The Five Forces of Competition The fitness business offers plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs and trainers to found startup gym businesses. Your gym can compete against established studios and big box fitness corporations; you just have to be savvy about it. The same factors that define competition within the industry will also show where you can make your entrance and your strategy that will grow the business. Any business situation has potential competitive threats. The gym business is no exception. Michael Porter of Harvard University first laid out a catalog of the Five Forces, which every company faces in one [...]
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I was just reading about some big-box gym managers earning salaries in the high five figures, without having to risk personal wealth or credit. Well, that $80K paycheck probably helps these big box managers sleep at night, even if they're beholden to the bureaucracy of corporate America. So, how as a small gym business owner, do you get the best of both worlds? After all, if independence is good, then independence combined with prosperity must be better! Automation - Building A Gym That Runs Itself The answer has to be in being smart and efficient, and in this day and [...]
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On today's screen cast we teach a new gym owner the basics of gym sales and marketing and how to discover and improve areas of your business that are failing. (more…)
What is marketing about if not finding new customers? And when business is at its slowest surely that is the time to shift down a gear and get the marketing efforts going properly. Marketing is about customers, who they are and what they want, as well as how you can mold your business to pick up some new members. You can bring in new members who want what you have and to do it at the lowest possible cost to you in the process. Of course, marketing takes an investment of time and energy, if not capital. If you are [...]
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We turbocharged our integration with MailChimp!: We now send the following additional information to MailChimp so that you can run your most targeted email campaigns ever: account status, birthday, visits in the past 30 days, visits in the past 90 days, and visits in the past year. Send a notice to your inactive members to get back in the gym, or just wish them a happy birthday! If you haven't set up a MailChimp account for email lists, it's time to start! Need assistance? Ask us - we're happy to help! Save
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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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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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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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 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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Disruption is that thing that happens when an established way of doing this or that, or your network suddenly discovers that it has new competition, from out of nowhere, overnight. Technology is disruptive because it is evolving and emerging so quickly. Customer service is disruptive because most companies do it so poorly and, when done well, it generates such a powerful connection with the customer. Ideas are disruptive because they are the source of all innovation and change. As the pace of change continues to accelerate it become harder to anticipate changes and at the same time more desperately important [...]
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Get Gym Business Leverage From Digital Media These days we hear a lot about customer engagement and brand advocates. These are customers who vocally and enthusiastically support your brand. Combined with digital marketing channels and social media they can bring in the new business without an expensive advertising campaign in sight. Well it's not that easy of course. But then again it's not that hard either. The central feature of success in creating brand advocates is the understanding that there is a hierarchy, a series of concentric circles of influence around you, which you can do much to cultivate. I [...]
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By now it's no secret that America is aging. In 2014 there were 113 million adults over 50 and by 2030 there will be 160. At least 50% of discretionary income belongs to the 50 and older market. There's a huge opportunity within this group of individuals who want to "age in place" and knows they'll live a better quality of life if they're healthy. Eight out of ten adults over 50 don't think marketing targets them. Brands and businesses don't "get them." That means there's an even bigger opportunity for you if you get it right. Assess Your Current [...]
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This Quirk Might Give Your Business Away When you are responsible for everything that happens in your business you are juggling so many hats it can be extremely stressful when you have to make choices and decisions in marketing. Decisions range from selecting the color scheme of your brand and the look of your logo to managing your website and social media. Some choices in this realm can be forgiving and others not so much. Names, domain names and toll-free numbers have a few quirks that can make them work against you if you don't take adequate care and foresight [...]
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