I recently finished reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, which I thought was a fascinating life story. There are so many things about this guy that pertain to any business that it's an irresistible topic to tackle on the Gym Insight Blog. But I promise to visit the subject only one time, unless there is a call for an encore in the comments of course. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computers, Next, and Pixar Entertainment was a complicated person to be sure. On one hand, he had a genius for design and business. Jobs had an amazing eye [...]
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The Virtuous Circle Of Improved Retention Since the topic of membership retention is still fresh on the pages of the Gym Insight Blog, let's talk about the strategic points to hold on to your customers a little longer. No doubt, you have some idea of what you are doing well and what can be improved, and there are uncounted sources of ideas for retention on the Web, but it never hurts to have an over-arching strategy in place, right? The Upside Of Improved Gym Member Retention As an example, if you can increase your retention rate from ninety-two to ninety-five [...]
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Back To Basics Yet Again Even in this digital-first era, when it comes to operating a business, it still all boils down to the basics. By this, I mean a few specific skills and functions that we have addressed in some detail over the years, here on the Gym Insight Blog. But being basics, they never suffer for a little repetition. Of these, membership retention stands out as one of the most critical factors. Small progressive improvements can take you from a struggling small business owner, sleeping in the back office, to the top of your local marketplace. The economy [...]
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The Reason For Reporting Numbers Don't let the numbers distract you; owning a small gym business is still all about relationships. I know that I have spent a lot of time and digital ink over the last few years saying that it's about the experience. But that is really just the same thing isn't it? The experience that gym members seek is a positive training experience or a friendly environment to work out in, with all the benefits of improved fitness. For anyone who takes on the premium membership the price might easily cover the cost of setting up a [...]
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Picking Up The Pace Of Fitness Business Marketing Having a website is pretty much a fundamental part of marketing for any business these days. In the gym business there are numerous ways that having a digital home helps you communicate and connect. But there are different levels of presence of effort that are completely disconnected from one another. First, it's now a standard that your website has to be equally readable from computer screens and mobile devices, so anything you publish must be readily accessible to each. Second, like anything else in business, you get a return out of it [...]
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A Simple Social Solution For Gym Marketing When you have a business where you've put everything into it and you spend every waking hour of the day trying to get it going, when you're always on call to respond to daily crises, you owe it to yourself to get every advantage possible. A humble gym hashtag might just be the thing to help you do that. Do you have a social media hashtag for shout-outs about your gym? The hashtag has become such a simple branding tool so quickly that it's easy to overlook. These little tags can get you [...]
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Trainers Adopting Tech Could Create New Potential A recent American Council On Exercise (ACE) Survey, quoted by Club Industry Magazine turned up the conclusion that trainers need to be more aware of the potential offered by wearable technology. This refers to the wristband devices such as FitBit that record all your activity throughout the day, from your sleep patterns, to heart rate and calorie expenditure. Well, my natural reaction to that was "don't we all?" However, the point here was that the spread of wearables is making consumers curious about the potential in the data. According to the survey, they [...]
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There was a time when I would have thought that creating a brand was as simple as having an idea and commissioning a graphic designer to put my imaginings into visual form. I have learned a simple and harsh lesson over time: You have to work very hard to get recognized in your marketplace, as a business and as a brand. Be The Brand You can create your brand as an extension of your own personality but you have to make sure that it is the right image for your market and membership. Test your results and take measurements wherever [...]
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The Value Is Real If You Respect It Yourself One of the things that you learn when you're working as a freelance contractor in the software business (bare with me here) is that you get more respect and more clients if you set a price that represents real value and a living wage for yourself. As a case in point, a friend of mine recently qualified for a certification in network engineering. He now works as a contractor and recently raised his hourly rate by a factor of four. An amazing thing happened when he did it: Customers and prospects, [...]
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The Value Of Holding Events What do you do for your marketing and promotions currently? Hopefully, you are connecting with local businesses and getting creative with trial memberships. But in addition to that, have you been sponsoring or holding events that bring people into your gym space? These days, you can put any unused capacity to work better by getting involved locally. Do some networking by using a web-based or mobile application like meetup.com and Eventbrite to connect with like-minded fitness fans around you. This can extend to promotions, sponsorships and even to organizing paid events. Get Some Digital Leverage [...]
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Third Party Confirmations I was just reading the results of a really interesting small business survey, and the discussion about it, on the Club Solutions Website. The point was that community and reviews lead as the driving forces for growth across the spectrum of small businesses. Of 6,000 survey respondents, eleven percent were gym members. The survey showed that there is growth in the economy, small businesses get the most return by providing community, and that small businesses, including gyms, get a lot of mileage from reviews posted by members. The article went on to say that these reviews provide [...]
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Choose Your Application If you could develop a mobile application or app for your gym members what would it be? Would it be purely account information or training records? Would you want to make it a stand-alone Giga-download giant or a lightweight gateway app? Would it help you communicate with your membership or just dole out the advice? I've been giving this subject some serious consideration lately and I'd like to share my thoughts here, as a sort of roadmap. The best part about it is that it's a roadmap to membership retention. Allow me to explain with a simple [...]
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On Orangetheory Joining Communities The new HIIT concept gym business Orangetheory has been expanding like crazy across the country of late. I'm glad to see that there is a fitness ethos behind the boom. It looks like they're selective in whom they hire; only properly trained and certified exercise science graduates need apply. Beyond doing the basics right, Orangetheory is doing something else that I am all in favor of, which is encouraging locations and managers to get involved locally and give to the community as this link shows. Overview Of Fitness Business And Charity Giving back is really important [...]
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Gather Round For The Gym Insight Founder Story More businesses are creating mobile apps to either support their businesses or from which to bring forth a new enterprise and it is helping smart marketers to promote products and services in the most cost-effective way. The use of any digital offering is an awesome way to bring attention to the core service or product that you deliver. I am sure that you won't be surprised to hear that what we've done here at Gym Insight is a great example. Because I studied and worked as a programmer and also happened to [...]
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You know, we're in a resolutely business-to-customer service industry, are we not? So, you might be forgiven for thinking that attending trade shows would be a waste of time. Don't you believe it for a minute! It may be individual customers that you serve that earn your revenue but it's the relationships with your peers that keep you going. Your business is built on the relationships that you form within the industry and between professionals that makes the best B2C service possible. Let's take a look at trade shows (IHRSA 2015) and what they can do for you beyond being [...]
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