The Family Market: An Opportunity in the Making

Even though I’ve been in the health and fitness industry for 17 years now, when I looked at the calendar and realized the topic for this months article was about the family market, my first reaction was, “What the heck does a single, 38-year old whose only real ‘family time’ is an occasional weekend watching nieces and nephews write about in regards to marketing to families!” Well, although I’m not playing taxi driver every afternoon for a caravan full of kids, the term “families” is actually much broader than children. For some clubs a full family menu means programs for infants right on up to seniors. And, in addition to age diversification, family marketing also means providing a wide variety of programs ranging from specific sports training to educational courses to purely social activities. For many clubs servicing the family market, this emphasis on age and program diversification makes them a community resource that not only brings families through the doors but also fuels individual membership growth for the future because children who grow up in a health club are more likely to join as adults. The bottom line is, although it isn’t for every club operator, marketing to families is full of opportunities.

The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association agrees. In their 1999 report 50 Million by 2010, the “Family Athletic Club Opportunity” was identified as one of the 10 mega-opportunities for health clubs. The report noted that, because it serves the entire community, “the family athletic club may well in the long run constitute the greatest opportunity of them all.” In fact, when one looks at the 10 mega-opportunities, a family oriented fitness facility is ideally suited to tap into all of the segments identified in the report; The 50-Plus market, special populations, Gen X-ers, and minorities.

Today, just three years after that report, the opportunities for marketing to families is even greater. Consider just a few of these recent developments:

Since the late 1960’s obesity amongst 6-11 year old children has more than tripled; obesity amongst teens has almost tripled.
As recently as August, CNN featured as special report on children and obesity, where the doctors specifically recommended “family activities that involve physical fitness,” encouraging parents to ensure kids get at least one hour of intense exercise four days a week.
At the end of 2001, Congress passed the 50 million dollar Physical Education for Progress Act, which will promote activity amongst US children.
The Surgeon General stated that up to 70% of overweight kids will grow up to be overweight adults, which will cause huge future health problems for the US.
In September the Institute of Medicine announced that adults and kids need at least one hour of physical activity every day to stay healthy and control their weight.
In June, President Bush launched a national program to promote exercise and healthier lifestyles for Americans.
In late August the Fifty-Plus Association assembled representatives from more than 20 organizations and agencies to meet with the Surgeon General of the United States and urge him to make promotion of physical activity for older adults the central focus of his administration.
During the third week of August USA Today ran a week-long series entitled “Weight Warriors,” which featured dozens of articles on obesity, weight loss and maintaining good health in general.
Almost daily a new report is published which supports the need for all populations to regularly exercise.
In September the newest statistics on the total number of heath clubs in the US was released, indicating continued growth despite a poor economy.

Given the number of writings, lobbying and launched programs it is obvious that awareness about both the needs and the benefits of regular exercise are at an all time high in America. When you take this awareness and combine it with the resurgence of family time and community outreach in the wake of September 11th, never before have clubs been so ideally positioned to meet a families health and fitness needs.

What Role to Play?

Of course, being ideally positioned for a clientele and “wanting” to market to that clientele are two totally different things. Therefore, club operators must decide if they want to market to families at all. Unlike many other “programming” decisions where time and effort are the two biggest factors, marketing to and successfully meeting the needs of families requires an additional element, which is the actual physical space. Let’s face it, although you might be able to have a small child care center or offer a few classes in a group fitness room, if you are a small operator your ability to be everything to everyone is impossible. Therefore, space alone limits the number of clubs who can market to the entire family on a large scale. This isn’t to say a small club can’t offer special family programs throughout the year to increase revenues—they can—but the typical “family-based” club is 50,000 square feel or more.

What is offered inside a family club is as varied as any other club but some of the more common club offerings would include aquatics programs (often with multiple pools), an outdoor center of some sort (especially for summer camps), a kids fitness room, large nursery and child care areas, one or more activity/function rooms, multiple group fitness rooms, court sports and family changing rooms, the latter of which is a must. Of course, in addition to requiring space, each one of these offerings is, in essence, a program within the larger family program. This means that successful marketing to families really requires a two-pronged approach. One, creating an image in the consumer’s mind that projects a family image, and two, properly advertising and selling each individual program to generate revenues.

