How to communicate with your audiences post COVID

Re-connect, reassure, and regain your footfall

As the sports, fitness and leisure industry prepares to welcome everyone back safely, it’s time for sports clubs and leisure centres to re-connect with their customers, gym goers, team players, and supporters. To reassure them that everything is in place for a safe return to sport, to their workout, to their training session, to their fitness class, to the game they love. If you’re running First Sports Run IT and communications software, you have the ideal framework, but what else do you need to consider?

Be clear
Have your audience in mind and segment it, so that your messaging can be clear and relevant to the reader i.e. one email to your football teams and a different email communication to your gym goers – as a minimum. You probably have an organisational tone of voice, but make sure that you’re speaking in terms that your audience will relate to. You can use a familiar tone with regular attendees and members that you have a built an established relationship and rapport with.

Be concise
Don’t feel you have to write 1000 words to get your information across. Sometimes less words make a better point. Some people better take information on board if you support with graphics and images.

Be consistent
Consistency is key, across all your communications. Often organisations forget to tell all the team members what’s in the information they’ve issued, causing inconsistency and uncertainty. Do an all staff briefing, send a team email, hold a remote video call, or simply copy the team in, to keep everyone on the same page. Don’t forget that website content and social media channels will need to be constantly updated in line with your published communications.

Give authentic reassurance
Be true to your audience, be real and gain their trust. Relevant venue and activity information, specific to them and directly from you, will build confidence. Put yourself in their shoes and see things from their perspective. Pre-empt their questions and include the answers in your initial communication.

Virtually walk people around
Tell them what to expect from the moment they make a booking, arrive, check in, and find their way around. Pictures or a link to a video walk and talk around, are ideal. Show and tell them about the measures you’ve put in place, and the reasons why.

Be there for them
Reassure your audience that the team will be there, on hand to support them back to the centre, to sport and to the game.

Don’t just broadcast, engage!
Communication is a two-way street, give a dedicated contact for any concerns they may have. Anticipate that telephone calls, emails both direct and through the “contact us” section of your website, and messaging services via social media channels, may increase. Make sure these are resourced appropriately. Ensure that enquiries and feedback are responded to, and acted upon where necessary.

Put them in control
A great feature of First Sports software is the self-administration portal. It’s remote, it’s online, it minimises physical contact, and it puts the power of personal and booking data, in the users’ hands.

Tell them every which way you can
As you’ll know from our analytics tools, not all emails are opened let alone read, and not every link is clicked. Do not rely on one communication method to get the message across. Use all the channels you have in your control. Issue emails, SMS texts, organise social media posts, update your website, send press releases, post YouTube videos. Use display screens at the venue, or traditional signage and don’t forget to support the team with face-to-face communication.

Would you like to know more?
If you’d like further support from First Sports team, get in touch and we’ll walk and talk you through the ways we can help you with audience definition, and communication that meets your objectives.