Category: Blog

Five Steps to Safeguard Your Sports Facility Against Liability

5 Steps to Safeguard Your Sports Facility Against Liability

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

Ever had an athlete twist an ankle on your field, or worse: break a leg,dislocate a shoulder, or sustain a head injury? Ever had someone run into a brick wall? I’m serious here — at one football field, a brick wall was placed just beyond the end zone, and a player ran full speed into it. Be glad you weren’t the owner of that field when the question of liability arose — because, when you run a sports facility with a field, the question of liability always arises. You have to be vigilant about it, and take constant measures to both protect players from injury and yourself from litigation. What can you do?

1) Start with common sense. There are no published industrywide standards for all aspects of sports fields, but there are generally accepted expectations. Is your playing field level? Is it free of debris, holes, depressions, and other potential safety hazards, such as loose seams and worn patches? Is there a risk of rocks rising to the surface, and is the field playable when wet? Your field maintenance efforts should focus first on safety, while your common sense should guide you in terms of what is safe and what isn’t.

2) Next, take a look at your field as if you’ve never seen it before. If there are liability issues, you’ve probably become so accustomed to seeing them that you don’t really notice them anymore. Take the brick wall, for instance: Any field manager who has stopped to think about it would have realized the danger. However, it’s easy to not think about things when you’ve got a routine and a checklist of tasks to accomplish. Step onto your field and look around. Are there poorly placed walls? Are there ridges or lips on the field?

If it’s an expanded field, such as a soccer field, is there sufficient space for athletes to slide without hitting fences? Is there room to comply with American Disability Act requirements? See everything as if it is for the first time and make assessments. If you’re too busy to consider all of the potential problems, or are just too familiar with your field to be able to see it with a fresh eye, don’t hesitate to have an outside firm audit safety issues. If you don’t have the budget for an outside inspection, consider asking a fellow sports field manager to inspect your facility in exchange for you to inspect theirs.

3) Do your paperwork. Make sure you have contracts, insurance documents, and anything else you might need in place, in order to manage any financial and legal liability. If anything unfortunate ever does occur, you’ll need to have the paperwork ready on hand.

4) Don’t delay. When you identify a potential problem, fix it right away. No, scratch that: First document it by noting the problem, how and when it was discovered, and what the strategy for resolution is. Then go ahead and fix it.

5) Finally, after an issue has been discovered, documented, and dealt with, schedule regular re-inspection times (document your re-inspections!). Then take the time to analyze: Why did the problem occur in the first place? Could it lead to other problems? Are there ways to avoid such problems in the future? Remember, the best way to reduce risk is through prevention. This way, any time and resources you invest into large-scale improvements now will pay off for you down the road.

Addition of View Details Option on E-mail Campaign History Page and More!

Addition of View Details Option on E-mail Campaign History Page and More!

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

Our Development Team is constantly working to improve your user experience with EZFacility. Between major updates, we release small but important Features and Fixes that address issues and add useful new options/tools to better help you manage your business. These changes are documented in our Release Notes, found in our Support Center under the “Product News & Updates” section.

In a world full of numbers it is easy to get lost in them. From what’s in your bank account to the number of clients that pass through your facility each day. Our last release featured the introduction of the Email Campaign History page, which, not only gives you the ability to see previously sent emails, but also allows you to report on their success or failures using numbers. With that in mind EZFacility’s Development Team has taken that concept one step further with the release of a “View Details” section of the Email Campaign History Page and more!

View Details- Email Campaign History

In the Email Campaign History section of your EZFacility account you will notice our newest feature – View Details. Our goal for adding the View Details section was to associate a name and purpose with email campaign results. This allows you to better understand and analyze the reach and depth of your campaign efforts.

 

Clicking into View Details will automatically display campaign result totals for a variety of industry standard email event types. These results can be broken down to include the email address of the recipient and an event time stamp that allows you to view statistics as they happen. You can also filter through campaign information using criteria such as email address and event type.

 

Email Results Recorded:

  • Delivered: Message has been successfully delivered to the receiving server.
  • Open: Recipient has opened the HTML message.
  • Click: Recipient clicked on a link within the message.
  • Bounce: Receiving server could not or would not accept message.
  • Dropped: Recipients IP address has been added to the blacklist.
  • Spam Report: Recipient marked message as spam.

