Sometimes advertisers will ask about the best way to use TurfNet with a limited budget.

Advanced Sensor Technology had an impressive launch at GIS in New Orleans last year where they unveiled their new water-saving technology, UgMO, and introduced its water savings ambassador, Gary Player. We were delighted at the time to be the only media outlet with video at the kick-off event at the House of Blues and also to have scored an exclusive on-camera interview with this golf icon.

This fall, the company was all about communicating the results of UgMO’s impressive water savings to support sales efforts. To help spread the word, Advanced Sensor Technology chose our Tier Two scorecard position (rate is $5,500 net per year). They’re rotating three different banners, each with a slightly different product message, but a consistent creative theme.

AST staff tend to UgMo outside the House of Blues in New Orleans, where he was unceremoniously denied admission!

“We appreciate the flexibility that this package provides us and the reach it has into an important market for UgMO,” said Christine Reimert, vice president of Devine + Powers, UgMO’s marketing communications firm. “The TurfNet team was very helpful in getting the campaign up and running and in accommodating our dynamic, multi banner approach.”

Each month, the agency receives a detailed, third-party report of the number of impressions each ad received and the number of times it was clicked on for more information. If one banner significantly outperforms the others, we can tailor the campaign to run the top ad exclusively or just increase its frequency moving forward.

AST/UgMO is also leveraging the full variety of online options on TurfNet by posting a viral video (“The Inheritance”) on TurfNetTV. This humorous look at life on the golf course introduces UgMO and the idea of water conservation in a fun and entertaining way. In addition to the TurfNetTV player, the video is posted on the AST/UgMO affiliate member page.

As most people know, TurfNet has a soft spot for dogs in the industry (we originated the Superintendents Best Friend Dog Calendar nearly 10 years ago), so we’ve got to include this photo of UgMO outside the House of Blues in New Orleans.

If you’d like to design a custom program to introduce a new product or initiative, please let me know.

When we scheduled a TurfNet University webinar with four USGA Green Section agronomists from all four corners of the country, we hoped it would go a long way in our unending quest to provide golf course superintendents with the information they need to make their jobs easier. Four agronomists from four vastly different regions, we thought, would offer something for virtually everyone regardless of their geographic location. We were not disappointed.

On Wednesday, December 2, agronomists Chris Hartwiger, Adam Moeller, Derf Soller and Pat Gross, representing the Green Section’s Southeast, Northeast, Northwest and Southwest regions, respectively, provided viewers with a series quick-hitting tips on winter greens management. Their respective presentations covered everything from annual bluegrass to bentgrass to Bermudagrass – all in about one hour.

A total of 165 people registered for the live event, with 126 actually finding time within their busy schedules to log on and watch the presentation, which included a healthy dose of Q&A at its conclusion. Both numbers represented record highs. That’s saying something, considering it was our 43rd Webinar in two years.

Both numbers represented record highs. That’s saying something, considering it was our 43rd Webinar in two years.

We missed Pat Gross’s infamous slide in which a killer whale devours an unsuspecting and overwhelmed fisherman, and the virtual nature of the show did not allow him to take a Stimpmeter reading on a conference room floor (any of you who have hear Pat speak in person might know what I mean), but his surfing Santa Claus was a fitting end to the program.

If you weren’t fortunate enough to see, and hear, any of this presentation live, don’t worry; it already is available on our Archives page. This event, and all archived webinars are free for TurfNet members. As a bonus through the end of the year, they also are free for non-members. That’s a $25 value if you’re keeping score.

The golf turf industry is small by most other industry standards, the advantage therein being a relatively tight-knit community among both practitioners and suppliers. So it was with a certain amount of unease that I noticed recently both Toro and BASF Professional Products having gone outside our little village to post point-of-sale and training videos on YouTube. I’m sure others are there too, but those two caught my eye.

One of our primary marketing strategies over the years has been very simple: keep building more value into our product so that at some point it becomes a “no-brainer” (if such a thing exists), where the obvious value outweighs most typical objections. This has been true with benefits targeted at superintendents (free webinars, TurfNetTV, job listings, used equipment buy and sell, etc) and our media partners.

So, rather than have TurfNet affiliate members go outside the fold (so to speak) to obtain free, wide-scale video hosting, we decided to offer it to you ourselves. Now, for free.

We’ll be revamping our TurfNetTV interface over the next few days to give product videos more of the spotlight. If you have videos you’d like us to host, contact me and I’ll provide you with FTP information to send them to us.

We’ll run them for a year (at no charge, of course) for TurfNet affiliate member companies with current advertising programs with us (at any level).  If there’s a catch, that’s it.

As the one charged with orchestrating TurfNet University webinar registrations and GCSAA education points for registrants, I thought I would share some statistics about our webinar viewers through October, 2009.

For the 16 live events held so far this year, 1063 webinar views were registered from among 417 unique registrants. Participation ranged from 21 to 129 people per event.

Participation ranged from 21 to 129 people per event…

For the archived, on-demand webinars, 177 unique registrants watched 377 webinar events through October. If the pattern from last year holds true, this number in particular will increase in November and December through the winter as northern superintendents and assistants have more time to participate.

The only difference between live and archived webinars is the ability to ask questions of the presenter during the live event. GCSAA Education Points are offered for both, although those for archived events expire at the end of the calendar year.

TurfNet University webinars are free to registered TurfNet members and their staffs as well as our affiliate members.  Non-members pay $25 per event.  All are accredited for 0.1 GCSAA education points.

Why not check out this new training and education platform for yourself? Affiliate members can access coupon codes for free admission here (login required – if you need help, contact me or Peter McCormick).

I always find it amusing when visiting with a client who in turn asks a question that has obviously been pollinated by rumor, misinformation or disinformation from a competitor of ours.

One example from just the other day:  ”Why should we advertise with you when you only have 1400 members? That’s a lot to money to reach those few people.”

Yes, we have approximately 1400 member clubs or courses.  Counting the assistant superintendents and equipment technicians who also have access to the Members Only area of TurfNet.com, we have about 2500 registered users.

But that’s just on the private, behind-the-firewall side of TurfNet.com.  In fact, because our members pay a premium subscription cost, we actually don’t have ANY advertising in the Forum or other areas back there.  On purpose.

TurfNet.com metrics, October 2009, Google Analytics

Stepping back to look at the bigger picture, even though our members do wander out into the public areas of the site like TurfNetTV, TurfNet University, and job and used equipment listings, they are just one segment of our overall site visitors.

For example, in October of this year, we had over 28,000 unique visitors making over 100,000 visits to TurfNet.com and generating over half a million page views during the average three minutes each visitor spent on the site (many are viewing new job listings, hence the short average duration).

That’s quite a different story from “only 1400 members”. In fact, it’s a great reason to invest in our very economical annual advertising packages to reach so many people!