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Understanding and Adapting to Google’s Cookieless Era

Understanding and Adapting to Google’s Cookieless Era

In 2024, Google made a significant announcement that affects how businesses collect data and advertise online, they’re phasing out third-party cookies.

But what does that mean, and how does it impact the digital space within the leisure sector?
Let’s break it down.
  • What are third party cookies?

    Imagine cookies as tiny bits of information that track your online activities. Third-party cookies are like little spies that follow you around the internet, noting what websites you visit, what products you look at, and more. Us advertisers use this information to show audiences tailored ads in-line with their interests.

  • Why is Google getting rid of them?

    Privacy concerns! Many people feel uncomfortable knowing their every move online is being tracked. So, Google want to respect user privacy by eliminating these third-party cookies.

  • How does this affect operators?

    Without third-party cookies, advertisers like us, lose some of the tools needed to target potential customers, It’s like trying to hit a bullseye without a target! But there are plenty of ways we all can adapt to these changes.

Actions for operations

  • MORE focus on first-party data

    First party data collection is becoming more important than ever, and you can boost data by encouraging customers to sign up. Offer incentives, loyalty programs, free passes, email subscriptions, and more, to entice sign ups, this way you’ll have their information with their permission.
    You can also try streamlining sign up processes, making it easier for customers to leave details, making use of simple forms with minimal fields & offering multiple sign-up channels, online, in-person & in app.

  • Emphasise trust

    Prioritise being privacy compliant by updating policies to align with evolving privacy standards. Assuring customers that you prioritise their privacy and data security, building greater trust & loyalty.

  • Get personal

    Use customer data that you collect to create personalised experiences for your customers. Send them tailored offers, recommendations, and content that align with their interests and fitness goals, consistently keeping customers engaged.

  • Stay informed

    Keep an eye on updates from Google and other industry leaders. The digital landscape is always evolving, so staying informed will help you adapt and thrive.

Beyond Google’s recent cookie changes, we’ve already experienced a significant shift in how data is managed online, notably with Apple’s iOS 14 update in 2020. This update required apps to seek permission from users before tracking their activity across various platforms, with many users opting out of tracking. Meta (including Facebook and Instagram) in particular faced challenges in gathering detailed data on user interests and behaviours.

Consequently, digital advertising strategies have been adapting since, and advertising algorithms on platforms have been significantly improving. An example of this would be how Interest-based targeting on Facebook Ads is currently giving way to a more AI-driven approach focused on creative content and ad copy, leveraging algorithms to deliver personalised ads based on individual preferences, resulting in more engaging campaigns.

So, this isn’t unfamiliar territory for us, we’ve been proactive in implementing tools and processes to mitigate the effects.

The Google Chrome cookie phase out is an opportunity for leisure operators to fortify relationships with customers by prioritising data, personalisation, and trust. In this evolving digital landscape, we can continue to effectively engage with your audience.

Remember, we’re here to support you in navigating these changes and maximising our digital marketing efforts together!

Freddy Catchpool
Freddy Catchpool

Paid Media Specialist

Learning From PMW Unlocked

From the 5-6th of March, the TA6 and Alliance central marketing teams descended, along with hundreds of fellow marketers, upon the Business Design Centre in London for Performance Marketing World Unlocked.

Their purpose: to learn from some of the brightest mind in the performance marketing sphere. With marketing being the dynamic and changeable beast that we all know and love, it is essential that we keep on top of developments to, in turn, provide the best services for our clients.

With topics ranging from building communities to everybody’s favourite subject, artificial intelligence, the teams returned with a plethora of valuable takeaways. Take a look at some of their highlights below.

Freddy Catchpool
Freddy Catchpool

Paid Media Specialist

PMW Unlocked was a great couple of days filled with inspiration, some key takeaways.

Adapting to a cookieless future on Google Ads with first party data now being more important than ever to utilise across the platform. This enables us as advertisers to maintain key targeting, personalise ad experiences, and ensure compliance with evolving privacy regulations, ensuring continued effectiveness across campaigns.

I’m excited to see how AI continues to shape the future of performance marketing with even more adoption of AI around Meta’s advantage plus, Google’s Performance Max and the new adoption of their Gemini generative AI model (now in Beta on Google Ads). Having greater capabilities with machine learning and assisting us in reducing the more manual set up tasks, enabling us to focus more on performance data & optimising account efficiency.

Incrementality testing is becoming more important than ever as the competitive landscape is continuing to grow, keeping the edge over competitors is key. Gathering greater valuable data through testing will allows us to refine strategies, optimise performance, and maximise ROI by identifying and implementing the most effective campaigns – much more testing in 2024!

Emma Kapur
Emma Kapur

Strategic Account Manager

We were very fortunate to receive a keynote from Ibrahim Kamara, founder of GUAP, who gave a brilliant address on the importance of authenticity and community engagement when it comes to marketing and brand building. 

In the fast-paced, 5-second, 240-character world we operate in a first impression has never been so important, and coupled with the increase in AI use in digital marketing, we as consumers can often wonder who to trust. Ibrahim, and others at PMW Unlocked, therefore gave us some really valuable points to consider when it comes to authentic, engaging marketing:

  • A consistent value exchange between consumers and brands is essential – at a minimum, does your brand respond to Google reviews? 
  • It’s not just about what’s being advertised, it’s who’s behind it. Perhaps some behind-the-scenes content is in order for your next campaign!
  • Audiences are more likely to trust and engage with content that they feel accurately represents them – we see this all the time in our work, for example, when we advertise using photoshoots featuring real customers as opposed to stock imagery.
James Cole
James Cole

Head of Partnership

Artificial Intelligence, AI, is everywhere – there’s no avoiding it. We as a team entered PMW Unlocked with a fairly solid understanding of AI, with many of us already using it in day-to-day tasks all the time. However, we left with a much clearer understanding of more ways in which we and our clients can utilise AI to enhance our work and allow us to dedicate even more time to our clients.