Display Available Openings Remaining on an Online Registration Form

In an effort to make Online Registrations as efficient as possible, our latest release includes the ability to display the remaining openings available on an Online Registration Form. When your clients first view this page they will be met with the available openings remaining totals for creating new subgroups and individual registrations. For those clients who will be looking to register for a sub group, the sub-group openings will be displayed when viewing the list of subgroups.

 

Note: The number of available openings remaining is based on the “Max. Individuals” and “Max. Subgroups” set in the group details.

Update to Our SPAM and Security Settings

With our latest release we have made an update to our SPAM and security settings. Now, when sending an email blast, the ‘From’ field will be changed from your facility or personal email address to [email protected], while still displaying the name of your facility at the top. Be assured however, that when a client replies to a sent email, it will be received by the user that sent the email blast and not EZFacility. This change is for security reasons, and is being implemented across the industry for SPAM prevention. Email providers such as Yahoo and AOL already require this change and are beginning to block emails that are sent ‘on behalf of’ another email address.

 

And More!

In addition to these changes, there were many additional updates included in this release. For more details, please visit out Release Notes page.

Establishing a YouTube Presence

Establishing a YouTube Presence

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world. The first is Google. When you consider the facts that (1) Google owns YouTube, (2) Google’s search engine algorithm weighs heavily the presence of videos on a website (in plain English: if you’ve got videos, your site will appear higher up in Google’s search results), and (3) videos are much more likely to go viral than text-only online content, the conclusion you should draw is obvious: Your facility can benefit from having a presence on YouTube.
But where to begin? Or, if you already have a selection of videos on YouTube, how to optimise? Don’t worry. There are some simple steps you can take to establish yourself in the YouTube universe.
First, if you haven’t already, create a YouTube channel for your facility. This takes seconds to do and allows you to build up a mass of users who subscribe to your account; it also lets you send emails to subscribers. Be sure to upload the videos you create to your channel.
Then consider the production value that’s right for you. Your videos do not have to be perfectly polished works of art; in fact, anything too polished could be off-putting. You want to keep them authentic, comfortable, and welcoming. You also want them to be cost-efficient. This means investing just enough resources to get your point across; you might be able to make a perfectly fine video with just a smartphone attached to a tripod accessory (just make sure you’re paying close attention to sound quality; if you invest in any sort of high-tech equipment, let it be a great microphone).
That said, keep in mind that viewers won’t stick around for long if a video is too low in quality. And you want them to stick around, because the whole point is to give them a direction to take. By the end of your video, you should tell viewers to contact you, stop by, or check out your social media channels. Including a call to action — and making the video compelling enough so that viewers stay long enough to get the call to action — is crucial.
As far as other content goes, the sky — and your imagination — is the limit. Videos featuring quick, helpful routines created by your trainers are an obvious choice, and are sure to be a big hit. But don’t overlook other possibilities: videos of new members, perhaps explaining why they chose to join your facility; videos of staff discussing their favorite parts of their jobs; videos of events you’ve hosted or sponsored, especially if they’re events that show your dedication to your surrounding community. Also, videos of CEOs, managers, or owners offering personal, sincere stories about how they’ve overcome hardship or what motivates them or why they do what they do can be extremely compelling. Don’t forget that humor always attracts attention. As do children!
Other things to keep in mind: You want to be sure to help Google — and viewers — connect your YouTube video with your other online content. That means, in the description of your video, include a link to your website. The flip side of that is connecting your clientele (and potential clientele) with your videos: Be sure to tweet the videos, share them on Facebook and Google+, promote them on Instagram — make them an integrated part of your social media strategy.
As part of that strategy, you should also take time to invest in the YouTube community. Become an integral part of that community by commenting on other videos within your fields of interest. Add links on your website to videos you find interesting. If other YouTube users perceive your facility as a supportive, community-minded entity, they’ll support you, and then the real magic of YouTube will kick in, with word about your facility spreading at lightning speed.
Of course, as with all of your marketing efforts, you’ll want to maintain brand recognition. Include your logo, use fonts and colours associated with your brand, establish a consistent voice and personality, and ensure that the tone conveyed in the video matches the tone you have established elsewhere. The pay-off — a higher profile on Google and a reputation as a video provider — will be huge!

