Fitness centers have one common challenge: how to increase gym membership sales. Yes, most of the gyms do get some walk-in clients who are already committed to being fit. However, there are always hundreds of thousands of people who need to be healthy but are too lazy to hit the gym.
The reluctance to get a gym membership is surprising given that most people are aware that lack of physical activity leads to several chronic ailments such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
The people's reluctance about pursuing an active lifestyle has worried the U.S. government that it designed federal physical activity guidelines. It recommends that adults have a minimum of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity every week. There's even a recommendation for adults to perform moderate-intensity that involves all major muscle groups in the body at a minimum of two days per week.
As of 2017, only 24% of Americans met the federal physical activity guidelines. The figure is disappointing, given that the government is already involved.
For gym owners, however, I would like to think of that figure as market potential. Out of 100%, only 24% commit to a daily or weekly physical exercise. That would mean that more than 70% is still left there to be your potential clients. Imagine that possibility.
As I envisioned the unrealized market, I could not help but think that maybe what is lacking is a simple yet effective marketing strategy for gyms to get people physically active. Perhaps, all that is needed to do is devise a concrete gym marketing plan for most fitness businesses.
Holding that thought in my head, I gather these creative marketing ideas that you may want to try to get through the millions of people who are still too lazy to get a gym membership and commit to it.
Take Advantage Of The Most Common New Year's Resolution
So, you have set up your fitness place. Your gym is all set, and people are coming in for sessions and even signing up for memberships.
Like any business - whether a restaurant or a boutique - the real challenge is how to keep people coming. In this case, how to increase gym membership sales. The answer lies in an effective marketing plan.
The operative word here is "effective." You do not just conceptualize and brainstorm different marketing activities for a gym.
Your timing is crucial.
Speaking of timing, the best time to launch your gym marketing plan is right after New Year. Why? It's because most people's New Year resolution is to be healthier.
One survey of more than 1,450 Americans across every state and D.C. revealed that "exercise to get in shape" is the most popular resolution in 2019. The "exercise to get in shape" was popular among Americans living in 18 states.
The next standard resolution is still related to being physically fit. Americans in 16 states wanted to follow a "diet to lose weight," while residents in five states wanted to "eat healthier in general."
To put those numbers in perspective, it means that out of the 1,450 Americans surveyed, 19.7% want to start the year by "exercising to get in shape," 18.3% want to "diet to lose weight," and 11.9% want to "eat healthier in general."
These statistics only go to show that January is a crucial month to jumpstart marketing activities for your gym business. You need not start with a significant event yet. Since you're taking advantage of how people are excited about their resolution, you need to act quick, at least for the first two to three weeks of January.
Offer Two-day Free Trial
Invite prospects to a two-day free trial with a pitch saying that you want to help them jumpstart their New Year's resolution.
In those two days, see to it that your gym trainers are at best in their jobs. Ensure that your facility is ready. Most importantly, prepare a discount promo or a coupon for those who will be signing up for sessions after their free trials.
Those two days may be a trial for your prospective clients, but those two days are your chance to create an impression. Make those days short but sweet and unforgettable. Your goal is to have them continue for a paid weekly session that can lead to monthly enrollment and until finally, a gym membership.
Invite a health buff or fitness authority to conduct a small talk in between the two days of free trials. These personalities need not be celebrities. It will help a lot of potential clients if they hear success stories from people who liked them started their fitness journeys in those two days of free trial in your gym.
Pitch A Corporate Fitness Program
The start of the year is also the most convenient time to target individuals coming back to work. Coming from the Holidays makes people gain weight and, therefore, cannot wait to lose those pounds they gained from strings of family reunions and get-togethers.
Going to local offices near your gym to pitch your services allow you to hit two birds with one stone. Unlike waiting in your gym for walk-ins that will take advantage of your free trials, you target flocks by going to offices.
You'll be targeting like-minded people who can motivate each other to start exercising finally. You can pitch a weekly session with all of them. If they attend as a group, promise them discounts or waived fees that are otherwise present if they come separately.
