Gym Marketing: 8 Fun & Engaging Campaigns To Implement
In this gym marketing guide, you will learn about 8 fun and engaging gym marketing ideas to implement in your marketing strategy. From video marketing to tips on calls-to-action, we have tips on how to attract and retain new members.
Gym Marketing: How do you Attract New Members While Maintaining Current Members Engaged?
This is the number one challenge of any business. What is the secret to attracting prospective customers? The good news is that getting in front of your ideal customer has never been easier. However, you first need to determine which type of content your customers may be seeking and how they are searching for that content. In order to accomplish that, you start with a goal.
Just like when you are working out, you always need a goal. Are you looking to increase gym members? Develop a brand awareness? Or engage and retain your current customer? Setting goals for your campaign will help you define the scope of the campaign and the target audience.
With that understanding, check out these tips below and think about how they will help you to work toward your marketing goals. Need some ideas for goals? Some of the goals that we typically define with our gym clients include attracting new members, differentiating the gym from competitors (think about what makes your gym culture different), and current member retention.
Here are 8 marketing tips, including video marketing ideas, to help you get started:
1. Video: Workout of The Week
It is the perfect way to engage those customers who are looking for fun workouts. Start this campaign at the beginning of the year, when fitness resolutions are at their highest. Then give your audience a timeline and goals with each video to motivate them to keep watching. If this campaign is set up to attract new members to your gym, then the videos in this series should be hosted by one of your instructors in order to establish his or her credibility with the audience. By interacting with these videos, future customers get a preview of the level of competence of the coaching staff as well as the overall cultural tone of the gym.
2. Tips To Improve Fitness
We all had to start somewhere. One of the secrets to retaining members is focusing on education. Share the secret sauce. You gain nothing by keeping your vast fitness knowledge to yourself. The most valuable application of that knowledge is to freely share it with your members in order to ensure they get the most out of each visit.
For instance, create videos that demonstrate proper form for each exercise. Get new members jump started by offering tips and workout programs to keep them motivated. This campaign will aim to improve your check-ins, and grow your memberships.
3. Membership Sale and Specials
Run a promotion for the first 25 people that visit the gym that day. The promotion depends on your monthly membership cost and the special you decide to run. For example, you can run 40% off memberships for the first month, or a particular dollar discount on a membership, classes, or gear (if you sell gear in a house). Evaluate your membership cost and provide a unique offer that will get people in the door. While we understand that cutting into your already tight margins is a difficult decision, the goal of this is to create new members. Once you have them in your system, you can focus on retaining them at full price.
4. Free Technique Workshop Once a Month
Use your website to create a landing page where non-members can sign in with their email to gain access to a free video with one of your instructors teaching a particular exercise. While you at first at seems you are giving away free instruction, you have the visitors' contact information (especially email) to continue to nurture the relationship over time. It will provide you with a nice segmented list of customers who are interested in learning more.
These customers have entered the buyer's journey within your sales funnel. They are in the "Awareness Stage." You need to provide them with the answers to the questions that first brought them to your site. From there, you provide content that moves the buyer through each of the stages to the "Decision Stage" where they become a customer.
First, they have to feel like they fit in to your community. Second, they need to understand the type of workouts your members perform. Finally, they need to know what makes your gym different. This effort might seem like a lot of work for the gym, but it makes the difference between customers that are generally interested in fitness and wanting to sign up on the spot (by continuing these efforts you create advocates that send endless referrals your way). If they do not sign up right away, do not worry. You simply need to continue nurturing the relationship and stay consistent (without harassing or being annoying).
5. Offer a free class for new check-ins via Yelp or Facebook
According to Time.com, Americans check their mobile phones around 46 times per day, so why not take advantage of that and provide a free pass to new check-ins on Facebook and Yelp. Promoting this offer on Facebook via an ad that targets mobile users will work to drive them down the sales funnel, ideally converting to become a member. Most people feel motivated and excited to workout at the end of a fitness class, and will be ready to take action right then. Moreover, you are able to get all of the referral traffic from that user's network as her check-in will show to all of her friends and family.
