Described in their own words as “6 dudes, 1 golf channel”, the trailblazing YouTube Channel “Good Good” have experienced astronomical growth since the group was first founded in July 2020, having amassed a loyal fanbase of over 1 million subscribers and clocked up over 200 million videos.

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Starring YouTube and social media sensations Garrett Clark (GM Golf), Matt Scharff, Grant Horvat, Stephen Casteneda, Thomas “Bubbie” Broders, as well as Micah Morris previously and more recently Luke Kwon, the guys over at Good Good have uploaded over 290 videos in two years, switching seamlessly between innovative golf challenges, knock-out competitions and straight-up stroke play, all whilst taking the digital golf world by storm.

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If unlike me you are not a 24 y/o golf fanatic who most definitely spends more time online than on the course, it may help to put the Good Good guys’ meteoric rise in perspective.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you’ll know who Rick Shiels is. A man who is not only a legend of golf YouTube in his own right but a former Nike ambassador, now the face of Lyle & Scott Golf as well as a regular on the amazing digital content produced by The Open.

So whilst it has taken just over 2 years for Good Good to reach 1 million subs, 290 videos and 200 million video views, since he founded his channel over 11 years ago, Rick’s schedule of more than regular uploads has led to him amassing 2.4m subscribers and 618 million video views from 2,089 uploads. Impressive, but not quite Good Good.

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Drilling down into these stats even further, at the time of writing, whilst Rick has averaged an impressive 296k views per video, Good Good are currently averaging well over double this figure from only 2 years of uploads, with average views per video standing at an astounding 679k (calculations made from stats via Social Blade).

Compare these figures to the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, which has made a big deal out of providing free-to-watch coverage of some of the world’s best golfers via channels such as YouTube. Despite significant levels of “investment”, the official LIV Golf page (244k subscribers, 266 uploads, 23 million video views) has averaged a meagre 86k views per video since the channel was created in September 2021.

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Let me reframe that:

Good Good, a channel set up by 6 friends in their early twenties, whose collective love for the game and having fun with their mates has seen them rise to the very top of the digital golf world, has averaged nearly 8x the number of average views per video than LIV. EIGHT TIMES! All without the funding of billions of Saudi $$$ or the backing of a team of experienced marketers.

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Still not quite blown away? Let’s take a look specifically at the figures from YouTube uploads made over the last 30 days.

Whilst even a rushed search of the most watched golf videos on YouTube from the last month will result in almost exclusively Good Good content coming up, despite having half the subscribers of the legendary Rick Shiels, Good Good’s total video views for the last 30 days totals a gargantuan 13 million, whilst Shiels racks up an impressive 9.8 million views.

Bear in mind that NBC reported a peak of more than 7.1 million viewers across NBC and Peacock during the final round of the 150th Open Championship, the second most watched Open Championship in nearly a decade - 13 million views isn’t a number to be sniffed at.

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LIV Golf on the other hand?

Despite broadcasting 3 international events, including the flagship team invitational in Miami and dolling out $100 million in prize money in October alone, LIV Golf’s total for the last 30 days? Just 5.7m video views on YouTube - down 28% on their stats for the previous month and significantly less than HALF the Good Good boys managed to accumulate throughout October.

Contextualise this further with the fact that LIV have made a point of YouTube being their main broadcast channel (for now), especially given the issues they have had attempting to sell TV rights/pay for their tournaments to be shown on established TV channels.

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Without labouring the point, whilst the live-streamed finals of the LIV Golf 2022 Team Championship has just shy of 400k total views as this article is being written, Good Good’s immensely entertaining “Good Good Cup Major”, 2 hours and 32 mins of competitive pre-recorded golf content from golfers with handicaps between +3 and 15, stands at 1.6m views and counting (all in just 9 days).

Even LIV’s most viewed video can’t compete with those stats, with only 618k views on the 1st Rd highlights from their debut event held at the Centurion Club in June.

Good Good have not only built themselves a significant online community but an immensely engaged one, with viewers choosing to watch their videos and subscribing for more content.

