Gym marketing: the complete guide to help you in 2022
Gym marketing: what's working in 2022?
A killer digital marketing strategy can do wonders for any business, and gyms or fitness centers are no exception. For example, you can increase exposure, drive sales, engage and target audiences in the fitness industry. Moreover, you can position your brand as an authority in the industry. An innovative gym marketing can take your business to the next level in terms of branding your gym.
When you share content or create your brand’s profile, you begin to humanize your business. You can engage your audience with the precise digital marketing strategy for gym. However, you can attract and engage even more people by focusing on showcasing the personality of your brand. One way of doing this is by introducing a branded app. For that, you need to do digital marketing for gyms that have an even more authentic and human quality. With the right gym management software, it becomes even easier.
Use social media marketing for gym marketing
In recent years, a plethora of platforms have emerged with huge user bases. This allow users to share that personal touch. TikTok for example, has more than 1 billion active users. These users share video clips of their personal, and professional lives. Therefore, you can easily use TikTok marketing to grow your fitness brand. Many gym marketing companies are taking advantage of this opportunity.
Instagram is another powerful social media platform which is especially popular among fitness enthusiasts. However, before you get started with Instagram marketing, you need to know the do's and don'ts for success. The marketing channel is great for paid advertising and content marketing. Instagram has an amazing ability to drive engagement. The social media platform gives a good average return on the marketers’ investments, agencies, and brands.
Snapchat is also a hit with the younger generation. You can use some great gym digital marketing agency's ideas on Snapchat to target millennials. Doing so will help redefine your fitness brand. You can target the market for its desire to stay fit, and in good shape on this platform.
Give your gym business a room to rise to the challenges of gym social media marketing strategies. You can do this by using TikTok, profiling your brand on Instagram reels and stories or by diving into Snapchat. A structured digital marketing plan for a gym can bring huge benefits to your bottom line.
Gym email marketing: a guide to best practices in 2022
Email marketing is a great way to reach out to your health club members and keep them engaged. Health club email marketing generates a return of $42 for every $1 spent at an ROI of 4,200%. Therefore, making it the most effective marketing strategy available. Besides this, email has actually increased in significance since the pandemic. According to Hubspot, 78% of marketers have seen greater engagement over the past year. Attracting new clients and retaining current ones will be of top priority for gym owners in 2022. Turn new leads into loyal members by incorporating your gym marketing strategies with your best gym email marketing practices.
If you run or own a gym, try implementing a gym email marketing plan. It is essential to the continuing success of your facility this year. Hence, there are many aspects to consider:
How do I find the sweet spot between too many emails and just the right amount?
Email is an incredibly personal marketing avenue, which is why brands are careful not to abuse their subscribers’ trust. Unfortunately, enthusiasm can sometimes get the better of brands, leading to an overload of well-intended but ultimately unwelcome emails.
Should I use images for gym marketing?
At first pass, using images in your email design sounds like a no-brainer. You can visit email curation sites like Really Good Emails. You’ll find that all of the great entries have images. In fact, the top emails often consist of one huge image with text. There's a good reason for this. Content with images generates higher clicks and engagement than mere blocks of text.
How can I optimize for multiple devices?
As you’ve likely heard, the future of the internet is omnichannel. People consume internet resources over a steadily widening number of devices. This includes usage of mobile phones to tablets, laptops, and even Xbox or PlayStation consoles.
What should I be promoting in my gym marketing campaigns?
Although what you include in your emails is ultimately your decision, it’s critical to produce content that generates engagement. That can mean different things for different fitness centers. One of the best way is to look into 5 deadly digital marketing niches that are proven to be effective. It depends on their growth trajectory, digital content suite, strategic focus, and the relative maturity of their email list.
How should I segment my email database?
Segmentation is a core part of most marketing campaigns, even with the use of fitness studio marketing software. So, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t form a part of your gym email marketing strategy. Breaking your subscriber base down into niche audiences can produce powerful results for your campaign.
Understanding the lay of the land is critical to success for digital marketing for fitness gyms. Hence, we’ve curated a guide to industry best practices in 2022. We cover all the critical questions and more. Thus, helping you to decide the guiding focus of your fitness center’s email gym marketing strategy.
Gym marketing: how to build a social media presence that will grow a community
Fitness studios and gyms need to have an a strong gym marketing strategy to stay relevant in the digital world. For example, try employing effective fitness management software solutions for gyms and health clubs. If you don’t know what to post on your social media platforms, here is all you need to know. Rock your gym marketing game starting today!