If, for instance, that they don't come to the gym as a group, those individuals who are serious about going to the gym will be aware that a fitness center is just a few minutes away from the office.
Remember that whether it's that two-day free trial or the corporate pitching you're gunning, you must keep your promise. Give people who participated in your free trial the discounted membership fees or other promotional discounts and freebies you promised.
Get Prospects Excited For A Beach Body For The Summer
The concept of the "beach body," also called "bikini body," has earned many criticisms these days. Many advocates of body positivity slam the concept, linking it to bullying, low self-esteem, and unrealistic expectations.
And I agree with all those. My personal opinion on the matter, however, "beach body" was being marketed incorrectly in the past years. Many fitness health providers sell the idea of the "beach body" by using models with 6-pack abs and tummy as flat as a pancake. They market the idea by saying that people can achieve the bikini body immediately.
Do not make the same mistake with your gym marketing plan. You have to create appropriate and realistic marketing strategies for gyms if you're going to bank on the desire to have a "beach body."
The operative word I would like you to focus on is the word "unrealistic." For your gym marketing plan that will center on the "beach body," you have to set achievable goals.
For instance, if you had someone registered in January, you wouldn't want that person obsessing to have Chris Hemsworth's incredibly toned abs or Kate Upton's tummy by summer. Either your misleading them or your exercise program will be pure torture.
At the same time, you don't want to deprive your clients of dreaming of having the body that they want. But, it should be in their own time.
Do not make the mistake of marketing beach body programs that bank on the diet fads and depend on who's the hottest celebrity. Create a beach body program that centers on building confidence. Do not promote the term in its literal sense.
To be clear, I'm not saying that you dissuade them from achieving the 6-pack abs, and the tummy as flat as pancake they desire. After all, that body is achievable but in years of proper exercise, nutrition, and long-term commitment to the gym.
What I am saying here is you have to put an enormous amount of honesty with your marketing strategies for your gym. Get them excited by presenting the concept of the beach body on a whole new perspective.
Adopt The The Biggest Loser Challenge
You might be one among the millions of viewers of the American competition reality show, The Biggest Loser. It aired from 2004 to 2016. The show features overweight contestants who tried to lose weight for a given time. The person who dropped the most weight relative to their previous weight wins cash.
Host a similar competition among your existing members and invite potential clients to join in. Don't worry about the cash prize because you can ask participants to pay a registration fee.
Their workouts should happen in your gym. Waive membership fees and offer the use of your facility in a discounted amount if you can provide up to 50% less for using the gym equipment. The champion could receive a free membership for at least two years. I will leave it to you whether up to what extent you'll be providing for free or waived. It's a business decision, and you're the authority over it.
But, as for what good will this gym marketing plan can do to your business? It will build a robust presence or visibility for your business. People will be talking about the challenge, and therefore will be talking about your gym. The contestants, their family, and friends will be posting about the event through their social media, which is another significant marketing platform (I'll get to this later.)
Here's a quick guide on how to hold a Biggest Loser Challenge at your gym as inspired by the reality T.V. show. Note that you can have your way, but if you're clueless, these bulleted tips can give you the idea.
- Set a timeline. For example, will the challenge run for three months or until the end of the year? If you're going to follow the whole of the fitness marketing plan I'm starting here, you can schedule the Big Loser Challenge after summer. Note that I have suggested activity by January and the for Summer as well. Aptly planning this challenge will get your old-time members, new signees, and potential clients excited the whole year-round.
- Set your rules. This step requires thorough research, and you may want to begin researching the actual practices followed by contestants in the reality T.V. show. The basics rule requires attending weekly weigh-in sessions, strictly NO crash diets, and no laxatives.
- Prepare your gym and facility for the weekly weigh-in. You may include some fun games or mini-marketing ideas for your gym. Award a Biggest Loser weekly with some minor rewards like an hour of a free gym session. This weekly weigh-in will also serve as your support activities to ensure that participants remain committed. Through this, you can also monitor the progress of the challenge. And, if you're successful in bringing in people to your business.
