| IHRSA Report | Club Advisor


Leveraging the Value of Cross-Promotions


By Patricia Amend


Do you have a member discount program? Or, are you doing other cross-promotions that help to attract new members and keep the ones you have? If not, you may want to consider doing so. If you already are, you may want to rethink your efforts to make sure that you’re leveraging your brand, your facilities, and access to your members to the fullest extent possible. Here’s why these programs make sense.


They’re timely. Tom Fiorini, general manager of the Cincinnati Sports Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio, believes that businesses in your community are likely to be more receptive now to any cross-promotion proposals you pitch than they were two or three years ago. “When times were good, they were too busy keeping up with demand. Now, they’re looking harder for ways to keep their businesses growing. It’s an upside of this recession.” Skye Kaiss, owner of Gold’s Gym in Regina,


Saskatchewan, agrees. “Last June, I began pitching local businesses on a member rewards program for my two locations. Now, nearly 40 are participating. My members can save $50 a month if they take advantage of every discount. That’s equivalent to the price of their dues.”


They’re cost-effective. “Another reason that busi- nesses have listened,” Kaiss adds, “is that I have a ridiculously attractive value proposition to offer them, which I put on a simple, one-page information sheet that’s easy to understand. For $60 a month, a business can access my highly educated, high-income mem- bers. For that fee, which is much less than TV, radio, or print advertising, we put their logo on a digital screen in our clubs and on our Website. In return, they offer our members a discount and display our logo onsite.” Fiorini has also switched to cross-promotions to


reduce the cost of his member-referral program. “About 60% of our new members were coming from referrals, which meant that we were giving away too many free months. As an alternative, we now give away gift certificates or tickets—from restaurants or retailers, or from the Cincinnati ballet or local sports teams. We promote these offers in our club with


banners, and in our newsletter and e-mails. This allows us to reduce our cost, and our partners to market to our members in an affordable way.”


They strengthen your brand. “We do so many cross- promotions that we have one staffer who’s dedicated to creating these partnerships,” says Pam Moryl, director of operations at Healthworks Fitness Centers for Women, which has six locations in the Boston area. “To develop our Plums and Roses rewards pro- gram, we had interns e-mail local businesses to let them know that we have 18,000 members and more than 3,000 followers on Facebook. As a result, our program now offers member discounts at 50 local businesses. We provide links to those businesses on our Website.” Healthworks has also worked with local retailer


City Sports, which supplies the club’s personal trainers with training uniform pants bearing the City Sports logo to wear in the club. “In exchange, we’re providing digital advertising for City Sports on our club message board,” Moryl explains. “Also, last spring, our trainers held yoga classes in Copley Square, a popular, high- traffic area in the city. City Sports cosponsored the event and shared the cost of advertising. It promoted both of our brands in a very public place.”


They build a strong future. “If you meet or exceed expectations with any of these programs, you can develop great-long term relationships with these businesses—and your members,” Fiorini concludes. “And, any size club can do this. It’s a good way to extend your limited marketing resources.” —|


– Patricia Amend, pamend@aol.com www. ihrsa.org | JANUARY 2011 | Club Business Internat ional 109


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