Sale Leisure Centre & move Altrincham
An established, familiar Trafford Leisure centre with a full 65+ class programme already running. The job is converting people who know it, so lead with in-centre, staff and email.
The same 65+ classes and facilities, but less familiar to this audience after reopening in Aug 2025 with new equipment, a spa and a new brand. The job is awareness, so lead with paid reach and the refurbishment story.
Nicola describes it on camera: seated, chair-supported, standing, low-impact dance, aqua, then a tailored programme. That range is the reassurance a newer member needs, an entry point wherever their ability sits, and it's worth featuring more prominently.
The 65+ page and app confirm more than the assets show: specialised rehab, falls prevention and restricted-mobility sessions, a get-started induction, and a £384 annual option. Strong selling points already in place.
The benefit posts work best run in sequence rather than rotated, so they build like a short guide. That guide could then go one step further and answer the practical questions people have before joining:
Facebook is the informed starting point for paid, well ahead of Instagram on reaching this age group, to be confirmed with conversions.
| Channel | Sale · 50 | move Altrincham · 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Organic | Benefit posts and instructor reels, local Facebook groups | Benefit posts and instructor reels, plus the refurbished facility and spa story |
| Sent to the mailing list, segmented to this demographic if the audience attributes are available. If not, it goes to past members and class users, inviting them back or prompting the 65+ upgrade. | ||
| In-centre | Clear signage, briefed staff and a short guided walk-round. A "Speak to [name] / ask for [name]" identifier on every asset gives people a memorable way to enquire in person, and gives us a tally of walk-in interest the digital channels can't track. | |
| Partnerships | Trafford has real routes worth using: NHS social prescribing (Altrincham Healthcare Alliance and Sale PCN link workers refer older people into activity), Age UK Salford and Trafford, and Trafford libraries in Sale and Altrincham that already host older-adult sessions. | |
| Website | Align so every other channel has somewhere to send people. | |
| Print & outdoor | Flyers, posters, vinyl and banners already exist. Adding a unique code to each and distributing beyond the centres would let us measure what they bring in. | |
| Outreach | Tasters and short talks at partner groups | Open sessions inviting people to see the reopened centre |
| PR | A member story, a class-milestone angle, an instructor feature. | A facility reopening hook, a spa angle or a 65+ programme story, pitched to local press and the Council press office |
| Paid social | Facebook, local radius, 65+ - older members join their nearest centre, so spend stays close to each site. | |
Covers where to go, where to park, who greets you, the induction and who to ask for. It adds the reassurance step the current assets skip.
| Phase | What goes live | Why, and the site difference |
|---|---|---|
| Pre Launch Setup | Tracking, UTM links and channel codes built · "how did you hear" added at join · baseline 65+ join rate recorded · staff briefed · landing page and print ready. | Everything is set up to be measurable before launch. |
| Wk 1–2 Announce | Opener + benefit posts begin in sequence · paid socials live · banners and posters up · PR out · meta A/B tests launch | Sale uses its in-centre and email routes alongside paid; Altrincham leans harder on paid reach and its refurbished facilities. |
| Wk 3–4 Reassure | Instructor reels lead · "Your first visit" content · first tasters and open sessions · week-4 review · optimise paid ads | Speaks to newer members who need reassurance. The review decides where the held £150 goes. |
| Wk 5–6 Enable | App-tutorial videos · "how to book, who to ask for" · referral and partner push · second wave of best-performing posts · optimise paid ads | Removes the practical barriers. Spend shifts behind whatever week 4 showed converting. |
| Wk 7–8 Convert & retain | Follow up warm enquiries and taster attendees · reminder to the lapsed list · welcome and onboard new joiners | Turns the awareness built earlier into memberships, and helps new joiners stick, since retention is what the ROI depends on. |
Email suits this audience: the older bands open at the highest rates, and 65+ readers tend to sit down with a considered read rather than tap on a phone. So I'd turn the reel and tutorial content into a sequence they can read to be reassured, not just watch.
| Send | Content, built from the reels and tutorials | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 Announce | The offer, plainly: £32, no joining fee, cancel anytime, any-time access. One clear link and a phone number. | Re-engage the warm list |
| Wk 2 Meet the team | Alison, Jackie, Liam and Nicola written up so it reads without pressing play, reels embedded for those who want them. | Build trust |
| Wk 3 A start for everyone | Nicola's ability pathway in words: seated, chair-supported, standing, low-impact, aqua, then tailored. | Remove the "am I fit enough" barrier |
| Wk 4 Your first visit | The "Your first visit" guide as an email: where to go, parking, who greets you, the induction, who to ask for. | De-risk the walk-in |
| Wk 5–6 How to join | The app tutorial written as a simple numbered guide, plus the phone and in-person route for anyone who prefers it. | Enable and convert |
| Wk 7–8 Convert | A nudge to anyone who showed interest, a member story for proof, one clear call to action with the phone number first. | Turn interest into a join |
Large text, one idea and one call to action per email, a phone number on every send, and copy that convinces on the page without relying on video. Segmented to the 65+ list where attributes exist, otherwise past members and class users. A plain-English version of the same content also lives on the website as an evergreen page, working for search and for the family who help a parent choose, long after the paid budget stops.
The smaller share, matching the smaller target of 50 against Altrincham's 100. Low-cost channels like in-centre, staff and email are available here, so paid does not have to carry it alone.
The larger share. Double the target and a less established centre for this audience, so more goes into paid reach and telling the refurbishment story.
Kept back rather than committed up front, to move behind whatever the mid-point review shows working, at either site.
Paid Facebook first as the informed starting choice, then print and in-centre using assets that already exist, then tasters and outreach. Exact per-line figures set once early delivery data is in.
At £32 a month, a member retained a year is worth £384, and both targets retained annualise to roughly £57,600. If the numbers support it, there's a clear case to invest more, made at week 4 with real data.
Film the centres as long-form educational content on YouTube, then cut it into short reels for TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. The transcripts become blog posts for free organic search and traffic. One shoot, working across every channel.
Specialist gym equipment, the pool and studios, rehab and treatment spaces, the refurbished Altrincham facilities. Real features, explained by the people who run them.
Brand awareness, organic search traffic, and content that also runs as paid social. One shoot feeds YouTube, every short-form platform, and the website.
The same footage supplies the instructor and "your first visit" content this campaign needs, and it shows the specialist offer that the current assets undersell.
Six simple things put in place before day one, all of them free.
Every link tagged by channel, campaign & site.
One per channel and partner, the only way to measure print and outreach.
"How did you hear?" mandatory, captures word-of-mouth and walk-in.
New 65+ joins by site & date, plus cancellations.
Normal monthly 65+ joins before launch, so any uplift can be proven.
Phone & reception, not just online forms.
The baseline matters most: without it we can report the memberships but not prove the campaign caused them.
Cost per retained member, per site. The metric closest to revenue.
Joins vs target per site, running cost per join, enquiries, taster bookings, traffic-light status.
Full funnel with drop-off, channel & partner attribution, spend pacing, first retention cohort.
Target vs actual per site, cost per member & per retained member, annualised revenue, what to repeat or cut.