Namely, there were some great discussions across several panels about the role of AI vs humans in the world of marketing. These largely boiled down to:

AI functions

  • Marketing automation
  • Marketing personalisation
  • Analysing data
  • Chatbots and virtual assistants

Unequivocably human functions

  • Transparency with customers
  • Decision making using personal insight and intuition or ‘gut feel’
  • Saying ahead; looking for the next trend and being a trailblazer
  • Emotions: AI cannot replace the emotive response to advert copy or creatives
Nicola Bromley
Nicola Bromley

Strategic Account Manager

My biggest takeaways were definitely around audience and community fostering. Grace Andrews, Marketing Director for Steven Bartlett & The Diary Of A CEO, shared some really fascinating insights around this. She impressed how The Diary Of A CEO is more than just a podcast, it’s built an entire community, and shared some of the ways in which they built that relationship with their listeners. 

One key point made was the difference between an audience and a community: essentially, audiences are consumers we talk at, whereas communities are consumers that we talk with. Whilst it can be uncomfortable, it’s absolutely vital to listen to your users and find out what makes them tick in order to shape your content.

Finally, make content that people actually care about! It might seem like a no-brainer, but how many adverts have you seen recently that have really struck you? Very few brands are in touch with their customers, and it shows. How do you find out what your customers care about? Listen to your them. It all flows together!

Wearables – An Untapped Opportunity

Wearables – An Untapped Opportunity

  by Tamara Bailey

Since first appearing in 2016, except for a slip in 2018 and an unsurprising second place to online fitness in 2021, wearables have been number 1 in the ACSM Fitness Trends report every year.

Over the last 5 years, the number of fitness apps, trackers and smart watches with wellness features have grown exponentially, and with large players such as Google entering the fitness market with the Google Fit health tracking platform, and Apple with Apple Fitness+ they seem set to continue to grow.

The Global Wearable Technology Market Report predicts global growth of 14.3% between 2022 – 2026, a value of over $61 billion. Whoop, the US based fitness tracker for strain, recovery and sleep has made significant moves from a wearable for high performance athletes to a wearable for the general population and is now worth $3.6 billion.

Despite this, it seems the leisure and fitness industry have been slow to capitalise on the opportunity within facilities. We have seen a rise in online fitness offerings as a result of the pandemic closures, but not trackers to support and connect with them.

As we head into challenging times with the cost of living rapidly increasing, members will be considering where they can cut expenditure, and as the cost of utilities will also impact facility revenues, the potential of members choosing their wearables instead of memberships is a risk we can’t afford to take.

However, wearables and trackers should not be a competitive alternative, if integrated into the member journey they can create exceptional experiences and higher retention, using them to add value of club membership.

Why Embrace Wearables?

  1. There is demand

    According to recent surveys, 1 in 5 people now have a smart watch or fitness tracker.

    Research by Legend by Xplor, found that over 50% of people purchased 1 or more fitness apps during lockdown and 48% of members expected their fitness provider to integrate devices into their experience. It also reported that 25% of members were interested in more connected equipment.

  2. They drive retention

    Whether people choose to track performance outcomes, weight loss, calories burned, steps achieved, recovery rates and sleep, MOVEs or MEPs, fitness apps and wearables provide simple, measurable goals which can be used to drive attendance, achievement and reward. All factors that generate and maintain exercise habits.

    By building these metrics into the support journey, whether in person or digital, we create an opportunity to connect and engage with members on their terms, meeting them where they are and providing an important connection to their club and additional value to membership.

    Many wearables also have a community element built in, not only allowing your teams to continually support and engage, but for members to support and engage with each other. This creates recognition and accountability for effort and achievements.

    TMActive have acknowledged the benefits and have created a clear strategy for engaging with members, creating community and driving retention https://www.myzone.org/blog/tmactive

    There is even a move to bring virtual fitness to swimming pools with products such as https://www.hydrohex.com/ another area that tracking could provide vital engagement where in person support is low outside of aqua classes and swimming lessons.

  3. Revenue Growth Opportunity

    Improving retention will itself create more on-going revenue and reduce pressure on new sales but wearables can also enhance your secondary spend potential.

    Whether through retail of wearables and accessories, driving Personal Training or additional courses or workshops built around wearable technology, clear revenue generation can be created. You may also consider premium or digital only membership options linked to the specific services and activities delivered through tracking technology.

  4. Gather Valuable Data

    Another important area that operators need to improve on is gathering meaningful data. CRMs are essential as your central data hub however, aside from attendance data, don’t provide more detailed insights into member behaviour, achievements and progress. These can be provided through smart data from wearables and trackers.

    In our previous article 10 People Joined Yesterday, we identified the need to better understand what happens to new members in the days and weeks after they join.

    Whether recognising programme compliance, goals achieved, engagement with training modalities in club, or tracking exercise outside of the club, trackers provide important insights to drive communication, member journey triggers and identify at risk members early.

How to Embrace Wearables

  1. Central or Individual

    Decide whether your approach will be to provide a central system for all members to link to or to support a wide range of members choice of wearables.

