The average does not work anymore.
The average does not work anymore.
The old-style ads, generic tactics, boring text, or any other ways that have been exhausted by other businesses may not clear the way to success.
If your golf cart rental business is experiencing slowdowns or hasn’t taken off as expected, try the following 40 creative ways with your rental golf carts.
Offer More than a Golf Cart.
Add more value to your golf carts to suit different needs.
1. Theme Your Carts—Offer themed carts (jungle, safari, retro 50s, futuristic, etc.) for birthday parties, corporate events, and tourism. Let’s admit, generic golf carts are not so catchy for those looking for style.
2. Pet-Friendly Carts—Furry friends are also part of the family. Some families can’t envision their trip without them, so some carts can be modified to be pet-friendly by installing small pet seats.
3. Luxury/High-End Carts—Not all customers are the same. Some prefer luxury carts with leather seats, speakers, and other goodies like phone charging stations and cooling fans. Survey your customers' needs and add gadgets to make their cart rides more enjoyable.
4. Eco Tours with Carts—If customers do not visit you, go where they are. Offering golf carts for eco-tours is a good way to generate profit. You can do it with only a few carts. Local parks or natural landmarks should be your target.
5. Night Rides with LED Glow—Stylish carts create demand. To make your carts stand out, you can add special LED lighting. As an extra, you can offer night tours in tourist destinations.
Partnerships & Local Engagement
Surround your business with a community of friends.
6. Partner with Resorts and Airbnbs—This allows you to tap into the ready traffic from other businesses. Offer package deals with local vacation rentals.
7. Work with Event Planners – Events need golf carts, and event planners know that well. Tell them you have reliable golf carts that may be required for weddings, outdoor festivals, and corporate events.
8. Tie up with Real Estate Agents—Some people may not like walking long distances to see properties in large communities or resort areas. In other cases, golf carts may be needed to tour large properties with multiple venues.
9. Sponsor Local Youth Sports – The larger the crowd, the bigger the demand. First, bring sports enthusiasts, and then, let your carts serve as shuttle vehicles during games.
10. Partner with Golf Pros for Lessons – Golf coaches may need your carts regularly. Approach them with mutually beneficial offers so they can use your carts as part of a lesson experience package.
Unconventional Marketing.
Think differently; new ideas capture the attention.
11. Social Media Challenge—Over 5 billion people use social media worldwide. Use that free traffic to your advantage. Start a fun social media challenge involving your carts.
12. Wrap Carts in Local Business Ads – Renting shouldn’t be the only source of income. You can monetize your fleet and advertise simultaneously.
13. Flash Cart Mobs—Organize spontaneous-looking convoys of eye-catching carts in tourist areas. This method can be a great attention-grabber.
14. Use Drone Footage for Promos—If you are still using old-style picture-based ads, your methods are outdated, like my grandad’s radio. Use drones and video effects to showcase your carts in action from a bird's eye view.
15. Create a Branded Mascot – Want people to remember your business. Embed your business mascot into their brains. Creating a mascot is not that difficult. You can easily create one with free AI image creators. Once ready, use it for events and social media.
Product Diversification
Do not just rent a cart, but the whole experience!
16. Offer Cart Picnics—People love picnics, especially in lovely parks. The primary obstacle is walking inside the parks with heavy bags. Bundle cart rentals with picnic baskets and suggested routes.
17. Mobile DJ Cart for Parties—Equip one cart with a speaker and hire a local DJ. This method is fast and convenient for event planners and surely puts money into your pockets.
18. Cart Photo Booth – Like a mobile DJ cart, set up a rental cart as a pop-up photo booth. You will be surprised how much demand it will get (if you target the right population).
19. Themed Scavenger Hunts—People are all about fun. Why not create a game for them to enjoy involving your golf carts? It will surely create gamified rental experiences.
20. Decorated Holiday Carts—We have already mentioned that wrapping your carts with local ads can bring some extra income, so now, wrap them with holiday decor. For example, offer Halloween, Christmas, or Valentine-themed cart rentals.
Tech & Innovation
Make use of the technology to crash your competitors!
21. App-Based Booking – Let customers see and book available carts in real time using their mobile phones. You can implement this feature with Reservety’s rental software. Plus, it allows you to manage everything from inventory to reporting and marketing.