Free Classes

Free Classes

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

If you’re a sports facility with tennis courts, you’ll want to pay attention to this. And if you’re any other kind of sports facility, you’ll also want to pay attention. Actually, everyone listen up — this is an idea that health clubs and fitness centres can capitalize on too.
In May, as part of a promotional effort started jointly by the Tennis Industry Association, the Professional Tennis Registry, and the United States Professional Tennis Association’s Tennis Across America program, sports facilities and certified teaching pros around the country will take part in Try Tennis — a program to offer free tennis lessons. Any facility with tennis courts can sign up here to participate; tennis-playing aspirants can find participating facilities on the same website. The possible result for you? Free advertising and perhaps new long-term members.
The sponsoring associations based their decision to launch Try Tennis on industry research showing that 65 percent of players who begin tennis in an introductory program continue with the sport. Offering free classes or lessons is a way of getting potential players hooked.
You can see why I wanted you all to listen up — this is a widely adaptable idea. If you’re a facility with a focus on baseball, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, hockey — any sport — you can work on getting a Try [Your Sport] promotion going industry wide. If you’re a gym, you can think about a Try a Trainer month, or a Try Zumba (or other workout class) month. Pushing a promotion on a huge scale, like the tennis initiative, might feel beyond your scope; if that’s the case, try it with a few other facilities in your network or your region, or just launch a similar program in your facility alone. However you’re able to manage it, a full month of free lessons is likely to draw potential new members, a good number of whom will stay on after the promotion ends.
The idea can be applied in all types of facilities and can be carried out in a number of ways. You could do as the tennis folks are doing and make it a month-long promotion. If you’re a facility with fewer resources, make it a week’s event, or even just a single day’s. Of course, however you end up designing it, you’ll want to spread the word widely. If you’re doing it in conjunction with other facilities, consider setting up a website like the Try Tennis one. If you’re going solo, give it a big headline on your own website’s landing page, and shout about it on your social media channels. Ask your current members to let others know; ask them to bring their friends.
Equally important: Keep track of the numbers. Make sure you count the people who take part (and get their names and contact info for follow-up). Then count the number of people who sign up for long-term instruction or general membership. You’ll want to know whether the effort pays off for you. In your niche, is it also the case that 65 percent who begin playing continue on? Maybe not, but either way, you want to have the data available. Then, if it works, do it every year!

Use Your Club Size To Your Advantage

Use Your Club Size To Your Advantage

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

Over on the IHRSA blog, there’s an interesting post about how small gyms in rural towns tackle the unique challenges they face. It’s true that for any health club or sports facility with a small pool of members and clients to draw from, there are difficulties that clubs in more populous places don’t experience. You might compete with larger clubs nearby, vying hard for attention against brand-name franchises. Or you might struggle to fill up your classes or operate programs or leagues that are tricky to manage without a certain bulk enrollment.

The best strategy? Use your club size to your advantage. Sisters Athletic Club, in Sisters, Oregon, makes a point of creating a homelike atmosphere in its facility. First of all, the gym provides no membership cards. Instead, even though the club boasts 1,600 members, employees are required to know every member and greet them by name when they enter. Here’s where small-town advantages come into play: The town has only 2,000 residents. Chances are, the member entering is your neighbor anyway. Also, the club strives to create an anti-gym feel. Outside, the 19,000-square-foot facility looks like a lodge. Inside, a rock formation fills the lobby, classical music infuses the air, and an art gallery spreads out near the front desk. You can’t see the cardio court from the entrance, and you don’t smell anything that even vaguely suggests you’re in a gym. The hominess is complemented by fastidiousness; everything is spotless.

Playing up the sense that the facility is an extension of their members’ homes is crucial for Sisters Athletic, in part because the club’s biggest competitor is nature. There’s so much skiing, biking, and hiking nearby that the facility has to give members the sense that they’re getting something they can’t possibly get outdoors. It’s precisely its small, comfortable feel that allows it to do so.

The situation for B-Fit 24/7 Fitness in Adrian, Michigan, is different: The local population consists of 24,000 and there are big-name competitors not too far away. So, B-Fit has a bigger pool to draw from than Sisters Athletic Club, but there are more options for the folks who make up that pool. B-Fit has to really stand apart from the crowd in order to create a loyal clientele and attract new members.

