When you own or manage a gym, you’re always on the hunt for new ideas that will engage prospective clients. Whether you’re a tiny gym or a larger chain, an important part of your success as a gym is your ability to effectively market yourself.
If you’re looking for ways to promote your gym in the local community, you’re in luck. We’ve put together 10 of our favorite ways to spread the word and help your gym business spread like wildfire.
From wellness initiatives to anniversary parties, here are the best ways to get the community excited about your business and eager to book their next class.
Hold Charity Competitions
Holding a charity competition is a wonderful way to promote your gym and do some good for the new community. Get creative with a stand up paddle-boarding competition for current gym members or a dance competition among your personal trainers. You can also host a 5k race or a bike race to raise money for the charity of your choice. If you’d like to branch out with your gym promotion ideas, you can host a bake sale with healthy baked goods or a baseball tournament. Events like this will feel good and they’ll also help to spread the word and show the community that you care.
Send Automated Reminders to Clients
In today’s world, people are busy. Between work, kids, and social calendars, it can be easy for workouts to take the backseat. Sending automated reminders to clients is a fantastic way to promote your gym and keep people in the community coming back. When it comes to email reminders, keep in mind — less is more. You don’t want to bombard someone’s inbox daily, though the occasional monthly email can do wonders. A good rule of thumb is to always ask yourself, does this give value to a client or potential client? If the answer is yes, click send.
Run a Refer-a-Friend Program
A refer-a-friend program will help you learn how to retain gym members, working in two ways. It gives your current client a break on their gym membership dues and it gives your potential client an already built-in workout buddy! If you haven’t tried running a referral program in the past, consider trying your first one in the first few months of the new year. When gym membership is at its peak and people are dedicated to their workouts, they’ll love having a friend to hold them accountable and join them for their morning spin class.
Show off Your Amenities and Perks
Whether they’re in the workplace or at the gym, people love amenities and perks. Turn to email, social media, or word-of-mouth advertising to show off all that you offer at your gym. Maybe you have a water filtration system like FloWater or an on-site juice bar — whatever your unique angle is, make sure to get the word out. Offer a “sign-up” bonus where members get a free gym bag with a company logo, a tee-shirt, or a hat. Not only will these perks make your new client happy, but they’ll help promote your gym in the local community, too.
Wellness Initiatives for Companies
These days, more and more companies are implementing wellness resolutions and initiatives for their employees. These initiatives range from serving healthy food in the workplace to hosting stress management and mindfulness classes as work breaks. Lots of companies are going the route of offering employees subsidies for gym memberships as well. By networking with local companies in the area and offering discounted group rates for their employees, you can build your client base, promote your gym, and get plenty of recurring month-to-month business.
Do a Seasonal Promotion
The seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer offer the chance to do unique seasonal promotions to get new customers four times a year. The changing of the seasons always brings with it the chance to change our perspectives or work on something new. For an easy way to promote your gym, at the start of every season, offer a new package or a seasonal discount. If you find that new members aren’t signing up in December, offer a winter gym promotion and throw in a red and green tee-shirt with your gym logo. In the summertime, do a beach body promotion and host one free personal training session per week outdoors.
Partner with Local Companies
Similar to the phrase two heads are better than one — sometimes, two companies are better than one. Work with local companies to craft an event for the community or to combine forces and come up with creative gym promotion ideas. A great way to promote your gym in the community is to reach a greater target audience through companies that are already established. Maybe a popular personal trainer in town wants to host a monthly session at the gym or a wellness guru wants to do a guided meditation class for members. Once you do your research and see what’s already out there, you can work with your team to brainstorm some fun collaborations.
Host a Gym Anniversary Party or Event
Not only does hosting events bring in new potential clients, but it keeps your current clients happy. Start off by hosting an anniversary party with live music and food. Encourage members to bring a plus one and offer a fun themed class free of charge. During the party or event, team leaders can offer tours of the gym and hand out flyers and coupons for complimentary fitness classes. Make sure to advertise your event with flyers at local coffee shops and boutiques around town. To make things extra festive, host a raffle with a local goods gift basket. Stuff the basket with things like a refillable water bottle, gift cards, and healthy protein bars. You can even see if product makers in the community want to donate to the raffle in exchange for gym promotion.
Create a Blog
One of the best ways to promote your gym and get yourself out there is to create a blog. The benefits of a blog are vast — they provide useful information to current clients, get your name onto the web through promoted content, and show potential members that you’re an expert in your field. When you post your blogs to social media, you can also encourage current followers to share the post (“Show us you’ve shared this post and enjoy 10% off your next purchase from the smoothie bar”). To gain a broader target audience for your blog, use a simple program to research keywords for search engine optimization. Try integrating phrases like “gym in Austin, Texas” or “yoga classes in San Diego.” You’ll be surprised how fast user-generated content can spread.
Social Media Promotions
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again — social media is an important tool to help promote your gym. If you’re running a social media promotion, current members can easily share the news and help it spread. Offer things like a free week of pilates classes to celebrate spring or 50% off personal training sessions to get members geared up for swimsuit season. Hosting a social media promotion is entirely free, but the benefits are that it gets the word out fast and easily.
More Ways to Promote
Once you’ve tried the ideas above and are feeling a burst of marketing success, try out these creative promotional ideas.
- Host a 30-day challenge
- Do a before and after photo contest
- Offer free meal plans
- Ask current members for Yelp reviews
- Try offering a collaborative kid + parent class
- Attend local fitness events
- Start a monthly newsletter
- Ask for client testimonials
- Partner with a social media gym influencer
Whether you’re turning to social media or fine-tuning your writing skills with a fitness blog, we hope these tips and tricks get you out there in the local community. When it comes to the best ways to promote your gym, they all have one thing in common — passion for what you do.
As a gym owner or manager, you pride yourself on making clients happy and helping them become the best version of themselves. Once you get the word out in the local community and are ready to give your clients all the best perks, reach out to FloWater.
We’ll provide your clients with the best-tasting, healthiest water on the planet. Like you, we’re passionate about what we do. We know how important it is to drink water post workout— and we like to do it with as little waste as possible (100% less plastic waste than bottled water, for a fraction of the cost, to be precise).
From all of us at FloWater, we’re wishing you luck in your gym journey ahead! Thank you for reading and being a part of our community. We look forward to hearing from you.