In addition to their main channel, they also have their podcast (83k subs), shorts channel (39.3k subs), their “Labs” channel (which includes lessons, tutorials and behind-the-scenes content - 257k subs) PLUS over 2 million subscribers across their personal channels. Oh and nearly half a million Instagram followers (@GoodGood). And around 300k on TikTok.

But I know what you’ll say next. What does this mean in reality, outside of the digital world? Do subscribers and followers etc. actually count for something? At least LIV have tickets they can “sell” (*cough* give away *cough*) and team-related merchandise they can flog.

Well, Good Good have been able to build a pretty impressive business off the back of their YouTube successes, with an incredibly popular e-commerce store which specialises in selling top-quality clothing for both on and off the course.

Regular drops throughout the year often sell out and their recent and first foray into the world of golf club manufacturing has also been a triumph, with the Good Good Putter line-up fetching over $300 a club and, you guessed it, still sold out. Their own golf balls are on the way too and there’s no skimping on quality here - their gear has been very well received.

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So, with all that being said, what can we learn from the story of Good Good so far? Here are a few very brief points worth taking away:

• Relatability and personality sell - Good Good are so immensely popular because they are just normal golfers (not despite it) - golfers who often hit bad shots, sometimes hit great ones, but always have fun.
• Golf doesn’t have to be boring - although this sounds like words that Greg Norman might’ve come out with, it’s plain to see that with their innovative formats and even their competitive videos, Good Good aim to keep one thing at their core - keeping their fans entertained through fast-paced and highly engaging videos.
• High production but low-fidelity content is key to online growth - the master filming and editing team over at Good Good know this (shoutout to Colin and Max), which is why although their content is often raw and uncut, their skilled use of high-quality videography and editing works wonders to keep their audience engaged.

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What do you think? Had you heard of Good Good before? Will you be checking out their content in the future? What’s next for LIV? Between Good Good and LIV, who would you prefer to see succeed?

CRM (“Customer Relationship Management”) software is an imperative tool for most businesses these days because it allows you to manage and track your relationships with your customer.

When used effectively, a CRM system helps you to revolutionises efficiency across the business by:

• Utilising industry-leading email marketing, chatbot, lead generation, and CRM tools
• Having one system for all staff to track all enquiries and leads across the business
• Growing your email database of societies, visitors and potential members
• Making sales on auto-pilot in the background
• Keeping your business at the forefront of digital innovation
• Saving you and your staff time and money
• Modernises your club's customer-facing marketing

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As we gear up to launching our brand new "Golf Response" CRM system for a host of our clients, keep reading to learn 3 key reasons how this innovative approach CRM can benefit you and your team.

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1. Revolutionise your internal productivity and efficiency

How you are keeping track of your prospects at the moment?

Are you writing them down on a piece of paper? Managing them on a spreadsheet?

Whatever your process, it likely requires you and your team to manually update the status of each lead, write emails and proposals from scratch, copy and paste contact info into your personal email server etc. etc.

Not to mention the headache when a team member goes on leave. Where was that prospect left? What has the communication history been? So many questions…

This is where an efficient sales CRM comes in. Everything you need to know about your customers and prospects can be organised in one place.

No need to scramble for that piece of paper or figure out if the spreadsheet is up to date. Every team member will be able to see a detailed overview of all communication with a specific lead, allowing them to know exactly where the last conversation was left whilst maintaining a unified brand voice.

Each team member will have the ability to add notes, send messages and assign tasks to each other all in one system - ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks.

Ultimately and most importantly, you’ll be able to evaluate your team’s progress over time and track where prospects are won or lost, allowing you to plan better for the future, identify key trends and plan for improved future sales performance.

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2. Segment your customers like there’s no tomorrow

Imagine you have a list of hundreds or thousands of prospects. How does your sales team know what each prospect is interested in and how likely they are to convert?

If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a sales email (which of course we all have), you’ll understand the frustration and potential irritation that goes along with it.

A bunch of emails left unopened in your inbox each week, hoping that eventually you’ll get left alone.

You’re just not that interested!

Avoid this and more by actively segmenting your prospects within a sales CRM.