Their solution? The club has made itself the only one in the area that’s open 24 hours, and it pitches itself as the “ungym” — unlike the traditional gym model, B-Fit does not require members to sign a contract, and it refunds members who don’t reach their goals. Also, the club works hard to forge relationship with the 80 percent of the population that isn’t naturally exercise-oriented.

For sports facilities in similar positions — either with only a tiny pool to draw from or with big-fish competitors nearby and a relatively small pool of potential clients — smart marketing, along with lots of event hosting, might be the key. Looking to fill up your baseball league? Try putting up flyers in towns one to two hours away; parents will go surprisingly far to keep their kids interested in an activity, and adult players who are committed enough to join a league probably won’t mind the travel. As far as events go, don’t limit yourself to birthday parties. Put the idea in the minds of potential customers that you are there for all occasions, from celebrations for specific events and holidays to celebrations for no reason at all.

The overriding lesson is this: What you think are weaknesses might be turned to advantages. Exaggerate the very qualities that seem limiting — your small size, the restricted pool you’re in — and figure out what about those things might appeal to those around you.

New Email Campaign History Page and More!

New Email Campaign History Page & More!

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

Our Development Team is constantly working to improve your user experience with EZFacility. Between major updates, we release small but important Features and Fixes that address issues and add useful new options/tools to better help you manage your business with EZFacility. These changes are documented in our Release Notes.

Sending a carefully choreographed email campaign regarding special events, news items or promotions can lead to increased revenue and a larger client base. However, have you ever sent an email campaign and been left wanting to know more? For example, what email campaigns have I sent, how many clients did each campaign go to or how many of those clients had invalid email addresses? EZFacility’s Development Team has released a brand new feature, Email Campaign History, that focuses on those very questions!

Email Campaign History

In the Administration section of your EZFacility account you will notice a newly organized Email Campaign section that houses our newest feature – Campaign History. Clicking into Campaign History will provide access to the riches that are your previously sent email campaigns! Clicking into Campaign History you will see the last 20 sent email campaigns displayed automatically. However, not only can you just view campaigns, you can also search through previous ones using criteria such as address, subject, and date.

The Campaign History list will show the:

  • number of clients attempted
  • number of duplicate email addresses
  • number of clients with no email address
  • number of invalid email addresses
  • number of clients the e-mail was sent to

Add Multiple Email Addresses to a Client’s Profile

Understanding the need to have multiple email addresses saved for a single client, we have updated the client page to do just that. To begin saving multiple email addresses, navigate to a client’s personal page and locate the email address section. Entering an email address into the field and clicking the add button will include the address on the client profile. You will want to continue this process for as many emails as applicable. After emails have been added editing them is as simple as selecting the edit pencil to the right of each email address.

**Remember to click the update button on the client profile to save your changes**

And More!

In addition to these changes, there were many additional updates included in this release. For more details, please visit out Release Notes page.

Outdoor Workouts

Outdoor Workouts

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

I don’t know about you, but now that the long winter finally (finally!) seems to be drawing to a close, all I want is to be outdoors. I want that so badly that I almost, for a very brief second — full disclosure — considered letting my gym membership expire. I’ll just start a new one in September, I thought. It was only a fleeting idea; happily, I know that I get too much from my gym to ever really let go of my membership so easily. But a lot of people don’t know that. A lot of people do exactly what I thought of doing: let their membership slide in the warm months and rejoin (or, worse, join somewhere else) when the cold sets in again.
One way for a gym, or any type of fitness or sports center, to combat this phenomenon is to take things outdoors. In recent years, it’s become more of a trend for health clubs to institute outdoor programs. Large cities hold yoga-in-the-sun classes. Gyms offer boot camp in the park. So-called “street workouts” are becoming more popular, with exercisers using poles, park structures, even swing-sets to build up core muscles and practice other forms of strength training.
If you haven’t yet cashed in on the trend, it’s time to do so. Your audience is hungry for it (google “outdoor workouts” and you’ll see what I mean). The question is, how do you make it work? How do you move operations outside?
Start with an existing class — it’s probably your most portable commodity. Go for a low-key class first, one that doesn’t rely on music or heavy equipment. (Once you get things up and running and you understand how to coordinate outdoor sessions smoothly, it’ll be simple enough to fiddle with sound systems and free weights; til then, keep things easy for yourself.) Think of props that naturally work well outside: balls, jump ropes. Get your instructors to incorporate these items and, if necessary, to modify their routines to suit the outdoors. Of course, promote heavily. Your social media channels should be screaming, “New outdoor class!” The walls of your facility should be littered with posters and flyers. Make sure the logistics are clearly communicated: Will the class meet in the gym lobby and then follow the instructor out? Will there be a meeting point in the park? Spell it out.
Once you’ve seen how it works — and what the potential pitfalls are — think of creating classes specifically for nature. Call upon the expertise of your trainers and instructors; find out their favorite outdoor workouts and ask them to develop these into teachable sessions. Scout out potential locations carefully and make use of what’s out there: trees, old jungle gym sets, park benches. Anything fixed to the ground is fair game.
After you’ve built up an outdoor clientele, think about investing in equipment. Life Fitness recently developed a “jungle gym” series for outside; other companies are following suit. If you’re in a location that doesn’t easily allow for outdoor access, consider doing what my gym in New York City does: use the rooftop. You might have to partner with a school, community center, or other organization that already has outdoor space. (If you’re using parks, keep in mind that many municipalities require permits for the use of public spaces, and often there are restrictions about how existing structures, including trees, can be used. Do your homework.)
Follow these steps, and you’ll be well on your way. The only thing left to figure out will be how you can sneak into one of your own facility’s outdoor sessions — because once you have the option, there’s no way you’re going to want to stay inside.