6. Free guest passes for a Google or Yelp Review
Google reviews look good when people are searching for a gym, and they also help your business rank higher in local SEO! Even further, it influences the customer's decision to join. If you are short on Google or Yelp reviews, encourage your members to leave you reviews by providing them with a free 5-day guest pass for a friend. This campaign will attract new business to your gym by giving new customers a taste of the culture and expertise of your staff.
7. Feature a Gym member
Featuring a member who works hard to reach their goals will inspire the rest of your members to maintain their efforts and work toward their goals. A monthly or weekly member feature will serve as a motivation to keep guests checking into the gym. This campaign can also be featured on the website, and all social media profiles. Members will be encouraged, and happy to be part of a community that motivates them to do better.
Gym marketing strategies are not only about attracting new members but retaining current members as well. Customer retention is less expensive than acquiring new members, and more profitable over time.
8. FAQ and Unique Content Via Live Video Or Blog Post
Answer frequently asked questions on your website or through live streaming on your social media channels. Not only will these posts help with current members by reinforcing your expertise and educational culture, but it will also create a resource for your members to turn to for information. You can also create short videos answering these questions and post them on channels like Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. This is especially ideal for gyms that have a lot of technical workouts and machines where precise movements are essential to complete the workout.
FAQs are not the only questions to answer. You can also do research on keywords and most searched questions online, and answer them via a blog posts and video to attract more traffic to your website. Members and non-members will have a resource of information that will help them take full advantage of the gym. This type of content also helps your website to rank for more keywords. Providing consistent, valuable content that is SEO-optimized will get more people to your site and in your doors.
Bonus Tips For Gym Marketing
- Do not forget to include a call-to-action at the end of these videos and blog posts to capture information and use it to build an email list. This email list can be used to send valuable content via email and transform non-members to members.
- An important to remember not try to sell, rather provide value, in order to help your audience reach their goals. This approach will set you apart from your competition who do nothing but promote.
Climbing Gym Marketing: Turn Buyers Into Loyal Customers
Community building and goal programs are a fun climbing gym marketing strategy that both support current customers and turn day pass buyers into loyal customers. There's a lot of room to be creative in a program like this. Start by encouraging your employees to get involved. If they are excited, you'll soon find your customers following a suit.
Here are 4 steps to creating a climbing gym goal program:
1. Climbing Gym Marketing: Get Started
Your first steps are to name your program and announce it both in-house and through your outbound marketing channels. Come up with a fun hashtag to promote on social. Then, print paper flyers, post notices around the gym, send an email to your segmented email list with all details to prompt customers to take action.
2. Foster Healthy Community Competition
Dedicate a wall or poster board to the program, and incorporate a way to show your climbers' progress. A 'mountain to climb' is a simple metaphor to turn into an image and makes it easy to post goals at different levels on the mountain. Give members cutouts to write their name on, or use photos, and pin them on the board at the appropriate levels. Including an 'encouragement' section where climbers can write supportive messages and tips keeps things fun and upbeat.
3. Create a Reward Based Goal Structure
Set and post goals based on beginner, intermediate, and advanced climbing levels. Or consider creating a personalized goal program for customers taking classes or working with trainers. Once a goal is met, reward your climbers with a small gift or a one-time discount. Depending on your gym there are so many fun prizes to offer, from power bars to water bottles, merchandise and membership fee discounts, even having their photo posted on a program wall or being featured in a social media post. Mix up discounts and gifts at varying goal levels to keep your climbers motivated.
Depending on your gym there are so many fun prizes to offer, from power bars to water bottles, merchandise and membership fee discounts, or having their photo posted on a program wall and getting featured in a social media post. Mix up discounts and gifts at varying goal levels to keep your climbers motivated.
4. Spread the Word Together
Now that you've created your program, it's time to encourage your members to share with their online community. All social posts, e-communications, and printed material (like signs, brochures, posted charts etc.) should include your gyms social icons and the program hashtag with a call to action.
