To mark National Bike Week (6th-14th June 2020) - here’s a blog to celebrate why we need to get pedalling!

Cycling to work can mean you have a 45% lower risk of developing cancer, and a 46% lower risk of cardiovascular disease
If you cycle regularly in adulthood, you will enjoy a level of fitness equivalent to someone 10 years younger
If all cycle journeys increased from the current level of 2% to 25% by 2050, the collective benefit would be £248bn through reduced congestion, improving public health reducing dependency on the NHS and increasing work productivity to name just a few reasons.

But despite the economic, physical and mental benefits cycling can have, the UK has one of the lowest cycling rates in Europe, listed 22nd of 28 countries (CyclingUK). Chapel&Saint prompted us to think back to our first pootle on a road bike and question the importance of ambassador marketing for cycling brands.

Back in 2018, I started to follow various triathlon accounts to research what an entry-level road bike looks like and read a few blogs from Emily’s Journal. I settled on a Liv road bike which I bought from my local cycling shop, Revel Outdoors, in Bury St Edmunds. I soon joined my local cycling/tri club who helped massively with cycling confidence and influenced future bike-related purchases.

So, without cycling ambassadors with a healthy social media following, how can a brand attract their potential customers? Of course there will be non-negotiable factors that will influence decisions: price point, reason to invest in a bike, type of bike and access to a cycle store. I’ve created a proposal (a snippet of which is below) which outlines a tiny cross-section of content marketing ideas which a retail store could trial.