Winter in Summer

Winter in Summer

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

Since we seem to be in the middle of an endless winter, let’s contemplate the experience of winter in summer — or, more precisely, how rinks and hockey centres can manage most efficiently in the off-season.
I have a friend who loves to go ice-skating in the summer; rinks are empty, she tells me. But I don’t get it: Why are they empty? Why doesn’t everyone head straight for a field of ice when it’s 95 degrees outside? It’s largely and very simply a matter of public perception, I think: We associate skating and hockey-playing with cold weather, so we don’t think of doing it when summer rolls around. If you operate a rink or hockey center that’s open year-round, however, there are a few things you can do to shift public perception.
It’s all about managing the message. If you offer a summer camp program, get the word out to families before the major push for summer-camp registration starts. These days, parents start signing their kids up for summer activities the day after New Year’s. Luckily for you, that’s the ideal time for a rink to spread the word. At the beginning of December, when you’re in the thick of league games, regular training, clinics, and rink rentals — and before other types of summer programs have easy access to the audience you’re serving — start an advertising campaign for your summer camp program. Put up posters that play on the winter-in-summer contrast, and get creative with them. Images of kids in bathing suits running around in mounds of snow will grab your audience’s attention. Your goal is to let families know that the hockey and skating they’re enjoying so much right now are available to them all year long (and are even more enjoyable when the temperature is soaring!).
Also, if your rink is the kind that converts to non-ice sports in the warmer weather — roller-skating, soccer, field hockey — be sure your customer base knows this. Again, because the tendency will be to associate your facility with winter sports only, customers might think of other venues before they think of yours. From the first moment a hockey player or ice-skater walks through your door, be sure it’s obvious that your activity offerings go far beyond the ice-based. Prominently display pictures of people enjoying other sports in your facility; directly advertise your other offerings. Train your staff members to mention those other offerings at the moment when registration for a winter sport happens.
Finally, make good use of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and especially Instagram and Pinterest are all image-centric: Reveal your full breadth of offerings through vivid images that you post frequently. Avoid the natural inclination to show off only your ice-skaters and hockey-players when the holiday season in upon us, and businesses everywhere are plugging images of happy, winter scenes. That’s the perfect time, in fact, for you to capitalize on the interesting contrast you can offer that other places can’t: winter in summer!

