October 2016
The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazine
Online presence is key to sales, experts claim By Olivia Taylor A STRONG online presence is key to boosting sales within your fitness business, according to experts at this year’s Leisure Industry Week. Business developer Sol Orwell, marketing expert Allister Frost and award winning social media coach Warren Knight took to the stage at the event at the NEC in Birmingham; explaining to delegates how important online marketing is. Warren said: “Social media is essentially a trade show in cyberspace – and you need to make sure that you have a stand.” The tech-savvy speakers, who formed part of the line up in the show’s Operators and Keynote Conference, touched upon every aspect of online marketing, with Sol backing e-mail as the best way to turn leads into clients. He added: “The time you spend on social media thinking about what to post should be spent thinking about e-mail. “Think about how less likely you are to give out your e-mail compared to your Facebook. “It baffles me that people put another platform like Facebook in front of them and their potential customers.”
Operators were also warned if they didn’t keep up with the times, their businesses will inevitably suffer, with former Microsoft marketing expert Allister telling delegates to “evolve or evaporate.” He believes social media should be used mainly as a tool to direct traffic back to your website. He added: “Of course there’s old school stuff that still works; leaflet drops, local newspaper advertisements, but it’s about taking those traditional things and turning them digital. “Social platforms don’t exist to make your business better, they exist to make cash, on Facebook remember you’re the tenant and Facebook is the landlord.” During their seminars, the trio also gave the audience a variety of tips, including remembering that your customers need to believe in the business to buy into the business. Sol said: “The way you make money online is by building up trust. The way to build up that trust is by getting people to buy into and believe in what you’re selling.” And Warren agreed, adding: “Show people the benefits of coming to you. As a business you need to communicate with your buyer every step of the way, that is essential.”
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Judges hit the road to visit NFA finalists
Olympic medallist and Matrix Fitness UK ambassador Colin Jackson has officially opened a state of the art gym following a refurbishment. Colin was joined by gym members, staff and the public to launch the Team Bath Gym at The University of Bath. He was invited to attend the opening of the Sports Training Village facility as part of National Fitness Day celebrations at the university. Full story: Page 5
GYMS from the Isle of Wight to Aberdeen and the Isle of Man are celebrating after being shortlisted for a National Fitness Award. Clubs all around the country have had the call to say they’ve made the finals of this year’s awards, organised by Script Events in partnership with Workout and headline sponsor ServiceSport, and will now be visited by a member of the Workout team over the coming weeks for the next stage of the judging. The Workout judges will visit each facility and personal trainer on the shortlist; taking a look around the clubs and chatting to members and staff before compiling a comprehensive report, which will be passed over to an expert industry judging panel who will decide the winner in each category. Trophies will then be handed out to our lucky winners at the awards’ evening at The Athena in Leicester on Friday December 2, hosted by Ricky Hatton and Katie Bulmer-Cooke. For more details, turn to our special feature, starting on Page 49