We know that marketing is always on the top of your mind, so we spent a little time speaking with Debbie Lee, the director of marketing for Gainesville Health & Fitness, about tips that can be a home run for your marketing department.
Here is what Lee had to say to our questions:
CS: How can clubs identify best demographics for their market?
DL: The most basic way to determine best demographics for your market is to:
1. Look at your current customer base.
You will most likely attract the type of customer you already have. Who are your current customers, and why do they buy from you? Look for common characteristics and interests. Which ones bring in the most business via referrals? It is very likely that other people like them could also benefit from your services. Your member database should give you this information — age, residential zip code, gender, family status, age of kids and occupation.
Although we typically look at traditional demographics, more businesses are studying psychographics that include lifestyle info like hobbies, interests and values. They may collect this from current customers or use an outside company that specializes in collecting and analyzing this in various geographic regions.
2. Use generational research to help define your market. After studying traditional demographic data like age, take a look at generational groups like Gen I, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Post-War cohorts. This will allow you to speak to their lifestyle, using the language, music and visuals most compelling to them — it is incredibly effective in creating an emotional response that is the goal of your advertising. It’s the more customized version of age demographics.
CS: Why should clubs still use direct mail?
DL: Although I am sure businesses still successfully use direct mail, we haven’t found this marketing vehicle to yield the results needed to justify the expense. We have experimented with various offers of time (14 days free, 30 days free) and joining offers with limited success — joining offers have never included dues discounts but instead present value-added packages.
We know the mailing list and an offer you cannot resist are the two most important actions for success. Based on our experience over the last seven years, I would only consider direct mail with a unique event offering a joining package you cannot get any other time of the year, and the marketplace believes that. Instead of a postcard in your mailbox, we use Facebook-sponsored stories that will pop up in your newsfeed.
CS: How can clubs use social media to reach prospective members?
DL: Share, share, share is the first strategy for attracting prospective members. Everyone has a Facebook page for their company that is packed full of interesting content that is begging to be shared by its Facebook fans. Right? This should be one of the priorities in your annual strategic objectives. There is no better source of advertising than our members, especially today, so make a commitment to post content that is shareable. And, measure it!
We have found success in using paid sponsored Facebook stories. It’s fairly inexpensive, your audience can be targeted by zip code, age, gender and anything else collected on a Facebook profile (ie: in a relationship, married, kids, etc.) and your message can be changed quickly. We have used member testimonials with an offer, promoted our community teen membership program (with 1,800 teens registering) and recruited sales staff.
CS: What are some ways clubs can market themselves as experts in the market, and the go-to place for fitness?
DL: We are the storytellers. That is our mission in marketing because a great story presents the content you need to establish your business as the expert. You want the marketplace to always think of you first!
It’s all about the content, and an investment in content marketing to develop meaning and compelling stories will position your company as the expert. We all want people to come to us when they have a question about anything fitness related. And, as you expand the expertise of your business to other topics such as leadership, management, hiring systems and best business practices, you can open another category of know-how for your marketplace.
So how do you get all of this content? Invest in content creators. You will find them in your business and outside of your business. The natural experts in your business may be personal trainers and physical therapists who can be bloggers and “how to” video stars. Local university students in journalism or business who are proven writers are a great resource; offer them a membership trade out. We determine the topics and they do the research and interviews to create the story. From there, we will post in social media, use as e-blasts to various groups of people in our database, post as blogs and videos. Great visuals are a must in all content posted. One more helpful tip — always use short forms to capture reader contact information. Long forms do not convert as well into leads.
Content is presented in many ways — speaking engagements to community and business groups, health fairs, workshops, how to videos on YouTube, blogs, website, podcasts, webinars, info graphics and e-books. Use them all.
As told to Tyler Montgomery
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
