Fitness clubs are seeing a resurgence among investors, and multiple large chain groups are seeking to take advantage of fitness trends. With so much competition, it is essential to make your fitness brand stand out. One of the most effective ways to do so is to lock in a great marketing campaign.
Whether you have a small brand or are leading a chain of gyms, getting the word out about your business is crucial. You can no longer rely on word-of-mouth marketing. A robust marketing plan that puts your business messaging front and centre is the need of the hour.
Any marketing plan is a collection of well-tuned elements that combine and targets different aspects of consumer behaviour. Here are ten elements that you must work on when designing your campaign.
Ten Essential Elements of any Marketing Plan
Marketing Goals
Just having the word about your fitness club out, there is not a clear enough goal or benchmark. A detailed set of parameters allow you to track your marketing campaign and know if you are making the right progress promptly.
When developing realistic goals for your campaign, remember to keep them specific and measurable. They also need to be relevant to your business while also being achievable.
Go Digital
Use social media platforms to create a community of fitness enthusiasts and promote your business. You can use targeted Instagram and Facebook ads to funnel in the right audience and boost conversion rates.
Your social media accounts serve the dual purpose of engaging your existing members while also showcasing the community and fitness centre to potential customers. You can use any easy-to-use promo video maker to create video content and boost engagement.
User-friendly Website and App
Modern fitness endeavours and goals are all about convenience for the customer. A well-designed website allows customers to reach out to your business and learn the relevant information they require to sign up for a membership.
About 54% of people choose to look up companies online rather than visit them in person.
The website, along with an effective app, should also allow customers to book classes, check for timings, search for their closest fitness centre, and find any information regarding the club’s facilities. An app facilitates payments and the dispersal of information regarding discounts and offers.
Hyper-Local SEO
Your gym or fitness centre must be visible to anyone within the neighbourhood. Local SEO has a great ROI if you rank high for local searches. The website needs to have a consistent name, address, and phone number and anywhere else it is cited or mentioned, say, a Google My Business page.
You can team up with other local businesses and feature citations on their websites or blogs. Gyms are part of the local community fabric and must be reflected as such with referral programs or even gift cards. Use keywords in your content that have local relevance to boost your search rankings.
Google My Business
The decision to use Google to put your business front and centre is a no- brainer. A Google My Business page allows for your establishment to appear in local packs as a part of search results.
It also allows your regular customers to leave reviews on your business which is a vital marketing strategy.
You must ensure that all the details that you provide for your business are up-to-date and consistent. If you have more than one location, then create multiple entries under a single account.
Target Audience
Your target audience isn’t everybody and their grandmothers. Depending on the offerings of your fitness centre, you will have to target the right audience. A strong marketing strategy to your target audience is much more cost-effective than one that caters to everybody.
To identify your target audience, you first need to build a buyer’s persona. This is when you research your customers and zero-in on their preferences.
You then need to understand your gym’s specific and core offerings. Once you have these two parameters in sync, you have the right target audience.
Existing Members
Target word-of-mouth marketing by involving your existing members in your strategy. By offering them incentives, you can convert your loyal members into strong advocates for your business.
Some ideas for roping in your members to market for you include providing free personal training sessions, free nutritional plans, discounts, and limited access to individual premium facilities.
Rethink Fitness Content
Your focus should not merely be to churn out fitness content stuffed with keywords. Unless it is tied in with local SEO, your content is not going to reach the right audience.
While using a traditional approach to building content will give you some returns, it must be cleverly designed to keep your audience coming back for more.
Make sure that your content is clean and comfortable to engage with. It also needs to incorporate your brand’s messaging and core values.
A yoga studio should invest more in holistic fitness rather than content that relies on random anchor text peppered with the ‘right’ keywords.
Stand Apart
Customers need to know why they should pick your fitness centre over the many other options they may have. Businesses need to invest in marketing that showcases their unique attributes and offerings.
Boutique fitness clubs are all the rage now, especially since most customers have access to a wealth of fitness knowledge through the internet. Set your brand apart from the rest of the crowd.
Track and Analyze
Any marketing campaign must be tested repeatedly to gauge its effectiveness. You can use a range of data from various sources to confirm if your strategies are effective or if they are reaching the right audience.
Use the analytics from your website, phone GPS tracking, and CRM tracking to determine if you are reaching the goals you have set for your business.
Conclusion
Having a robust and holistic marketing strategy for your fitness business can be the difference between success and failure. If you concentrate on the ten elements discussed above, you can leverage your resources to bring in new members and hold on to old ones.