It gets a little complicated with tags, triggers, lead scores and such, so let’s paint a picture of a simple example.

Meet Greg - Greg is in the market to join a golf membership in the local area and has been browsing the web for possible golf clubs to join. He comes across your website and downloads a brochure. A few months pass and he still hasn’t made up his mind and keeps browsing. Again he lands up on your website.

An automatic personalised email is triggered, asking him if he’s interested in membership, explaining the associated benefits and offering him a free trial round. Greg replies to the email to claim his free round.

In the backend, your sales CRM has been working hard to segment large numbers of prospects exactly like Greg.

Ultimately, the goal here is to provide your prospects exactly what they want when they want it. The CRM system not only allows you to have a better understanding of your prospects, but also allows you to avoid generic communication that could lead to a poor customer experience.

Future unintrusive messaging to Greg, for example, will be about membership - nurturing the relationship with him until he hopefully converts and signs up for a golf membership.

Because the CRM manages all information in one place, your employees will have a true reflection about the customer when they need it, allowing for a more meaningful interaction between your business and the prospect.

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3. Watch your sales go through the roof

When you think about your sales process, are you sure that every lead from every source is followed up on and nurtured?

Are you aware of exactly how your leads are won or lost, from which source and from which sales person?

With so many touch points to keep track of it can be extremely difficult to stay on top of sales performance over time. Even following up on every lead can be an overwhelming task.

By streamlining your internal processes and the way you communicate with your customers, you can greatly improve the profitability of your business over time.

You can see where problems arise and in which stages of your sales pipeline, get detailed reports of your sales team’s performance and improve the interaction of your business with the customer.

All communication will reflect their true preferences making them feel like your business understands their needs.

No more overwhelming lists of prospects or cold calling. The CRM will segment, personalise and automate your messaging so that you can build meaningful relationships with customers that aren’t ready to convert in the background while also identifying the hottest leads that are.

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In the end, it’s pretty simple…

Having a sales CRM can be incredibly useful to your business. Not only will it streamline the current process you have in place, but also vastly improve your customer relationships and experience - not to mention making the lives of your staff that much easier and efficient.

At the end of the day, you’ll be able to have a holistic view of how your sales team operates, their performance over time and the overall profitability of your sales pipelines.

Every prospect will be nurtured and tracked ensuring that you are constantly improving your internal processes for increased ROI.

Sound like a no-brainer right? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and if you have any questions about our brand new golf CRM system, Golf Response, feel free to ping us a message.

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The website design and development landscape has changed rapidly in the last few years. Gone are the days where you need teams of developers to build a website. As technology continues to evolve, it's become even easier to develop and launch a stand-out website thanks to game-changing no-code/low-code tools.

Webflow is one of the leading, if not the best, tools within the no-code/low-code space. At Albatross, we use Webflow to build and launch our clients' websites. With over two years of experience using Webflow, I want to share 5 reasons why you need to consider it as the CMS for your marketing website in 2023.

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Easy to use with a user-friendly editor and intuitive backend designer

Despite an initial learning curve, you can find your feet within Webflow in under 24 hours. The frontend content editor can be compared to updating a PowerPoint presentation - it's incredibly straightforward to make content updates. Additionally, with a backend editor where you can drag & drop structural elements to build out pages, the designer is as intuitive as using Photoshop.

Ultimately, if you have some experience or even just a basic understanding of HTML & CSS, you will get the hang of Webflow quickly. As the Webflow Designer (backend) provides a visual representation of HTML (structure of elements and pages) & CSS (styling of elements & pages).

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Little to no technical knowledge is required to get started

Gone are the days where you need a Computer Science degree to build a marketing website. Although it is helpful to understand code (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) to extend what you can do natively within Webflow, it is by no means required.

Webflow recently launched Logic (currently in Beta), which takes building websites up a notch from an automation perspective, removing the need for tools like Zapier or Make. With this new feature, it has never been easier to set parameters on Lead Generation form flows or integrate with your CRM of choice like Hubspot, ActiveCampaign etc.