    Providers such as Myzone, Technogym MyWellness, EGYM and others create a clear and consistent approach to your member engagement strategy. They can also link to many individual smart trackers such as Apple Health, Garmin, Polar etc. so still allow members to link to their own choice but provide a central data collection point, focus for group exercise or gym workouts and support activities outside the club while linking the data back to the facility.

    Les Mills recorded their recent Live event entirely in virtual reality and Myzone are even set to move into the Metaverse in 2023, an easy step towards virtual fitness so technology is fast becoming an integral part of fitness experience.

    If not investing into a central system, the use of wearables should still be included in the member experience, from helping goal setting to tracking achievements and encouraging routine.

  2. Build into Onboarding

    Ensure wearables are a topic for your onboarding steps. Understanding if members use wearables or trackers, which ones and why, will help support their training plan, goal setting and progress reviews.

    Using a tracker to run an initial fitness test will help set a clear and understandable start point, highlight areas for focus, and establish goals familiar to the member. Many wearables will also integrate with body composition scanners to store and track progress towards goals such as body fat %, muscle mass and muscle imbalances so provide a point of discussion wider than simply their exercise programme.

    Having a central system also means you have the potential to introduce new members to wearables by having a demo device for completing initial fitness testing.

    Rather than simply providing a gym programme, trainers should be outlining a weekly activity plan, incorporate preferred elements of in-club training but also home workouts and outdoor activity. These will all remain connected to their member experience through tracking of completion and achievement data.

    Many systems will also incorporate contact triggers or automated communications for support, achievement and drop out risk. This enhances the member journey without impacting on staff resource.

    Used well, technology should enhance and streamline support by your team rather than replace but effective use of your digital ecosystem can provide tools and data to make their role easier and reduce admin time while also providing constant support where resource is not available.

  3. Build into the Ongoing Member Journey

    There are many ways wearables can support continual member engagement. As well as being an integral part of on-going reviews they can be used to create community and motivation through member challenges, either individual or collective e.g., a facility challenge to burn 1million calories.

    Central systems also offer a next level experience for group exercise, not only providing the member with performance feedback in real time, they can provide the instructor with insights to motivate, acknowledge achievement and use members names and all performance data is collected by the member to support wider activities than just the gym.

    Where exercise data can be centrally tracked and followed it is possible to use to communicate with members, either a simple like or comment on workouts or a direct contact, particularly where attendance or compliance is dropping, this provides as essential tool for early intervention and prevention of drop out and cancellation.

    Proving impact on health, fitness and wellbeing has never been more important, wearables and fitness trackers provide measurable data for you to demonstrate the impact your facilities and team are having on your local community, exercise referral schemes and wellbeing initiatives. This can be used to source funding, case studies and promotional campaigns.

  4. Connect Home Workouts to Member Value

    With the current cost of living crisis, there is a risk that people will look to reduce outgoings, potentially cancelling membership and returning to at home exercise.

    Having time to build gym visits into weekly commitments has also always been a challenge and a reason many members give for cancellation.

    By engaging with wearables and fitness trackers you can encourage home workouts as a standard part of their weekly activity plan (ideally build in 2 visits to the facility to maximise membership retention) without reducing the value of membership. Most operators have continued to provide some form of online workouts so consider including details of relevant tracking metrics. For example, approximate calories for the workout, what Myzone colour zones or MEPs the workout should achieve, or number of MOVEs towards the daily target.

Whether you choose to fully embrace a central fitness and effort tracking system or enhance your journey by ensuring individual trackers are discussed and used to support member progress, it is clear it is an area that hold significant potential but is not yet being well integrated into facilities and operational strategies.

Key Take-Aways

  1. Decide on your approach to wearables and fitness trackers. Would a central system work best for your experience or can you task your team to support multiple options.
  2. Build the use of wearables and fitness trackers clearly into your new member onboarding as part of goal setting as well as the on-going experience. E.g. Group Exercise, Home Workouts, Challenges and communications.
  3. Understand the data you can collect and how you can use this to support and connect with members as well as review and revise your member engagement strategy.
  4. Provide your team with training or information on these devices and how they should be building them into their support.

If you would like to discuss the potential of wearable solutions on your member experience or need support in delivering this, contact the TA6 Team.

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5 Things We Learnt at marketingSHOWCASE Bristol 2022

5 Things We Learnt at marketingSHOWCASE Bristol 2022

marketingSHOWCASE, which hosts educational marketing events across the country, visited Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol in November, and Amy Cluett, one of our TA6 Account Managers, was there to welcome it. Featuring a series of fascinating seminars, the event covered a wide range of useful and timely topics, from optimising email marketing to the importance of a robust marketing strategy, to web design.

Here are our top five learnings from marketingSHOWCASE Bristol that we’d like to share with you.

  1. Do you remember your last email?

    The team at Force24 posed some questions which really stuck with us:

    Do you remember the last commercial/advertising email that you received?

    Amongst the seminar’s audience of around 60 people at marketingSHOWCASE, only one person raised their hand to this question. When asked whether they remembered any of the email’s content, they replied that they only remembered the discount that it was offering her.

    Following this, the speaker asked us, as marketeers, the following:

    Do you remember an email that you created for a campaign last month?

    Most of the room raised their hands.

    Do you remember an email that you created for a campaign last year?

    Again, most of the room raised their hands.

    The point of this exercise was multifaceted. First, we were asked to gently question our marketing practices, and whether the amount of time and brainpower that we’re spending on composing emails for campaigns is justifiable – especially given how little consumers remember them.

