Blog, Orangetheory, Uncategorized

Don’t ignore this powerful marketing tool to reach current members and prospects. Your goal is to grow your studio. You want to strengthen your existing member base and convert new members. This requires a multifaceted marketing approach. You’ll need to use a variety of techniques in an integrated strategy, as each component works to enhance the results of every other piece. Some of the big ones you’re probably already using are digital ads, social media posts, and ‘grass roots’ marketing (flyer distribution, local event sponsorships, etc). But one component is often overlooked and can have a tremendous impact on the success of your overall campaign: email marketing. As an Orangetheory Fitness franchisee, you have access to an email marketing platform called EMMA. Corporate email templates are populated into the platform every month, sometimes with features like a healthy recipe or information about a national promotion. There are empty spaces for you to fill in information pertinent to your studio. The OTF corporate marketing team urges all studios to take advantage of this marketing device. Here are a few pieces of content that can be incorporated in your newsletters:

• Engaging social media content or a blog teaser (that links to your social media pages or studio webpage)
• A positive review your studio has recently received (from Yelp, Facebook, Google, Listen360, etc.)
• Current promotions, including the national promotional offer and your member referral campaign
• Upcoming events, including corporate-approved fitness challenges (Peak Performance, Dri Tri, Hell Week, etc.)
• Trainer tips
• Member testimonials or transformation stories
• Member accomplishments outside the studio (e.g., running a marathon)
• Weight Loss Challenge winners—and other achievements in the studio
• Your studio in the community

What is the optimum blend of content?

• Include one social media story, blog article, and review each month, because these will boost your organic reach on social media, improve search engine rankings of your studio’s webpage, and reduce fear of new members trying the workout.

• Include the latest promotion and upcoming special workout dates (for awareness and conversions).

• Highlight up to two studio stories per email. These trainer tips, member stories, challenge winners and other spotlights help build a sense of community—which is appealing to both current members and prospects. Any more than two of these will devalue them and reduce click-through.

Quick Tip: Adhere to branding guidelines to make sure you’re getting the most out of being part of the Orangetheory Fitness franchise. Images and text should be consistent with brand messaging and tone. Avoid deviating from the default formatting and colors in the templates from OTF corporate, and avoid superimposing text over photos. What is the ideal emailing frequency? We recommend one to two emails per month. If sending two emails, one of these should contain much less content and draw attention to one content piece that is geared toward action, such as referrals (Refer and Receive), purchases (the latest OT Beat or OTF Gear), conversions (sign up today and be entered to win a 10-pack), or signing up for an upcoming event at your studio. Why is email marketing so useful?

• It targets those who are interested in you, resulting in a higher conversion rate.
• It increases brand awareness and keeps your studio top of mind.
• Content is easily shareable, which means it may reach additional viewers. If a member was featured in a story in the newsletter and wants to share it with family and friends, all it takes is one click of the forward button.
• Success is easy to track. The EMMA platform shows open and click-through rates.
• It provides measurable insights about customers. The EMMA platform provides a map that shows which stories were clicked on, meaning you learn what content to focus on in the future to increase your conversions.
• It’s affordable and efficient—especially compared to direct mail, which requires printing and mailing fees and is sent to a large number of people who are not potential Orangetheory members.
• It allows for segmentation of your mailing list to send certain content only to active members or only to leads.
• Calls to action, such as linking to a lead-generating landing page, are easy to integrate.
• You can immediately start seeing results as soon as an email is sent.

Where to start? Email marketing is crucial to studio growth but can be too time-consuming when you’re focused on studio-level operations and sales calls. Illuminati Studios provides email marketing management as part of its LocalLight Digital Marketing program. For more information, contact rich@illuminatistudios.com.