EDITORIAL – MARKETING YOURSELF

By: Cole Golden, USGTF Member, Wichita, Kansas I was recently in an office waiting for my appointment when a salesman walked through the door.  He worked for the local phone book company. I was close enough to hear his conversation with the office manager. She explained that most of their advertising is done via website and social media.  From his response, I could tell that it appeared as though he had heard that a few times. I started thinking about the way that we, as golf teaching professionals, market ourselves.  How many do people use the phone book to look up golf instructors?  I would guess not many, if any.  Websites are a great way to reach potential students, but there is cost associated with it.  Social media is free and fairly easy to create.  Between Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, an instructor can reach a lot of people. When giving lessons, ask your students if it’s okay to use their photos and name on your social media page.  After receiving permission, tag them in your post, and all their friends have visibility.  This is a great way to market yourself without spending money.  The only expense is your time.  Some of our colleagues like Matt Smith, Jim Perez and Bruce Sims use Facebook regularly for their teaching business.  All three of them have been extremely successful in using this marketing tool. Most of us are independent contractors; we need to constantly advertise to help grow our business.  If you haven’t looked into social media, please do.  Good luck and happy teaching!