Did you know that the health club industry was worth 96 billion dollars in 2019? This wildly popular sector is constantly growing, due to innovative fitness marketing that targets high-potential populations, provides attractive deals, and uses print and digital marketing techniques to its advantage.
Marketing strategies for gyms are the vital factor that determines whether gyms sink or swim. After all, if no one knows about your gym, they can’t become a member. Whether you’re developing health club marketing strategies for an independent gym or a global franchise, here are fourteen of the best strategies that will bring in new members.
14 Health Club Marketing Ideas
1. Sell An Idea, Not Just A Product
A fitness center isn’t only a gym; it’s a gateway to a healthier, more successful life. Convey this idea in your fitness marketing materials to help your target audience understand what they can accomplish when they join your gym. This motivation will lead to higher conversion and retention rates. Once members understand that the gym is their gateway to self-transformation, they’ll keep coming back for more.
2. Ask For Reviews and Referrals
It’s simple: people trust other people’s judgment. Turn this trust into profit by maximizing members’ reviews and referrals.
Online reviews are crucial because many people search for new gyms online. Seeing positive online reviews helps prospective members decide which gyms to try. People are more likely to visit a highly-rated fitness center, so be sure to encourage online reviews, particularly on Google.
Don’t underestimate word-of-mouth referrals either; people trust their friends, family, and acquaintances and are likely to listen to what they have to say. Incentivize referrals by giving clients referral cards that offer a referral discount. Everybody loves a discount, and your business model loves referrals, making this strategy a win-win!
3. Encourage New Year’s Resolutions
According to RunRepeat, 12% of all gym members join in January. Therefore, focus your gym marketing strategies throughout December and January to help people keep their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape at your gym, not at your competitor.
A discount for new members who join in January is a great health club marketing idea that bumps up attendance and helps people reach their fitness goals. Be sure to advertise this discount in all of your marketing materials leading up to New Year’s. You can even take out billboards in your city to let people know about your special deal.
4. Master The Art Of The Presale
Don’t be fooled: the most crucial time to implement your gym marketing ideas is before your gym even opens. Build anticipation and accumulate memberships by perfecting the presale.
While selling memberships before your gym opens might sound daunting, it’s doable with organization and forethought. Make sure you have assembled a stellar marketing team, and focus on marketing to your target audiences with online and print media such as flyers that spread the word about your new location.
5. Keep Your Social Media Up To Date
Members want to see that their gym is responsive and maintains an active online presence. Therefore, one of the most important marketing strategies for gyms is keeping your social media up to date. This includes everything from informational posts about fitness, to crucial updates about your opening hours, to motivational posts encouraging people to work out.
6. Spread Your Name Far And Wide
Get your name out into your community by distributing business cards. Provide each trainer with their own cards to create personal connections with their clients. Members can then tell their friends about the amazing trainer they met at your center.
Specialty business cards are fitness marketing tools that make a splash. Consider printing innovative business cards, such as ones in the shape of a barbell, or include fitness tips in your business card design.
7. Help New Members Find You
Make it as easy as possible for new and current members to get to the gym. This includes updating your business hours on Google, keeping your course schedule on your website current, and posting important announcements with Google My Business. When members know that your online information is correct, they’ll trust your management and be more likely to show up at the gym.
8. Use SEO To Your Advantage
This strategy is also one of the marketing strategies for gyms that helps potential members find you. SEO, or search engine optimization, is an online marketing strategy that helps people find you on Google. By updating your website frequently and using popular keywords in your online content, you increase traffic to your website.
Some keywords for fitness centers include “gym near me,” “fitness near me,” and “fitness center,” so start by using those terms in your online content. Consider working with a professional marketing firm to help you build an SEO strategy by finding specific terms for your company that will maximize your online exposure.
9. Market Outside Your Front Door
Paper and online marketing are vitally important, but don’t forget one of your most important advertising locations: your building itself! Use your physical location as a marketing tool by placing yard signs in the parking lot and hanging banners on your building. These can announce a special deal, state your opening hours, or simply contain a welcome message that encourages people to come in and see what your fitness center is all about.
10. Make The Most Of Online Ads
Did you know that YouTube has 122 million users per day? YouTube and Facebook are both extremely popular sites with easy-to-use paid advertising features. As one of your gym marketing ideas, purchase some online ads which will boost awareness in your community.
Target your ads by geographic location and other factors that are relevant to your potential demographic, including interests and consumer behaviors. By choosing as specific an audience as possible, you’ll be aiming towards your most-probable new members.
11. Spread Knowledge About The Power Of Fitness
Help people understand that you have their best interests at heart by providing useful brochures that help them learn more about your gym and how to stay fit. Distribute these for free, both in print and on your website, so that potential and current members can start using fitness to improve their lives. Be sure to include your branding, location, and opening hours on all of your brochures to make it easy for people to become members and show up to work out.
Professional printing companies such as The Print Authority can build custom online print portals for fitness center franchises to easily order all of your print marketing materials, including brochures, for distribution at all locations.
12. Spread Awareness With Targeted Mailings
Reach new potential members with targeted mailings. Consider including a special new member discount that will help recipients take initiative and try out your services. Your printing company can take care of your targeted mailing for you by sending your marketing items to your preferred demographics such as geographic location, age, interests, and more.
13. Stir Up Excitement With Fitness Challenges
Marketing doesn’t end once members get in the door; now, it’s time to help them make fitness — and your gym — a regular part of their lives. To accomplish this, devise inspiring fitness challenges, and spread the news in your online marketing and with handouts at the gym. Provide educational materials about your company, and about health and the benefits of exercise, that members can take home. When they pass these brochures on to their friends and family, voila! Word-of-mouth marketing. Fitness challenges keep members engaged and set up healthy habits, making them the perfect health club marketing idea.
14. Inspire People To Give The Gift Of Fitness
When you’re developing your gym marketing ideas, don’t forget the power of gift-giving. Print gift vouchers so that people can give memberships as gifts and members can bring fitness to their friends and loved ones. This is a particularly effective marketing strategy around the holiday season, but it is also worth considering year-round. Consider designing multiple fitness center gift vouchers for various events such as birthdays and holidays (like New Year’s!).
Print Fitness Marketing Products With The Print Authority
Here at The Print Authority, we understand the transformative power of marketing strategies for gyms, and we want to help you make the world a healthier place. We are experts at printing health club marketing strategies for fitness centers of all sizes, from independent studios to national franchises. We also provide web to print services so that you can easily order fitness marketing materials for all of your locations. Contact us to get started!
