So I don’t play golf, but now that I’m an officer of the board of directors of the Houston Chapter of the API I figured I should attend our annual golf tournament. The money goes for a great cause (Engineering Scholarships, the Offshore Energy Center & the Houston Regional Science Fair), and its all oil & gas folks.
This was the 34th Annual Houston Chapter-API Golf Tournament, and it was held at beautiful Kingwood Country Club. I spent the day helping people, sampling some great food and taking pictures. But I couldn’t help but start noticing what the best ROI seemed to be for the sponsors. Now don’t get me wrong, you and your sales team are not going to sell anything at this event. People are there to play golf and have fun. It would be totally inappropriate for someone to “pitch” anything. But what you can do is cause some influence, and often that is even better than uncovering a prospect because influence touches so many more people.
And believe it or not, the beverage cart seemed to be the best ROI at this golf tournament. With many more meaningful interactions, the beverage cart folks were influencing a lot of oil & gas business leaders in a relaxed and helpful environment. Not what I would have expected from one of the more inexpensive sponsorship opportunities.
So from a marketing point of view, it just shows how you should always do your homework. A few marketing dollars can go a long way if your strategic about your investments…