Holiday Marketing Ideas for Your Fitness Business

/in /by

Despite what you think, the holiday season is an excellent opportunity to boost sales and customer attendance at your fitness business. 

Sure, people are likely to slow down and take some time off. But you should remember that there’s a lot of gift-giving involved as well as the urge to stay fit in the face of juicy dinners. Plus, everything is opening up after a painfully long COVID hiatus. So, what better an opportunity than now to create a holiday marketing plan for your yoga, pilates, dance, or fitness business and get everyone as excited for their fitness journey as they are for the holidays.

Your holiday campaign will also help you gain momentum as you enter the New Year. You’d already have your clients where you want them and the New Year will give them that extra little push.

So, let’s take a look at some brilliant holiday marketing ideas for your fitness business. 

Offer holiday deals

This is the time when everyone is thinking about giving the best, most meaningful gift to their loved ones. And the gift that triumphs over all others? The gift of fitness. Ask around and we’re sure you’ll find out that every other person wants to get fit and feel good.

Weave that sentiment into your holiday campaign. For example, as a yoga studio, you could say “Gift a healthy lifestyle to your loved ones: 20% off on 10 classes.” Or if you’re a Zumba studio, you could say “Give the gift of thrill and unstoppable fun. $50 for a $75 gift certificate.” The choices are limitless. The key is to base it around the festive spirit.

Here are some more ideas for the perfect holiday offer to make some good Santa sales:

  • Waive off the registration or joining fee. This is an incredibly enticing offer. This is exactly what a lot of your potential clients are waiting for to finally start their fitness journey. So why not give them a simple nudge and make them yours for the following year and beyond.
  • Limited-time holiday membership price. Can’t waive off the entire joining fee? A limited-time discounted membership price is equally tempting. Give them a deal they can’t refuse. Slash 30% off the monthly fee for December and January. January is when they’ll need you the most so availing this offer in December would be a win-win. 
  • Sell gift certificates. Like we mentioned before, gift certificates are a great idea to show love to friends and family. Cash in on the opportunity and sell holiday-themed gift certificates. Have them at your studio or on your online store. Currently, our software doesn’t support gift certificates or % off for XX months so you might have to do that manually. But we do have a robust promo code feature to help you implement most of your holiday discounts. 
  • Add value with add-on products. It takes nerves of steel to deny yourself a good discounted add-on product. With add-on products, you will have dollars rolling in and also provide your clients significant value. A few examples are 30% off protein powder with membership, free nutrition consultation with a $100 gift certificate, a free 7-day pass for a friend with every 3-month membership.

Cross-promote with other businesses

Collaborate with businesses that share the same health and wellness space as you. It could be a gym-wear brand, a supplement store, a spa, or a basic gym equipment company. These businesses have clients that could be yours too. People love bundled deals that are attractively priced and offer value. 

Do your homework and jump on the chance of reaching a much wider audience. 

Run a corporate promotion

corporate fitness challenge

Corporations are focusing on their employees’ wellness now more than ever. The holiday season is a great time to take a break from work and de-stress. You know it, everyone knows it. So why not host a group training class, a yoga session, or a fun Zumba class? 

This is like killing two birds with one stone. An unforgettable team-building activity to boost morale and a great way to promote health and wellness. Reach out to your local companies and pitch them a holiday-themed deal. You can also throw in some free merch to make the offer even more attractive. 

Introduce giveaways and freebies

gym giveaway

Giveaways and contests create a sense of community, increase engagement, and boost brand awareness. Christmas is the perfect time to do giveaways and treat your customers with freebies. You can give a pair of dumbbells, a 5-class pass, a private training session, or anything of value to anyone that participates.

If you want to make it fun, do a contest on Instagram instead of a simple giveaway. Invite your followers to share a picture of their holiday-themed yoga pose and pick three winners. Contests like this give you an opportunity to interact with your audience and also create a buzz about your business. 

