There are many ways that you can market your gym, online and off. If you want to get quick wins then your first stop is going to be offline. Why? Because people that know you directly are more likely to want to work with you. Think about it. When you want to hire a contractor to get work done on your house, where do you look? For most people, they ask their friends and family. People they trust. If that doesn’t yield any results, the next step is usually Google. So if you’re looking to get some quick wins for your fitness business in 2022 then read this article. But if you want gym marketing ideas to increase lead flow and engagement online… read on.
1. Redesign your Website
Your website is more than just a digital business card. It’s actually a salesman if you design it the right way. One way to increase lead flow and engagement is by redesigning your website. Both of these skills take time to develop. So, I recommend hiring professionals. You can either hire a copywriter and a designer or hire an all-in-one company. Another great perk of getting it done professionally is they can do search engine optimization (SEO) for you. SEO let’s people find you on the internet just by searching what they’re looking for.
The initial investment might be heavy but in the long run, it will totally be worth it. Why? Your website is like the face of your business! If your website has an outdated design, blurry images, and the wrong information then prospects are going to be confused. It also leaves a first impression. It’s like if you wore ratty clothes to your training session. Your client isn’t going to take you seriously no matter how good you are as a trainer. The same goes for your website. So make the investment in a good-looking and accurate website that gets your prospects excited.
You don’t want all your lead generation activities to go to waste by sending prospects to a mediocre website.
2. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a great way to build brand awareness and give great value to customers and prospects. You can use video, pictures, and text to build excitement around your gym brand. But you need to be consistent, even if it is only one post a week on one platform. This does two things. It shows prospects that you’re reliable and keeps you at the top of their mind.
If you show up for two weeks straight with tons of great content then drop off, what will your followers think? They’ll see that you’re not a reliable resource for valuable content and move on. There are tons of people and places where they can get the content they want. So remember to show up. Getting regular engagement on your posts (views, likes, and comments) will make your content show up more often in your followers’ news feeds. The algorithm is different on every platform. But consistency and engagement are two ways to make sure you’re doing “right” by the algorithm.
Follow this simple Social Media Marketing Plan!
3. Email Marketing
You may be putting your email list on the back burner because your email software program is a pain to use. But learning how to use it properly can get you a lot more clients. Even if you have 500 contacts, it may not seem like a lot, but it is actually a great list size. One way that you can increase engagement on your website, blog, or social media platform is through email. Every time you release a new video, podcast, or blog… send an email! You can keep it short and sweet, just letting your list know that you made something to help them. This instant burst of traffic to your new blog post will help with SEO. If it’s a new Youtube video, this traffic will help your video show up to more people. Engagement creates more visibility. Plus, the people on your list will be happy that you’re keeping them up to date on the content you’re creating.
Giving value to the people on your list will help build trust and keep you at the top of their minds. When you send an email with an offer they will be more receptive to that offer. If you only email them when you want money then they’re not going to be very happy about that. Treat the people on your email list as a group of friends. Stay in touch. Help them out. And even ask them what they’re looking for.
Follow this guide to learn more about email marketing.
4. Get your offline people… ONLINE
More often than not we are trying to get people from the internet to come to our in-person gym. If you have an online program or a hybrid program this might be a little different. But we all have online lives now. Many of your customers may have come from local marketing efforts. Maybe they didn’t learn about you from a Facebook ad, Instagram post, or your website. But you want to make sure that these people also follow you online. This includes your social media, email, and website. One way to get them interested in following your social media account is by offering content that helps them. This means fitness videos, nutrition tips, and surprisingly, even testimonials. Everyone loves a good success story!
When people sign up for your front-end offer or core offer make sure you put their information into your CRM and your email software provider. This way you can use that contact information to stay in touch with them through email. You may think it’s unnecessary to stay in touch because they’re already a customer. But what if they end up leaving? Maybe in 6 months, they will be ready to get fit again but they get scooped up by another gym. If you had kept engaging with them, chances are they would have come back to you. So, keeping in touch with everyone is important! That means prospects, customers, and former customers. The best way to do this is by getting everyone onto your online platforms.
Beyond Gym Marketing Ideas…
These are just a few of the ways that you can create more engagement online. There are many other ways to advertise your business and build trust with prospects and customers. If you’re feeling stuck around marketing or any other aspect of your fitness business (sales, finance, business strategy, or operations) then a strategy call could help you.
Hop on a free 45-min call with one of our highly trained fitness business coaches. Work out the biggest challenge that you’re facing today, create an action plan, and see which one of our programs is right for you.
Schedule a FREE strategy session today.
(Want to learn more about what fitness business coaching can do for you? Check out this article to learn about how coaching can help you reach your goals.)
Nick Berry
Founder & CEO, Fitness Revolution
