• Marketing

Marketing Campaign – May Sports & Fitness Month

Millions of kids agree…  My Gym is the place to celebrate Sports and Fitness Month! Soon it will be time to prepare all of your marketing for May’s Sports and Fitness Month. To help you execute the themed campaign in your own gym(s), the following are ready for you to access:  In the Print System on the Extranet: Full-page flier Half-page flier Color and black & white versions 4×6 postcard Got Print formatted postcard template also available Poster To be printed locally and hung in lobby/front window Printed ads for placing in local family guides are to be ordered through the Custom Artwork Request form, as sizes vary.  Please select “2014 May Sports Campaign” under “Artwork Type” when placing your order so that artwork will match in style. In Exact Target – Global Emails: Global email (generic email for you to customize with your own message and offer) titled “NCMAY Sports Campaign General Use Email” In the 2014 National Marketing Campaign Folder: My Gym Operations Disc / My Gym Operations / National Marketing...

Customized Local Marketing and Mommy Bloggers: US Family Guide

National Marketing and Sponsorships US Family Guide Over the last 2 years, we have been running national advertising banner ads on the US Family Guide network of local family guides.  We began in 2012 with the Vote for Fitness campaign and then ran ads again in 2013 for the 30th Anniversary campaign.  Given the low cost and great results (millions of impressions and tens of thousands of click-throughs), we have continued to advertise nationally within their guides. We are excited to expand on our partnership with US Family Guide network and mom blogger teams by offering all owners a complimentary online marketing campaign on the local family guides in your markets.  That’s right, “complimentary” – meaning there is no charge to you, our franchisees. US Family Guide operates 488 local family guides and has a team of over 2,300 mommy bloggers (and growing) offering direct, measured response marketing programs.  The programs not only reach local parents but provide increased search engine ranking for the entire My Gym group as...

Creating Media Opportunities for Your Gym

You Oughta Be in Pictures! As we have all seen, our recent Olive Garden partnership delivered a LOT of media attention for My Gym. We were featured on the Today Show, Fox News, countless Local News stories, and ABC Good Morning America!   What you may not have seen in your respective markets, however, is the abundance of recent PR and media stories featuring our gyms as a result of their following the directives MGE Marketing sent out in the November 25, 2013 update regarding reaching out to our PR Firm, SSA. A few examples of My GYM on television! Check ‘em out! WIS-TV NBC Columbia SC WCBS -TV New York WGN-TV Chicago IL WTVF-TV Nashville TN CITY-TV Winnipeg CA This can be a great tool for raising enrollment through local branding and marketing and is part of the Marketing Fund services provided to you. If you have not already done so, please review the My Gym Media, PR, Blogger, Vendor Services Directives to get SSA working for you...

Olympics Themed Campaign Wrap-Up Update

Millions of Kids Agree…  Future champions are made here! Olympics Themed Campaign Wrap-Up Update Great work to everyone on executing a fantastic Olympics themed campaign!  We really saw a lot of gyms utilize the Olympics themed Exact Target emails, fliers, logos, the BOSS splash page, campaign merchandise, and creative programming to produce the overall synergy among our gyms from operations to marketing!  Thanks to everyone for sharing their creative setups, medal ceremonies, and weekly meeting videos related to the Olympics on Facebook.  You guys went for the gold and are all standing atop the podium! With February drawing to a close, so is our Olympics themed campaign.  It’s now time to switch out the Olympics themed templates, email signatures, and Facebook images and go back to our “standard” logo and templates.  You will find the Facebook cover and profile image as well as the email signature at the bottom of this update.  Our next campaign, “Get Ready for Summer,” is ready to kick off in April.  All materials for...

GAW/Facebook Support

Please be advised that MGE will be ceasing business with Back At You (BAY) for Google AdWords and Facebook support, effective February 28. A new GAW structure, protocol, and support relationship will be implemented by approximately March 15.  Any gyms needing help with GAW between March 1 and March 15 should contact the marketing division at marketing@mygym.com. Google AdWords Beginning March 15, Search Commander, a new vendor to My Gym, but one who has multiple years of Google AdWords and other Internet marketing expertise, will be providing consultant services and support structure for GAW.  Search Commander is a Portland, Oregon based online marketing company.  Over the past several weeks, tests have been conducted with several gyms using the services and support of Search Commander.  A new, cost-effective approach and system to this area of marketing is being finalized to meet the wide-ranging needs of My Gym franchisees. Facebook In March, we will be launching new Facebook content strategy managed by MGE Marketing.  We will no longer be pre-loading content to franchisees’ Facebook...