- Involve all your staff. You can't host this alone. So, ensure that your staff and all crew at the gm know what will happen. You have to educate the staff about the event. Most importantly, ask the team to take the opportunity to sign people for membership subtly. After all, the whole point of hosting the competition is increasing gym membership sales.
- Recruit participants. Give out flyers that you'll be distributing to places of work or locations where there are people, and then launch a social media campaign.
The contestant with the most significant weight loss relative to their initial weight during the first weigh-in will be the winner. You can also opt to have groups compete among themselves. Their overall weight loss will be the defining moment, or you can have both. The important thing is you reward their hard work in whichever way.
There is one crucial piece of advice. I would like you to note, as well. The Biggest Loser challenge has significant potential to be a hoot. I know that these points I'm discussing here are focused on how to increase gym membership sales, but don't get lost with all the money and attention your business will be getting.
Be genuine in your goal to help people achieve a healthy lifestyle. Introduce a natural weight-loss method at an achievable speed. The event may get you the right amount of sales for your business, but your genuine passion for health will keep your clients in the long-term.
Offer A Free Meal Plan With Licensed Nutritionist
A meal plan is one complicated element in achieving overall fitness. Only a qualified nutritionist or dietitian should design a meal plan.
Note that the meal plan is different from diet fad. A meal plan is designed, especially with what the person requires. Before meal plans are handed out, patients should consult their doctors.
But, for the sake of my discussion, what we're aiming for here is a meal plan that is generic but SAFE, appropriate for people without prior health ailments who want to lose weight.
Designing a meal plan is one of the effective marketing strategies for gyms. The challenge for you as a business owner is to network nutritionists and dietitian that will partner with you.
Once you overcome that challenge, offering a free meal plan for those who are going to sign up as gym members will be an effective "come on" for potential clients. This freebie, so to speak, will make it easier for you to convince people to get a membership.
Following a specific meal plan has become a trend among the new generations of health buffs. When I say diet, I don't include the diet fads. I'm talking about meal plans from licensed professionals. I could not emphasize this more. Don't fall victim to crash diet fads because those may damage the image of your business.
Market real and genuine healthy meal plans, and you'll be targeting more clients that will likely stay in your business in the long run.
In 2018, a survey found that 36% of Americans followed a diet. Ten percent of them do intermittent fasting, 7% supported the paleo diet, 5% develop a low-carb diet, another 5% followed the whole food diet, 4% followed a high-protein diet, and 3% supported the keto diet.
Another survey found that people ages 18 to 34 are more likely to stick to a diet of their choice. One study noted that Millennials and GenZs are willing to pay high for a legitimate diet course.
The growing demand from these generations for authentic, healthy meals is making a significant shift in the food industry. More people are looking for organic food, farm-to-table restaurants, and plant-based protein as an alternative for meat.
Big names in the food industry are investing in organic products at present. General Mills, for example, is promoting Beyond Meat, which makes plant-based protein. Nestle vouched for Impossible Foods for the same reason, as well as Unilever when it invested in De Vegetarische Slager.
Interact With Your Prospects Where They Hangout
To sum up, you'll have marketing activities for your gym planned from January (taking advantage of New Year's resolution), summer ( a new Beach Body campaign), until the rest of the year (Biggest Loser Challenge.) These marketing activities, however, have the potential to flop if you don't get the right people to participate in them.
With that, the next challenge you should be addressing is where to reach prospects. There are lots of platforms you can do this with, and I have mentioned a few in the previous sections. But, what I want you to put your best effort is your social media accounts.
Ensure that your gym has complete visibility across all major online platforms. You can at least start with setting up Facebook pages, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. These accounts will also be vital for all your multimedia content - textual and visual - which I will discuss later.
For now, what I want to highlight is how social media accounts are crucial in increasing your gym membership sales. Share your invites for all your gym marketing plans on these social media platforms. Invite people to like your accounts, attract them with enjoyable content.
