What exactly are the latest steps for reopening leisure?

Looking forward to re-opening again? We’ve put together 5 things to focus on based on feedback from the last lockdown

Be clear about what you are offering

Your community might not know what the latest updates or changes are, so make sure you explain how your schedule has changed.

Highlight the flexible ways that your community and members can engage with you and how these will be tailored as restrictions lift. If you’ve added on-demand content or live streaming, be sure to communicate this with them. It’s worth mentioning what might change as more things are allowed, such as being able to add one-to-one or group sessions in an outside setting or even in the gym once open.

Something worth considering is the membership options available. Are you offering your community any level of flexibility through digital or mixed-usage memberships?

Our advice is, as things change, update your community regularly with the good news of what you can offer, and how they can book it.

How will you reach your members?

There are many ways that you can communicate with your community and you should take advantage of as many as possible. Here are some of our favourites:

Email newsletters
Social media channels; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram & Clubhouse, Nextdoor
Direct marketing via leaflets or posters (print-to-poster is included for fibodo subscribers)
Branding through t-shirts and flags (These are especially great once outside sessions can resume)
When you’re training outside – make sure your sign tells people how to download your app to book your sessions.

Where possible include the link to your booking platform in the communications, making it easy to book limited spaces.

Take this time to nail your digital hygiene

While there’s still time before things open fully, this is a great opportunity to look at your current methods of keeping on top of your day-to-day digital activities.

If you haven’t already, then be sure to clean up your database. Make sure all of the contacts are relevant and up-to-date, as well as having the correct contact information for each person. This will make communicating with them in the future much easier, especially if there are any potential tier restrictions or lockdowns later in the year.

It’s worth looking at your booking options too, everything needs to be seamless when it comes to the booking experience. Three clicks or less is the golden number when it comes to ensuring that your community find it easy to book a class or session. Having a strong digital booking system will also make ‘track and trace’ a lot easier.

Another key part of your digital hygiene is thinking about content. You might have a large community on your social platforms, but if you have nothing to share then there’s no reason for them to stay. Think about how you may be able to create and share content that will encourage new and repeat bookings. Things to consider include; videos, GIFS, boomerangs, carousels and community testimonials.

When you are delivering a live-stream session, think about how best to record that and build your on-demand library for members who couldn’t attend. It’s an ideal way to show prospective members what the sessions look like and an easy way to get engagement at any time.

When thinking about your steps to reopening, how much time have you dedicated to learning about your members and their behaviour? Getting as much data and analytics on how they like to interact with you and what they love most about the sessions will help you going forward.

Plan ahead and shout from the rooftop

How much exposure do you receive on a weekly or monthly basis? If the answer is none, then we have a whole raft of ideas on how you can make sure that you fill every booking slot, as well as having happy members and leaving them wanting more. These should form a huge part of your reopening plan:

Publish your schedule well in advance
Share your schedule to multiple platforms i.e. social media
Send out press releases to local and national media. Newspapers and radio are always looking for stories
Ask your community for feedback – ask them how you can improve and thank them for being involved.
Automate your communications to members for before and after their session

Feedback is a gift

How often do you ask your community for feedback? Most people would be more than happy to provide a testimonial that you can share on social media when they’ve had a positive experience.

If their experience hasn’t been a positive one, then this is even more of an opportunity to learn from the feedback and put changes into place for the future.

It’s important to remember that you are nurturing a community of people. That community doesn’t start and end with a class or session – it should be free-flowing across multiple channels and a constant source of interaction, even once they’ve finished. Your community is members, prospects, guests and anyone who could come and engage a single session.

They don’t just look to you for health and fitness, they want advice, fun, laughter and support – it’s your responsibility to keep all of the community activities going.

You could run a poll on social media, or even host an Instagram Live where you could bring up members of your community to ask questions in real-time. Whatever you do, just remember to stay in touch with them and act on any feedback you receive.

When this is all over…

We may have all thought this would be over by now, but unfortunately, things have gone on longer than any of us anticipated.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and we’re in the final stretch so as long as we all stick together then we’ll come out of this united.

No matter what, fibodo are here to support you with your steps to reopening.

End of article.

The Life Of Leisure: Reopening In 5 Easy Steps

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