Sell festive merchandise

gym holiday-themed merchandise

Image via Etsy

Think festive colors and a cool fitness-related slogan. A combo that your clients will find it hard to walk away from. A product such as a warm hoodie is functional and the slogan will remind them that they have to go easy with the Christmas dinner. 

And if it’s a limited edition line, everyone will want to get their hands on it. 

Can’t think of the slogans? Hop over to Pinterest and you’ll find plenty of funny (but appropriate) ideas. Make sure you also place your name or logo somewhere visible because this is your chance of free advertising.  

Fitness-style social media campaign

 

Follow your clients everywhere they go. Draft a two-week-long social media campaign focused on fitness. Nudge them to eat healthy. Share healthy Christmas dinner recipes. Give them Christmas workout challenges. Remind them of the effects of overindulgence and hold them accountable. This will not only get you new customers but also show the existing ones that you care.

Referral program

This one has always been a hit with the fitness businesses. 

When your client will rave about the awesome in-gym or in-studio experience, their friends will listen and trust them. But how do you make sure they talk about you? You incentivize the endorsement. This way you’re getting new members and turning the existing ones into your most loyal members who won’t leave your side. 

Here are some referral program ideas to drive up revenues:

  • One month free for every referral
  • 20% off membership on joining with a friend
  • Three-month free gym membership with five referrals
  • Five free fitness classes
  • Free hoodies or gym gear with every referral

Celebrate the festive season

The holiday season isn’t only about offering deals and promotions to your customers. It’s also about embracing the festive spirit. You don’t always have to be selling. Fostering healthy relationships with your customers, appreciating them, celebrating with them makes you stand out from the competition. 

So, decorate your gym or studio and host a get-together with the community. Offer some refreshments and let them know how much they mean to you. Your members will remember this and share this with their friends. Endorsing you once again.

A final word from Fitli

Don’t miss out on the chance of boosting your revenue this holiday season while also winning your customers over. Pick out the holiday marketing strategies that suit your fitness business the best and let the fun begin. 

Feel free to contact our support if you face any trouble or need any assistance in implementing your holiday discounts.

Happy Holidays! 

How to Keep Your Gym Members Engaged During the Holiday Season

/in /by

What’s the word that makes people give fist pumps and heave great sighs of relief? The Holiday Season. Well, three words to be exact.

After a whole year of hustling, everyone can now sit down, relax and rejoice with a glass of their favorite Christmas cocktail. Jokes are cracked, laughs are shared, and every worry of the world takes a backseat. But in the process of letting loose, your clients also temporarily forget about their fitness dreams.

All the hours that you put into training them are now replaced with the hours of them overindulging and getting a bit too cozy at home. Alexa, play cricket sounds in the gym.

But this doesn’t have to be the case this time around. With a little effort and the right strategies, you can keep your customers off the couch and engaged at your gym. After all, your wallet also deserves to be happy during the time that’s meant to be all about happiness. 

So, how do you make that work? Let’s look at some ideas:

Introduce fitness challenges

fitness challenge

Of course, your gym members want to look fit and amazing for the holidays. They have family reunions to attend and people to impress. Use this to your advantage and introduce a ‘Fit for the Holidays’ challenge. Run it through the weeks leading up to the holidays and throw in some attractive incentives like a customized nutrition plan, weekly check-ins, and one or two HIIT workouts. 

Make it competitive

If a simple holiday challenge doesn’t work on some members, make it competitive for them to instill motivation. 

Present them with a challenge that will have a winner at the end of it. You can present this challenge to all the participants of your dance or gym class. Explain how reaching the objective will win them points or prizes. People like winning and the recognition that comes with it. So, tap into that competitive instinct and think of some simple and straightforward challenge ideas.

Some examples are:

  • Most miles run challenge
  • Most calories burned challenge
  • Total weightloss challenge
  • Most gym visits challenge
  • 15-day walking challenge

These are some pretty simple challenges and success can be gauged easily. These challenges not only push your customers to do their best but also make them feel like a part of a community. 