Website and social media pages are the first ports of call when customers or prospects look for a brand online. That means your brand’s online image plays a vital role in influencing the opinion of prospective buyers.
Create a gym marketing plan that’s fed with timely and relevant updates and engaging social media content about fitness, yoga, pilates and barre.
Don't ignore the importance of an active and engaging social media presence in favor of online ranking. A strong social media presence influences your fitness center or gym’s search results. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help your brand get featured at the top of relevant search terms.
A well-designed organic social media plan, especially in a digital marketing niche, should be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. It will help your gym build strong customer relationships and strong prospects. Remember that the purpose of your organic social media is to create a community of loyal customers and followers. Therefore, post relevant feed content, images, videos, and links.
Take your gym marketing to the next level by leveraging the various social media platforms.
Gym mobile marketing
Using SMS to deliver value, and the personal touch, to keep your customers engaged
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 will no longer work. In today's digital age, the best digital marketing niche is through digital marketing channels, such as social media, email, and search engine optimization.
Your fitness studio needs an effective marketing strategy to attract and engage prospective customers and compete in the industry. Using gym mobile marketing can be one major way to improve your customer base. There are a few important things to consider:
What are the rules with SMS marketing?
Before you jump into the landscape of 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.
How does SMS compare price-wise to email?
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
What are the performance benefits of SMS?
The trend of sending SMS or text messages is experiencing a resurgence. Many businesses are 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.
Are there any drawbacks to using texting for gym marketing?
These can include limited characters, spammy text and difficulty in tracing open rates. If you've not been explicitly clear about your opt-in policy up front, people whom you reach out to may object. The biggest concern is being spammy, texting too much or not delivering something of value.
How frequent is too frequent?
Sending 3 to 4 messages to prospective fitness freaks will not entice them to join your gym. While there is no “one-size-fits-all” phenomenon for all fitness studios, SMS marketing experts recommend messaging customers once a week. That means your monthly range for texting customers should be 2 to 4 messages.
We’ll take a look at the pros and cons of using SMS to market your fitness studio. This covers SMS etiquette, optimum sending frequency and some innovative ideas for offering value to your customers. Keep them engaged and grow your gym business. Let’s dive into the world of mobile gym marketing.
Winning back old customers
They were a customer, it’s time to win them back!
The best thing about having a ‘dormant’ segment of customers is that they are still your customers. Don't stop from reaching out to people just because they haven’t engaged with your content. In fact, targeting this group of people is one of the most effective digital marketing niches to explore. You can win back old customers with email and outbound calling. All you need to do is re-ignite their passion to feel fitter and healthier. This is a key aspect of gym marketing. The same goes for any online business, you have to keep your target audience engaged and interested in your product/services.
It costs a lot more to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. That is why working on reigniting dormant members is going to create more value for you. Dormant customers already have a relationship with your team. Re-engagement is all about striking a chord with that member through a narrative that gets them inspired.
Telling a story that makes people thrive
Storytelling is the best way to do that. It allows you to talk about scenarios that could reflect the situation your dormant member finds themselves in. For example, in winter it can be tiring to go to the gym in the cold and dark. It’s warm in bed and you don’t want to leave it. However, there is still part of you wanting to feel your muscles stretching and moving in different ways.
It is important to understand the reasons why your customers stopped engaging with your center. For example:
- The time of year and change of light may have dampened their enthusiasm.
- Work picked up and they are too busy
- The family situation of customers may have changed
- Customers experienced pain after a particular set of exercises
- They took up another hobby to fill their time
- Customers wanted to try something different (such as yoga) and didn’t realize you have classes.
Click here to discover more about the potential reasons why your members may have disengaged. Set strategies to get them back on board.
Gym marketing and branding
What to consider when evaluating the perception of your business
Brand building for a gym is not only about creating a slogan or logos. It covers the full range of experience your members will have. From seeing an advert on social media to the ambience you create and customer service you offer. Your branding should remain consistent for your members regardless of how long they have been with you. A killer brand gives your members the pride and confidence they need to be loyal patrons of your gym. As a result, they will recommend it to all their friends, which is priceless!
A brand’s personality is, without a doubt, an important phenomenon that requires your attention. Remember that your brand will take some time to make its space in a user’s life. You need to build its personality. Therefore, you need to focus on all aspects that users are exposed to. This includes the logos and colors that can describe your gym the best.
Think: What are the special features of your gym? What makes it different? What is the main selling point that makes your gym unique? If your gym were a person what would it sound or look like?
Once you know the defining attributes of your gym, you can incorporate them into your gym marketing and branding, which includes:
Colors, fonts, and logo
Once you decide on the name of your gym, you need to focus on its visual representation. This means that selecting a font, typography and color scheme that fits the personality of your business. This is an important step in branding your gym.
