Tag: Community Relations

Take Charge with Choose to Lose

Start planning now for a Spring 2015 promotion to build leads, sales and ancillary revenues. Last week at Club Industry in Chicago, I had the opportunity to present some thoughts on how healthclubs and wellness facilities could expand their referral network in the healthcare community. We have had success with developing self-referrals through a community-wide event, Choose to Lose. Here are some steps to get started.

First, identify the following:

  1. Project Goals
  2. Planning Phases
  3. Team/Resources
  4. Analysis & Results

I. Set Project Goals for Weight-loss Program (8 or 10 weeks)

Losing even 10 pounds can impact a variety of chronic disease conditions.

  • Participant objective, enroll 500
  • Sales objective, 125 new members, plus 8-week guest pass sales of 250
  • Community involvement of fire/police teams or other civic group. Your center/club will help them meet their objectives.
  • Program objective is to build awareness of your center’s leadership role in the community as a resource for health & wellness
  • Participant completion objective of 30%
  • Public relations objective is to receive press coverage of civic team and the medical fitness
  • Establish marketing/communication budget & tactics that integrate with your Facility’s role as a Thought Leader

 II. Project Phases

  1. Planning (Several key components below)
  2. Sponsorship & Partnership Outreach
  3. Development of 8-week self-guided program, supplemented by educational sessions with our experts (tie-in local physicians)
  4. Police & fire program, identify fitness leaders to coach groups to reach goals
  5. Communications plan, internal & external
  6. Weigh in & Weight outs, data analysis
  7. Results & PR

III. Team/Resources

  1. Your Staff
  2. Local Healthcare organizations for Screenings or Referrals
  3. Screen Team & Screening tools
  4. Potential local business partners for sponsorships

IV. Final Analysis & Results

  1. Press release with results to all local media
  2. Article/blog for digital media
  3. Video testimonials of participants with results
  4. Analysis of program, did it meet goals, why or why not?

PLANNING – Thought Leadership

  1. Develop Theme/Concept for Promotional Campaign
  2. Identify key groups for building awareness
  3. Create content for press/your center’s blog
  4. Solicit other media sponsors
  5. Create messages for front-line staff

PLANNING — Program Content

  1. Reference organizations, resources for weight-loss, walking
  2. Determine staff needs for weekly weigh-ins, education
  3. Determine method for follow-up, emails, e-news
  4. Organize fun event to incent people to complete 8 weeks
  5. Tie-in sales promotion to successful completion or special offer during program
  6. Assign staff for phone call follow-up on regular basis
  7. Track usage of guest passes

FACILITY PLANNING — Sign up Week & Weekly Weigh-ins

  1. Develop process for weigh-ins, other screenings & data collection
  2. Develop registration form, HIPAA compliance, waiver for data, etc.
  3. Testimonials from participants, release for images/story
  4. Handouts/guidelines for participants on key health benefits
  5. Speaker schedule for educational sessions at key intervals
  6. Determine if data will be logged in system/website, establish criteria