Ads are necessary for all businesses to increase visibility, create new leads and increase sales. However, ads can be a challenge for fitness businesses because of how competitive the industry is. There are over 115,000 gym, health & fitness clubs in the U.S. alone vying for new clients1. But with some creativity and common sense, you can create memorable gym ads that will help you reach a wider audience and, most importantly, sell more memberships. Below, we cover the elements of a strong gym ad, provide several examples used by established gyms, and explore the different platforms you’ll likely use to create yours.
What Every Gym Ad Should Have, With Examples
All effective, high-conversion gym ads, no matter what format they are (still, video, print) or where they are used (social media, Google, billboards) share certain core elements in common. Your gym’s ads should:
1. Have A Target Audience
Before you create a single gym ad, you need to have a clear idea of who it is that you are targeting and how you’ll do it. Is it women between the ages of 18 & 25 based in Miami-Dade County, predominantly on Instagram?
Would that ad look like this?
This simple ad example is effective in that it addresses all of the the following demographic questions:
- Who frequents your gym the most?
- Where do these people live?
- What are their ages, genders, interests & goals?
- Which platforms will you use to reach them?
2. Tell Your Story
The story you tell your target audience is, essentially, what makes your gym unique. Why did you open your gym? What do you offer that the competitors don’t? What does your gym do better than everyone else’s? Is it based on community, or the level of personalized attention people receive?
Now, we aren’t suggesting that you incorporate a lengthy origin story in your gym ad. What we’re talking about has a lot to do with your brand identity and mission statement. Here’s an example of what we mean:
This ad’s tone, visuals, headline and copy tell prospective gym members that:
- Fitness is a personal journey
- We’ll help you reach your fitness goals
- You’re a member of a community here
3. Feature Amazing, Eye-Catching Imagery
The photos, graphics and other images that you use in your gym ads (and in any marketing materials) must be absolutely thumb-stopping—meaning it stops people mid-scroll. To do that, your ad should depict action in an interesting environment, which this example does well:
While you can use stock imagery, the best imagery to use for your gym’s ads, not surprisingly, comes right from your own gym and features real members (with their permission). Photography doesn’t have to be hard, as this guide to taking quality fitness photographs proves. Read the article, then grab a DSLR camera or a smartphone and have at it.
4. Have A Catchy Headline
You want your headline to grab people’s attention. It should be very clear as to what this ad is for and make people want to read more. Don’t be afraid to be witty, as (good) humor sells. This sample ad illustrates what we mean:
The headline, “Step Up Your Fitness Game” joins with the visual of a woman on a treadmill to create a nice pun. She appears to be picking up her pace and, depending on how you view it, raising the treadmill’s incline. The ad is brief, with a headline that pays off a subject and an action–with the gym’s name clearly visible at the bottom.
Your audience will appreciate clever messaging that grabs them right from the headline, and therefore be more inclined to see what your business is all about.
5. Have Clear, Concise & Fun Copy
The copy (text/words) you use in your ads should be easy to understand, enticing and often humorous. It explains, or gives context to the imagery in the ad, and indicates who the primary audience is. It also creates an urgency to act. In the case of video ads, the copy should influence people to hit the play button.
The tone used here indicates to people what your gym is all about. The copy comes together with imagery and video to motivate & inspire, highlight fun offers, welcome and inform.
6. Have A Compelling Offer
This is what you’ll use to convince people to choose your gym. It can be in the form of a discount, special deal or loyalty program. In the case of the ad example below:
The offer (1 Month FREE) is clearly visible, with the call to action (CTA) button directly below it. See offer. Act on offer. Oh, and speaking of calls to action:
7. Have A Clear CTA (Call to Action)
A call to action, or CTA, is possibly the most important part of your ad. It is a short prompt for a user to take some action desirable to your business, I.e., signing up for a class, purchasing a membership and/or visiting your studio’s website.
Your marketing materials should include CTAs to encourage your target audience to move one step closer to buying your products or services. An effective CTA should be brief and written with strong verbs that convey a sense of urgency. Your CTA should be a focused, compelling offer with one ideal outcome.
This is usually something like:
- Start your FREE Trial
- Sign Up Today
- Register Now and get 20% off!
- Book your FREE Session
The CTA in this gym ad example is front and center and effectively encourages people to get started, with a cool, action-packed photo underneath. In a print ad, the CTA should list your website, or contact number, along with an instruction of some sort. Social media gym ads should include a button prompting the viewer to make the next move, as illustrated above.
Remember that your CTA doesn’t necessarily have to instruct someone to buy something. It can also direct them to try demos, read articles, or watch videos to move them further along in your marketing funnel.
Ad Types & Platforms
There are several different types of ads, each used in a different medium or platform. Let’s break down the most common ad platforms you’ll use, with examples from some known gym brands.