    Secondly, what should we be putting into our marketing emails? Given what people recall about promotional emails (the person in our seminar was not unique in this respect, we were informed, most consumers will only really remember the discount, offer, or incentive provided in commercial emails), is there a quicker, easier way that we can approach the composition of marketing emails to ensure that they are both simple to produce and memorable?

    Do not, however, be disheartened or put off email marketing. As the speaker said, email marketing isn’t dead, the way we ought to do it is just changing. In fact, one-sixth of emails achieve their goal – a decent result if we consider, for example, an ex-member database.

  2. The value of marketing in ‘hard times’

    Given the economic challenges facing the UK at the moment, difficult decisions are having to be made within businesses and local authorities. As outlined by Padua Communications and as we have seen increasingly of late amongst our clients, marketing budgets are often some of the first to be decreased. Marketing can sometimes be seen as an unnecessary or frivolous expense, whereas the opposite is actually true.

    As marketeers, we understand the immense value of marketing to businesses. It keeps your brand present and in customers’ minds, induces them to make a purchase, and can help to maintain customer relationships and manage retention – all of which help to drive and maintain revenue.

    Padua recommends that around 5% of a company’s sales revenue should be spent on marketing annually, and that it is essential the marketers advocate for their budget. Indeed, there are many ways in which marketing campaigns can be linked with other areas of the business – such as HR and recruitment – so budgets could potentially be split and/or shared.

    Further, the speaker advocated strongly for the creation and use of annual marketing plans, which we could not agree with more. We implement annual marketing plans for all of our long-term clients which enables us to have a clear plan for our budget, gives us and the client time to develop campaigns and marketing activity properly, and gives us a good blueprint for tracking and reporting on the success of campaigns both as we go and annually.

  3. Know your audience

    Knowing and understanding your audience is the crux of all marketing practices, so it is unsurprising that the topic was discussed length across different seminars at marketingSHOWCASE Bristol. In a seminar on website design from WebBox, the speaker named one of the biggest mistakes that people make when designing a website as not knowing one’s users. This point is twofold, since we must both know who they are, and know, i.e., understand, them. Indeed, the speaker noted that we must ask ourselves two key questions when approaching website design:

    • Who is the website designed for? 
    • What do we want them to do on the website?

    It is essential that we both know and put into practice the answers to these two questions if we are to create an engaging website that yields results and provides a great user experience. More on that later!

    Elsewhere, segmentation was given a whole new approach by Force24. They advocated the use of 3D audience segmentation, as opposed to the traditional 2D, whereby audiences are defined not only by their ‘sector’ (age, gender, interests, occupation, etc.), but by their engagement level with the marketing material (e.g., registered for an offer, clicked a button to claim the offer, etc.). The purpose of this detailed and rather complex way of approaching segmentation is to help move audiences along with tiny steps, saying different yet appropriate (according to their sector) messages to them along the way.

  4. Impress the 94%

    According to WebBox, 94% of a website’s first impressions relate to web design. The importance of nailing your website’s design and user experience is, therefore, momentous. Some of the biggest mistakes made in website design were named as:

    • Not setting up/maintaining a good mobile-friendly website. At TA6 we’re aware that around 80% of our digital adverts are accessed by mobile, with that number increasing all the time, plus WebBox reported that around 74% of users are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly site
    • Lack of design consistency. Websites look and feel much more pleasant to use when they have a unified style – that means icons, imagery, navigation, and content hierarchy
    • Use of irrelevant imagery. From our own work at TA6, we have also found the use of certain types of imagery off-putting to many audiences on leisure/fitness websites – for example, lots of stock images of extremely fit people tend to turn people off
    • Bad colour choices – try to avoid using colours that are too similar to each other, which will make everything blend together. Instead, utilise contrast to make your website pop.

  5. Forgotten accessibility

    Whilst we work hard alongside our clients to make our marketing materials as accessible as possible at TA6, we fully appreciate that there is always a lot more to learn in order to make our practices available to everyone. WebBox provided some fascinating accessibility insights at marketingSHOWCASE – for example, around 11million internet users in the UK have accessibility needs: a great statistic to show anyone who doubts the necessity of accessible functions in marketing material.

    The seminar also highlighted the lack of attention paid to deaf and hard of hearing web users. For many Deaf people, sign language is their first language, and many experience Lower English Proficiency. As digital sign language translators Signly point out, just because it’s written doesn’t mean that it’s understood. Companies like Signly provide sign language translation videos alongside web content in order to make websites Deaf-friendly. We were fascinated to learn about this service and the challenges facing Deaf people when it comes to their web experience and is something that we will be discussing with our clients moving forward.

We took a lot from marketingSHOWCASE Bristol, including several new techniques and approaches which we’re looking forward to using with our own clients. Ultimately, despite the variance of subject topics across the event, the same message was conveyed across all of them: get the basics right.

As marketeers we are constantly facing new, evolving technologies and platforms through which we can reach our audiences. However, this isn’t even worth acknowledging without a firm grasp of the basics – whether that be your marketing strategy, your website, or your defined audiences.

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5 Top Tips for Getting Your App Ready for the New Year

Apps are often seen by leisure operators as predominantly a tool for customers to make bookings and can be under-utilised or reviewed and updated too infrequently. Why not use the new year as an opportunity to refresh and maximise your app?  

Here are five top tips to get you started!  

  1. Audit your existing app 

    The end of the year is a perfect time to review your app performance over the last 12 months. It’s also a great time to set some targets for the next 12 months in terms of downloads and usage and then compare the results at the same time next year to see if your marketing activity has had a positive impact. 

