Sale Leisure Centre & move Altrincham
The data points to Facebook, so that is where I would start. But views are not joins, so I would treat it as an assumption to prove, not a fact: put tracking in place and confirm it with real conversion data once the campaign is live.
An established Trafford Leisure centre in Sale town centre, already running 65+ classes with instructors like Liam based here.
The job at Sale is conversion: turning the people already in the building, past members and new enquiries into memberships. In-centre, staff and email to past members are natural starting points, alongside paid reach to find people who don't know it yet.
Reopened Aug 2025 after a multi-million refurbishment: new equipment, spa, new brand. News value, low 65+ familiarity.
Altrincham is newly reopened and less familiar to this audience, so the opportunity leans towards awareness: showing people what is now there and inviting them to come and look. That points to more paid reach and a stronger new-facility story.
Already attending individual classes, such as Alison's cardiac group, Liam's Tuesday and Thursday sessions or Jackie's yoga. Many pay per class but have not taken a membership, so they are a warm group to speak to first.
People who were active before and stopped for any number of reasons. The "no joining fee, cancel anytime" message speaks directly to the hesitation about restarting. Email to past members is one route to reach them, alongside in-centre and staff conversations.
The largest group and the one with the most room to grow. They may not yet know what is on offer or whether it suits them, so awareness and reassurance come before the ask. Tasters, the instructor reels and trusted local partners all help here.
Adult children and relatives who help an older parent find and choose activities. They are active on Facebook and comfortable with QR codes, and can be a useful secondary audience for paid social where it makes sense, though not a group we have data on yet. worth testing
Nicola describes it on camera: fully seated, chair-supported, standing, low-impact dance, aqua and water mobility, then a tailored programme. That progression is exactly the reassurance a newer member needs, showing there is an entry point wherever their ability sits. It is a real strength that could be featured more prominently in the campaign.
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 leads the paid spend, since the data shows it reaches this age group and Instagram barely does. Where the two sites work the same way they share a row; where they differ, they split.
| Channel | Sale · 50 | move Altrincham · 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Paid social | Facebook, tighter local radius, 65+ | Facebook, wider radius, 65+ |
| Organic | Benefit posts and instructor reels, local Facebook groups | Benefit posts and instructor reels, plus the new-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. | ||
| PR | A member story, a class-milestone angle, an instructor feature, pitched to local titles | A new-facility reopening hook, a spa angle, a 65+ programme story, via local titles and the Council press office |
| 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. | |
| Outreach | Tasters and short talks at partner groups | Open sessions inviting people to see the reopened centre |
| Website | The site imagery skews younger and the 65+ membership isn't easy to find. A dedicated 65+ landing page, with Altrincham surfaced wherever the offer appears, would give every other channel 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. | |
The brief asks for educational, step-by-step content. So I'd sequence the assets we have as a guide that walks someone from noticing the offer to walking in, rather than posting them at random.
Built from footage that already exists, one short piece covering where to go, who greets you, the induction and who to ask for. It's the reassurance step the current assets are missing, and it needs no new design work.
| Phase | What goes live | Why, and the site difference |
|---|---|---|
| Wk −1 Setup | Tracking, UTM links and promo codes built · "how did you hear" added at join · baseline 65+ join rate recorded · staff briefed · landing page and print ready · Altrincham join journey checked | Everything is set up to be measurable before launch, so results can be read clearly. |
| Wk 1–2 Announce | Opener + benefit posts begin in sequence · paid Facebook live · banners and posters up · PR out | Sale leans on in-centre and email to the warm base; Altrincham leans on paid reach and the new-facility reveal. |
| Wk 3–4 Reassure | Instructor reels lead · "Your first visit" content · first tasters and open sessions · week-4 review | 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 | Removes the practical barriers. Spend shifts behind whatever week 4 showed converting. |
| Wk 7–8 Close | Offer-ends urgency · final partner and outreach push · onboarding of new joiners | Converts the undecided and protects early retention, which is what the ROI depends on. |
The smaller share. Sale already has a known brand and existing 65+ footfall, so much of the work is done by staff, in-centre and email, which cost little. Paid is a top-up here.
The larger share. Double the target and a less familiar, newly reopened centre, so more goes into paid reach and telling the new-facility 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 specialist equipment, spaces and treatments as long-form educational content on YouTube, a channel with room to grow. Each piece is then cut into short reels optimised for TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. It's informative and educational about what the centres offer, and it sells the location itself.
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, proves the uplift.
Phone & reception, not just online forms.
The source field and enquiry log capture the walk-in joins that online tracking misses. The baseline matters most of all: without it we can report the memberships but not prove the campaign caused them.
Reported separately per site, so a combined number can't hide one site struggling.
Cost per retained member, per site. The metric closest to revenue.
Centre managers & Marketing Manager. Joins vs target per site, running cost per join, enquiries, taster bookings, traffic-light status.
Marketing Manager & SLT. Full funnel with drop-off, channel & partner attribution, spend pacing, first retention cohort.
Senior leadership & Board. Target vs actual per site, cost per member & per retained member, annualised revenue, what to repeat or cut.
They convert most of the memberships, so they should watch the number move. Ownership follows visibility.
Agreed up front and measured separately, since the two sites are doing different jobs.
50 memberships, measured against the pre-launch baseline, at a sensible cost per join.
100 memberships, measured against the pre-launch baseline, at a sensible cost per join.
Did each site hit target, at what cost, against baseline so we show we caused it.
Still members at 3 months? Target >75%. Quick churn costs more than it earns.
Can we say which channel, partner & message worked? If not, next time's a guess.
If Altrincham delivers 80 memberships with strong retention, is that a failure? I'd argue not. Agreeing what good looks like in advance means a strong campaign isn't judged on the wrong number afterwards.
Find the stage that's dropping off, then test before assuming why. Reviewed at week 2 and week 4, per site.
| Symptom | What I'd check before assuming | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Reach low | Targeting, radius, whether the ads are actually delivering | Widen radius, shift some spend to print & partners, check delivery |
| Reach fine, enquiries low | Often just normal drop-off, most people won't act. Could also be the creative, the lead benefit or an unclear call to action | A/B test a different lead benefit or creative before concluding anything, and give it time |
| Enquiries fine, joins low | Friction at the point of joining, the QR/app route being the likeliest | Add phone and walk-in options, re-brief reception, smooth the join journey |
| One site behind | Whether it's a site-specific issue or just a slower start | Consider moving contingency budget to the converting site |
| Joins fine, retention low | Onboarding and early experience | Buddy pairing, follow-up calls, check the first-visit journey |
| All stages low | Offer, timing or audience fit | Escalate at week 4, don't spend the back half on a plan that isn't working |
If either site is below 40% of target at week 4, we stop and change something. A decision, not an argument, because it was agreed before launch.
UTMs, promo codes, source field, baseline. Biggest improvement available, costs nothing.
Let budget follow the channels that produce members, not just views.
Why did one post drive 73% of reach? If repeatable, it's a format.
Cardiac rehab, falls prevention and named specialists are strong assets worth showing.
Phone number & plain URL on every 65+ asset. Applies beyond this campaign.
A member kept is cheaper than one found. Onboarding continues after launch.