Marketing Breakdown
Continued from page 21
2015 Issue 2 | GearedUp
“According to
one study, more
than 90 percent
of people trust
word-of-mouth
recommendations as opposed
to the 10 percent
of consumers who
trust companies.”
22
This
confidence in their decision, ergo your product, is
why referrals tend to be
a loyal customer base
with a higher lifetime
value. By implementing
a referral program, you can
achieve greater results than by using
traditional marketing techniques alone.
However, the tactics you use to approach
your company’s referral program can
largely impact this proven system.
One tactic that has proven helpful
for running a successful referral program
is leveraging your staff’s competitive
nature. As a whole, PF staff tend to
embrace competitions and exceed at
them.
Planet Fitness Central PA franchisee, Julie Morrison, has seen the
impact of both positive and negative
referral programs.“Our best results from
referrals have been through emailing
our members while at the same time
handing out postcards in all of our
clubs,”she said. Planet Fitness Central
PA clubs have a contest in which staff
write their names on the back of the
postcards when they give them to the
members. Whoever has the highest
returned — above the set minimum of
10 postcards — in each club receives
$50.“The staff loves the competition,
incentive, challenge and interaction
with the members,”said Morrison. In
addition to having the competition
amongst all staff members, they also
give the manager and assistant manager
each $100 in the club with the most
referrals.
However, as with any program,
some referral methods produce the
antithesis of their desired effect. In the
past, Morrison has sent out mailers and
postcards as part of a referrals program.
Now she advises against such a method,
warning that this tactic is neither
successful nor cost-effective.“Many
of these mailers and postcards were
returned because of bad addresses and
the cost was much greater than sending
the email and handing out postcards
internally,”said Morrison. This program
also had the negative side-effect of
reminding members who were not
active to cancel
their membership. She notes
that they do not seem to have that issue
when sending the emails and physically
handing out postcards.
Presales and referrals are just two
aspects of a comprehensive marketing
plan you need to develop to help build
and grow your client base. What works
for one owner may not be the best
solution for another, but by learning
from the wins and losses of your fellow
franchisees, you’re in a better position to
get the most bang from your marketing
bucks. G
Kristen Perez is the PFIFA communications coordinator. You can reach
her at [email protected].
In-store postcards have been an effective method of generating referrals for
franchisee Julie Morrison.