The Power Of Social Media
In 2019 alone, there are 3.2 billion social media users worldwide. To put that number into context, that's about 42% of the world's population. That's how many people are online.
On Facebook, there are more than 2.32 billion monthly active users. In 2018, two-thirds or 68% of American adults were active on Facebook.
On the other hand, as of January 2019, about 500 million people are using Instagram Stories. That was a notable increase from 150 million in January 2017.
Both Facebook and Instagram make their respective platforms interactive for their users. There are lots of options you can do to engage your likers and followers. You can add polls, fun stickers, fun videos, hilarious memes, and all other amusing content to pique people's interest.
One important use of social media is that you can reach the bulk of today's market with the fastest growing buying power, the Millennials. Their full purchasing power is estimated to reach $1.4 trillion by 2020.
The demographics are the most common target market of any business. Not only will the Millennials be growing their purchasing power, but they are also set to dominate the population. In the U.S., for example, there are about 73 million Millennials ages 20 to 35 compared to the 72 million Boomers ages 52 to 70.
A breakdown of social media users by generation found that Millennials make up 90.4% of social media users; 77.5% are Generation X, and 48.2% are Baby Boomers.
One data said 54% of social media users are browsing the platforms for reviews and recommendations. Another survey found that 49% of consumers depend on social media influencers before deciding on what products or services to get.
Paid Social Media
Ideally, social media marketing should come free. That is supposedly the beauty of including it in your fitness marketing ideas. However, in reality, it will take you years to accumulate thousands or millions of social media followers if you opted for free all the way.
Let me briefly introduce you to the basics of paid social media marketing, which works like the standard T.V. advertisement. You have to pay for your business to be advertised or promoted. It also works like print advertising, where the product's placement depends on how big or small you paid for space.
The best thing about social media marketing is that you can reach millions of potential clients without paying hundreds of millions of dollars, like how the standard T.V. and print ads cost. Further, unlike with T.V. and print, where you're not sure whether your target market saw your paid advertisement, you only pay-per-click for social media ads. Pay-per-click means that you will only pay if users view (click) your ads.
More importantly, you can localize social media ads. If, for example, your gym's location is in Wisconsin, you can design your social media ads in a way that it only appears for users in the state or nearby region. Narrowing your reach among the people of whom your business is easily accessible assures that all your marketing efforts will bring results.
Later on, you can analyze and compare the activities through pay-per-click ads, and from there can design more streamlined promotions depending on who viewed your ads. For example, was it the male or female crowd who took an interest in your fitness services? What are their ages? What are the typical locations of these potential clients?
To be clear, setting up social media accounts are always free. Payment happens if, for example, you want your content boosted, meaning it appears as an actual advertisement - sponsored content - on the platform and not as standard or manually shared content. Paid social media ads appear even on profiles (via news feed or timeline) of the people who have yet to like/follow your pages. It will appear on the news feed of those who aren't even aware that your gym exists.
Set-up a health-focused website with a focus on local marketing
I'm guessing that after you set up your gym, the first thing that comes to mind is setting up a website. After all, what good business is it without a website where sign-ups and inquiries happen these days. Gone are the days where potential clients go to the physical locations to ask about services. If you're not searchable online, chances are your customers will never know about your business.
You may have designed or programmed your website on your own or commissioned it with developers. Whatever the case is, you need a steady supply of relevant content aside from, of course, the usual About Us, services offered, FAQs, locations, and other similar material.
There is a variety of multimedia content that you can produce and post on your website. You can commission content writers to write health blogs for you. Be sure to commission writers that know how optimized content for search engines or otherwise known as SEO content writers. Their expertise is in producing articles meant to land your business on top of the search engines.
You can partner with health influencers to write helpful articles for you. You can also make memes, share amazing health photos, share exciting health trivia, and other similar content.
Not only will content make your website busy with different activities, but it will also bring in traffic not only from already interested individuals but also those who aren't aware yet that they want to go to the gym. For example, someone merely searching for cardio exercise can turn up to your website, and at the end of his browsing ends up wanting to go to your gym.
