I’ve noticed recently how badly health clubs are portrayed in popular television shows. For example, in one episode of The Good Wife, the law firm Lockhart/Gardner defends a known drug dealer who has several “legitimate” businesses. A murder takes place at one of those: a health club. The victim is a young woman – a salesperson who’s pictured in a video of the sales team celebrating the fact that they’ve sold more memberships than ever. The subsequent investigation not only delved into the murder but also revealed that the club’s general manager was selling steroids, making US$100,000 a month in the process.

A preview for another show, The Mentalist, shows a woman tripping on a treadmill and falling completely off it. The lead character, Patrick Jane, yells: “Man down!” Smiling.

On a re-run of Monk, Mr Monk enters a gym’s locker room and hesitates to sit on the bench because of his obsession with cleanliness. And he does his typical site-gag, his “OCD dance” if you will. Once he does force himself to sit down, an overweight, sweaty man who’s wrapped in a towel sits down next to him. What does the man say? “They never clean this place, and the equipment is always broken. And I keep paying my dues. I don’t know what they’re doing with my money.”

I think you see what I’m getting at. For longer than we’d like to remember, this industry has had a slightly tarnished image. And it doesn’t help when local newspapers run stories when a club closes its doors unexpectedly. There are often quotes from disgruntled members.

Social media can also hurt as much as it helps, when people post their issues on Yelp and other sites. The cumulative effect could be disastrous – if we let it. What can you do?

First of all there’s the obvious: treat your members and employees as well as possible. Doing so is not only a good business practice but also makes you a good corporate citizen. And it will generate nothing but good word-of-mouth.

Get involved in your community. Join your local Chamber of Commerce. Attend town meetings and speak up. Create good relationships. Invite local physicians and politicians to visit your club.

Publicise your good deeds. Let local media outlets know when you’re planning a fundraiser, or working with the elderly, young people’s clubs or local schools. Invite local radio stations to co-sponsor your events and broadcast them live. Post videos of them on Facebook. Tweet what you’re doing regularly.

Don’t ignore the smaller community media outlets in your area. Weekly papers are often hungry for news. If you have someone on your staff with writing experience, why not offer your local paper a regular column with fitness, nutrition and wellness tips? Do you have a neighborhood cable TV station? Why not offer to do a half-hour community wellness show? In other words, if you don’t already have one, come up with a real strategy to create a positive message about your club and the industry.

Don’t leave it to the media to tell the story. Tell it yourself.