This article ran in the June issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, part of our monthly series of articles about digital retailing.
By Lori Barrett
If you’re reading this, then you’re, by definition, an industry insider, neck deep in cycling culture. In line with recent discussions about getting new blood into our sport, I’d argue that digital marketing presents our best opportunity to reach new riders, cultivate occasional ones, and ultimately lower some of the barriers to entry, which are often psychological as much as anything else.
First things first, we’re going to look at how we can tap into the general audience of people interested in fitness, rather than just people interested in bikes. Talk about expanding our audience! Looking at this from the perspective of a former Category 1 Roadie, that’s essentially going from the Ultra Runner audience to the 5K Turkey Trot folks, but that’s where we need to go to really reach critical mass for our sport and rebuild cycling as a national interest. As a former coach of mine once said, “roadies eat their young.” Meaning that we can be a cliquish group, more exclusive than inclusive. It turns out that has not served our sport well for expansion.
Digital marketing is uniquely positioned to reach people with adjacent interests in sport. While this often falls more to the brands in our industry, it can also be part of a healthy digital footprint for any shop. Local bike shops can utilize paid search and SEO work to help reach potential riders who search things like “beginner fitness class XYZ city” or “group workout XYZ town.” Social media can target fitness or wellness audiences with approachable content. That word, “approachable,” is key. Think of it as a gateway to bring people from “that could be fun” to “look, I’m doing it also!” It’s the dad in his trainers on the hybrid bike happily zooming around the park, or the lady in her yoga pants and windbreaker on her basket bike cruising through her neighborhood.
YouTube videos have helped to democratize the institutional knowledge we often take for granted, with their easily searched instructional content. On a quick, very unscientific Google of “how to change a flat tire on a bike,” the top results all take us to YouTube, followed by an AI synopsis. When I entered the same search in YouTube, the top three videos (all from Park Tool and GCN,) had a combined 12 million views! Shout out to Trek Bikes for having a woman in their video. We can change flats, also!
Leveraging the content marketing we worked on from last month’s article, here’s a quick and dirty list to expand your shop’s reach beyond the folks already identifying as cycling enthusiasts.
Quick IBD To-do list:
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Give yourself some SEO advantages with your website content: write some articles for your site on topics that would interest newer riders in your area: best beginner bike routes in our city, top gear for a safe commute, nearby parks to ride your bike, etc. No one knows your community like you, so use that knowledge to bring more relevance to your shop’s searchable web profile.
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Embed some basic YouTube tutorials on your site: You can feature a shop mechanic and/or someone from the community you serve. You might not rack up the seven million views(!!!) that some manufacturers get, but it can be helpful to have locals in the picture and, while you’re at it, why not keep people on YOUR website, rather than sending them elsewhere for cycling education?
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Get your shop grom to make some short clips and reels from those videos for TikTok and Facebook/Instagram. This is where it might be useful to do a paid push on social media: geotargeting your area plus cycling adjacent interests.
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Be sure you have a welcome email sequence set up for new riders! They can opt in for relevant content for their goals: “getting ready for your first group ride,” “best tips on commuting,” and other blog- or video-type content you have already created and housed on your site.
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Use your social media: Leverage that shop grom again to capture content from customers’ first rides on their new rigs or trying out your recommended commute routes for the first time. And as our friends at Pinkbike can tell you, UGC (User Generated Content) is king! Create a promo for customers who share part of their story and tag you in it, so you can share it to shop audiences. All of this is interactive, helps engage your customers, and builds virtual community in our social spheres online, both great for your business.
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Social media is also a great place to celebrate customer achievements. The data says that most people trying out a new hobby quit within 90 days. So set some goals that give them perks to stay engaged: free tube (or flat change, whatever,) if they do their first 25 miles in a month. Free bike check after their Strava shows they’ve climbed 500 feet in month two, that sort of thing. They become eligible if they share their achievement on their social feed, which you can then share on your shop feed.
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And again: highlight approachability. Adults commonly hate being beginners at anything (no one wants to look dorky and lycra outfits are definitely a barrier to some folks) so show normal people on “normal” bikes, incorporating them into lives that are built around things like families and fitness goals, not watts per kilo or KOMs.
It’s worth noting that a local bike shop can outrank national brands and pay-per-click searches with clever use of site content marketing. Let that sink in: If your site is offering something people find a genuine resource, search engines send them to your site for free, although as we have discussed before, it takes time for the web crawlers to gain that awareness of your relevant content. Again, that’s a great place where a little paid search can be an accelerant.
And note how seamlessly we moved from attracting new riders into retaining new riders? The key here is and will always be community. That’s the power of the LBS: no one knows your area and your customers like you do. Are you in a bike commuter-heavy area? Target commuter-curious folk with weekly shop “find a route” rides (promoted on your social and email campaigns, of course). Are you in a concrete jungle where cars are menacing? Focus on fitness enthusiasts near park spaces, so they can go ride away from cars. You already know what your community wants: Use your social media, email, blogs, and educational videos to show them you can deliver it.
In short, most of us in the industry are aware, at least in passing, of the barriers to entry for new cyclists. The key is learning to use digital marketing tools to leverage the work you’re already doing, within the communities your shop is already serving. Anecdotally, one of the more difficult obstacles to overcome is our industry’s tendency to be inward-facing: We make things for us, by us. The attitude that comes across can be along the lines of, “if that’s not you, maybe you don’t belong in the community.” Our sport has intermittently grown despite this attitude, but as we are pulled in increasingly digital directions, it’s time to harness that screen time and get people back to where they feel most free: on two wheels.
