In August 2011, Glenn Klepchick joined the Hilton Head Island-based Golfer’s Guide Marketing Solutions as its new Chief Operating Officer. An on again/off again resident of the Island for 30 years, his previous business experience includes senior level positions with AOL, IBM and iXL, as well as CEO of the Americas for ADPepper Media NV.

Hilton Head Monthly: Congratulations on your new job.

Glenn Klepchick: Thanks. Marc Frey made me one of those offers I couldn’t refuse — the challenge of helping to reinvent one of the biggest brands in the golf business and set a new standard for interactivity and value in the online golf-information space. And I get to stay on this fabulous island of Hilton Head that I’m lucky enough to call home. In the past, my life revolved around airline and off-site meeting schedules; now I can work from my south-end office or the golf course or the beach or wherever — it doesn’t get any better than that.

HHM: By “biggest brands” you mean Golfer’s Guide….

GK: Right. Golfer’s Guide publishes 55 magazines in 20 major golf markets in the U.S. and Canada, reaching roughly 15 million readers annually. In terms of total North American circulation, we’re No. 3 and growing.

HHM: “Growing?” In this economy?

GK: It’s thrive-or-die time for businesses like ours. So we’re going to increase our print circulation, online viewership and enhance our multi-national team — that last one being the most important because we can’t accomplish the other two without the best and brightest people making it happen.

HHM: How many people does that involve?

GK: Right now we have 10 full-time employees in the corporate office here on the island and between 25 and 30 local contractors at any given time supporting their efforts. With the managers and contractors based in our other markets, we’re over 40 people and counting.

But the success of any expansion efforts will be directly tied to our productivity here at the island office, so we’re putting together an all-star team: Matt Ondo, our new Chief Financial Officer; Fred Warren, formerly of LINKS Magazine is our new publisher for the Hilton Head magazine; Ashley Hamilton heads up our Operations and Support Organization with the help of Tiffany Taylor; Lisa Kunkle-Meyers is handling business-development opportunities on a national scale and Karen Rhodes supports our online efforts. These are outstanding folks — dedicated, creative and passionate about our future as a company. And of course, our leader is Marc Frey, who has built the Golfer’s Guide brand with intelligence and vision. With others of us taking over the dynamic day-to-day operations, Marc has more time to pursue new opportunities, explore new ideas to enhance our clients’ marketing capabilities and focus on expanding into new markets.

HHM: Are there really any “new markets” to expand into these days?

GK: Yes, if you know where to look for them. There’s no doubt that the golf business has been hurt like just about every business in the last few years — maybe even a little bit more than most because golf is a recreational pursuit that can become a luxury in the average household when times are tight. So companies like Golfer’s Guide have the challenge of creating new products and services that offer our customers better value. Now our flagship publications — the seasonal visitor guide in those 20 golf destinations — have always been free, so if you can’t reduce the price, you have to improve the quality to reach more readers. That means improving the editorial content, the advertising diversity, the number of distribution locations — and that’s just for the print publications. The opportunity for online growth is even greater.

HHM: New websites?

GK: Yes, but it’s more than that these days. We’ll be launching some new websites next year and significantly enhancing the content of GolfersGuide.com and TeeTimeSavings.com, among others. But one of the things that makes us optimistic is that, while overall economic growth has been stagnant in recent years, there’s been a revolution in smartphones. This creates tremendous potential if you already have an established brand name in the information-services industry — particularly in a large niche business where the customers, by definition, are on the go. So we’ll be debuting Golfer’s Guide smartphone apps in 2012 that will make our information about golf courses and golf services and golf-related businesses like resorts and restaurants available anywhere, any time at 4G speed.

HHM: So do you think magazines will be obsolete in, say, five years?

GK: Absolutely not. They are the hook, our grassroots platform for exposure, and will play an important role for our businesses for years to come. Certainly, for those of us over 40. We’re planning to play golf and take vacations for many years into the future and part of that experience is picking up those free magazines at welcome centers and off the racks that tell us more about the courses, hotels, restaurants, shops and so forth in our chosen destination. We’re in talks right now to add to the number of those golf destinations that we cover because there are still print opportunities in locations where we think that advertisers and visitors would benefit from a new Golfer’s Guide in their areas.

And those are just the visitors’ guides. We think there’s also a local golf community right here on Hilton Head, in Bluffton and throughout the Lowcountry that would benefit from a new kind of golf publication, one geared to club members and daily-fee players alike. It’ll have local news, interviews, community features and more, all tied in with a new online presence that will give golfers in our area a hub for the latest information and a place to share ideas and opinions.

HHM: So what’s the plan?

GK: The plan is to give every reader of Hilton Head Monthly a special Christmas bonus this year. But like all really good holiday presents, this one will be a surprise.

Editor’s note: To learn more about Golfer’s Guide, visit their website, www.golfersguide.com.