    By using the ‘reports’ tab on the left, you can view a range of stats – from the number of active users to module opens. The ‘app hits by module’ report allows you to identify which modules/tiles are being opened by your app users the most and might highlight some out-of-date or underused tiles – these tiles could then be replaced with new tiles that are more beneficial to the customer. Class bookings notoriously have the highest hits, but there might be some other modules that are used more frequently than you thought, or less frequently. If you find there are underused modules, then consider how you promote the use of these modules further before removing or changing it – for example, you may wish to consider push notifications to that tile and review your app design to increase the module opens. 

    It’s also a good time to review the design of your app to see if any content is out-of-date or if any design elements need a refresh. Check that your app is on-brand, consistent and accessible.  

  2. Create a ‘New Year’ splash screen to promote your offers and content 

    If your app provider package includes a sub-navigation module, why not consider a ‘splash screen’ to promote your January offers, news and events? See it as a welcome screen to welcome members into the new year, using both retention-focussed content that would appeal to existing members such as promoting community events, gym challenges or informative content such as New Year workout ideas, as well as using promotional-focussed content that might help to convert or upsell your pay-as-you-go customers through showcasing new year offers or incentives.  

    This splash screen can be linked from your home screen using a tile or promotional banner and will act as a similar way to a campaign landing page on your website, but with no requirement for the user to leave the app. The key to this is ensuring that both members and non-members would get value from the campaign or content you are promoting, if both audiences use your app. 

  3. New year, new content 

    Content marketing should be a part of all leisure operator’s marketing strategy. Content marketing involves using content to attract, engage and retain an audience by sharing relevant and valuable content such as blog articles, downloadables, videos, or other media. This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and, after time, can prompt action to be taken such as a purchase. 

    If your app has a content hub such as a tile that links to articles or videos within the app, why not add in some New Year content that will inspire your members to start reaching their fitness goals with you? This content can help with member retention as well as brand positioning if you demonstrate enough value as your members will see you as their ‘go to’ experts in fitness! Use your staff to help produce the content as they are the experts in their fields, for example personal trainers, fitness instructors or nutritionists. Perhaps you could offer an incentive or thank you gift to the staff in return.  

  4. Add a customer experience survey 

    Why not add a banner which links to a customer survey to gain insight into a particular business area or topic? For example, to gain feedback on your membership and facilities, to find out which new classes or activities your members would like on the timetable in the new year, or to gain insight into customer behaviors – perhaps you’d like to find out the main reasons why your members struggle when it comes to maintaining a fitness routine, or areas that you could provide more support on? If you offer an incentive for customers to complete the survey, you are more likely to receive a higher response rate. 

  5. Promote app downloads!  

    January and February are the strongest months for membership sales and leisure providers should capitalise on this by encouraging all new joiners, as well as existing members, to download the app and switch on their notifications to stay up to date. The best way to promote your app to new members is upon sign up (if in person) and to include a link to download the app within your welcome email communications.  

For more information on how to promote your app download our guide here.

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Is now the right time for price increases?

Is now the right time for price increases?

The significant rise in utility bills faced by operators means the cost of running facilities is at crisis point, particularly where swimming pools are in place. Investigations by ukactive estimates that costs could rise by as much as 100-150%, an additional £500m – £750m annually, impacting not only the survival of facilities but also the potential for “Levelling Up” ambitions.

So, is this a time operators need to increase prices to cover increasing operational costs? This approach has been taken by many other sectors, product and service providers but what would this mean for an industry where retention has always been its greatest challenge?

Sales have appeared to remain strong through recent months however, with the cost-of-living crisis putting increasing stress on our communities, people are reviewing where they can cut costs and reduce outgoings. Another increase in utilities in October may prompt action.

With leisure being a discretionary service, this immediately means a risk to our membership and revenue growth after a 2 year period of reduced openings due to COVID.  A way to counteract this impact and increase revenue is to increase prices, but what are the risks and benefits?

There are two key factors to consider when deliberating pricing strategies.

  1. Current Pricing

    There is generally a tipping point for pricing and a ceiling that customers will tolerate. This will depend on your location and target audience.

    We recommend you conduct a thorough competitor analysis to see how your current pricing compares to other facilities in your area and compare the offering. According to a recent study The Expectations and Demands of Leisure Centre Customers – Legend by Xplor’, 28% of members put Competitive Pricing in their top 2 priorities when choosing a membership. It is important that you remain competitive relative to your offering.

    It is also important to understand your average membership yield, pricing may be at an appropriate level or near the tipping point, but is this what you actually receive from the majority of members? If discounts, offers and concessions have significantly impacted on-going revenue and reduced the average yield, consider ways to reduce this.

    Review casual payments versus memberships. It may be possible for a price rise in pay-as-you-go visits to be a better option, this could also drive people towards the better value of recurring memberships instead.

    The recent Price Sensitivity Survey conducted by Leisure-Net showed that 55-65% of members would tolerate a price increase of between 5 and 20%. This varied between public (58.5%) and private (68%) sectors and across regions and age groups but, after analysing how your price and service compares in your area, a small price rise could be accepted by much of your membership base.

  2. Understand Your Market and Your Offering

    Knowing your audience will ensure you position the pricing correctly. Potentially surprisingly, the Price Sensitivity Report suggests that younger people are more accepting of price rises than older people, however historically older members tend to show more loyalty and less tendency to move from membership to membership.

    Price is different to value so assess who your audiences are, how engaged they are with your services and how high the risk of cancellation might be. Your average visit frequency, or ideally the number of members attending twice or more per week, will help determine the risk of cancellation. Those attending less than 5 times per month are most likely to be pushed into a decision to cancel by a price rise. Those attending regularly and/or accessing multiple services are most likely to see value and remain.