However, people turning up to your website will all be futile if they need to ride a plane to get to your gym, right? This mistake is why in everything you do with your website, you need to ensure that you employ local marketing.
Localizing Online Fitness Marketing
If in case your website developer didn't suggest for you to mobilize your website, then this is the first thing you need to do. It will be better to have a mobilized site right off the bat. Perhaps, it's better to have a mobile-only website version.
The reason for a mobile-only website is that the majority of people nowadays are on their website 24/7. According to Google, there are 6 in 10 internet users in the U.S. that use their mobiles when searching for products and services. On Google Shopping alone, searches done via mobiles led to at least two other actions, most commonly a purchase or a visit to the store. More than 50% of these actions take place in as instant as 60 minutes.
I mentioned above about SEO content, and I would like to follow up on it. When commissioning blogs or articles from content writers, ask them to target the hyper-local keyword. That means their headlines, led paragraph, meta description, and similar sections should include the specific city, state, even the street names of the location of your business. The same goes for content discussing your services.
Local Online Business Listing
Having your business listed in online directories - Google My Business, Facebook, Yahoo Local, Bing Places, and Four Square - allows you to target a highly specific geographical address and location.
For mobile advertising, you can advertise with Near Me Searches and Google Local Inventory Ads. Similar platforms make it easier for local gym members to locate your business.
Localized Social Media Posts
I mentioned in the above sections that your content will be vital in increasing your social media followers. You will be sharing invites and promotional materials for your marketing activities in your gym across your social media platforms. This method will work in significant ways, most notably in establishing visibility for your business and having more people attend your marketing events for the gym.
When posting across your social media accounts, you should tag locations and geographic areas related to your business. Include the specific city, state, even the street names in your hashtags, in captions, and statuses.
Do you remember our discussion about paid social media ads? Ensure that you target your advertisements based on your location. Only run your advertisements in local areas where your service is accessible. This way, you won't be wasting payments on ads that will display in locations far away from where your business is situated.
Employ The Refer A Friend System
The first thing to note about the referral system is that you have to design an effective reward system in the form of discount coupons, waived fees, perks, or freebies. The reward should be attractive for the referral system to work.
Although I am not fully advocating monetary incentives, I know a few gym owners who incentivize their referral system. There is a monetary equivalent for each person the existing members recruited to attend the gym. There is a separate incentive if the recruit signs up for membership. Another option is that they accumulate gym points for each time they recruit.
If you are all for an incentive system, then you may want to try investing in the development of a mobile-friendly app for that particular purpose. This system can monitor and record all referrals made. Plus, it will be convenient for gym members to refer their friends and families. Everybody owns a mobile so that the referral system can go on and on.
The app can be downloaded for free from your website or your monthly newsletter, which you send through emails. Prompt can be as simple as "Invite a Friend." Also, don't forget to post links to the invites in your social media accounts.
The refer a friend system may not exclusively for increasing gym membership sales right away. They can also be "Invite a Friend" for all your marketing events planned for the year, like the Big Loser Challenge, for example. Or, "Invite A Friend" to your one-day free trial.
Ensure that you explain to your gym members the referral program. With that, you also have to educate your staff about the program so they can subtly pitch them each time they are having training sessions with the gym clients.
Many businesses employ the referral system because not only is it an effective marketing and acquisition strategy, but it also helps significantly in the retention of clients. In the case of your gym, your members will likely to continue sessions and memberships if they have their peers and family attending the same fitness studio.
Initiate Co-Marketing With Established Brands
Co-marketing is when you partner with another company or brand in setting up marketing campaigns that can bring exposure for both of the businesses you have. Another word for it is collaboration. You can either create marketing activities together from the start. Or, you can ask to render participation if the other has already organized. Another way is inviting other brands to participate in an even you already designed.
"Co-marketing helps brands build a new audience, and get a new type of content in front of their audience," this is according to Amanda Sibley, Campaigns Manager at HubSpot.
