Do you own or work in a gym? If so, you've probably been struggling with how to market it. It's a challenging task, but not an impossible one! With the right marketing strategies in place, your gym could be booming in no time. This blog post will discuss marketing techniques to increase your gym's reach and profitability in your local area. We'll talk about marketing for long-term success and short-term gains.
Marketing for Long-Term Success
The best way to make a lasting impact is to create clarity. It's not enough to come up with ideas that will change things in the short term; you need to think about how you want your gym seen in the long term. The best solution is to find ways for your gym to become synonymous with healthy living.
Gyms are best when marketed to the local community. It's unlikely people who live miles away are going to be the ones regularly attending your facilities. Therefore, you should make sure your gym's marketing adapts to the local community, culture, demographic, income, interests etc. It may be helpful to exercise a marketing segmentation report, which will help you understand your local community and how your marketing efforts will have the most effective impact.
I recommend focusing on your brand identity to have the greatest success long term. Building a brand may involve creating marketing collateral such as logos, taglines, colours, websites, flyers etc. If you make sure your branding is consistent and memorable, you will stand out from the crowd in your local community. Don't be afraid to include humour in your marketing; this genuinely is very effective.
If your gym has a website, you can use digital marketing activities and channels to further boost the long term exposure of your brand. For example, you can build your website authority on Google and search sites by regularly posting informative fitness blogs.
If you don't have a website, you should get one! As a freelance digital marketing specialist, I offer bespoke website designs with fast turnaround times.
Marketing for Short-Term Gains
Remembering that long term marketing in the form of branding will help build a trusting and reputable brand and SEO strategies to boost your reach, short term efforts are still critical. Short term marketing helps to improve long term marketing and vice versa.
Think of short term marketing as quick wins or more promotional activities to attract local prospects to your gym. For short term marketing, you need to make sure you're wearing your sales hat!
Here are some short term marketing activities ideas you can use to promote your gym:
Make a splash with free trials.
Offer a significant discount on 12 month upfront memberships.
Offer a special couple membership discount.
Offer current members a free pass for a friend.
Other digital marketing short-term tactics can include posting on social media, advertising on Facebook or Instagram, and using influencers. If you are unsure what to post, you should read this article on how to find social media ideas.
Remember this: Offer value to your potential members, give them a reason to trust you. Don't always sell sell sell!
Don't Forget About Existing Members
One of the most effective marketing strategies you can implement is marketing to existing customers. Look at it this way: they already know you and your gym, understand the benefits, and more often than not, want to boast about their fitness habits to their friends and family. So provide them with a tool so they can do exactly that!
Did you know, one of the most effective marketing tactics is referrals.
Here are some ideas on ways to market to existing members for more members:
Offer free passes to friends or family of current members.
Do a prize or giveaway in-house where members can win additional memberships.
Do a buy a membership get one half price deal.
Send an email saying - training with a friend increases your chances of hitting your fitness goals.
Offer free partner personal training sessions.
Offer a bring someone to a class day.
With all these tactics, it's essential you gain the referrals information and interact with them pre and post-session to see if they are interested in signing up.
Marketing To The Masses
Let's start with the basics. If you want to draw people in, you need to present a great offer. People are not going to join a gym because they're local or have good equipment alone. People may need several reasons to join a gym, so provide them with as many benefits as possible. Here are some benefits you can offer:
Hire knowledgeable staff.
Offer enticing memberships.
Offer memberships without a signing fee.
Offer memberships with added perks, e.g. use of multiple sites, free personal training sessions, guest passes, etc.
Encourage community involvement, e.g. charity fundraisers etc.
Offer personal training sessions in-house.
Share updates on social media.
Invest in better equipment.
Have a generous referral program.
Now Go and Market Your Gym!
I'm confident that implementing any of these strategies will lead to more members coming through the door. Feel free to email me with any questions you have for me! I would love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comment section below.