Offer special seasonal classes

Everyone gets bored with routine. Bring something new to the table that’s appealing enough for your clients to leave the comfort of their homes.

Know what keeps them going, what makes them excited, and what they need the most at the time. Think Weekend of Wellness, offering meditative yoga classes to those dealing with holiday stress. Gratitude Week that’s focused on Turkey burn rides for those who have packed some pounds over dinners. Give them what nobody else is and watch your clients clamoring for more.

Bring a friend promotion

What’s a holiday season without the spirit of spreading happiness? The more, the merrier. Encourage your gym members to bring a friend to get free classes or discounted rates on your merch. Those incentives are tempting and so is the thought of training with one’s friend. 

This will get you double the usual number of people at the gym. These are all potential clients who are getting the chance to know and experience your services better. Many of them might even come back to get your cash register running.

Keep the hours flexible for easy access

Holidays are not the best time to be rigid about the timings of your gym. People are busy shopping, planning, decorating, and out having fun with friends. They might not be able to visit at the time they previously used to.

By extending the hours, you minimize the chances of your gym members not showing up at all. The convenience of a facility that’s open 24/7 could be a huge motivation for your clients during the holidays. 

 

The time is NOW. Grab their attention early and keep them engaged. These ideas are not only for gyms. Whether you’re a pilates studio, a dance studio, a yoga studio, a personal trainer, or a sports instructor, you can reap the fruits of these strategies and turn the slow season into a success. 

 

Increase Revenue for your Fitness & Wellness Small Business

/in , , , /by

As an owner of a fitness and wellness studio or gym, healthy revenue is as important as healthy clients. So be sure to give your business a financial health checkup. You want to ensure you’re not missing out on any key revenue opportunities. One way to increase revenue is to find the right gym and fitness management software to keep your gym running efficiently. In addition to great software, there are three ways to help increase revenue including revamping your website so that it is responsive, SEO-friendly and streamlined for sign-ups; expanding your offering so that your studio or gym takes full advantage of its valuable space; and selecting precisely the right price for your offering in your area.

1. Revamping your site

Nowadays, chances are that most of your new customers and clients are first finding your business not through your brick-and-mortar studio or gym, but through your website. The odds are also good that they’re looking at your site on a smartphone, and performing a local search. With these factors in mind, you’ll want to ensure that your website is up to speed with Internet user behaviors and expectations for today. Here are some key areas to focus on:

Responsive design

Take a good look at your site on several tablets and smartphones. Is everything from your logo to your primary call-out to your sign-up button clear, readable and compelling? If not, you may want to hire a designer to ensure that your site is responsive, which means that it automatically adjusts itself to look great on any device.

SEO

SEO today is not just a matter of having relevant keywords and inbound links. Google, in particular, has made it clear that the new approach to SEO is all about great content, fast-loading pages and a user experience that is tablet and smartphone-friendly. If their algorithms find thin content, slow-loading pages or a cluttered experience (on any device) this will damage your site’s ranking.

On-boarding    

How many clicks or taps does it take for a new customer to sign up at your studio or gym? How many fields does the user have to fill out? Two, five, ten, twenty? Does your sign-up page allow users to sign up with their Facebook, Google or Twitter accounts, or do they need to start from scratch? These are the kinds of questions you will want to ask yourself as you consider a redesign of your on-boarding process for new customers. A well-designed, streamlined onboarding process could make all the difference in your sign-up numbers and your bottom line.

2. Expanding your offering

Your studio or gym is, first and foremost, a valuable space for people to achieve their fitness and wellness goals. And if you’re not using that space at every opportunity, then you’re missing out on some real revenue. For example, suppose you’re primarily a Yoga studio and you’re only using the space at certain times of the day when the demand for Yoga sessions is strong and attendance is high. During the off-times, rather than close your studio, you could use that same space for another popular fitness and wellness activity in your area, such as dance or martial arts, with an entirely different peak-demand schedule.

