Put Some Life Back In Your Marketing
There is always more room for another list on the Internet, particularly when it is as important as reinvigorating marketing strategies for small gym business owners. There may be more relevant marketing ideas that only you can know about driving your business ahead. So, while you ponder on what business marketing ideas will give you a boost, read through these seven marketing tips for gym owners, and perhaps you will find something that inspires you.
1. Free is worth more than any discounts
The first tip is a warning with a healthier alternative: If you start with a cut-price it’s all down hill from there; members will always expect to have the discounted price and any attempt to end it will cause offense and hurt feelings. Free trial periods limit time, and members are more willing to accept terms laid out upfront. Use a free trial or some other quantifiable giveaway to entice your prospects to become members at the full price.
2. Update the digital side to your business often
Users are becoming less engaging on Facebook and Twitter while Instagram is doing well as a virtual hangout, so start posting some pictures! Younger people tend more toward mobile apps like Snapchat so it might be worth investigating as a place for your presence too. These are fleeting opportunities and only work if you are marketing to specific demographics; choose your targets carefully.
3. Use tech to see who is looking at you
The ability to gather marketing information from machine observation is another exciting development. Perhaps you can refine your marketing and focus based on passing traffic and hidden demand. You can now become aware of who is around more easily than you might have realized.
If you have foot traffic passing your front door, you can now have a device watching that is always on and vigilant. You can now use Shopper Insight Technology that does some amazingly human things. You can use systems that measure foot traffic, peer out from your displays to count who’s looking, determine what part of the displays they notice and what they don’t, and record demographic information of the passing traffic.
4. Get the Internet of Things on your side
If you collect information from your connected equipment, you have a tool to advise members about their training routines. This data also gives you insight into the activities in your gym, what’s popular and what’s sitting idle. Rather than just making anecdotal appraisals of what seems to work and what doesn’t, you will have hard data on the efficiency of your facility, which ties nicely into the next two tips.
5. Create your marketing strategy based on your data
Whatever you find in your data, whether it’s good news or bad, you should take note and update your marketing plan accordingly. If some part of your gym is not creating enough return on investment, now is the time to consider dropping it. Or, you might find some hidden gem in your data that shows you the way forward. In any case, emphasize the successful and prepare to drop the disappointments.
You can find out what works from the reports in your gym management software and also in your equipment if it’s connected to your information systems. If your workout machines don’t record information at all, it may be time to consider leasing newer machines.
6. Tie in with the local business community
If you find some capacity left over somewhere in your system, why not team up with a local business to make a special offer that they can give to entice their customers into a premium purchase, and you can use it as well. If you have equipment that sits idle, or there is a time of the week that’s a little too slow, it is something that you can trade with your neighbors, for the benefit of everyone.
7. Do you use a mailing list?
Collecting names and email addresses is a long-term project. Even if you don’t have any present plans to put out a newsletter or sell to the list. Email marketing services in the cloud offer free, entry-level programs that allow you to collect and store email address for your clients. You can use this to set monthly newsletters and make occasional announcements to your followers about such things as free offers and your new Snapchat account. You are looking into that, right?
Bibliography
Choi, Mary. Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into The Social Media Lives Of Teens. August 25, 2016. https://www.wired.com/2016/08/how-teens-use-social-media/?mbid=synd_digg (accessed August 27, 2016).
Fitness Texter. 13 Gym Advertising Promotions to Sell More Gym Memberships. August 10, 2016. https://boostfitnessmarketing.com/blog/8-best-ways-sell-gym-fitness-memberships/ (accessed August 27, 2016).