Promote Your Fitness Center After the New Years Resolution Buzz Wears Off
You might have noticed, fitness centers start looking a little barren this time of year. As a gym owner, you likely enjoy plenty of business at the start of a new year. After all, at the beginning of the year, everyone’s resolution is to lose weight, get toned, and live an overall healthy lifestyle, which means many will buy a membership. Unfortunately, the time of plenty won't last forever, and then the question becomes how to grow your center throughout the year, not just at the beginning.
Invest in a high-quality website:
According to marketing experts, an astounding 70% of prospective customers will check out your fitness center’s website before showing up in person. This means that you can positively impact your business by having a well-written, visually impressive, easy-to-navigate site that offers pertinent information and is easily understood. First impressions are everything, so if your gym’s site is that first impression for many of your prospective customers, you want to make sure it’s impressive.
As a side note, be sure to include a Facebook page and link to it on your site. Social media is one of the best ways to get the word out about a business in general through posting about specials on classes, advertising for events the gym will host, or sharing virtually anything about your business.
Give away freebies:
Everyone loves freebies, and your clients are no exception. Therefore, you can utilize this fact and garner some free advertising simultaneously. For example, having custom magnets, carabiners and key chains, pens, and other similar items made up that feature your center's name and possibly a phone number and giving them away to current and potential clients, is an easy way to advertise and promote your business.
You could even have a few personalized duffel bags made and raffle them off. Even if you only have 10 to give away, that means 10 of your clients will be walking around “advertising” for you on a daily basis by carrying the bag they won. Regardless of how you choose to go about giving away merchandise or what types of items you give away, by placing your name on items and giving them away in some fashion, you are advertising for your gym in a method that doesn’t seem forced or overbearing.
Create a member referral program:
Encouraging your current clients to tell others about your fitness center is a great way to acquire new business and it doesn’t cost that much. The way it works is by giving your current clients tickets or cards that they can give to their friends. On the cards will be a free session of your choosing, including anything from a free week of workouts to a free class. The idea is to entice the person who comes on the free pass into staying once they are in the gym and see all your business has to offer. Another way to utilize the referral program is to give your current members a reduction in their membership fee if they refer people to your gym.
The tips listed above are great marketing strategies to keep your gym full throughout the year.