3. Rethinking your pricing

This is a popular time for fitness and wellness studios and gyms. This means more business, but it also means more competition. Your customers can easily perform at-a-glance comparisons of your pricing for memberships, daily sessions and so on with your competitors. So it’s wise for you to do the same, and see how your studio or gym stacks up. Of course, you will always want to consider your location, instructor experience, and other factors when deciding who your true competitors are. But once you have that worked out, you may find that you are pricing yourself out of reach of a much larger customer base.  Alternatively, you may be underpriced and leaving money on the table.  Lowering or raising prices can both be a way to increase revenue.

The vitals

As a fitness and wellness studio or gym, it may be time to give your business a health check-up. First, make sure that your site works perfectly on any device, follows the new approach to SEO, and has a streamlined sign-up process. Second, if you’re not using your valuable studio or gym space at every opportunity, consider expanding your offering. Third, compare your pricing to competitors in your area, and make any adjustments necessary to bring in a steady stream of new customers and clients.

To learn more about how to increase revenue and help your fitness and wellness small business thrive, consider scheduling a demo or cut to the chase and sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial with Fitli.

How Your Website Can Hurt Your Gym or Fitness Center

/in , , /by

Your gym or fitness center’s brand is the image that all potential and active customers have of your business in their mind. It is not just your logo and tag-line. It is everything that sets you apart from the competition. Essentially, it is your fitness business’ complete personality, core values, and how well you meet customer needs and help achieve their goals. Consequently, a strong brand is, more often than not, the difference between success and failure.  One of the best tools to display your brand is your website.

Many gyms and fitness center owners believe an eye-catching website is enough. It is not. In fact, your website could be hurting your fitness business, making it difficult to attract customers and new members. If you have not thought long and hard about your website, how it aligns with your mission and core principles, and how it adds value to your customers, you are better off not even having a site.

Everyone has heard the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.” Repeated studies have shown that the majority of consumers are using the internet as part of their shopping process, for both goods and services. It is not just for online shopping. Consumers are going online to research virtually every company that they plan to do business with, and they are starting their research very early in their decision-making process. So, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, consumers are looking at your website and determining whether you are trustworthy and if you can meet their needs. With this in mind, Here are several ways that your website can hurt your gym or fitness center.

Mistakes Harming Your Fitness Website 

1. Does Not Target Your Ideal Member

Take a moment to visualize your ideal gym or fitness center member. Who do you see? Is it an older person trying to lose weight and get back into shape after years of television watching? Is it a young woman who wants to look great for her wedding? Is it a college-aged individual who is using your gym as their second home? Trying to build a website that will appeal to every type of person will only work against you. You want to identify those customers who either share your values or your values compliment theirs.

2. Copy Is Generic and Lifeless

Your employees and trainers are likely very friendly, engaging, and interesting people. Is that reflected on your website? Is your verbiage pompous and arrogant? Is the content filled with a ton of fitness jargon and slang? You are the ultimate face of your brand. Consequently, they should hear your voice when they read your website copy and content. Inauthentic, generic, and poor writing will give your website visitors the wrong idea. Your website should reflect the face of the people who customers will meet when they visit your gym or fitness center.

3. Provides a Poor User Experience

Many gyms and fitness centers have visually stunning websites that ultimately fail due to poor user experience. A good website design will be uncluttered with easy navigation. Visitors should be able to find the information they are looking for within just 2 or 3 clicks. Moreover, your website must adapt to any mobile device. Today, more people are using mobile search than a desktop. If your website is not usable on a potential customer’s chosen device, they will find one that is.

4. Does Not Align Your Core Values with Customers

How do your core values help members achieve their needs, goals, and desires? Take as an example Planet Fitness. There are many within the fitness industry that don’t even consider Planet Fitness as a real fitness center. Yet, it is one of the largest franchises with one of the largest membership bases. This happened because of effective messaging that aligned their values with their target customers.

Do you have questions? What haven’t we covered yet that is important to you? If you would like to talk about how your website can hurt your gym or fitness center, or a related topic, please contact us.