The Creative Alliance, Strategic Marketing, Interactive, Public Relations

A Marketing Lesson from Professional Golf

“You can’t win the Masters on Thursday, but you can lose it on Thursday.”

So goes the truism about professional golf’s premier event.

This insightful adage has its parallel in the realm of marketing—specifically, regarding an organization’s website. A great website may not be able to close a sale, but an inferior website can kill a deal before it has a chance to develop.

That’s because an organization’s website is the primary tool for prospective customers/investors/members/donors to perform their due diligence. It’s the first place they turn when referred to your organization or when they find you through a Google search.

Judging a book by its cover, or more precisely, judging a company by its home page, takes place in a matter of mere seconds when someone visits your site for the first time. Good design provides an overall impression of a company’s relevance, intelligence and savvy before the visitor clicks a single link.

Visitors’ immediate encounter with the hierarchy of information they encounter also strongly influences their impression of your company. Do they find order or chaos? Are they able to prioritize information quickly? Is it obvious where and why to click to reach the information the visitor seeks?

So just as pro golfers have to play well for four consecutive days to win the Masters on Sunday, so also successful companies need to market themselves effectively day after day.

And just as the Masters starts on Thursday and can end there for those who stumble, so also companies that leave first impressions to chance or inattention can find themselves losing potential clients before they ever meet them.