Your website and appropriate digital advertising should clearly display easy ways to share information about the program, celebrate when goals are met, and encourage other program participants. Most importantly, keep inspiring your customers to push themselves and have fun!
Need a little more help devising and implementing your marketing strategy? Get in touch with HARNESS here.
3 STEPS TO CREATING GREAT MARKETING CONTENT
Content Marketing integrates very well with Social Media marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Here is what you need to do before you start creating content:
Identify Your Audience
To do that, you have to:
- Select your niche: This is a particular group of people who are interested in the topic you write about.
- Refine your niche - for example, "fitness enthusiasts" is a niche, but it is relatively broad. "Mountain sports enthusiasts" is a more targeted niche and would make a more precise target.
- Dig down! Micro-niche is a subset of your chosen niche. For example, "Sports climbers" or "ice climbers" are micro-niches in the "mountain sports enthusiasts" niche.
Conduct Research
That being said, you need to spend a good amount of time to get an idea of what the trending topics are. Platforms such as Buzzsumo, Reddit, Feedly are excellent resources to gain insight of what’s trending in today’s market.
Decide On Your Content
What do you think your customers will be more interested in - a blog post, videos, podcasts, newsletter, reports, white papers, tutorials, infographics? Different types of content work better on certain platforms versus others. For example, if you decide to create a video, you have to keep your distribution method in mind. Each platform has specific requirements technically, aesthetically, and within the expectations of your viewer.
Your prospects will consume media in any method THEY choose.
Just because you choose to utilize a white paper does not mean that your particular prospect engages with that type of content. You must be sure to cater to all types of content consumption across all platforms.
Strategize, execute, manage, and analyze your content.
Timing is everything in today's digital market, and optimal sharing time is different from one channel to the other. The only way to perfect your content sharing timing is to analyze your social media data and find out when your audience is most engaged.
7 Tips To Follow Up With Convention and Trade Show Leads
So you and your team committed the time and financial resources to prepare and attend a convention or tradeshow. You met many interesting prospects that are a perfect fit for your product or service. If you have done this before, then you know how important it is to remember every detail of that conversation to personalize your follow-up. Unfortunately, this is something that many salespeople ignore or put off until the details have faded from memory. It is those details that allow a salesperson to personalize the subsequent exchanges following the show. Don’t you just hate those cold post-event emails with no personalized context? Read on for a few tips on how to follow up with leads.
BE ORGANIZED
Gathering business cards is better than nothing, but it may not be enough of a trigger to remind you of who a future customer is and why you want to follow up with them. Before the trade show, create a Twitter list for the event, and add all of your new contacts to the list by following their Twitter account. Search for hashtags related to the show and follow people you may not have met, but would like to. Also, take pictures of the people you meet at the show (with their permission, of course) when the opportunity allows. Later, you can add the photo to your CRM, and it will help you remember who they are and what you talked about.
FOLLOW-UP
Prepare your new contacts for future connection by telling them that you’ll follow up. Give them a date and a time of when they can expect a call or an email from you. It could be something as simple as “When I get back to the office, I’ll make sure and get that information to you.” This will make you accountable!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a great low-pressure platform to nurture your new business relationships slowly. Say you met someone that you would like to stay connected to, but during the conversation you didn’t get a chance to set a time for follow up. Social media is the most natural medium to keep up with that contact and continue the conversation. Going back to the Twitter list. Hopefully, you’ve already added your contacts. Send out a message saying, “It was so nice meeting you; I can’t wait to continue our conversation on XYZ!” Now they are expecting your follow-up.
Another good low-pressure platform is LinkedIn. Invite them to connect on LinkedIn, and making sure to send a personalized invitation that includes a reminder of how you met. Also, make sure to interact with their activity on LinkedIn, Twitter and elsewhere. Share their company’s content when possible, and tag them to make them aware (and appreciative).
