Your club has a secret weapon at its disposal. It is rarely used to its full potential and many clubs believe it is too much of a burden. Several clubs don’t even know it exists. Digital signage is an underutilized communication system in the health and fitness industry that can be leveraged to direct, inform and personalize the member experience.
This wonderful tool that can be much more than music videos — MTV doesn’t even play those anymore — random TV channels, sports, news, the weather, or the random static image regarding a promotion or event at your club. The new age of digital signs for the health and fitness industry is here and designed to engage your members and staff, enhance the member experience, drive sales in other profit centers, provide ancillary revenue and is easy to use.
Member (and Staff) Engagement
Engaging your members with digital signage should be one of your highest priorities. The brain processes 90% of its information visually. Start using digital signage to assist your members in creating habits and behaviors that benefit your club. The constant reminders of mask wearing, social distancing, cleaning off equipment, and even re-rack weights can be done easily and often using digital signage.
Member Experience
Making your club an inviting and comfortable environment while being motivational and supportive to your members. Enhance your members’ experience by posting nutritional tips and topics, congratulatory posts for achievements and milestones, information on new equipment, and introducing new members and staff. Digital signage has been shown to boost customer satisfaction by 46% and a 30% increase in customer retention.
Cross Promotion for Internal Upsells
With increased customer satisfaction and retention, digital signage can compliment in-club profit centers and drive sales. Digital menu boards in your café, at your smoothie bar, or even by the grab-and-go fridge can help increase sales. Digital signage can be an effective sales tool by assisting in the sales process for your associates. Additionally, it has been shown to bump up the average purchase amount by almost 30%.
Ancillary Income Stream
Digital signage can offer your club the opportunity to create an ancillary income stream by selling advertising onto your network. It’s known that 68% of Americans have bought a product or service solely because its signage caught their eye. Most clubs are thinking, “I don’t want my members watching advertisements.” If you are already providing your members with TV channels, they are already watching advertising. The difference is your club is not getting the ad revenue and you are paying the cable company. Most gyms have a valued demographic, health and beauty conscious, that advertisers spend enormous ad budgets to reach. Sometimes these budgets are spent very wastefully through traditional forms. Targeted placement at gyms can be valuable and cost effective to those advertisers. Advertising revenue to the gyms can have profit margins upwards of 50%.
Digital signage is the key lever of an integrated communication network at your club. It is curated content, not random content splashed on the screens. In a time where the clubs need revenue, a digital signage network may be the opportunity to build up cash reserves and opening an entirely new customer segment. Now is the time to unleash the power of digital signage.
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Taylor Watkins is a co-founder and CEO of Digital Revenue Systems, a digital signage company that helps clubs create, grow and monetize a private digital signage network. Taylor has over a decade of experience in digital out of home networks in fitness settings. Digital Revenue Systems creates and manages curative content that will engage your members, enhance the member experience, and build an additional, high-margin revenue stream.