22. Use QR Codes for Instant Rentals – Staying in line is the last thing modern shoppers want. Allow customers to start rentals with simple QR code scans. Again, Reservety has this feature.
23. Install Selfie Cameras in Carts – Tourists like to capture their fun moments. Why not give them that opportunity? Equip your carts with selfie cameras to help riders generate fun and shareable content.
24. Virtual Cart Customization Tool – How cool it would be if your clients could customize their carts before booking. You can easily implement this feature if you use Reservety. Let customers design their rental experience online before pickup!
25. Gamify with Loyalty Points—Incentives are like chocolate for a kid. Customers like to earn points or rewards thatmake them feel good about their spending. So, create a mobile rewards app for frequent renters. Again, Reservety can help with this one as well.
Community Building
Be closer to the community to increase the visibility of your business!
26. Host Charity Events – We have already mentioned organizing sporting events. Similarly, you can host a charity event. Yes, it won’t be profitable, but it will surely earn you some reputation and public attention.
27. Create a "Cart Club" – Starting a club for cart users and offering memberships with exclusive offers, VIP access, and other incentives can form an army of loyal cart renters.
28. Offer Cart Rides for Nonprofits—This may sound insignificant for the growth of your golf cart rental business, but donating rentals for charity events can raise awareness and enhance your business's identity. Keep in mind that people like to do business with ethical companies.
29. Organize Cart-Only Movie Nights—Drive-in movie theaters were prominent in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Why not revive that idea withrental golf carts? Rent a drive-in screen and host events with carts.
30. Monthly “Cart Karaoke” Night – Mobile karaoke. How does that sound? Carts rigged with mics, speakers, and fun routes are a unique idea that can attract music fans. Your golf cart rental business should not be boring!
Unexpected Markets
Target the areas where your carts will be essential!
31. Serve College Campuses—College Campuses are big and full of students and staff who walk between the buildings on foot. You can use this to your advantage by offering short-term or semester rentals for students and staff.
32. Target Retirement Communities—Offer easy-access cart leasing for daily use. Use your negotiation skills with community managers to make the deal mutually beneficial for both sides.
33. Offer golf Carts for large corporate campuses—the larger the property, the bigger the demand for golf carts. So, pitch them as internal employee transport.
34. Cater to Wedding Photographers—We mentioned photographers, but this can work for other professionals, too. Event organizers, photographers, and caterers need to travel to various venues.
35. Temporary Cart Leasing to Construction Sites—Construction workers are constantly moving, so they may need your golf carts to move from point A to point B inside the construction sites. These carts can be a quick transport for foremen and staff.
Creative Sales Tactics
Take a different approach to stir interest among the public.
36. Offer the First Ride Free for Locals—This move will encourage word of mouth from residents. Also, who doesn’t like a free ride? Focus on making the first rides as fun as possible because first impressions dictate people’s next move. If they like the first ride, they will rent it later.
37. Use Mystery Box Incentives—We all like surprises. You can surprise customers with gift boxes at checkout and add such incentives with Reservety.
38. Referral Program with Tangible Gifts—Give away coolers, branded gear, free hours, etc. All those goodies may be insignificant to you, but they will significantly impact your customers. Small things can create big emotions. Therefore, money shouldn’t be the guiding force in your business; human decency also matters.
39. Host Monthly “Free Cart Friday”—Caring for the public good can attract customers. Organizing free cart days can also bring in good traffic. If you do not want to give away golf carts for the whole day, give a few hours free to random walk-ins.
40. Rent-to-Own Model—We all prefer that our money serve the greater good. For some, renting is a waste of money. The rent-to-own model can eliminate that feeling and encourage customers to rent more often. You can implement this model with Reservety.
That was the list of 40 ways to grow your golf cart rental business, but it is nowhere close to being the final list. We collected them to show you that there are more approaches than what you see in the marketing world. Repeating somebody’s marketing tactics may work, but creative tactics are the way to go.
We hope that what is listed here will help you think differently and devise more original ways to grow your golf cart rental business.
If you own a golf cart rental business and are still using outdated methods to manage it, we highly encourage you to try Reservety.
We offer 14-day free trials with no obligations or credit card requirements. Try the software without limitations and see how well it will suit your needs.
Reservety handles your website, bookings, inventory, and payments — so you can focus on growing your business.