Tone of voice
Sharing helpful content in a motivational tone with the audience can create a positive brand image. It typically inspires people to focus on their fitness routine.
In-studio experience
Your brand isn’t only about a catchy business name, attractive logos, fonts, and colors. It is also about what in-studio experience it offers to the members. This can include many different factors. For example, interior design aesthetic, wall decoration, sound system quality and the availability of gym equipment. Additionally, the fitness programs you offer is also a key aspect. Overall, everything has an impact on your brand.
Staff communication
You must ensure consistency in communication with your members. Whether they’re new or have been with you for a long time. Consistent communication helps members to feel motivated and to build a rapport with your fitness service.
Sensory branding
Though it is a new concept for many people, it really is an important aspect of branding a gym. Your choice of music during workouts has a strong impact on the minds of members.
In this article, we explore what it takes to go about branding your gym in an effective way. We will cover the whole scope of your branding. For instance, from the first contact to the overall customer experience of being your gym member.
Let’s dive in.
Reviews management
Winning new members with social proof long before you ever hear from a new prospect
Review management refers to the process of monitoring and managing the reviews people give about your business on different websites. It typically ensures that your business executes an effective review response strategy.
This process also helps your business to remove fake reviews before they become a problem. Most importantly, solve customer issues with reviews management. A reviews management strategy aims to support the marketing plan of the company to improve its overall performance.
Clients don’t make purchasing decisions without reading reviews. Online reviews about your business have a direct impact on both revenue and reputation. It doesn't matter whether you‘re a startup, or own an enterprise-level company with multiple locations. So, the million dollar question is, do you want to impact the purchasing decisions of your consumers?
Did you know negative reviews online influence approximately 94 percent of customers from buying a product? That statistic alone is enough to understand that reviews matter big time regardless of the size of your business. More than 82 percent of people rely on online reviews when buying from local businesses. Therefore, having a reviews management strategy is essential. Yet only 36 percent of businesses invest in reviews marketing and management. The remainder become nearly invisible in the online world. Hence, you might lose to the competition for a spot on the prized first page of a Google search.
It is through reviews that businesses can understand what consumers think or say about the services and products online. Reviews management is one way to step in, take action, and rectify the experiences of consumers if required. Another survey found that 9 out of 10 consumers read online reviews to make an informed purchasing decision.
SEO for gym marketing
How to be confident you're getting found by potential members near you
It is essential to optimize your website for various search engines so that people can find you online. In this way, SEO can play an important role in the marketing strategy of any business.
Many gym owners have the question: “Is SEO worth my money or time” in mind when starting a business. A major reason why most of them have this confusion is because of Google algorithms, which are continuously changing. According to expert marketers, it can be difficult to determine whether SEO is worth your investment or resources. It solely depends on the marketing goals of your business.
Fitness businesses need to understand that SEO is not what marketers claim it to be. It is not magic that can instantly solve all your business marketing problems, nor is it a static product. However, it is a science that is continually evolving practices. Fitness studios are required to focus on trends, patterns, and potential dangers.
As mentioned earlier, it is essential to optimize your website for various search engines. It will help people to find you online. In this way, SEO can play an important role in the marketing strategy of any business.
Not integrating SEO into the content of your site means your business is missing out on plenty of prospects. They may be local prospects who aren’t aware that your business exists. Before you invest in an SEO strategy, understanding the difference between SEO and local SEO is crucial.
Understanding the search engine optimization (SEO) process
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the services that help businesses drive organic traffic to their websites. It helps the websites to be ranked appropriately on Google and other search engines. It is a useful tool to provide better user experiences.
Know that user experience is an extremely important ranking feature of SEO. It has become even more important since Google switched to making websites’ speed a ranking factor. SEO can enhance the bottom line of your business website. To do so, your website must be able to handle its organic traffic and funnel it towards sales.
You might have a strong call to action as well as well-placed contact information on the website. However, without organic traffic, there is only a slim chance that online users will find you. To summarize, SEO is a tool that sends non-paid and organic traffic to your business website.
Local SEO refers to the subsection of search engine optimization that focuses on various geographical components of business search. Local SEO is a practice in which marketers can optimize websites for local search results. It helps them increase traffic and visibility to the site. Plus, it is great to improve foot traffic to any brick-and-mortar business.
We have you covered if you’re wondering whether SEO is a good monetary investment for your fitness business. Keep on reading to find out why SEO is important and how local SEO can help customers discover your business.