Destiny is a Reality - The Economists Say So!

I went to a business womens breakfast last week in the Southern Highlands and they had arranged a sensational speaker a Dr Kim Houghton whos runs a business called Economic Solutions - www.economicsolutions.com.au.

Essentially, he puts a business slant on census data and economics, including individual area's demographics. I thought it particularly relevant to the NSW Club Industry as essentially, the Clubs are all about 'Membership' so a sound understanding of your Clubs individual demographics then, must surely be ESSENTIAL.

What is interesting, is that we all know we have an aging population, in fact, according to Dr Houghton, the age bracket of 50 - 59 is the fastest growing and is 13% of the total Australian population. There are also fewer traditional families - at only 45% of the total Australian population. Predictions as also that in a mere 10 years, there will be major shortages of people for the workforce as not as many people will be entering as there are leaving.

This is all important info for Clubs because the manner in which they brand their club, the facilities that they offer, right down to their entertainment and the nights that it is on can be critical to ensuring full Membership usage. Of course there are also regional implications that are overlaid, for example, inner city areas tend to have a much larger skew to the Gen X & Y, based on work location, universities etc.

I think, for example, that there are opportunities for Clubs to even foster 'educational' elements within their Club, for example, using the internet, starting with the Clubs own website and facilities and its Membership Rewards. Even the opportunity to have a 'business room' where Members can access the internet, as in some of the larger hotels. Clubs do have the opportunity to 'nurture' areas of their business that they would like to grow and develop.

It all starts with understanding Members and the potential for New Members and what is likely to attract those!

Strategic Economic Solutions has a website at www.economicsolutions.com.au

Importance of Balancing Media

I find it interesting how media types always try to win out over each other with regards to which method provides the best exposure. My experience shows me that it really does depend on the product, the impact you require, the types of people you are targeting as well as the BIG one - how much you want to spend. What is certain, is that some types of media do give you a better bang for you buck!

There was an article in the Business Review Weekly (BRW June 26-Aug6 2008) that I really found interesting which talked about Mainstream verses New Media (referred to as upstarts). I think the article clearly could be read from both sides, depending on which side of the fence you sit, however, it coined 'lean forward' verses 'lean back' advertising. 'Lean Forward' relating to medium where people are searching to find specific pieces of information and don't want to be distracted by ads eg. websites, social networking, internet banner ads, YouTube etc, and 'Lean Back' media where people are relaxed when using them, like TV, magazins and radio.

From the study that was released in the US in June 08, it found that people are more receptive to ads when they are 'leaning back' (just under 60% said the ads made a positive impression) compared to 'leaning forward' (with 31% positive impressions for digital media ads).

It's interesting to see these results, when we set out to develop www.clubsational.com.au, one of the design elements that we did not want integrated was banner ads, or pop-ups and flashing elements. This was from our own experience of surfing the net and finding this type of digital media ads annoying!! Whilst from a 'business perspective' it means that advertising income is lost, I think that the user benefits and experience of the site are far, far more important. We believe that if people within the Club Industry want information about suppliers in the industry, they would be happy to click on the 'Suppliers' tab within our website, rather than sticking a flashing ad in front of their noses.

It also has implications for Clubs - that is - balancing your media mix inline with your target audience and specifically what your Club seeks to achieve eg. branding, new members, food & beverage patrons etc is critical.

It is also why it is so important that you spend energy optimising your website (SEO), because you want to make sure that when someone is searching onlin for information about Clubs, whats on, eating out, entertainment, discount vouchers or jobs in clubs - your Club is there - and open for online business!!

There is no doubt in my mind www.clubsational.com.au is the best destination for Clubs!