It’s a great time to be a fitness professional. The health and fitness industry is expected to grow 171.75% by 2028, according to RunRepeat, with boutique fitness experiencing some of the best growth in the sector. To stand out in this crowded market and benefit from this growth, independent gym owners and personal trainers need effective gym marketing ideas.
Creating a marketing plan in the middle of training clients and running a gym may sound exhausting and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, below are 10 effective gym marketing ideas that will help you find your target audience, stand out from the competition and grow your brand in this swiftly growing market.
1. Hold Fitness Challenges & Events
Fitness challenges are a fun way to keep clients motivated, help build community among gym members & encourage referrals (More on those below).
Fitness challenges can be singular, or gym-wide competitions where winners are rewarded with deals, discounts or free merch. What you choose depends on the interests & goals of your target audience.
Some fitness challenge examples include:
- Monthly running, cycling or rowing challenges
- Bi-weekly weight loss or calorie burner challenges
- Increasing lifts by 10% in one week
If you don’t have a digital content library to pull from, you can use Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to demonstrate the correct exercise form for participants. You can have clients use one of the many fitness apps out there, as well as timestamped photos and video to record their progress.
2. Start a Client Referral Program
Client referral programs generate free leads by getting your clients to promote your gym to their friends and family members. These programs are highly effective because people tend to trust referrals from those they know. Current clients are also likely to continue if their friends sign up.
Referral programs must be incentivized to be effective, and the incentives should be similar for the referrer and the referred. Some things you can offer in exchange for referrals are:
- Free or discounted training sessions, classes & meal plans
- A free shirt or a discount on store items
- A 1–2-month membership discount
You should promote your referral program at your gym, on your website & social media channels. It is also effective to embed referral forms in email marketing messages and mobile app notifications.
3. Launch a User-Friendly Website
Your gym’s website is your primary lead generator. It showcases your brand, industry expertise, services, logo, employee profiles, mission statement, and selling propositions for both new and returning visitors. If you don’t have a website built yet, your online booking page can function as one in the meantime.
Make sure that your website is easy to navigate and mobile-friendly. Present and future clients should be able to easily find the following:
- Services, classes & memberships
- Schedules, prices & names of staff
- Before & after photos
- Customer reviews, testimonials & member spotlights
- An online booking button
The more information you include on your website, the greater chance a customer looking for specialized services will find you. Using the right keywords on your website will enhance its SEO. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you find them.
4. Expand Your Social Media Presence
Using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are powerful marketing tools for gyms and fitness businesses because:
- Professional pages are free to set up, while social advertising is cheaper & more targeted than print advertising. Use these gym advertising ideas to increase your ad's effectiveness.
- Built-in analytics tools supply insights into what worked well, and what did not
Attracting new clients and followers requires posting content that is helpful and engaging. Some examples are:
Polls
Unsure of how to improve your business? Run a social media poll. Polls let you gauge your followers’ opinions on a variety of things, such as new classes or contest ideas. Sharing poll results and applying your followers’ insights shows the world you value their opinions.
Contests & Fitness Challenges
Social media contests attract new leads, keep current clients engaged and boost brand awareness. The most essential element of your contest is the prize. The prize must be targeted to what your ideal client would want, whether that’s a pair of knee bracers or yoga blocks.
Promoting Others
Instead of beating your own chest, promote other peoples’ stories, successes & achievements. Whether it's one of your own clients or someone else, the content should be inspirational and resonate with your audience. Followers tend to share this content, especially if they know the person in the spotlight.
Releasing Regular Content
Post helpful, educational & value-driven content. This can be form demonstrations, nutrition tips, healthy recipes or micro workouts with guest trainers. Post about 4–6 times per day and always make some things exclusive, like members-only giveaways & competitions.
5. Smart Fitness-Related Content Marketing
Content marketing is an effective way for gyms and personal trainers to grow their audiences. You should release content on multiple channels, including your websites, social media pages and lifestyle blogs.
