It’s safe to say that the majority of your members love where they live. This means, they probably love the community and the small entities that make their community great. Members with kids most likely send their kids to local schools and are involved with local activities as a family. The biggest question for your club is: how do these things affect me?
It doesn’t matter whether you own your own club, or if the club is part of a larger chain. Regardless, the club you own, or operate, is part of the surrounding community. Most likely, unless you live in a small city, the entire city isn’t your community. The community around you involves about a five-mile radius and many club-marketing departments have found that those are the people attending your club.
Members don’t want to travel miles and miles to exercise – regardless of how new your club may be. The key to making members happy is by being involved in what they love – community. Look at our list of tips to help your club get more involved in the local community. Focus on making your presence known; your members will love you and more people in the community will want to be involved in your club.
- Schools and community centers in your area are major hot spots for warming up local residents. Try sending a personal trainer or someone from your marketing department to the school or community center to talk about the importance of fitness.
- Make your impression felt. Most small communities have small gatherings or festivals where a booth could be utilized. Set up for the weekend and give people some tips on basic fitness. Show them the right way to do a push up or help them with a pull-up bar.
- Try sponsoring a local family that is going through a hard time. Do what you can to raise money for the family and try to get a story in the local newspaper. Citizens love to see companies stick their neck out there for them and their neighbors.
- Team up with a local restaurant. Sponsor a healthy dish or a salad. Also, hold a raffle at the restaurant for a free three-month membership. When people see your name in their local hot spots, they will start to associate your club as part of the community.