Making Sound Decisions

Making Sound Decisions

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

IHRSA’s 2014 33rd Annual International Convention and Trade Show offered up so much food for thought that you’re probably feeling stuffed right about now. But it’s worth really digesting what author Dan Heath had to say in a general session discussion during the event. His talk, “Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work” took a close look at the foundation upon which all business are built: decisions. Good decisions can make you; bad ones can break you. How can you be sure you’re making sound decisions?
Heath identified four elements — or, as he calls them, “villains” — of bad decisions: (1) narrow framing, (2) confirmation bias, (3) short-term emotion, and (4) over-confidence. He also offered a strategy for countering each of these villains; he calls it the WRAP strategy.
If you’re framing out an issue too narrowly, you have blinders on; you can’t see the full picture, so you can’t make a sound decision. To counter this villain, use the “W” in “WRAP”: Widen your options. Try to see more than just the two possibilities of making the decision or not making it. If you’re working with a confirmation bias, you’re not gathering enough information before making your decision — you’re seeking reassurance about your preconceived notions rather than the truth about the issue. To counter this one, use the “R”: Reality-test your options. Find a real-world way of testing your options before you make a decision. If you’re relying on short-term emotion, you’re not taking time to think things through. The remedy? “A”: Attain distance before you decide. If you feel emotional about a decision you have to make, give yourself time, or take a step back. You can act more rationally with distance. Finally, there’s the problem of over-confidence. If you’re too confident, you think you know more about what will happen in the future than you really can know. You counter this “villain” with the “P” in “WRAP”: Prepare to be wrong. To make such preparations, you set up what Heath calls a “decision trip-wire,” something that makes you, at some future point, go back, assess the decision you made, and alter or undo it if necessary.
As a gym, health club, fitness center, or sports facility, your business relies on dozens or scores (or more!) of small decisions each day. Do you schedule a cycle class in the morning or the evening, or both? Do you hire a trainer who specializes in HIIT workouts or more of a generalist? Do you purchase Vibration Training machines? White towels or beige ones? And are you going to fire that employee who is slacking off every time you look at him? There are these and so many more, and it can be hard to know what’s right. Having a rubric that helps you know when you might be making a bad decision — and what you can do to turn it into a good one — can be immensely empowering. Heath says his scheme isn’t right for all kinds of decisions, and it might not be right for all businesses or all managers, but thinking about it can help you come up with your own plan. Then you’ll be able to make decisions with confidence (but only just the right amount of it!).

Brand Identity

Brand Identity

« Blog | Written by ezfacility | | (0) Comments |

We all know how confusing a mixed message can be. Somebody tells you one thing and then does another, and you’re left wondering what exactly happened. Did you misunderstand something? Have you misinterpreted? Most of all, can you still trust the person in question?
While it can be bewildering when it happens between individuals, it can be downright damaging when it happens between an individual and a business, especially when the business thrives on retaining members. So, it might be time to review the messages you’re sending your clientele and make sure you’re not putting conflicting signals out there. To that end, a few pieces of advice:
1) Consider your free offers carefully. Some gyms have been known to offer pizza days, bagel days, even doughnut or candy days. While such food giveaways might make members happy, they can undermine your primary messaging. You want your members to believe that you care about their health — sure, a slice of pizza or a bagel once a month never hurt anyone, but let the strip mall down the street supply those. If you do it, how believable are you going to sound when you tell your members they need to exercise and eat properly to lose weight? And if you don’t sound believable and they don’t lose the weight, are they going to renew their membership when the time comes?
Of course, you could give away candy or bagels—even bagels slathered in cream cheese or butter—if you hand out with them, say, a chart that shows how many push-ups a person would need to do to burn off those calories, or how many miles they’d need to run on the treadmill. Again, it’s about consistent messaging.
2) Check how inclusive you’re being. Unless your facility is an elite training center or something similar, chances are you don’t want to turn away any potential clients. Are your flyers, advertisements, social media postings, and other promotional materials inclusive, with people of all colours, genders, sizes, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds represented? Will an overweight person or a Spanish-speaker or a transgender individual feel alienated? Try to consider your messaging from as many different points of view as possible, asking yourself whether you might be unintentionally shutting anyone out.
3) Pay attention to your grammar. I know this one makes me sound like your ninth-grade English teacher, but it’s important. In this day and age, when so much of a company’s identity depends on the words it strings together on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, in emails, and on websites, proper grammar—along with careful spelling and punctuation—is crucial. This is especially the case if your messaging is about achieving excellence, pushing yourself, going over and above, and the like. If you want to keep your credibility, you have to show your own willingness to achieve excellence, to push yourself. Even if your clientele cares more about a good workout than a well-crafted sentence, on some level evidence of carelessness will have an effect.
In the end, it’s about having a solid brand identity and continually working to strengthen that identity. Tweaking small details and taking the time to reflect on the messages you’re conveying can make a big difference.