Always provide content that educates & motivates. These can be:
- Gym email newsletters
- Lifestyle blog articles
- Q&A sessions & interviews with experts
- Before & after photos
- Workout videos
If you need content ideas, use your greatest resource: your clients. What recurring questions do they have about their health? What new skills do they express interest in? Are there any effective tips that you consistently give out to clients in person that are worth publishing?
Answering your clients’ questions will position you as an expert, boost retention and lead to more referrals & sign-ups. Continue reading for more gym marketing ideas to boost your business.
6. Gym Discounts & Special Offers
Periodic offers and discounts are a tried-and-true way to bring in new clients. Ensure that your discounts aren’t steep enough to hurt your budget and you can get as creative as you like.
Some common promotional ideas include:
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Bring-a-Friend discounts on classes & training sessions
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Personalized meal plans for new clients
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A free training session in exchange for a gym review
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Gym anniversary giveaways
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Daily flash sales, like 50% off a HIIT class. Gyms and personal trainers on the Vagaro Marketplace use the Daily Deals feature for these sales.
Remember to avoid the term “free” and instead highlight the value in opening trials and other deals. Frame them in the following ways: 2-week memberships worth $75, or a “1-week pass ($50 value!)”
7. Gym Co-Marketing
Gym co-marketing campaigns are, essentially, referral programs between fitness professionals and surrounding businesses. These businesses could be supplement stores, health food stores, health-focused restaurants, or any place that offers products & services that align with your clients’ interests.
In co-marketing campaigns, you work with one of these businesses to promote a shared offer that increases business for both of you. It can be as simple as asking your partner to place event flyers and hand out referral cards at their shop. You would then offer something in return.
Some collaborations include:
- Webinars
- Giveaways
- Contests
- Product launches
With the right partner and the right gym marketing ideas, your co-marketing campaign can increase credibility, drive added revenue and build awareness around your brand.
8. Fitness Courses & Workshops
Creating fitness courses is an effective gym marketing idea to help your clients make strides toward specialized goals while positioning you as a subject matter expert. They are typically several weeks long and are devoted to specific topics such as:
- CrossFit Games prep
- Triathlon prep
- Postnatal fitness
Workshops are single classes that focus on building specific skills and center around a niche you are familiar with. You can even pull in guest instructors to teach specialized techniques and skills. Examples include:
- Isometric barbell basics
- Mastering the TRX For back & shoulders
- Kettlebell foundations
Whatever you choose, make sure you have a clear-cut goal in mind: “At the end of this workshop (or workshop series), you should be able to do/incorporate X.”
9. Seasonal Promotions
The most famous seasonal promotion is, of course, the New Year's sign-up special. However, there are many other seasonal marketing opportunities to capitalize on throughout the year.
Some of these include:
- Spring & Summer: Tie these promotions to wedding season, beach season, spring break, upcoming vacations or other reasons people want to get fit during these months.
- Back to School: Offer students a discount & a free piece of swag when they present their student IDs. Or focus on parents who have time to work out now that the kids are back in school.
- November: Offer Veteran’s Day-themed, bootcamp-style classes, or membership discounts for servicemen & women. Or, how about an intense “Get Carved on Thanksgiving” class?
- Winter Holidays: Help people combat holiday-season stress with free or discounted boxing & kickboxing classes or offer a “12 Days of Shred” training promotion.
10. Virtual Services & Exclusive Content
The present and future of fitness is hybrid. To compete and stay relevant, gyms and personal trainers need to offer a good mix of in-person & virtual services, as well as rich online content.
Offerings include:
- An on-demand workout library
- Personalized fitness programs accessed via client apps
- Live streamed classes
- Virtual consultations & form checks
- Nutrition programs & healthy recipes
Virtual content provides double the value to clients, helps them maintain their regimens at home and enhances communication outside of your facility. The more you can advertise, the better.
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It can be difficult for fitness businesses to stand out in such a crowded marketplace without an effective marketing strategy. Fortunately, the 10 gym marketing ideas above are easy to implement once you understand who your target audience is and what they need.
The first step is having the right booking & gym business software in your corner. Vagaro equips gyms and personal trainers with many tools to reach and grow their respective client bases. Contact us now and we’ll help you do the same!
