There’s a reason storytelling has stood the test of time. Storytelling is the world’s oldest form of art—and remains mankind’s most effective way to communicate. If you want to capture and keep someone’s interest, tell them a story.

When told well, everyone can connect to a story on a personal or emotional level. Achieving both levels of connection is the ultimate goal.

So what does storytelling have to do with your health and fitness club?

An authentic, well-told brand story gives people a reason to choose your club over another. We all know that people respond to people. By telling people who you are, what you do, and why you do it, you can humanize your club. Once those human emotional connections are made, it’s easy to create loyal members who are excited to advocate for your club.

The end goal for all health and fitness clubs is to gain and retain members. Marketing plays a huge role in both, and a strong brand is one of the most powerful tools marketers have at their disposal. With a compelling brand story, you gain buy-in from members. Once they become long-term advocates of your club, they’ll naturally start referring others to your business and your member base will grow. On the Net Promoter Score scale, the goal is to make all members promoters rather than passives or detractors. According to a Nielson study, consumers are four times more likely to buy a product when referred by a friend. So encouraging and fostering a strong referral program at your club is hugely important.

A brand story can also be hugely impactful to a club’s internal health and success. A brand story can inspire the right type of employees to want to work at your club, which means you can hire and retain the best staff. It can also act as a North Star for your team to keep purpose and values aligned. With a shared brand story that every believes in, it’s easier for staff to stay motivated and working toward one common goal.

Brand stories carry a lot of responsibility—to portray who companies are, what’s important to them, and how they’ll deliver on a promise. Despite their gravity, brand stories are much easier to create than you might think. By asking the right questions, thinking deeply and critically your business, and following a basic structure, a brand story can take off.

The first step is to evaluate your business by asking the right questions and thinking critically about what the honest answers are to those questions. Here are some questions to ask:

• Who are you? Your club was created by people. Show the real faces, personalities, and passion of those who keep your club running day in and day out.

• What do you do? What do you offer members? Think beyond the product or service and focus on what those products and services actually do for members and their lives.

• Who do you do it for? Who did you build your club for? Who do you aspire to help or serve?

• Why do you do it? Why is what you do important? What value do you provide to those who come to your club? What’s the larger mission behind the tactical?

• How do you do it? What type of business model are you committed to? How are you doing things differently to achieve your end goal? What makes your club stand out from others?

• What’s on the horizon? Everyone has a vision for the future. What’s yours?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you can start crafting your brand story by putting your findings into a loose structure. All stories follow the same structure, and this the structure you should use for your brand story. Readers will unconsciously recognize the familiar story pattern and have an easier time connecting to it. Start by setting the stage and introducing the people involved. Then, identify a central problem or conflict. The story is primarily about how this conflict or problem is solved and the journey of coming to a resolution, which is where your brand story ends.

As important as what you say in your brand story is how you say it. With the content and major plot points planned out, turn your attention to the voice or style you want to use to tell your story. A good story should be:

• Meaningful – Make sure the stakes are high enough to make people care. With so much competition in the market, you need to make your club stand out without falling into the trap of dramatizing for attention.

• Personal – Give your audience something—or someone—to connect to. Can you use a real-life story about how you changed a member’s life to help support your brand story?

• Authentic – Your brand story should be honest, transparent, and earnest. It should also be true to who you are as a club.

• Focused – Don’t confuse your audience with tiny details that detract attention from the message you’re trying to get across. Edit your story down until it’s easy to tell, easy to remember, and easy to retell.

The final step to developing your brand story is to share it with the world. Telling your brand story requires an ongoing and multifaceted approach. Consider the following channels for sharing your story:

• Video – A video is a great way to share your brand story because it can evoke emotion in a way that’s harder to do with just words or static images.

• Website – Your website is one of the primary places people will interact with your brand story. Make sure it’s featured in a prominent location on your site and is optimized for search engines to find.

• Other Marketing Materials – Your brand story is central to the message you deliver to your audience. No matter the form, consistency in how the story is told and presented is key.

Don’t fall into the trap of associating your brand story with just the early stages of your club’s lifespan. Remember that new people are being introduced to your club every day, so it’s important to keep your brand story prominent in your marketing. A comprehensive club management software can be a great way to keep track of how your brand story is shared through websites, digital marketing, and more.

To see how Club Automation can help you create and share your brand story, schedule a demo.