Your Plan and A Perspective

Before getting into the specifics of this month’s column, it is important to emphasize that writing an article as broad as “marketing to families” could be an entire book of its’ own. When you add to that the fact that Club Industry readers range from small boutique facilities to huge, 100,000 square foot + facilities you have the challenge of trying to provide useful information to radically different operators with totally different marketing needs. Therefore, in this column we will focus on the more general concepts of marketing to families. Know however, that before you decide to get into the family market on any level, total clarity as to your role is a must. Ask yourself, “Do we want to be in the family membership business?” If yes, approach it with a plan. Most clubs who were not built for families gradually add family programs to their offering, resulting in structural changes as membership growth continues.

Marketing and Advertising

When you think of family fitness for many people (me included) one of the first things that comes to mind is your local YMCA. Although many club operators might cringe at the mention of that, it’s true. The reason, of course, is that many of today’s adults were exposed to their local YMCA as a child. Whether it be through the traditional swim lessons, a basketball league or perhaps even Karate lessons, Y’s have been around for decades. Yes, one might argue that today’s YMCA’s aren’t servicing the population they originally intended but that doesn’t enter into the scope of this conversation. The fact remains that whether it be through conscious marketing or simply branding over the years, the Y’s are synonymous with family programs.

Having a consumer think of your club (versus the local Y or any other club) when they want to find health and fitness related activities for their family is the first key to a successful, long-term, marketing strategy. This means that your club’s marketing materials will have to reflect a family-friendly attitude as well as offerings.

In order to do this, consider the following:

Change your media images to reflect family fitness. This means using photos that depict activities for everyone—young and old—as well as an adequate listing of offerings that support those images. (An important distinction, however, is that if your club doesn’t truly want to be in the family market, don’t change your marketing images because you will only confuse consumers. If you add family photography but don’t offer the programs, consumers will visit the facility but not buy. On the other hand, the images might discourage a consumer who wants to avoid a family membership. KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND BE CLEAR WITH THE MARKETING IMAGES!
Be sure to match your marketing images with the appropriate advertising mediums, ensuring that your target market is “seeing” you. For example, this could mean advertising in community newsletters, places where parents network, school systems, senior newsletters or centers as well as pre and post-natal care providers, just to name a few.
When choosing direct mail pieces, spend a little more on the list and specifically target family households with incomes that reflect your investment and market profile.
Get involved in your community! I heard a speaker recently who made the following great point. “Marketing is what a business does, branding is what happens in the consumers’ mind NOT as a result of marketing but because of the businesses actions and reputation.” By getting involved in your community you show consumers that you care about their families. Sponsoring a road race, setting up health testing at the local fair, offering educational sessions at local schools, or going in and doing once a month chair aerobics at the senior center are just a few of the things that will help you create a positive “family brand” in your marketplace.

Of course, even when you are perceived as a family friendly facility, the “if you build it they will come” philosophy doesn’t always work! In fact, even after you are well rooted in the community, keeping programs full and profitable always requires good advertising. Whether it be for swim lessons or a daytime line dancing class designed for seniors, follow successful programming guidelines when marketing and advertising activities:

Have a definitive time frame for the program, whether it be 4, 6 or 12-weeks.
Market the program both internally to existing members as well as externally to try and bring in new people to the club. Always have one price for non-members and a discounted price for members.
When marketing to existing members, be sure to use multiple mediums—i.e. in-club signage, e-mail, direct-mail and even phone calls (if you have a well-tracked data base to match the program with the ages and interests.)
Actively and creatively pursue referrals from your existing as well as short-term members because word of mouth amongst Moms and Dads is powerful. I recently received a great e-mail from a provider asking me to forward the announcement about the new service to other like-minded individuals. Knowing how quickly e-mail moves, why not do the same with family offerings!
Be sure to provide enough informational materials about the program to allow people to make a good, educated decision.
Although it sounds obvious, ensure that programs are appropriately matched with the time of offering. For example, make sure that pre-school activities are scheduled so they don’t interrupt with the older kids bus pick-up and drop-off times. Every population—young or old—has either time restrictions or time preferences. Accommodation for these things will increase the success of the program.