    For a leisure provider offering a wide range of services such as swimming, gym, group exercise, children’s activities, cafes and health services, the value of membership may be higher than a gym-only facility where members may be able to look for alternative facilities elsewhere. You therefore can withstand a slightly higher membership price against competition with less options. However, members of private facilities report to be more tolerant of price increases than in the public sector while often having lower running costs so the right balance is important for your message.

    If your mission is to address health inequalities and provide opportunities to increase activity within your local communities, there is a commitment to ensure exercise is accessible for all so this must also be factored into the price decision.

    A small price rise, or a no price rise promise for six months, with positive communications and campaigns around supporting them through the tough winter period will provide confidence and potentially reduce cancellation risk.

Recommendations

1. Understand your Current Position.

Review who your members are, how engaged or at risk they are and factor in your position and brand – what is the expectation for providing accessible opportunities to be active? Compare your pricing structure to competitors in the area to understand where prices could be increased while remaining competitive relevant to your offering. An option to retain a current price for existing members and an increase for new joiners may provide a positive message to your current membership base while generating increased revenue from new sales.

2. Consider Alternative Revenue Streams.

Is there an opportunity to increase casual payments, secondary spend or offer flexible memberships such as gym only, off-peak or single site access.

The study from Legend also found that 77% of members felt operators should provide more flexible membership options. This allows them to choose what is relevant and affordable for them.

3. Identify your Loyal Members

Whether tracking promoters through NPS, monitoring customer feedback or identifying your longest standing or highest attending members you can maximise your referral opportunities.

We estimate that word-of-mouth marketing is directly responsible for up to 20% of new membership sales each month and influences another 30% of buying decisions.  Over 90% of consumers trust peer-to-peer recommendations than any other form of advertising (Nielson Advertising Report).

Ensure there is a relevant and manageable incentive as well as clear process to ensure the referred new member stays for a minimal period.

4. Communicate Positively

If a price rise is considered the appropriate action, or if you decide to honour existing prices for members, effective communication is essential.

Keep customers informed early, be clear and honest and outline the reasons for the decision as well as the positive values of remaining active and maintaining physical and mental wellbeing during a difficult period.

Highlight the overall value of your membership and facilities, the full service and support on offer and use existing customer testimonials in your campaigns to showcase the impact activity has had on your customers.

If you need any support in your competitor analysis, pricing review or marketing and communications campaigns, please reach out to the team. We are here to support you.

Click here to download the Price Sensitivity Report from Leisure-Net

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MAD//Fest 2022 – Highlights and Best Bits

MAD//Fest 2022 – Highlights and Best Bits

MAD//Fest 2022 made an explosive return on the 5th July, bringing together delegates, speakers and traders from all corners of the marketing industry and beyond. The TA6 team travelled to London to take part for the first two days of the event, which were packed with talks on a huge variety of topics. We’re going to look at what each of the team had to say about the event, and discuss their highlights and best bits.

John Leaver, Head of Marketing

There were numerous international brands in attendance, including Burberry, KFC, Boots, EA, Ford, Unilever and more. Experiencing talks from these industry giants provided some essential insight into how their marketing operations have helped them to reach such heights, and which techniques and methods could be applied across the board not only for our clients but for our own business operations as well.

I attended primarily talks that discussed digital marketing topics, and each of the speakers had their own unique way of getting their point across, including showing current ads, presenting statistics, and even running clips from South Park.

Ethical marketing was a consistent theme throughout the event, and encompassed important current events that have an affect on marketers and consumers alike; privacy was central to many of the talks, which is certainly relevant considering the expected third party cookie ban from Google Chrome in 2023.

Some of the key features that I have taken home include:

  • Ian Maskell from Unilever stated one of the brand’s big mantras; “It’s not about OUR why, it’s about THEIRS”. This seeks to combine purpose with creativity, as well as tying back into ethical marketing and ‘doing good’ with their operations.
  • The importance of reactive moment targeting; this involved adapting advertising messaging based on a set of circumstances. This could be changes in the weather, global events and new internet trends.
  • Motoring titan Ford is looking to move fully to online trade by 2025. This will clearly have a huge impact on the current operations of the business, dealerships and franchises alike. In the same talk, the speaker revealed that upon the release of the Ford Mustang and its electric range in the UK, 80% of customers had never before purchased from Ford. What techniques did they use to market this range, and what made it so successful?
Tamara Bailey, Customer Engagement Manager

The focus on the talks that I attended was the customer experience, and the importance of building the customer journey in a way that focuses on purpose, value, empathy and learning. Many of the speakers focused on presenting their respective businesses in a way that demonstrates empathy and ‘doing good’ by their customers; some examples of this include the following:

  • What 3 Words; a classic example of doing good by doing business, this company has been hailed for helping to not only offer convenience in circumstances such as delivery driving and locating a tricky-to-find house, but it has been commended for helping the emergency services to save lives. This business exists with the primary intention of helping others.
  • Cadbury; a global superpower of a business that focuses it’s marketing activities on the idea of generosity and kindness to others. During Easter, the company did a promotion surrounding Easter egg hunts that didn’t focus on the winner, but rather the joy of giving.

These empathetic approaches to marketing have demonstrated that a business doesn’t have to focus only on selling to their audience to get really good results; showing a deep understanding of the needs of the customer can provide equally, if not better, results as well as strengthening the trust between business and customer. Humanising the customer will only become more important as technology continues to develop, and it’s critical that businesses use technology to further their understanding the needs of the customer. In other words, technology should enhance the personal approach, not diminish it.

