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Gym mobile marketing

By 
Corey Loehr
 / 
March 17, 2022
 / 
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Using gym mobile marketing can be one major way to improve your customer base and your fitness studio needs an effective marketing strategy to attract and engage prospective customers and compete in the industry. If you’re a gym owner and looking for ways to reach out to potential gym-goers, gone are the days when advertising via conventional outbound marketing was the only way to promote brands. Marketing through the newspaper, radio ads, or TV spots alone will no longer work. Let’s plunge into the discussion to learn more about mobile gym marketing.

What are the rules with SMS in gym mobile marketing?

Before you jump into the landscape of gym mobile marketing, learn some basics associated with brand promotion via SMS.

Customer consent is the most important aspect of text marketing you need to consider when sending SMS to your prospective and existing clients. Knowing the “text marketing laws” saves your tail in the long run. 

If implemented correctly, text marketing impacts the business in several ways. Getting customer consent is not only a requirement of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) but is included in general marketing best practices.

According to FCC regulations, business owners must take customer consent in writing before texting them. You can take the consent of your prospective gym members electronically as per the regulations of the E-SIGN Act, send a consent form via email, kiosk, or on a web page.

In addition to consent, the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) requires businesses to use an Auto Opt-Out Mechanism when using SMS marketing. It is a feature that allows recipients to opt out by responding directly to the message.

How does SMS compare price-wise to email?

Wondering what is better, email marketing or gym mobile marketing via SMS?

This is one of the most common questions on the minds of marketers when devising a marketing strategy. However, when it comes to comparing gym or fitness studios, SMS marketing has an edge over traditional email marketing, especially in terms of open rates. SMS marketing campaigns have a 98 percent open rate, while email marketing has just 20 percent. 

Plus, SMS gym mobile marketing is one of the cost-effective ways to promote your services. It is a direct communication channel to target audiences with 12 to 15 percent returns rates.

What are the performance benefits of gym mobile marketing with SMS? 

The trend of sending SMS or text messages is experiencing a resurgence, with many businesses incorporating text marketing in one way or another. A high conversion rate, for instance, is one of the performance benefits your fitness studio may gain from SMS marketing. It can drive conversion faster than digital marketing channels including email marketing, and Google ads.

Moreover, recipients open, read, and reply to texts more quickly. And that is what makes it a perfect channel to market time-sensitive offers or flash sales you’re offering in the gym.

Did you know you can track revenue from your gym mobile marketing SMS campaigns? Many SMS marketing platforms provide some reporting level with a user-friendly dashboard to see how your marketing campaign is trending.

Are there any drawbacks to using text in gym mobile marketing?

While SMS marketing is a tried and tested way to reach potential customers, it does have a few areas that are lacking in comparison to the alternatives. Here a few:

Limited characters - You can’t use more than 160 characters when writing a promotional text. That means you need to break up the texts into smaller messages that may impact the efficacy of the marketing idea you’re using.

The text can be spammy - Sending a bulk of messages to fitness enthusiasts can feel like spam. You cannot send many promotional texts in a day.

Can’t trace if the texts are being read - There is no consistent way to tell if your prospect or existing client has read the message.

How frequent Is too frequent?

If you think sending 3 to 4 messages to prospective fitness freaks will entice them to join your gym, you’re mistaken.

While there is no “one-size-fits-all” phenomenon for all fitness studios, gym mobile marketing experts recommend SMS messaging customers once a week. That means your monthly range for texting customers should be 2 to 4 messages. 

Your SMS campaigns may have higher frequencies. But sending 2 to 4 texts a month is a good rule of thumb to create low-exit SMS campaigns and high engagement.

How do I track results?

One of the best ways to track the results of SMS marketing is to check your campaign reports on Google Analytics. To get the report, go to Acquisition and click Campaigns in “All Campaigns”. You will see the list of SMS campaigns you started. Check the number of clicks on each campaign to see if they are from your text campaigns.

Gym mobile marketing - what to know about texting and SMS messaging to grow your studio

Using an effective mobile marketing campaign is a great way to keep your clients motivated, engaged, and coming back. Here are some ideas you can use to reap the benefits of SMS marketing to grow your fitness studio.

Increase touch points with clients

Retain your existing clients by offering value. Text them once or twice a week with motivational messages, updates, and promotion offers.

Create enticing workout notifications

How about sending your gym members and new clients workout notifications to update them about new classes and training at the gym? It can be a reminder of new scheduled classes or tips for reducing weight.

Summing up

Gym mobile marketing is here to stay as it helps you connect with your clients quickly and directly. Learn the most important feature of mobile marketing for your gym and fitness studio.

Gym mobile marketing links

https://sweeppea.medium.com/using-mobile-marketing-to-promote-a-gym-or-fitness-center-45756fae1220

https://www.eztexting.com/6-ways-mobile-marketing-can-impact-fitness-centers-and-gyms

https://www.ezanga.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-disadvantages-of-sms-marketing

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