Destination Golf Travel (Spring 2021) * | Page 42

If 2020 is remembered for nothing else (!) it could well be the year in which communications came of age in the golf business . Albeit that ¾ of my business activity was shut down ( and still is ), like many people , I engaged with three new clients without the benefit of a ‘ real-World ’ meeting , a simply un-heard of occurrence ( at least in my circles ) prior to this watershed year .
In its simplest form the Latin word ‘ communicare ’, means the sharing of information . Although the meaning has not developed over many thousands of years , the pathways and platforms through and with which people can communicate has proliferated enormously , which bring challenges of its own .
In this discussion we explore with four panellists what value communications brings to their efforts to stay connected with their publics , both externally and internally , in terms of their brand and related products and services .
Joining this section of the discussion about marketing / advertising are Damian Wrigley , the GM at Pearl Valley , Peter Dros the Director of Sales and Marketing at Fancourt , Robert Jasper ( RJ ) the GM of the Sandton Sun hotel and Brendan Barratt ( BB ) the Editor of Golf RSA ’ s newsletter .
As a fellow traveller in the world of journalism , I started with Brendan by asking if the golf business fully understands the need for continual communications , especially as this relates to tourism , rather than just the knee jerk type , stop start approach the often typifies the way so many treat this vital and iterative activity :
BB : I think that the manner in which we communicate is constantly evolving . These days , with so much competing ‘ noise ’, we can no longer be guaranteed of the attention of our audiences for any length of time , so we need to ensure that what we communicate is effective . Those that get it right understand that , as you have pointed out , effective communication is continual as you build a
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