1. Print Ads
Think of the flyers and pamphlets you’d have at your gym’s front desk or at nearby businesses, or an ad you might run in a periodical.
Include your logo at the top and a clear headline. If the purpose of the ad is to collect leads, then include body copy that lists your services and value props. If the purpose is brand awareness you may include a bit less of this kind of information.
This ad from Anytime Fitness features one of the gym chain’s main membership draws: personalized coaching. It also plainly outlines not one, but two limited time offers, illustrates the savings, and gives clear directions on what to do next. The visual used is in line with the Anytime Fitness brand in that it depicts satisfied people of different fitness levels and a friendly coach.
To follow in Anytime Fitness’s example, use high-quality photos, preferably of your own space and, if possible, of a satisfied member. You could diverge from the above formula a bit by making this a testimonial ad with a large quote from a member.
Next, have your deal front and center (25% Off! Or 7 Days FREE!). A good strategy is to use different color blocks, like Anytime Fitness does above, in your ad template to distinguish each section and make essential information readable.
Unlike a digital ad, a print ad doesn’t have a nifty button that takes a person to your gym’s website or a sign-up form. That’s why the CTA in your print ad should list your website, or contact number, addresses if you run multiple gyms.
2. Google Ads
Google Display Ads are those visual ads that appear on websites. They appear on Google Search & Google Maps, and across their network of partner sites, and may look like some of the examples above.
Google Search ads are text-based and are displayed in the results of search engines when users search for something. You bid on keywords you want to rank highly for in those searches and then pay for each click you get. Google then displays your ads when people search for products or services like yours. The more competitive the keywords, the more expensive they are.
With Google Business Profile Ads, you pay to have your business shown at the top of Google Maps. Most people searching on Google have a high intent to act, so you must be very direct. Your gym’s Google ad should:
Have headlines that clearly say what your business is, the service you’re offering and why they’re better than what your competitors offer. Have body copy that is value-prop heavy. Look up what you want to be searched for and phrase your ad like competitors—or improve upon it if you can. Include the keywords you want to rank for. With Google’s Keyword Planner tool, you can generate your costs month over month. Multiply your top of page bid against your average monthly searches, then set up a campaign with a monthly budget based off that number. Include a post-click landing page. Make sure that this page clearly explains your gym’s services. Be measured using Google Analytics. These tools give you insights into how your ads are performing.
3. Video Ads
Video ads are a different animal from other ads. However, they can be very effective for promoting your gym because, in just a few seconds, they can effectively display your facilities, classes, and personal training services. People prefer shortform videos2 to other content types and video ads are shown to have higher engagement than others3. In fact, consumers will remember more of a brand’s message when it’s watched rather than when it is read.
Another advantage to video ads is that you can run them on a variety of advertising platforms, such as Facebook & YouTube.
This 25-second YouTube video ad from Crunch Fitness is highly effective:
It is relatable in that it features male and female actors representing different body types, challenges and tropes, including the gluteal-challenged hard gainer and “not-the-same-gal-she-was-in-college.”
In doing this, the ad uses self-deprecating humor, managing to poke a bit of fun at its brand and customer base without being demeaning.
The ad also clearly illustrates Crunch’s value props—machines, classes, weights, personal training, etc. It’s clear that your “mode” equates to your motivation, mindset and pace, and whatever those are, Crunch will help you find them.
A good video ad should:
- Contain strong visual representation. Highlight only high-quality pictures and footage of your space.
- Be optimized for mobile. Use tighter framing, faster pacing, large-type supers, brightness & contrast to make sure your ad is visible on a small screen. Your CTA needs to be accessible & noticeable all at once.
- Be effective when muted. People often choose to watch videos with the sound off in many situations, such as when they are in public places. Use text, graphics, and captions to get your message through anyway.
- Be personalized based on buyer personas. Consumers won’t spend much time with branded content if the message is not relevant to them.
- Link to a post-click landing page. This relevant, personalized landing page continues the ad’s narrative and helps transform ad clicks into successful conversions.
- Be concise. There are different length suggestions depending on the platform you use for your video ad, so keep that in mind. More on that below…
YouTube
The most effective YouTube ad length is between 15–30 seconds, with the standard being 20 seconds. You only pay when someone watches at least 30 seconds or clicks on your TrueView ad. YouTube ads are top-of-the-funnel ads, which means you are trying to spark initial interest.
As with YouTube, LinkedIn suggests a video ad between 15–30 seconds.
Facebook & Instagram
Facebook video ad length should be 15 seconds or less. Video ads that are 15 seconds or less can also be used in Instagram stories and Facebook in-stream placements.