Exact Target Best Practices Webinar

Exact Target Webinar This is a 45 to 60-minute webinar on Exact Target Best Practices.  During this webinar, we will go over the most frequent functions and issues faced in Exact Target, followed by an open floor Q&A.  Feel free to email mperez@mygym.com with the topics you would like us to cover, and we will dedicate time to the 3 or 4 most popular subjects (depending on time). IMPORTANT NOTES: We make every effort to place these webinars during times we feel will work for most of the My Gym Family.  Of course, this is not always possible, so a recorded version of the webinar will be posted in the Tutorials section of the extranet.  This recording is not intended as a replacement for attending the live event.  The recorded webinar should be used only as a reference. We have disabled the mic and speakers function for this webinar; the only way to participate is to call in.  We anticipate that this change will make for a smoother webinar...

Extreme Makeover: Exact Target Purge Complete!

As per our announcement on February 6th, all Exact Target accounts have been purged of global emails and refreshed with only essential ones.  You should now see only the 27 global emails listed at the bottom of this update. IMPORTANT NOTE When customizing a global email to send to your database, you must first make a copy and save it to “My Emails.”  PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY THE GLOBAL EMAIL.  You can copy global emails to “My Emails” in three easy steps: Steps 1 & 2:  Select the global email you would like to customize, and press Copy. Step 3:  Give the email a name; then press Save. Your new email is now saved in My Emails and is ready for customization. Additionally, we strongly encourage you to clear your “My Emails” folder of any emails using previous styles.  All gyms must be using the current brand for marketing. Regarding Claim Client Interface Email In the February 10th update, Online Booking – Customer Reminders, we mentioned an available Exact Target...

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE EXACT TARGET GLOBAL EMAILS!

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE EXACT TARGET GLOBAL EMAILS! The purge will take place this coming Sunday, February 16, 2014,carrying over to Monday, February 17.  (Certain functions can be modified only during M-F business hours.)  This means Exact Target may be inaccessible to you for several hours within this period! BUT LET’S BE CLEAR: What will the purge delete? Only the emails located in “Global Emails” will be deleted.  Any emails you have saved to your own folders outside of the Global Emails folder (My Emails) will remain.  Immediately following the purge, we will republish a select number of global emails, and we will release seasonal emails on an appropriate schedule in order to avoid cluttering the system. What about graphics in the “Global Portfolio” folder? This section will be reorganized for easier navigation as part of the purge. Should I delete outdated emails from the “My Emails” folder? You certainly may want to for ease of use; but this is not mandatory at this time. Still confused? Review the...

Olive Garden Wrap-Up

IMPORTANT NOTE 9:30AM PST: Unfortunately, the link Olive Garden provided us in the Olive Garden PNO – Thanks for Participating – Kids Eat Free Coupon email is faulty, and we are working on getting the correct link ASAP. Please do not send this global email (we cannot remove it once published). An updated, clearly marked, global email will be published ASAP. Thank you for your patience. Please note: The final two Olive Garden emails, located in Global Emails, are called Olive Garden PNO – Non Inquiry Follow Up (email #5 on...

Extreme Makeover: Exact Target Email Templates To Be Purged – You MUST read this notice.

Extreme Makeover: Exact Target Email Templates To Be Purged – You MUST read this notice. Over the years, ET has become cluttered and difficult to navigate. We’re going to solve the problems of confusion and difficulty connected to Exact Target Global Email Templates. The best way to accomplish this is for us to delete (purge) all existing global emails and republish only those emails that are relevant, useful, and easy to manage.  As a result, we will be purging all existing ET materials (global emails, graphics, pictures) on Sunday, February 16, 2014. SAVE YOUR CONTENT: BEGINNING TODAY, ALL GYMS will have 10 days to save all essential content that has been created within the global emails.  If you have any questions about how to save, store, and retrieve your favorite templates, click here for a step-by-step video tutorial.  A printable tutorial is also available here.  Anything you don’t save will be deleted. Important note:  Many gyms customize and work off of the published emails directly in the global emails...

2014 Marketing Campaign – Get Ready for Summer Fun!

Millions of kids agree… Summer is not complete without My Gym fun! Summer will be here before we know it, and that means soon it will be time to prepare all of your marketing for the Summer Fun campaign. To help you execute the themed campaign in your own gym(s), the following are ready for you to access: In the Print System on the Extranet: Full-page flier Half-page flier Color and black & white versions 4×6 postcard Got Print formatted postcard template also available Poster To be printed locally and hung in lobby/front window Printed ads for placing in local family guides are to be ordered through the Custom Artwork Request form, as sizes vary. Please select 2014 Summer Fun Campaign under “Artwork Type” when placing order so that artwork will match in style. In Exact Target: Global email (generic email for you to customize with your own message and offer) titled “NCAPR Summer Fun Campaign General Use Email” In the 2014 National Marketing Campaign Folder: My Gym Operations...

Olive Garden Update