Gym marketing is crucial for any fitness center looking to grow its customer base and increase revenue. With more gyms opening each year, competition is fierce, and gym owners must put in more effort to attract new customers and retain existing ones.
Getting new gym members in the door can be a major challenge. Many people make New Year’s resolutions to get in shape, but that initial motivation often fades by February or March. Therefore, gym owners need to use smart gym marketing strategies to turn prospective leads into long-term members.
Best Gym Marketing Ideas to Attract More Clients
If you are a gym owner or providing marketing services to one, here are some tips for developing the best gym marketing campaigns to attract more clients to your business:
1. Understand gym seasonality
Up to 50 percent of new gym members quit within the first six months. Why? There are several reasons.
Activity at gyms tends to peak during spring and summer as people desire to get “beach-ready” for the holidays. Then, it begins to drop as the months get colder. This variance is called gym seasonality and has a major impact on attendance.
Understanding this factor can help you develop the best gym marketing campaigns and determine when to boost marketing efforts and when to slow down.
2. Offer joining specials
Running an enticing new membership offer is one of the best gym marketing ideas to get more clients to join your gym.
Common promotions include waiving the enrollment fee, reducing monthly fees for the first three to six months, and offering a few free personal training sessions. Promote these deals on your website, social media, email marketing, and print/radio ads.
Using attention-grabbing offers outside the gym is also a good gym marketing idea.
3. Highlight unique amenities
Sell what makes your gym special to convince prospects to join. Do you have a rock climbing wall, boxing ring, indoor pool, or other cool features? Promote these prominently in your messaging.
Other perks to highlight include new equipment, specialty classes like yoga in a hot room, expanded childcare hours, towel service, tanning beds, etc. Create photos and videos to showcase your gym amenities on your website, social media, and YouTube channel.
With so many people active on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, social media marketing is essential for gyms.
Post photos and videos of members using equipment, attending training sessions, and before-and-after pictures of clients who are comfortable with it. Run contests and promotions on social platforms.
Share valuable content like healthy recipes, workout tips, and inspirational quotes. Respond promptly to comments, questions, and reviews.
5. Send email campaigns
Email marketing is an effective method of communicating with regular members and leads. Send emails to announce new classes or equipment, highlight member success stories, offer monthly specials, share fitness tips, and more.
Consider sending emails on special occasions – for example, a New Year’s resolution campaign in early January or a summer special in June. Avoid sending too many emails, as that can annoy recipients.
6. Partner with local businesses
Consider relevant partnerships with local businesses that align with your gym’s brand. For example, partner with food businesses that promote healthy eating, physical therapy clinics, chiropractors, or massage therapists.
Offer cross-promotions where their customers can get a discount at your gym and vice versa. Co-host events or workshops. Have their brochures and cards available at your front desk. Relevant partnerships can expand your gym’s reach.
7. Host community events
Hosting community events at your gym is a great way to get new people in the door. Some include free outdoor boot camps, nutrition seminars, kids’ camps during school holidays, obstacle course races, and partner workouts for couples.
Promote the community events on social media, email, print ads, radio, and community calendars. Make sure to capture participants’ contact info so you can follow up after the event.
8. Focus on excellent customer service
Nothing attracts new customers to a gym as much as positive word-of-mouth. That happens only when you wow gym members with excellent customer service.
Train staff to be friendly, attentive, and helpful. Make sure the facility is clean. Address member concerns promptly. Offer extra value like towel service, chilled eucalyptus towels, and fruit-infused water. Pay attention to what your competitors are doing and try to beat them on service.
9. Have a mobile app and other online resources
Your mobile app should allow gym members to easily book classes, track workouts, connect with trainers and fellow members, redeem special offers, and more.
Ensure your website and mobile app prominently promote new member deals, have an online join form, and showcase your amenities. Publish blog posts with fitness advice. The more value you provide online, the more likely are potential customers to take you and your gym business seriously.
10. Run targeted ad campaigns
Paid advertising through Facebook, Instagram, and Google allows marketers to run highly targeted promotions. You can target potential leads to your gym business by location, gender, age range, interests, behaviors, etc.
Test different audiences, offers, and ad artwork to see what resonates best with the target audience. Track conversions to see which ads are most effective at driving new gym memberships. Allocate more budget to top-performing ads to drive more customers to your gym business.
11. Focus on customer retention and customer loyalty
While getting new gym members is crucial, retaining existing members is equally important. Use customer relationship management (CRM) software to track key metrics like retention rate, referral rate, and lifetime value.
Identify gym members who are at risk of canceling and proactively engage them. Offer gym loyalty programs and member referral bonuses. Send birthday and anniversary messages to loyal members. Loyal members will become advocates for your gym.
Conclusion
The best gym marketing ideas require creativity, persistence, and a customer-centric approach. By focusing on introducing compelling offers, highlighting the gym’s USPs, leveraging digital marketing, building local partnerships, providing excellent service, and fostering member loyalty, you can build a thriving membership base.
Test different gym marketing strategies and analyze the data to determine what works best. With a consistent gym marketing plan, you can attract more clients and grow the business.
I am Adeyemi Adetilewa, an SEO Specialist helping online businesses grow through content creation and proven SEO strategies. Proficient in WordPress CMS, Technical Site Audits, Search Engine Optimization, Keyword Research, and Technical Writing (Portfolio).
I help brands share unique and impactful stories through the use of public relations, advertising, and online marketing. My work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Addicted2Success, Hackernoon, The Good Men Project, and other publications.
