Looking to expand your brand in Europe? Craig Sherwood, chief development officer at Gold’s Gym, shares the lessons he has learnt along the way and maps out his strategy to further grow the franchise’s presence across the continent.
Gold’s Gym’s global presence today consists of nearly 650 gyms serving over 3 million members across 29 countries. While this is a significant global footprint, the brand is by no means done with its international expansion efforts. Despite having a presence on six – continents, there are still many countries and territories where we are looking to further grow our iconic fitness brand.
Europe is an important destination for continued brand expansion. Gold’s Gym has just nine locations open and operating today spanning England, the Netherlands, Russia, and the Czech Republic. But that still leaves 47 European countries without Gold’s Gym’s 55-plus years of fitness expertise, making European franchise development a top priority for the global fitness brand in the years to come.
In our experience thus far with expanding the Gold’s Gym brand to Europe, we’ve learned four important lessons about what does and does not work for making our U.S.-based fitness brand an attractive franchise opportunity for European investors.
1) Put your best foot forward from the start
Our first attempt at introducing Gold’s Gym to European audiences dates back to the mid-1990s. At the time, we were new to franchising and had not yet perfected the system we have in place today for franchising our brand overseas. So, we opted for a licensing program as opposed to partnering with highly qualified franchise owners.
Looking back now, with much more international franchising experience under our belt, we can admit that wasn’t the best approach to launching our brand in a new foreign market. The first Gold’s Gym locations in Europe did not reflect the best of what we have to offer.
We have since re-built our brand reputation in Europe despite our rocky start there, and the key ingredient to doing so has been providing strong brand standards for franchisees.
2) Spark active discussions in the target markets
When you’re just trying to break into a new market, you must find as many ways as possible to get in front of the international market’s prospective investors. This means investing in marketing and advertising efforts that are specifically geared toward your primary demographic in the country you’re targeting for development. Raising awareness that our franchise opportunity was available to potential buyers was an important first step in the development was have achieved thus far in Europe, so we’re continuing to apply these strategies in European expansion efforts moving forward.
For example, one European country that Gold’s Gym has been targeting heavily in Germany. To effectively convey our franchise development message to the right audience of investors, the lead generation began with the launch of a German-language website. Soon after the website went live, we launched a paid social media campaign with targeted ads featuring Gold’s Gym branding and an image of a trainer along with a message, in German, promoting the top benefits of Gold’s Gym’s master franchise ownership opportunity, like an iconic fitness brand with world-class support systems.
These digital efforts were a huge hit, attracting a large number of highly qualified individuals who were interested in partnering with the brand. The brand is currently working on new franchise agreements for Germany, and the same efforts are being used and making an impact for expansion in other European countries as well.
3) Hire a consultant based in the target country
In order to facilitate communication even further beyond our targeted digital outreach, we recognized a need for a consultant with local knowledge as well as being fluent in that language and English. Hiring consultants can be extremely helpful as they serve as the liaisons who help keep the conversation going between a franchisor and its international prospects past the initial lead generation. Due to the large geographical area and difference in time zones from the franchisor to the foreign country, consultants can field calls and answer questions from potential partners more efficiently.
After we switched from a licensing model to a franchising model in Europe, hiring and collaborating with consultants not only helped to bring in new business, but it also ensured that the process from inquiry to signing was as efficient as possible. Because of our continued work with franchise development consultants in Europe, Gold’s Gym can now move the process along so swiftly and seamlessly that we are currently in several contract negotiations with numerous different groups. Completing these deals – most of which are accompanied by language barriers and/or cultural differences – would likely be impossible without the support of our consultants, so we intend to keep leaning on them as we continue growing Gold’s Gym’s European footprint.
4) Join an association and start networking
Regardless of the industry your franchise brand belongs to, finding a relevant association that targets your ideal franchise prospects in international markets can help you connect with qualified, targeted leads quicker than you would on your own. Association memberships also provide the opportunity for peer collaboration with others in your industry who may be more familiar with the international market.
To apply this strategy to our own European expansion efforts, Gold’s Gym joined the European Health & Fitness Association, EuropeActive, a fitness industry organization that hosts/sponsors major trade show events in Europe like FIBO, one of the world’s largest fitness industry trade shows. We’ve also utilized our memberships with organizations focused on franchising, like the International Franchise Association, to attend additional trade shows and expos that we know European audiences will attend.
Onward and upward…
When you’re working to make a name for your brand on a global stage, it’s important that you invest in doing so the right way. Over the years, Gold’s Gym’s experience with expanding our European presence has helped us develop a proven set of best practices for continued growth across the continent and around the world.
As Gold’s Gym continues to gain ground in Europe, we welcome interested investors with impressive business acumen and a passion for business growth that can lead to a real, lasting impact on the communities the business serves.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Sherwood is chief development officer for Gold’s Gym Franchising LLC.