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Great for scalability and allows for flexibility

Regardless of whether you have a 100-page marketing website to build or want to build a few campaign landing pages, Webflow does a fantastic job with reusable Components.

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Like WordPress' Gutenberg Blocks, Components are reusable elements that can be reused across the website. Although the content might change, the structure of the component stays the same.

Components make it easier to build out new pages. Best of all, when you change styles on the master Component, it is changed across the website, which helps to save time and ensures design consistency across the board.

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There is a large & friendly community within the Webflow space, as well as plenty of resources

Rest assured, when building a website using Webflow, there's a community on hand to answer questions and help out when needed. On the support side of Webflow themselves, we've recently had to utilise their services and can attest that they get back to you within 24-48 hours once a ticket has been logged.

There are also fantastic thought leaders within the Webflow space that provide a ton of free value and tools for the Webflow community. My favourites are Finsweet, Pixel Geek, Flux Academy, and our friends at Refokus.

A great starting point for beginners is also Webflow's University, with over 16 free courses for you to learn from.

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Various use cases and applications

Although we're specifically looking at the use cases for Webflow to build marketing websites, it's worth mentioning that you can further extend Webflow's capabilities by using third-party tools like Memberstack.

For example, look at how Jason Francis built Tiny House, a one-stop shop for all things tiny homes, from cabins, tiny homes on wheels, prefab and modular. He used Webflow, integrated by Zapier with Memberstack and Circle, to create a community and paid membership platform.

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Finally, Relume Library is one of my go-to tools that help speed up Webflow builds. The world's most extensive Webflow component library built by Dan Anisse & Adam Mura. They turned their Agency Relume into a SAAS product using Webflow (and other integrations), helping agencies and freelancers to save time and speed up their workflow.

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A marketing website building tool from the future

Whether you have a team of developers within your company or you're a one-person show, Webflow can enable more people to build websites with little coding knowledge required.

Considering how effortless it is to build landing pages with reusable components and little technical knowledge required, it's a fantastic tool to use for marketing websites. Anyone can easily make changes themselves instead of waiting for developers, which, as we all know, is not always a speedy process.

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Curious to see what Webflow can do for your business and team?

If you're on the fence about whether you should give Webflow a shot, I'd suggest signing up for a free account and giving it a test drive. You can build a website with up to two pages for free and even host it on a free .webflow.io subdomain.

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Whilst there has been plenty of coverage about the release of Netflix’s “Full Swing” last week, an excellent content series from one of golf’s most reputable brands may have gone under the radar...

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Titleist’s 4-part “We Go Farther” docu-series chronicles the Titleist Speed Project, an R&D breakthrough that drove the resurgence of Titleist drivers on the PGA TOUR.

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Featuring cameos from golf’s biggest names and major winners, here are my 4 key takeaways from this series that other brands and manufacturers should take notice of:

1. Leveraging Effective Storytelling

From start to finish, the narrative arc of this content series is clear for all to see.

As we hear from the brains behind the product, genuine people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet, these videos paint a fantastic peak-behind-the-curtain picture of the issues Titleist were facing and what they did to overcome them.

Finishing with two Titleist Pros finish 1st and 2nd in the 150th Open in St Andrews was the perfect place to tie things up and indirectly show off the strides they were able to make.  

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2. Maintaining Customer Orientation

When using social platforms such as YouTube, too often brands focus on producing content that aims to achieve viral viewing figures, rather than content that appeals to people who will actually consider buying their product.

With the right balance of insight, equipment jargon and genuine reflections from recognisable players, this content is deliberately engaging for Titleist’s target market rather than simply the TikTok generation.

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3. Nailing Production

A 4 part series that lasts just shy of 25 mins is the perfect way to reduce drop-off compared to one long video.

Had a video of this length been recommended to me on the YouTube home page I would’ve likely skipped past it, but through the use of cliffhangers and by structuring the series in this way, viewers have no choice but to keep watching until the end.

With viewing numbers remaining fairly consistent across the series (73k views, 45k views, 36k views and 36k views), it’s clear to see that I’m not alone in having consumed the series in what felt like the blink of an eye.

