Stellar gym marketing should create awareness, generate leads, and build a brand that separates you from the competition.

The fitness industry is booming and there’s new competition popping up everywhere so gym marketing must be executed with precision.  The good news is, the percentage of the population exercising or wanting to start an exercise program is also growing.  There’s no shortage of people filled with a burning desire to get in shape.  The question is, how do you spark interest and capture market share?

Here’s a 3 gym marketing hacks to help you grow your gym, fitness studio, health club, or active facility.

Gym Marketing Hack #1

Gym Marketing Hack #1: Channel Your Gym Marketing.

Never before in history has there been so many options (marketing channels) to choose from.

Heres’s a few of the most popular channels:

• Direct mail
• Local magazines
• Search engine marketing
• Social media marketing: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap Chat, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, etc.
• Email Marketing
• Text Message Marketing
• Joint Ventures
• Sponsorships
• Television

Pick only 2 or maybe 3 channels that have the best bang for the buck with the largest reach.  It’s better to be efficient in 2 channels then mediocre in 7.

Channel Rank:

#1: Facebook advertising is leading the way in the fitness industry when it comes to generating leads, reach, and conversions.  With over 2 billion people on Facebook consuming at least 50 minutes per day of up to 300 feet of newsfeed this is a sure fire way to get in front of potential members.

#2 Google is where most interested fitness shoppers will start their search so make sure this channel is a well oiled machine.  Things to consider.  Do you have your Google places set up?  Is there plenty of positive reviews?  Do you rank towards the top of the page for your local market keywords in search? Are you running PPC Adwords campaigns?

Gym Marketing Hack #2

Gym marketing hack number two is an in-house tool often forgot and is not considered marketing but…

It’s a pre-cursor to running any successful marketing strategies!

Gym Marketing Hack #2: Up your Sales and Service Training.

How would you rank from 1-10, 10 being the best your sales and services levels.

There is an invisible wall put up by many people when they visit a gym.  Their guarded because they feel like their getting sized up, judged, or feel lost and embarrassed.   It can be intimidating, even for someone who’s been working out for a while.

Nothing lowers that wall and creates a sigh of relieve than friendly smiles and “outgoing” customer service that’s eager to help.  Hiring the right people is critical.  Hire personality first then experience.  So often you walk into a gym and find the person at the desk apathetic and almost bothered that you’re there.

What about sales…the revenue generating activity.

You may haver heard the saying “Sales cure all”.  Sales is both an art and a science.  The good news it can be developed with “consistent” training.   Sales training is not just the first week of new hire onboarding.  Sales training should be weekly, daily, or at an absolute minimum monthly.  Even the best sales people become dull or lose their edge if they don’t get training.

Sales when executed the right way should feel enjoyable to the person buying and seamlessly lead the person toward becoming a new member or client.  The higher the price point or longer the commitment the more important that process becomes.

Warning! Gym owners that don’t track their closing percentage always over estimate their closing percentage. We hear numbers like 80% or higher only to find out it’s much less then 50% because it’s based on an educated guess, not actual data.  It’s really easy to track and every fitness facility should have tracking in place to improve it over time.  Knowing this number also gives you the ability to work backward and find your new member acquisition cost so you can scale your marketing.

Plan regularly scheduled training each week for sales and customer service.   It only needs to be 15-20 minutes but it needs to be a staple in your business.  No sense in marketing your facility to send potential members to the gym with mediocre service and a weak sales process.  It’s like pouring water in a bucket with holes in it.

Gym Marketing Hack #3

Gym Marketing Hack #3.  Be active in managing your gyms public reputation.

Ever go online to read reviews before going to a new restaurant?  Have you ever read reviews before buying a new product?  People want to see what others are saying to reduce buyers remorse and reduce any risk of making a poor purchase decision.  You can’t control what people say about you but you definitely have influence over it.  Google your business name with the key word “reviews” and see what you find.

The top reasons for bad reviews online for gyms is billing issues, poor customer service, and run down facilities.  If you make it next to impossible to cancel a membership and someone has a bad experience with it they will tell the whole world over, and over, and over again by only writing it one time.  That review will be there every day and every time someone looks up your business.  The cost of 1 bad review is equal to 10 positive one.

So what do you do if you get a negative review?

Reply immediately with the nicest response possible telling them you will remedy the situation and to contact you asap.  Hopefully they will edit the review.  The goal is to turn them into a fan.  I know, sometimes it hurts and sometimes it’s not justified but put your feelings aside and think about the future of your business.  Put yourself in the situation and how would you want someone to respond to you.

Once a facility has multiple bad reviews for the same issue across several platforms such as google, yelp, and Facebook it will significantly reduce the effectiveness of any marketing efforts.

On the flip side, high volumes of positive reviews provide great social proof and credibility that will pre-sell potential members before they even get to your door.  Ask happy members to leave you reviews and make it easy for them to do so.  This should be part of your ongoing process.  Imagine someone trying to decide between two near by gym’s and one has 3 good reviews or a poor rating and another has 200 good reviews, where’s your attention and money more likely to flow?

Hope you find this useful.  If you’re interested in learning more about gym marketing reach out for a complimentary strategy call.