf game. Jack firmly believes that, no matter who you are, you can always significantly grow your golf ability. Frequent practice plus the learning-focused instruction Jack provides will help you achieve your best golf game.”
One advert talked about learning golf in fixed-minded language,
“Jack Smith is a new golf instructor at a golf facility in your area. He has over 20 years’ experience as a coach that will benefit your golf game. Jack firmly believes that, even though you can’t really change your golf ability, his help will benefit your current golf game. Frequent practice plus the performance-focused instruction Jack provides will help you achieve your best golf game.”
And the third used neutral language to talk about learning golf. This advert was used as a control.
“Jack Smith is a new golf instructor at a golf facility in your area. He has over 20 years’ experience as a coach and works with all types of golfers. The instruction Jack provides will help you achieve your best golf.”
THE RESULTS
The difference in language between the three adverts was subtle. But it was enough to have these effects.
People exposed to the growth-minded advert indicated that they were significantly more likely to sign up for coaching services.
People reading the growth-minded advert indicated they would pay significantly more money for the coaching services than the people reading the fixed-minded advert.
This means that simply by reframing the description of a golf coaching service, an advert could be significantly more effective, and could make you significantly more money. I do not know about you, but that makes it worthwhile paying attention.
FOLLOWING THROUGH
If your adverts persuade customers to sign up for your coaching services, then your marketing and promotional material is effective. But that is just one piece of the puzzle. Retaining new customers as long-term clients is the next problem to solve. So, although marketing and promotional material is important, the key to operating a successful coaching business is nurturing a growth-minded culture across your whole operation. And as I’m sure you can imagine, us behavioural scientists have a lot to say about that too! Just ask me….