4. Avoiding Hot Air Marketing Speak

As Steve Pelisek President of Titleist Golf Clubs, says in the series “You can talk all you want, but it’s your product that does the talking for you.”

In this docu-series, rather than falling into the traps of using marketing speak that discerning consumers are all too aware of and now tuned out to, Titleist makes sure that it is their products and the results they have achieved that take centre stage.

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Looking ahead...

As golf club manufacturers continue to look for ways to differentiate themselves from each other every time the new season rolls around, it’ll be fascinating to see how Titleist’s digital content continues to evolve over the new few years and whether other brands will follow suit.

We all know the cliché saying “time is money”. Time is one of the most valuable commodities we all have, especially in our working lives.

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With that said, why is it that projects so often suffer from getting pushed back or getting stuck in endless feedback loops?

It’s fair to say that we live in an era where there is an overload of information - there is constantly something demanding our attention. The result? We race to finish a creative task, with feedback given from a tunnel-vision perspective which fails to see the full picture and places unhelpful focus on results-alone.

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I attended Design Pickle and MarkUp.io’s How To Fix Your Ineffective Creative Feedback! webinar a few weeks ago and learnt 3 key methods that we should all look to utilise to guide our creative feedback processes.

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Setting up your Project for Success

I am a firm believer that a project’s success is best achieved through a brief which is customer-focused, fact-based and thorough.

Time spent reviewing work can be minimised down the line if stakeholders articulate their vision in a clear and concise brief from the start. Instead of limiting yourself to just using words, why not provide examples like screenshots or sketches to better communicate your creative vision?

If we invest more time at the start of a project, setting clear goals and outlining key roles and responsibilities for all involved stakeholders, the creative team can better ensure that all and any expectations are met.

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Create a Healthy Dialogue

As creatives, we all have to put on a brave face and not take criticism personally. Feedback can be misinterpreted due to the tone or selected words, which may come across as confrontational or “fighting”.

When reading through written feedback, it’s best to analyse the creative side by side and join the dots to ensure that everyone understands what needs to be done next. Context is absolutely crucial. Using the best tools to communicate is the next tip-top tip. With a simple screen recording using Loom, the feedback becomes contextualised as the client talks through and points out the changes by showing examples of what they mean by their feedback.

Alternatively, what I find really helpful is to schedule a huddle session with a client where we go through the design under a magnifying glass. This can take a bit longer, but ultimately the session is concluded with a finished product.

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Meet in the Middle

By actively contributing to a healthy dialogue, where there is a reason to each decision, friction during the feedback stage can be minimised.

However, feedback may often feel one-sided or, even worse, dictatorial/micro-managing. Ultimately, this shouldn't be the case.

I’d like to emphasise again to strive to create a healthy dialogue. The best way is to approach giving feedback in a form of a question. Ask the Creative responsible for a project what was the intent behind a specific design decision as this might shed some light on their reasoning.

Remember, Creatives are industry experts and a majority of the design decisions are based on customer experience and best practices. So it’s important to respect their decision-making processes.

It’s important therefore to find the middle ground. At the end of the day, everyone is aiming for the same goal and wants to deliver the best work that will ensure the success of the project.

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80% of review time can be saved with good-quality communication

Consider this quote: “Everything always gets better with good quality feedback.”

I used to dread feedback, wondering “what if they don’t like it?” or “why are there more changes that need to be made?”.

As I continue my creative career, I have learnt to take feedback as a form of improving my skillset. If there’s anything unclear, I would respond with design options to decipher our clients’ train of thought - communicating solutions that keep the project closer to completion.

Let’s go back to the saying “time is money”. All projects are bound by time restrictions and it's our role as Creatives to deliver an aesthetically-pleasing and practical solution on time.

By leveraging these three tips, we can really save time, deliver faster, make clients, staff and stakeholders happier and reduce the risk of turnover.

If you are a stakeholder or currently in a long-winded project, how can we as Creative make the process more seamless and time-worthy? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment below.

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Learn More

Referring back to the webinar, I really resonated with centralising feedback into one platform as it simplifies the client’s journey and archives all communication so both parties can be held accountable. I’m looking forward to implementing this in our work processes.

