No matter how gorgeous or equipped your fitness studio is, your sign-ups will remain low if people don’t know it exists. To establish a steady flow of customers, you need an effective marketing strategy that will bring your target clients closer and make conversion easy.
Finding the right marketing idea to implement while managing a studio is daunting, especially if marketing is not your thing. But don’t sweat it; we’ve got you covered. Here are the best fitness studio marketing ideas you can start now to get more clients.
Start Video Marketing
Video tops the list of the most engaging marketing content. On top of that, it boosts SEO and, ultimately, conversions and sales. Videos are great for storytelling, a marketing tactic to engage an audience and trigger their emotions. And you can show your potential client everything that can convert them — you can showcase your gym, team, and equipment. Plus, you can show how enjoyable working with you can be and highlight the benefits of your gym membership.
Looking for the best way to gain your customer’s trust? Post testimonial videos that address their problems and objections. Unlike texts, videos can be emotional, connecting with your audience on a greater level and influencing them to take action.
Invest in Paid Ads
Paid ads have taken the marketing world by storm. Even though organic content is undoubtedly effective, paying for ads (on Google, Facebook, or Instagram) is a faster way to — create awareness about your brand, reach a large audience, and increase your revenue.
The aim of using ads is to make more people know your brand, direct them to your website, and turn them into customers. But, you need to identify the main keywords to target. This means the phrases your ideal clients are searching for. Once you’ve figured out the keywords, you’ll need to craft a compelling ad copy to make people click your ads. If everything is in place, you’ll secure a steady flow of traffic you can convert to sales.
Build Your Social Media Presence
Social media marketing is a gamer changer for every gym owner. Why? Most people spend more than two hours every day surfing social media platforms. Besides, most users of fitness studios (age group 18-34) are the most active users of social media sites.
While websites or blogs offer depth and large content, marketers have realized that social media content can be more effective. This is because social media posts are perfect for the short attention spans of the present online audience. If you’re consistent with your social media content sharing, you will engage your audience and make them your clients.
Begin a Referral Program
Leveraging referrals is not new, but it’s a marketing strategy that keeps gaining more steam. Wondering why it’s still effective? People need to trust you before they bring out their wallets for your offers. And an easy way to gain people’s trust is through family and friends’ recommendations.
A referral program can certainly guide many leads to you. However, you must incentivize your referrals to encourage people to keep spreading the word about your gym. You should also ensure your current customers are satisfied with your services. Keeping your existing members happy will give them the confidence to recommend you to others.
Use Print Advertisements
The world has indeed gone digital, but print advertisements are still effective — more than six out of ten adults read newspapers weekly. Advertising in a local newspaper or magazine can help you reach your prospects directly. For this reason, targeting locals with print ads is one of the gym advertising campaigns you should consider.
Create a Google Business Page For Your Business
Google is the first place your prospects visit when looking for a gym. If you don’t have one yet, creating a Google business page is one of the vital fitness studio promotion ideas you can’t afford to miss. It puts your business on Google Maps, and Google will suggest your studio to anyone searching for a gym or fitness studio in your area. Remember to include your contact details (phone number, email address, or website URL) on the page. You can also build trust on the page with reviews, pictures, and videos.
Here’s a hack for optimizing your page: Ask your existing customers to drop reviews on your page, and tell them to include keywords that can generate high traffic, such as “best gyms around me” and “best fitness center in my area.”
Start a Fitness Challenge
Hosting a fitness challenge is one of the best gym marketing ideas today. Fitness challenges bring clients with a fitness goal to your studio. And helping them achieve their goals creates the chance to motivate them to continue using your studio.
Now you’re ready to host a challenge, but when’s the best time to host it? January and summer are the best seasons to start a fitness challenge. The reason is apparent — most people have new year fitness resolutions in January and are easily motivated to improve their physical appearance in summer.
Okay, now you know when to host the challenge. So, how long should the challenge last? Usually, a six-week challenge can get your target clients the results that’ll encourage them to pay for a long-term fitness program.
Upgrade Your Website
When visiting your website, prospective clients’ experiences create an impression of your business. And guess what? No one likes a boring website with a poor user interface and load speed.
We’re sure you’d agree that having a good website is one of the non-negotiable gym advertising ideas. Since your website is where most of your traffic — from social media platforms, email, and ads — will be directed, making it attractive and easy to use is essential.