##Digital Ads
Your gym’s social media accounts are goldmines for marketing content, and great channels for gym ads. The visual content you choose to represent your gym in a social media ad needs to be intriguing, engaging, and relevant enough to disrupt a user’s scrolling experience. You have very little precious time to do that. Social media ads are considered top-of-funnel (TOFU).
The following are the most common platforms to use for your gym ads.
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are targeted to users based on their location, demographic and profile information. You can directly target users by location, age, gender, interests and other demographics. You can also target broad interests, like fitness, wellness or nutrition.
Detailed interest targeting includes listed likes & interests, the pages they follow, apps they use and various profile timeline content. What if some of those interests are rowing, HIIT and group training? Then you just might get an ad for F45 Training.
Functional team training, according to F45, is life changing. It’s their motto, in fact, and paid forward in just about every ad, from billboards, magazine spots and videos to digital ads. The visuals always depict happy, energized people working out together. Headlines like “Join the Family” and, “Not a Gym, but a Community,” remind you what you’re in for once you click that CTA button.
To review, an effective Facebook ad should catch the audience in 4–5 seconds and:
Be targeted to a specific audience. Have a headline that is straight to the point. Feature a short, compelling description of your offer that resolves a pain point & an image or video that is eye-catching and of high quality. Have one clear, strong call to action with a link that goes directly to a relevant landing page. Make sure you have a goal in mind for your Facebook ad. This could be getting more page likes, increasing engagement on a particular post or driving website traffic. This goal will determine your ad’s headline, length, copy, tone, images, CTA and other elements.
You can choose the placement of your ads through the Advantage+ Placements tool, which distributes ads where people are more likely to convert.
Use the Facebook Audience Insights tool to figure out the best time to run your Facebook ads, and the Facebook Pixel to measure the effectiveness of your advertising. An even simpler way to assess your ad’s effectiveness is to track the number of likes and shares it got.
Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are posts that promote your fitness services which you can pay to serve to Instagram users. They appear in users’ feeds, Stories, Explore section & elsewhere. They look like standard posts but have a “sponsored” label to show that they are an ad, and may contain CTA buttons, links to your webpages and other elements.
Much of Facebook’s audience also uses Instagram, and there’s a lot of crossover since it’s the same parent company.
An effective Instagram ad should have something more fun, a bit less serious and, as always, relate to the audience you’re targeting. Rowhouse executes quite well here with this ad for their referral program (which is an effective tool for increasing membership sales).
The ad is clearly targeted to current members who use their app. It is simple, clean, and gives clear instructions for members on what their and their referrals need to do next. The moving graphics are a nice touch that make the instructions even easier to follow.
Use a professional tone for this platform that is straight to the point and describes what your gym offers. The audience is the main difference here, so adjust your tone accordingly.
Twitter Ads
Twitter is a different animal compared to other social platforms when it comes to ads, in that you target topics, not people.
People are on Twitter to join a conversation, not buy a product. If you understand this rule, then Twitter is a good platform to see if people are talking about your gym and what you offer and drive that relevant traffic to your website.
An effective Twitter ad should be prefaced with something relevant that connects to a topic being discussed—and it should get right to the point. If you’re interrupting someone’s Twitter journey, do so with a pain point of theirs that your gym solves.
Be straightforward, and if it’s relatable, people will interact with your ad on this platform.
This ad from UK-based chain, Pure Gym, makes its deal and value loud and clear at the top. The red dot with the promotion’s end date gives people a sense of urgency to act. The instructions to download the Pure Gym app are also clear.
Once the app is downloaded, those who take this seemingly finite offer will basically carry Pure Gym around in their pockets (such is the power of a branded app), increasing the likelihood that they’ll become regular members.
This simple ad also depicts the inside of a Pure Gym location, and features a brand spokesperson. Remember, you don’t need world champion runner, Dina Asher-Smith, in your ad; a satisfied member or client willing to be in your ad will do. So would a high-quality stock image, in a pinch.
- www.ibisworld.com
- https://sproutsocial.com
As a gym owner, you need to create unique and compelling ads that help you stand out from the competition and resonate with the right audience. Highlight what makes your gym special, avoid cliches & never talk down to consumers. Incorporate humor where possible and, above all, don’t overpromise on what you can’t deliver.
Gyms on Vagaro are positioned to tackle new and creative ad campaigns. Vagaro’s Design Services Team works with gym owners to create customized logos and other branded designs that can be used in promotions, like Daily Deals, as well as other marketing materials. With the right brand aesthetic and messaging, your gym’s ads can help you reach scores of new members. Then, the real challenge begins.
From membership management to class scheduling, member check-in, email marketing, and live streaming, Vagaro’s gym scheduling software puts all the tools you need to run a successful gym. You wouldn’t make potential members commit to your gym without a trial period first, and we wouldn’t do that to you either. Start your 30-Day FREE trial and experience all that Vagaro can do for your gym!