Interested in learning more about giving feedback? Check out the article and webinar linked below.

Feedback guidelines by Dropbox: 8 Ways to Give Better Feedback to Creatives

Design Pickle and MarkUp.io: How To Fix Your Ineffective Creative Feedback!

Does making even just the simplest of updates to your website feel like playing golf with a sledgehammer?

Do-It-Yourself websites by Albatross are built using an Olympic standard content management system called Webflow that makes web updates so quick and simple, you'll save yourself and your team valuable time so you can focus on what you do best.

In this blog post, we will explore why Webflow is the perfect solution for sports organisations looking to overcome their web woes and build a successful site that truly represents their brand and values.

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The Challenges Sports Organisations Face:

1. Time: Many traditional website updates can take hours, days or even weeks to complete, making it difficult to keep content fresh and relevant.
2. Complexity: Making simple updates can be overly complex, leaving staff frustrated and unable to make necessary changes efficiently.
3. Design: Outdated and unappealing website designs fail to showcase the true essence of your business, negatively impacting online presence.
4. Mobile optimisation/Responsiveness: Many websites do not function properly on mobile devices or lack responsiveness, leading to poor user experience and site engagement.
5. Costly: Relying on outside agencies or webmasters for website maintenance is time-consuming and expensive, straining budgets and making people put off making simple updates.
6. UX: Outdated content management systems (CMS) are often confusing, complex, and not user-friendly, making website management a daunting and frustrating task.
7. Code: Maintaining older websites often requires coding experience, which can be a significant barrier without technical expertise.

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Why Webflow is the Answer:

Webflow offers a comprehensive and user-friendly solution to the challenges faced by sports organisations. Here's how Webflow addresses each problem:

1. Time-saving: Updates can be made in seconds, eliminating the need for lengthy development work. This ensures websites remain up-to-date and relevant, keeping audiences engaged and informed.
2. Simplified updates: Webflow's intuitive interface allows for quick and easy updates, streamlining the process and saving valuable time.
3. Building new pages: Creating new pages is a breeze, thanks to Webflow's intuitive drag-and-drop editor and pre-built elements. Your marketing team can quickly design, customise, and launch new pages, streamlining the web development process and saving valuable time.
4. Modern design: Websites built in Webflow have stunning original designs due to the platform's seamless combination of powerful design tools, a user-friendly interface, and extensive customisation options. This allows marketing teams to create visually beautiful, responsive websites that push the boundaries of modern web design, ensuring a top-notch user experience.
5. Mobile optimisation and responsiveness: Webflow's responsive design features ensure that website's function well on all devices, including mobile phones and tablets. This enables you to reach a wider audience and cater to the growing number of mobile users.
6. Cost-effective: By allowing you to make changes and updates themselves, Webflow reduces the need to hire specialised developers or agencies, lowering overall website maintenance costs.
7. User-friendly CMS: Webflow's CMS is designed with ease of use in mind, making it simple for even non-technical users to manage their website content. This enables you to maintain a high-quality website without requiring in-depth technical knowledge or expertise.
8. No coding experience required: With Webflow, there is no need to know how to code to create and manage a professional-looking website. This makes it accessible to a wide range of users, ensuring that sports organisations can maintain an impressive online presence without relying on expensive developers.

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The reason we choose Webflow for our clients instead of other website builders and CMS platforms is because of its unique combination of features and benefits: simplicity, no-code accessibility, scalability, and versatility.

Webflow empowers many sports organisations we work with to create and maintain a high-quality website that effectively represents their brand, values, and services while overcoming the challenges of time, complexity, design, mobile optimisation, cost, user experience, and coding expertise.

By providing a user-friendly, cost-effective, and flexible platform, we ensure our clients can focus on what they do best day to day rather than have to worry about the pain of website management with outdated CMS systems and design tools.

If you're struggling with your day-to-day website workflow within your business, Webflow is the ideal choice for sports organisations seeking to build and maintain a successful website that truly represents their brand and values.

To view a Webflow website in action, check out our recent build for the League Managers Association: https://leaguecoaches.com