As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

July 2009

Golf Club’s First Marketing Director Brings a Fresh Approach, New Offerings

Last year, as the economy shook, banks fell, and family budgets shrank, the leadership of the Rolling Road Golf Club was facing a make-or-break question: How to keep the gracious and luxurious club open during such tough times?

The answer was clear:  make it affordable.  Reach out to the community. And – above all – give that elitist image a makeover!

And that is exactly what the Club has been doing for the past six months, rigorously monitored by its financial leadership and driven by its visionary Marketing and Membership Director Megan Preisinger, hired in March to hold onto the existing membership and bring in new faces.

“The country club lifestyle is expected to reflect a certain manner,  and that manner does exist,” says Ms. Preisinger, who is the first to hold the Marketing/Membership position. “But Rolling Road is different. Like Catonsville, we’re more laid-back, we’re more affordable, and we’re trying in a number of ways to make that better known.”

To do so, she’s busy coordinating the first marketing campaign in the country club’s 90-year history. Included are an updated and expanded website, a gala open house, new member services for businesses and families, and increased involvement in community events such as the Taste of Catonsville and (this year) the Arts and Crafts Festival.

To reach out to local businesses, the Golf Club is updating its corporate sponsored membership policy to cover five employees for the price of three. The new policy will also enable corporate members to sponsor networking events, and give their employees’ families access to the club’s rapidly growing menu of fitness and fun programs.

On the family membership side, Rolling Road Golf Club chose In January to follow a nationwide trend of slashing the traditional initiation fees more than 75% to make benefits available to a wider demographic. Meanwhile, dues have held steady, but cover an expanded range of services such as yoga, ballroom dance lessons, and more.

The strategy has worked, says Ms. Preisinger: “We haven’t lost any members, and we’re seeing a wider range of members now. I’ve been surprised to see families in their 20’s and 30’s up to their 50’s, and young families. There’s something here for everyone.”

“We have a junior golf program for kids ages 6 to 14, and family fun nights with movie screenings or pool parties. Every year we have a Christmas party and an Easter Bunny brunch. And of course every Fourth of July our members come after the parade and stay for a front-row seat to the fireworks.”

While Ms. Preisinger is applying the full range of her corporate and nonprofit PR and marketing experience to benefit Rolling Road Golf Club, her personal history offers a deeper tie. As a senior at Catonsville Senior High, she placed #1 in competitive golf for the State of Maryland, and turned down an opportunity to compete in Florida in order to continue playing in Maryland.

As a lifelong golfer, she says, “I am pleasantly surprised to see a growing number of women looking toward membership for themselves, with their husbands becoming social rather than golfing members.” To support that growing audience, the golf club offers three separate programs for women.

Whether members come for the golf, the corporate events, or the socializing, Ms. Preisinger says, they’re eager to welcome new faces. “We want to see new people,” she says. “Don’t be turned off by the stereotype of the country club. Come and see what we have to offer.”

 Past Featured Members