The Great Marketing Concepts Are Eternal
Channels are big in marketing these days. Not that the concept is particularly new or changed recently, but there are more ways to connect to your customers than ever before. I have already written about strategy and marketing, but I want to discuss marketing channels here.
Your communication channels for marketing can be digital such as email, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, text messaging and IM platforms, Slack, et cetera. They are also your telephone lines, your front desk, and the script that you have your staff use to close sales. The point is that channels are the set of all paths by which to communicate with your stakeholders.
Channels That Make Members Say Huh?
What will you say to your members? You’ll let them know about everything that counts: Announce new features and services, sell memberships, premium products, make special seasonal offers, and promote events. Business owners should take the stance of merging all channels into one integrated connection to your customers.
If members can see your brand on social media or a newsletter, can they sign up for memberships and classes with minimal clicks or time delay? Do members who purchase services have to log in on additional sites and payment platforms to make a purchase? Make the transition from one platform as simple and painless as possible because every obstacle will reduce your potential revenues.
Reach All Places With One Voice
The marketing term for this holistic approach to sales is Omni-channel marketing. All your customers should see is one brand on whatever channel they find you. The goal of the strategy is to shift between networks without the client even noticing or caring. If there’s a different protocol to log in or connect with each profile, members will lose interest quickly. Prospects who are merely curious will be even less engaged.
The automation included with the new platforms lubricates the progress of prospects and members through your marketing system. Even a simple website is an excellent example of how you can automate the sales process. Automation gives you the leverage to set up an action one time and repeat it as much as you need with little or no additional effort.
When you post a piece of content, an automated sequence of announcements on social media to entice in curious readers, setting up further responses that draw them further down your sales funnel. If you send out an email to members for a class, a click on a link should take them to a landing page that entices them to make the purchase.
The next link should take them to the payment page with their account information ready for a commit. In this way, you can fill yoga or spinning classes with simple one-time actions on your part. The days of spending hours working the phones to fill spaces are long gone if you take advantage of all available technologies.
Focusing On Customers Across All Channels
It’s half the battle won when you align all of your media accounts into one voice and prioritize people. Perhaps a shout out about a successful event on Twitter and sharing it across all media, responding on the channel that is most effective at making the recipient feel good about it. A complaint on one channel could get a response on another such as SMS that is more direct and targeted.
Your message and brand appearance should align in a congruent look and message across all portals. Integrate your membership and management software for a system that delivers a complete visualization of your brand. So, while any single channel on which you find your customers is the right one, remember that aligning all of your channels builds the strongest relationships and generates the greatest lifetime value from every member of your club.
Bibliography
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Moz. What Is Content Marketing? Chapter 2: Content Strategy. 2016. https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-content-marketing/content-strategy (accessed February 6, 2017).
Neumann, Daniel. Social Media Is No Longer A Marketing Channel, It’s A Customer Experience Channel. January 12, 2016. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/01/12/social-media-is-no-longer-a-marketing-channel-its-a-customer-experience-channel/#4b37359a4967 (accessed February 6, 2017).
Wuest, Michael. Strategic Planning for your Gym: A step-by-step guide. January 15, 2015. https://theboxbusiness.com/strategic-planning-for-your-gym-a-step-by-step-guide/ (accessed February 6, 2017).