Gift that Keeps on Giving

Picture.com headquarters in Raleigh, NC

I am always on the lookout for NEW - new products for the shop, new favors to fill the tournament schedules (both public and private) and new approaches to communicating these efforts and products to the appropriate people. Three questions I am often asked are:

            What can I offer my customers/members that would be totally incremental to their golf needs and extend our brand?

           How can I do more business without taking on more inventories?

        What can we give as a favor at this year’s Invitational that is appropriate and meaningful, but not repetitive?

My latest answer to these questions since meeting with Bill DeAngellis (Product Manager for Picture.com) is Photo Books. This truly is a commemorative worth considering for shop display and sales as well as corporate outings or member/guest nvitationals. Once you become familiar with the product it becomes readily apparent that anything someone thinks of as an event could/should have a photo book to celebrate it. It also became evident that the best way to tell this story was to interview Bill DeAngellis.

Customized photo books from Picture.com extend the golfer's engagement,
 enable them to share their treasured memories with others,
 and bring the course additional revenue.

Bill, after touring the Lulu office and seeing the product presentation it is obvious to me that photo books can be a meaningful addition to any club or resort menu. Before we talk about how diverse this menu can be, describe the product for us in some detail and share with us the story of how you decided to introduce it into the golf channel of distribution.

I’ll take your points in reverse order, if I may, since we like to put the customers we serve before our products. The golf industry has been affected, like many other segments, by sluggish economic factors and less-than-robust participation. We also know that courses are actively looking for ways to differentiate themselves by offering additional amenities to their golfers. Couple those with the need to attract younger players to the sport, and several compelling opportunities emerge: Courses need to extend the value of the round of golf, monetize existing assets, and create a way for golfers who’ve experienced their course to share the experience with potential customers. The most efficient and elegant way to solve all of these opportunities is customized photo books. This brings us to Picture.com. Picture.com delivers premium quality, customized photo books that extend the golfer’s engagement, enable them to share their treasured memories with others and, ultimately, bring the course additional revenue.

One of the things that immediately occurred to me envisioning this on display in a shop is that it is almost always going to be an incremental sale.  Once the facility’s master exists let’s talk about how the product can be used aside from the sale in the shop as a commemorative and also the benefits to business other than the obvious increase in sales.

Picture.com provides the ability for a golfer to combine their photos with the golf course’s professional images within the context of a premium quality memento. We know that golfers love to relive their most treasured rounds of golf through stories and pictures, and the photo books we produce are the ideal way to do that. Sharing these stories with others, people who are just as likely to book a tee time at the same course, is a very personal and highly valued experience. Picture.com is essentially producing the best brochure imaginable for golf courses around the country.

The production of the template and its approval would be handled by someone tech savvy at the course and an account manager from Picture.com. Describe if you would the rest of the process that personalizes the book to fulfillment. 

It is really quite simple. Upon returning home from the course, the golfer receives an email letting them know that they have this unique opportunity to create their photo book. The email takes the person to page on a Picture.com that also features the course’s branding, and they can click into their own customized book right there. The book can be personalized, ordered and shipped directly from Picture.com.

We should talk about the different product formats that exist and the retail options available once the initial process is complete.

The Picture.com photo books a golf course can offer their golfers range in size and can be either hardcover or softcover. What we have found from our experience is that golf courses appreciate the quality and durability that come from a hardcover book, and the size most typically chosen is the 11 x 8.5 or the 13 x 11. These larger formats make for the kind of book people like to display on their coffee and end tables at home and at the office.

What will be the best process for discussing needs and ideas to get started with this no-brainer concept?  We have the banner and web-site to the right but do you want to talk to anyone interested to get things rolling?

We are delighted to discuss the unique needs of each individual golf course and what the director’s goals are. In our conversations with directors of retail, directors of golf and course owners, we have seen a lot of creative ways to accomplish a course’s goals with our offering. If your readers are interested in learning how we can help , I would invite them to visit Picture.com and complete the form toward the bottom of the page.


The opportunities to use Photo Books at your facility are incredibly varied and worthy of some “outside the box” brainstorming. The obvious use as a retail gift or commemorative is a no inventory - no risk endeavor. The books can be given to new or prospective members, best customers and important guests. They can be part of member/member or member/guest favor packages. They can be designed to co-brand and commemorate corporate outings and company meetings. They can be used to market weddings, package play and retirement parties. They are an obvious retail item at tour events and could easily be merchandised in any shop or tent. Given the fact that it is a marketing enhancer once sold or given and that the price is in everyone’s wheelhouse it truly is a unique no-brainer opportunity.