Facebook, on the other hand, is a bit more personal. If you are not able to find a contact on LinkedIn or Twitter, send them an email and invite them to connect with you through your personal Facebook profile. If they have a Facebook business page (most companies do), follow them and engage with their content on there. Instagram is also a perfect place to nurture a relationship. Before the event, search for applicable hashtags targeting the show or the industries as well as the businesses that will be at the event. Follow their account, and make sure to also comment and like their content shared on the platform.
Send an email a day or two after the conference. You don’t want to wait too long. During these events, you meet a lot of people in a short period. So you want to make sure that your name and company are not forgotten after the show. Remind your contact how you met and mention a key highlight or two from your conversation. If you can think of anything that might help them (a tool, app, blog post, ebook, or even an article on a 3rd party periodical), make sure to pass that along. You can even ask them about that trip they mentioned or about that school event their child was attending. The more personal you get, the closer the relationship feels. People appreciate it when you show them that you care by remembering details of your conversation.
CALL
If a contact gave you their phone number, and you mentioned that you would be following up with a call then do it. They are expecting you to. If you catch them at a busy time, make sure to schedule another call before you hang up. Also, don’t follow up first thing on Monday, give you contact some room to breathe after the show.
IN-PERSON
If you’re in the same geographic area, and your contact is aware that you will be stopping by, visit them and drop off additional information and maybe an invitation for coffee or lunch for another day. Respect their busy schedules, but show some initiative and take advantage of your proximity if you want to connect. They will not forget that you stopped by the office.
FOLLOW-UP SOME MORE
If you tried all the above and you were not able to get a hold of someone, don’t give up that easily. There are two possibilities: They are uninterested in continuing the conversation at this time because of a lack of a current need for your product or service, or they are busy and could not find a chance to talk. Make sure to create a monthly, rhythmic follow up with these contacts and remind them of you and your business. Eventually, your business will be on their mind whenever they need your services or product. At this point, your name and your contact info will be easy to reach, and they will turn into a customer when the time is right.
What is Marketing Automation?
What is Marketing Automation? The Top 3 Reasons You Should Be Using This Technology
Here is a scenario you may be up against if you are doing things right:
You have been working hard over the recent past to create content such as videos, blog posts, infographics, and white papers that are interesting and valuable to your future customers. You have a fan base on social media that is engaged with your posts and sharing them. You have created regular traffic to your blog posts and your email list is growing.
Further, some of these users may even be demonstrating buying cues such as looking at your pricing page and checking out your testimonials - but how would you know when that occurs and follow up at the right time? More importantly, the question remains - how do you nurture these leads into buying customers?
The answer:
Marketing Automation: a means to drive more leads, convert leads into sales, and measure ROI of individual campaigns.
1. Generate More Leads
With marketing automation software, we are able to identify anonymous visitors to our site. That means we can prospect more accurately because we know which companies are interested. We can also capture information in forms from users that are interested in staying up to date with our video content, requesting a demo, or in exchange for an infographic or white paper.
2. Drive Sales
Once that user is in our system, his use can be tracked at each subsequent visit to our website - we know when our prospects visit. Based on his visits and actions on our site, the user will be segmented into a campaign with personalized follow-up information to nurture the relationship. For example, if he shows interest in our Video Marketing for eCommerce videos, we can automatically send him information that pertains to our eCommerce content creation services.
Even more interesting is the way the system scores leads based on a number of parameters that we can set based on a client's unique business. An example of a high profile lead in the system would be a user that visits frequently, fills out a form, clicks-through on our emails, and downloads a white paper. Once a lead meets certain parameters and is moving through the sales funnel, the follow-up approach changes to be sure to make the most of the opportunity. There is even an option for the system to alert a salesperson to make a direct call when a prospect is on the site.
3. Measure ROI
The automation software provides comprehensive analytics for each individual campaign so marketers can measure what is working best and where to allocate marketing resources. There are extensive reporting features with exportable graphs to share with your teams, allowing for firms to make better, data-driven decisions, which in turn reduces costs.