Sales Approach

Selling to any specific population always requires some modification. The great thing about selling family memberships, however, is that at least one of the individuals influencing the purchasing decision should fall into the adult fitness profile. This means that salespeople can feel somewhat comfortable that certain traditional touring approaches will apply. That said, it is often kids who influence buying decisions when it comes to family memberships (See Marketing Matters Month and Date for Marketing to Children). Further, we know that parents will spend a lot more on their kids than they will on themselves. Therefore, ensuring your club provides “family friendly” tours is important.

Providing a family friendly tour begins at the front desk. One way to do this is to make sure your lobby has something of interest for the kids, whether it be a small television playing cartoons, kids reading books or perhaps a toy or two. Remember that if parents can’t keep their kids entertained they won’t stay for a lengthy sales presentation! Another easy way to make tours more family orientated is by offering the guest the ability to leave their child in the childcare or youth fitness room while they finish looking at the facility. This is a win-win situation for everyone; the kids would much rather play than be bored listening to adults talk AND the parent will feel more comfortable “seeing” their child enjoying the facility.

Of course, being family friendly goes farther than just handling the kids. Remember that with the aging population, more and more families have parents living with them. This means that your club should consider trial visits for senior and special population programs as well, allowing these individuals to sample a class before having to make a full commitment.

Another great way to lower the barrier to entry for families and increase the comfort level before buying is to regularly run Open House Days and/or informational sessions. At an Open House, families can bring the entire clan along to get a first hand experience of the facility. Another added benefit of such events is the enthusiasm that is created, as well as the opportunity to meet other like-minded families. It is always fun to watch guests meet other people they know from the community and watch their reaction, “Hey, I didn’t know you were a member here!” As a salesperson that is always a good sign.

As it relates to selling new family memberships, one of the most important things a club can do is to offer both full memberships and short-term programs. With full memberships some clubs find it advantageous to offer a “one price pays for it all” option, allowing members full access to any activity throughout the club. Yes, they pay more but they then don’t have to worry about add-ons each time a family member wants to participate in something. Of course, clubs considering this option need to fully think through the price point before locking themselves into such arrangements.

Short-term programs on the other hand allow clubs to drive individual family members through the doors for a specific activity or event at low cost and low commitment. Such short-term programs can really fuel the future family membership base for the club that focuses their marketing efforts on “Up-selling.” Up selling happens when an individual buys one thing but the business then gets them to buy something more once the relationship is established. For health clubs, although short-term membership up-sells present one of the best sales opportunities, they also are one of the most challenging because of the organization necessary to complete, requiring proper data collection, entry, and then marketing and follow up.

As was the case with marketing to seniors, marketing to non-member families requires a patient approach. A family might need to participate in multiple events or short-term programs prior to feeling comfortable with making a full membership commitment. Salespeople must keep in mind that a decision to buy a family membership isn’t just a financial one—it’s a time commitment that has to be weighed amongst all the other activities and events family members are already participating in. The club that can offer a wide range of popular activities will increase the likelihood of attracting and retaining families long-term.

Finally, salespeople need to actively reach out to existing members with families to cross-sell club programs. For instance, if a family is participating in swim lessons, maybe tennis, Karate or Ballet lessons would be of interest. Salespeople can’t assume that just because the club offers a program the members know about it. Only through consistent and frequent communication will the club find itself on the top of a member’s mind when they are looking for family programs.

Putting it All Together

There has been no better time in our history where the need for family-orientated programming is more prevalent. With the rising obesity levels across all age groups, the ever-expanding senior market, the lack of physical education programs in school systems, the demands on time with both parents working (just to name a few), the need for healthy, family activity is greater than ever. Add to that the daily mounting evidence regarding the benefits of regular exercise and clubs are ideally positioned to meet the demands of family memberships. And, whether a club wishes to offer just a few family oriented programs or opts to go full-out with large facilities, the opportunities abound. By taking the time to clearly define a marketing and programming strategy and adjusting sales efforts appropriately, both small and big clubs can reap the financial benefits of the family market.