Organize Community Events
Connecting with your community via an event offers many benefits. First, it helps you network with people that need your services. And it enables you to gather the details you need to make them your long-term customer.
Sure, making people attend your event is not a walk in the park, but you can attract people by giving them reasons to come. Here’s how to do it: research the trending fitness topic or the major fitness problem in your local community. Then, make solving the problem the theme of your event or seminar. For instance, you can choose topics like “losing belly fat” and “healthy family meals.”
Sometimes, you might need more than choosing the hot topics to get people’s attention. If you can increase your budget, offer side attractions like free food, drinks, medical tests, or games.
Leverage on Fitness Influencer Marketing
Social media influencer marketing is a new trend that keeps getting more attention. Many industries are benefiting from the impact of influencer marketing on sales, and the fitness industry is not exempted. In fact, the majority of the influencers on Instagram are fitness influencers.
Fitness influencers are highly trusted by their followers, and many will appreciate their gym recommendations. Hiring an influencer to promote your gym can boost your sign-ups faster than you can imagine. But do your research before you contact an influencer for collaboration. Ensure a significant number of your target audiences are following the influencer. And check if your brand’s value is similar to the influencer’s.
Start Blogging
In this highly competitive industry, people buy from those they trust. You can build your credibility and earn your ideal clients’ trust by educating them and showing competence. Blogging can help you achieve all that. Writing quality blogs might seem challenging, especially if you suck at writing, but it’s one of the most effective gym marketing ideas. For consistency, you can hire freelance writers to handle everything from research to blog publishing.
Posting educational and informational content about fitness showcases your expertise to your prospects. It means you’re an authority to rely on, which makes paying for memberships easy for them. Plus, it creates awareness about your gym and increases organic traffic through SEO. Getting significant results might take a while, but blogging should be one of your list's long-term gym promotion ideas.
Collaborate With Local Health Brands
If there’s a reputable health brand in your area, you can leverage its popularity. Join forces with the brand and organize a free event to drive foot traffic to your fitness studio. This works because collaborating with the health organization offers a wider reach and builds people's confidence in your brand.
Although you’re relying on the brand’s reputation, remember to publicize the event to your audience too. Promote the event on your website and social media pages, and reach out to locals through print ads or handbills for better results.
Grow Your Email List
Email marketing is not dead — 4.4 billion people use email daily. Presently, sending strategic emails is of the best gym advertising campaigns. The usefulness of email marketing in increasing sales is hard to ignore — it’s a reliable and productive way of nurturing and converting leads. Unlike other forms of marketing, emails are more direct or personal. Even better, you can reach a large audience without stress at once.
It’s worth mentioning that subscriber segmentation is the most effective among the various email marketing strategies in the market. To build your list, set up lead magnets where your target clients hang out online. But you’ll need to offer value to get their attention. Offering vital information for customers’ emails is common and still works.
Offer Free Personal Workout Sessions
Many individuals avoid the gym because they feel uncomfortable as a first timer. Some fear being judged because of their body or being confused about using gym equipment. Personal training sessions for the first few weeks can help them gain confidence. They will have enough time to understand how to work out correctly and get familiar with the environment. Accordingly, marketing personal training sessions will attract such individuals and increase your memberships.
Host a Contest or Giveaway
Attracting new clients and building loyalty with giveaways or prizes works most times. Remember, everyone likes free stuff! Contests and giveaways engage customers. And it can make them spread the word about your studio. Examples of contests you can host include weight loss and weight lifting contests. The items you can give away include water bottles, supplements, T-shirts, and other related products.
Take Your Client Communication to The Next Level With Loyalsnap
To get more clients, you need to do better than showing “before and after” pictures. As long as you keep connecting with your target customers — and showing them the benefits of using your fitness studio — your marketing efforts will be successful. Organizing and attending fitness events, sending customized emails, engaging your audience on social media platforms, and other ideas we’ve shared can help you establish a good connection with your targets.
Connecting with prospects and achieving client acquisition goals without tools can be overwhelming. But don’t worry; Loyalsnap will seamlessly help you do all that. It’s specifically designed to convert more members and keep them. From creating a client-based marketing strategy to sending automated, customized emails or SMS, Loyalsnap simplifies gym marketing. Contact us now to book a demo and start a one-month free trial.