Neil Harrison, Head of Operations

There were a number of themes running through MAD//Fest this year, many of which could be picked up across each of the talks throughout the two days. Here’s some examples of what I considered to be the most stand-out points of the event.

  • Don’t sugar coat facts – it’s essential to reflect on failures and not waste mistakes. Failures and mistakes can be a great opportunity to learn and grow, so make the most of them.
  • Don’t let personal success exceed the objective of the marketing concept or belief. Keep your activities aligned with the marketing objective and don’t lose your way when personal successes come up; of course it’s great to enjoy your successes, but don’t let this eclipse the purpose of your marketing activities.
  • Make the most of your app – having an app is a brilliant resource for leisure operators, and it’s quite common to see operators with apps that aren’t being used to the best of their ability. Not only is it good to utilise your own app, it’s important for marketers to consider using apps for advertising purposes, as this doesn’t rely on third party cookies.
  • Understand the value of the customer – consider what the value of each individual is and where they are in relation to your product. At what stage are they in the buying phase? It’s also worth considering the use of technology to understand your customers better.
Emma Kapur, Marketing Account Manager

MAD//Fest 2022 provided a fantastic opportunity to not only meet and network with incredibly talented and successful marketers, but also gave me the chance to attend demonstrations on topics that, when considered in practice, could provide a real boost to the service we provide our clients. Here are some of my main take-home points from the event that I feel are important for us as marketers to consider moving forward.

  • The development of technology – technology is changing and developing all the time, and it’s important for businesses to allow customers to seamlessly connect their physical and digital selves with a brand. Within this, thinking long-term about the further development of technology and staying ahead of the curve is a strategy that will help your businesses chances of staying technologically proficient, as well as making integrations into a digital customer experience smooth and efficient.
  • The significance of using video ads – a recent Facebook and IAB UK case study found that video ads have a 17% higher conversion rate than static ads. This goes to show how much videography can have an impact on overall marketing performance, as well as demonstrating the importance of quality video content; even using simple animations can work well in bringing your advert to life and drive conversions. If a video can demonstrate the brand value proposition or a product’s key benefits in the first three seconds, your business should definitely be using video for ads.

With the ever-changing sphere of digital marketing coming more to the forefront of business activity every day, marketers are looking at an exciting opportunity to learn new ways of reaching the customer and making new kinds of impact in the market. Keeping ahead of technological developments and understanding which types of advertising are most effective will help to ensure a successful future in the years to come for all types of business.

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10 Top Tips for Marketing your Next Fitness Launch

10 Top Tips for Marketing your Next Fitness Launch

When launching a new gym, fitness class, activity, or concept, developing and executing a relevant and effective marketing plan is vital in order to have the best chance of a successful launch.

From establishing a powerful digital campaign to maximising your offline presence, here are our 10 top tips which you may wish to consider when marketing your next fitness launch.

  1. Know your audience and aims – Before you start planning your fitness launch it is important that you firstly decide on your campaign goals and the audience you are aiming to target, as this will help determine which channels and elements of the marketing mix to use. Often there will be a range of demographics which will mean that your campaign requires a multi-channel approach, from TikTok advertising to more traditional print marketing.

  2. Be clear on your branding – Focus on a strong brand identity from the start and integrate all campaigns so that there is consistency of both your creatives and copy across all channels. More often than not, your prospects will see your campaign across multiple channels (in fact, on average most marketing campaigns require an average of 8 touchpoints). Therefore, it is important that the branding is consistent and that your adverts are identifiable in order to resonate with your audience across multiple channels.

  3. Create a website landing page – Showcase your new facilities or fitness concept with a slick landing page that includes images and videos of the offering, useful information, a strong call-to-action and a contact form if you are looking to generate leads.

  4. Optimise for local search – Make sure you have an up-to-date Google MyBusiness page with correct information, recent images and contact information (the great thing is this doesn’t cost you a penny!) MyBusiness listings not only include reviews on your facilities but also provide the opportunity to promote your latest offers and news stories.

  5. Run email marketing and text campaigns – Utilise your databases by keeping prospects informed about the progress and the any introductory offers (just be sure to follow GDPR compliance and not bombard your prospects with too many messages!) With more restrictions on the way when it comes to tracking and cookies, the use of 1st party data will become essential to any leisure operator looking to communicate with prospective customers.

  6. Don’t rely on organic marketing – Whilst word-of-mouth can be extremely powerful, a common mistake is relying on organic channels and under-spending on digital pay-per-click (PPC) advertising such as social media, search, display and video advertising. If you have a limited budget, choose which channels are going to be the most cost-effective as well as the most relevant to your audience.

  7. Create a content calendar – Plan your organic social media content in advance, focussing on a small selection of key content pillars. Create excitement using countdowns, show sneak peaks of the new offering and prioritise video posts where possible in order to optimise reach and engagement. Click here for 50 free content ideas.

  8. Take it offline – Run an open weekend event for prospects to come along and see your new gym, product or service in person. If you can, offer this either for free or at a discounted one-off rate to help generate leads. Follow-up on these leads with an exclusive offer and use this as an opportunity to gain feedback and testimonials.

  9. Collaborate – Send local micro-influencers invitations to your open weekend event or ask to work with complimentary local businesses in order to raise awareness (just do your research beforehand to make sure that the influencer or business you choose compliments your brand values and ethos with no conflict of interest – both parties should benefit from the relationship).

