Ask an Expert: Lori Shepard

You have questions, we have answers. This month we spoke with Lori Shepard, senior director of digital experience at Anytime Fitness, about digital marketing strategies.

1. How have Anytime Fitness’ digital marketing initiatives grown over the past 5 years? LS: Anytime Fitness’ digital marketing approach has allowed us to test, change and grow each year. This approach has allowed us to continue to optimize our marketing efforts to better serve our franchisees. I would say the most exciting thing that we’ve been able to do recently is take advantage of targeting abilities to create more relevant, engaging and inspiring content that allows us to truly connect. We’ve seen a lot of success when we have married great storytelling with data, and this will continue to be a focus for us in the next few years.

2. Why is digital marketing important for health club businesses? LS: As our members and prospective members are spending more and more time with screens, it became increasingly important for us to have a mature digital strategy to ensure that we’re providing the inspiration and tools that people need to get to a healthier place. Because Anytime Fitness is a brand full of warmth, character, service and a really great sense of humor, it can be difficult to translate that into the digital world. The team has done a great job of delivering on the sincerity of our brand through our digital marketing approach.

3. Why is social media marketing important for health club businesses? LS: When most gym owners think of their social media account, they see it as an extension of a bulletin board that is at the front of the gym — and a great tool for letting your community know what’s going on. But to really nail social media, you need to think of it as an essential part of your customer service strategy and a powerful advertising vehicle. When someone uses social media to talk to you, make it a goal to respond every time, just as you would if someone called you or when they walked in the front door.

4. What are the biggest challenges when it comes to digital media marketing? LS: Staying focused on the fundamentals. About 90 percent of our investment (time and energy) is focused on optimizing the most fundamental customer experience paths. We spend a lot of time making sure that people can find and reach us and that we don’t waste their time with messages that aren’t relevant. We do a lot of data analysis and are incredibly focused on delivering a high return on our investment. After all, we have 2,500 small business owners whose livelihood depends on our success — so we do everything we know how to, to make sure that we are making the most of our investment.

5. How do you overcome those challenges? LS: We make data a game. We establish benchmarks and then, when we beat them, there’s a lot of high fives in the marketing department. We take calculated risks and watch the data closely to see what happens. We don’t hire anyone who isn’t innately curious.