By co-marketing or associating your business to an already trusted name, brands, people, you will also be projecting that trust in your industry. You will create credibility on top of establishing visibility for your business.
In choosing brands you want to co-market with or events you wish to participate in, check if they have similar business goals or, at the very least is aligned with your goals. Having a similar customer base and target audience is crucial, as well. Most importantly, ensure that they belong in the same industry - health or fitness - but not directly in competition with you.
Co-marketing can take place on social media, as well. You can share some of your partner's content and vice versa. For blogs, you can link each other with some of your written content that is gaining traction online. Ask them to do the same thing for you.
Influencer Marketing
The rationale behind influencer marketing is similar to co-marketing. The only difference is you specifically partner with a social media influencer.
Social media influencer is like a celebrity but in the online world. Instead of fans, influencers have millions of followers and likes on social media. They have established credibility.
Influencer marketing is your ticket to going viral on the internet. Virality is your brand's ticket to fame.
There are many health influencers that you can partner with. For example, you can offer them to video shoot one of their training sessions in your studio. Offer your facility for free as long as your gym's name is visible in the video. Or, as long as you can post the video in your social media accounts.
You can also offer your place as the location for their photoshoot. Or, offer them a year of free membership, so long as they post about your business in their channel.
By the sound of how influencer marketing can instantly bring recognition to your business, you might be asking why it didn't make it to the top of our list. Having an influencer partner with you can instantly save you from spending time and effort with all the gym marketing ideas I discussed above.
There is a significant risk of choosing an influencer marketing strategy. You can never be sure that influencers can keep up with the excellent image they project online. Chances are the moment these people are exposed to be shameful individuals in real life; your gym goes with that lousy image.
However, please do not rely 100% on your influencers. Always prioritize building a personal relationship with your clients. Once they trust your business intrinsically, there won't be anything that could ruin that trust.
How To Keep Members Through Time-Tested Text Brigade
Since I have mentioned retention in the previous section, let me touch up a bit on the topic.
Retention is not a marketing activity, per se. But, it is essential for increasing gym membership sales because you are going to lose revenues once members keep dropping out of your business.
One study on gym retention found that half of the new signees will drop out within the first six months. So, no matter how many times you sign up new members, the numbers are all going to be futile if clients keep dropping out. Further, a separate study found that it costs nine times more to recruit a new member than to retain all your existing members.
For you to retain your existing members, you also need these same marketing strategies for your gym. Always invite them to your fitness marketing activities, no matter how long they've been going to your gym.
Regular interaction with members is also crucial in gym retention. If you can, extend their onboarding at more frequent intervals and not just the first months after they sign up, please do so. Always follow up on them on whether they are reaching their fitness goals you set together at the start of the year.
A study conducted in 2017 found that interacting with gym members for at least twice a month, motivate members to visit the facility three times next month. Extra visits by gym members reduce their likeness of dropping out from the gym by 33%.
The next question will be, how do you ensure that they visit the gym regularly apart from participating in your more significant gym marketing events. The answer is text brigade.
Text members to remind them about their one-on-one training sessions. Send SMS to invite them to your marketing activities. Follow up through texts on whether they will be participating in the event. Always encourage their participation by telling them that you anticipate their presence. If they aren't joining specific activities, tell them that their support is highly appreciated.
Why text brigade and not email blast, you asked? Emails may last 2 to 3 days in the mailbox without being read. Mobile users read texts in an instant; the slowest will be after 30 minutes to an hour.
Why not tag them on social media? You don't want to risk being blocked or labeled as a spam account.
Fitness Marketing - The Key Takeaways
At this point, let me reiterate some critical takeaway from our discussion. I may have discussed in detail 10 fitness marketing strategies for the gym. I may have mentioned multiple times significant points on how to increase your gym membership sales. But I want you to remember three things:
- Market your business with honesty, and genuine passion for health
- Interact personally with your members and prospective recruits when you market your business
- Aim at building intrinsic trust in your brand with all your marketing efforts