  10. Don’t forget your current members – It’s important to thank your existing members, especially if they have been inconvenienced by any refurbishment work carried out or have had their services reduced for a period of time. By offering member rewards such as a freeze on their current membership rate, referral gifts or exclusive member events you can maximise retention.

TA6 have supported over 100 new product launches ranging from brand new leisure centres to localised new activities, and if you’d like to discuss how we can help with your next launch please contact us today.

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Market Research: Customers actions prior to joining a membership

Market Research:

Exploring customers’ actions and views prior to purchasing a health and fitness membership

In December 2021 we set out on a project to understand the modern consumer and their shopping and buying habits.  We asked some of our clients to participate in the research by surveying their existing members.  Following feedback from over 1,000 customers we analysed the data and produced the full report which you can download below.

Here are just 6 of the top takeaways from the research:

  1. The main reason for joining is to Improve Physical Health

  2. 75% of people exercise on their own

  3. Location, price and facilities are the top influencers on a customer’s decision to join

  4. 76% of respondents said they couldn’t remember being prompted to join by any advertising

  5. Only 8% of customers join online without a visit first

  6. 56% of customers visit your website or search online before joining

Download the full report

Maximising Your Social Media Presence

Understanding Audience Needs and Maximising Social Media Presence

When working with social media, it’s important to consider the reason you’re using it. Whether your page exists as a notice board for your facility, an interactive community for your customers, or a space for you to promote sales messages, having a solid reason for the use of social media can help you understand the type of content you need to produce, as well as figuring out which platform is best suited for your business.

There are several factors involved when it comes to determining the reason you use social media as a part of your brand. When looking into these factors, it’s important to consider the ways that your audience is engaging with your content. We’re going to look at the different reasons someone might follow your page, and what sort of content will resonate with each audience.

I want information and updates on the business

A significant number of your audience on social media will be following your pages to stay informed of news and updates from your business. Some examples of updates that this audience might be looking for include new activities at your centre, development updates, and opening times.

If most of your audience is made up of those looking for updates on your business, having regular content is important to maintain their engagement. Content such as a weekly update post or a link to a newsletter can be helpful.

I’m researching before making a buying decision

This type of consumer presents a very real sales opportunity for your business. Whether they are new or existing customers, they provide an opportunity for you to showcase your products and facilities, as well as your brand’s personality. Sales messages can work with this type of audience, but it’s important to remember that sales messages should be posted with a degree of caution; too many can push potential customers away.  Some places to start with sales content are product advertisements, showcasing your facilities, and promotions of discounts or offers.

A good way to avoid the over-use of sales messages is using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which allows your organic posts to focus on customer retention and service communications. This can help to reduce the number of sales posts on your page – keeping important sales messages current and on the screens of relevant audiences and leaving space for other content. PPC does can also be a very effective tool in awareness campaigns, as well as for use in driving sales.

I’m a current customer and want to show support to the business

Current customers that want to show support for your business are an invaluable part of your social media presence. Not only can they help to boost engagement on your channels, but they offer an opportunity to spread awareness of your business at next to no cost. For this audience, awareness campaigns can be very beneficial. ‘Like and share’ competitions are a great way of spreading awareness, and those that want to show support are likely to get involved.

Polls can be another great way of engaging with this audience. They offer both a way for your customers to get interactive with your page and can also provide valuable feedback about your products and services. For example, you might ask ‘What’s a fitness class you’d love to see added to our timetable?’.

Now that you’ve got your audience members nailed down, what else can you do to suit their needs and keep them engaged?

Keeping content balanced for your audience

It’s important to keep a good balance across your social media content. Ensuring that you have a good mixture of content will keep your social media presence fresh and interesting, and by looking at the behaviour of your audience you can determine which types of content are worth the most attention. For example, if customers are interacting more with posts about updates in what’s happening in the local community, this sort of content should be used regularly. If polls are getting no attention, other methods of engaging content might be worth considering.

Types of content and different social media platforms

Once you have a good understanding of the types of audience your following is made up of and the type of content you want to post, you will be able to maximise your social media presence by using different social media platforms. It’s important to remember that each social media platform serves a different and unique purpose; we’ll look at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, and consider how each platform is appropriate for different types of content.

Facebook

Facebook is used for social networking, connecting with others, sharing information, and forming communities. It has more of a communal feel that other social media platforms and can be a great choice of platform for content focused around updates on your business, as well as awareness content.

Instagram

Instagram is used for sharing image and video content, as well as some ‘disappearing content’ such as polls and stories, which are erased from the platform after a certain period – usually 24 hours. It is a good choice for sharing updates on your business if the content isn’t too text heavy. It can also be a great platform for showcasing your facilities through high quality images to give an impressive introduction.

Twitter

Twitter is used to communicate through short text-based messages, with the option to include images, videos, and links. This isn’t the platform for wordy or complicated content; it’s best suited for content that can be condensed into short text accompanied by images. Once again, it can be a good platform for sharing updates on your business, but it can also be a great choice for sales messages.

YouTube

Whilst not often considered a social media channel, YouTube allows for comments, likes, dislikes, and subscribers – sound familiar? You can build a community on YouTube, using video to bring your brand and services to life. Posting product updates, opening times, meet the team, and sales messages can all be done through video.

Having a solid understanding of the reason you want to use your social media combined with a knowledge of the audience that you’re dealing with is a working formula to maximise the potential of your social media presence. We can help you understand the needs of your audience and can show you how you can use different social media platforms to help your business’s online presence reach its full potential.

Get in touch today to arrange a social media audit or to discuss our social media management services.

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