7 Gym Marketing Tips You Need to Know

The gym industry took a hit during the last year, but the fortunate thing is that once the pandemic is all said and done, people are going to want to get into shape more than ever.

How could they not? It’s tough being cooped up inside, slowly packing on pounds as the seasons pass out your window.

So, when the time comes for more people to start safely getting back into the gym, it’s your job to greet them at the entrance. We’re going to explore some ideas in gym marketing today, giving you a little insight into how you might reach a wider customer base when things start back up.

Let’s get started:

7 Gym Marketing Tips That Will Bring Back Business

We’ll take a look at some general food for thought that you might use in your marketing campaign, as well as some digital marketing ideas that could help out a great deal.

It’s important to remember that almost everyone is spending their days on the internet, whether they’re at work or at home these days. It’s out of simple necessity that people are going online.

It’s the only safe way for us all to communicate, stay in touch, make money, and find a sense of purpose. It makes sense, then, for you to place yourself comfortably online for all to see and engage with.

There’s no doubt that people are hungry for an exercise outlet right now, but even though your area might not be able to safely run a gym, that doesn’t mean you can’t start reaching your audience.

1. Offer Remote Classes

See if one or two of your trainers or employees wouldn’t be opposed to running a class online and seeing how it goes.

If you can create a regimen for people to go through at home and offer a video stream of a trainer helping them through it, you’ll find that a lot of people in your area would be receptive to the idea.

It might not have crossed a lot of people’s minds that they could be working with a personal trainer right from their home. Make sure to create your regimen without the need for any weights or machines to get the job done.

That means a lot of callisthenics and stationary cardio workouts, but there’s no reason that you can’t squeeze that process into a solid work out and supply enough different exercises to keep the process going.

You could even create a way for them to chart their progress and stay in touch with their trainer. This option will be appealing to a lot of people right now, and you could work that engagement into the chance to get those individuals into memberships when they feel comfortable getting back into the gym.

2. Give Pandemic Health Tips

One way to get engagement online while things are closed is to create a brand on social media that gives support and ideas on how to stay fit while things are closed down.

This could be a selection of ideas on how to cook well for yourself while you’re at home, or a simple rundown of at-home exercises that people can do without having to purchase any equipment or leave their home.

You’ll find that people are really responsive to this kind of content, especially if it’s conducted in an aesthetically pleasing kind of way. Working your social media content into a brand image is a little tricky at times, but it’s possible.

You just have to be consistent with the sort of content you’re producing, and make sure to provide an actual value to people through the snippet of content that you’re exposing them to.

Ask around to your trainers, employees, friends, and family to see what they’re feeling during the pandemic. Ask them what kinds of tips and tricks they could use on a daily basis, and see if you can’t work those ideas into your content.

3. Emphasize Sanitation

A lot of businesses, especially those where individuals are communing and using a lot of the same equipment, are going to experience a change of pace when the pandemic is over.

Regardless of whether or not there’s a virus at some point in the future, individuals all over the world are going to be more aware of sanitation and how it could affect them. It’s woven into our collective DNA at this point.

That means that establishments that don’t have a clear sanitation regimen in place are going to suffer a little bit. You can get ahead of this curve by marketing your business as one that is exceptionally clean and has advanced cleaning measures in place.

Of course, this will require that you actually change some of the ways that you’re keeping your gym clean! These methods could range from only allowing a certain number of patrons to exercise in certain areas at certain times, or making sure that every machine is cleaned by a staff member after each use.

It’s also an idea to create different pods that contain similar machinery. These pods could allow a few people to work out on whatever machines they’d like to without having to be exposed to numerous other individuals in the same space.

Whatever you end up doing, try to hone in on the point that your gym is clean and you’re doing your part to keep sanitation up even after the pandemic comes to a halt.

This will build trust with the people in your community, and it will set you aside from other gyms that aren’t doing the same thing.

4. Virtual Consultations

If you can market the fact that you’ll have virtual one-on-ones with clients, that will be a huge step forward for a post-pandemic gym.

This is similar to offering online classes, but it would be very useful for people at home right now to have a professional trainer that they could talk with and work through their struggle virtually alongside.

Training is part diet, part mindset, and part exercise. There’s no reason that people can’t be doing their part to improve those elements of their lives right now, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a little help along the way.

In a lot of people’s minds, the fact that we can’t meet in person means that there’s no way for anyone to actually get help with their fitness goals. If you can establish a platform to help individuals work through their fitness goals with a trainer right now, you’ll be primed for an influx of new clients when the doors open back up.

Even if you want to offer one-time virtual consultations at no cost, this will be a welcoming sign for anyone who’s looking for a gym to go to when the pandemic ends.

Getting your name out there and becoming familiar is essentially the first and most important step toward getting that new business to come through your door.

5. Focus on Local Optimization

Search engine optimization is the process of tuning your website to a point where it competes for the top rankings of specific search terms.

The thing about Google’s algorithm is that it tunes results to be location-specific. So, the search term “gym membership,” all else equal, would be bogged down with results from the largest gyms in the world.

Instead, the results come up relative to where a person is. That means that you can optimize your site to compete with the various gyms in your area to rank for those terms.

If you can manage to land in the top three results of that search for “gyms near me” or “gym memberships” in your area, you’ll see a lot of results. This is the only way that people are finding new gyms right now, unless they just happen to be driving past your building for whatever reason and see that you’re there.

Optimizing your site is one of the most effective ways to gather new business and start seeing success online, especially now that so many lives have shifted toward the digital medium in almost every way.

The specifics of conducting a great local optimization campaign can be a little tricky, but there’s no reason that you can’t do a little bit to improve your rankings significantly. The nice thing is, many other gyms in your area probably aren’t optimizing their pages, so any little effort will go a long way.

6. Offer Products or Resources

Another way that you can help people and draw them toward your business right now is to offer branded products or health resources if they’re trying to get in shape.

You could offer digital pamphlets on the principles of a healthy diet, at-home exercises that can be conducted with simple household objects, places to buy SARMs, and more.

People are hungry for a community hub that can offer a lot of information for the particular needs that they’re having right now. The fortunate thing is that most people are going through a lot of the same things at this moment.

They want ways to have more energy throughout the day as the pandemic continues. They want to know how to get healthy with their diets without having to give up some of the comforting food that’s getting people through right now.

Further, they want to know what kind of exercises they can conduct in their homes to stay fit and not be unhealthy when they can go and visit their friends and family again.

You can provide all of those resources on your website and on your social media platforms. You can also market your brand through the resources on healthy living that you provide to your audience.

7. Social Media Marketing

We touched a little bit on the potential of using social media to market yourself, but we haven’t quite tapped on the whole “social media marketing” thing yet.

It’s a big one, too, so make sure to pay attention.

Social media platforms allow you the chance to get in touch with thousands upon thousands of people in your area for very little cost. It’s feasible to think that you could actually reach almost every interested gym-goer in your general area.

This is made possible through the data that social media companies collect from all of their users. It’s a little unsettling that these companies have such a clear, documented read on our personalities and interests, but the silver lining is that it helps small businesses reach their target groups.

You can use social media marketing platforms that area contained within the sites themselves to select your target group and market to them with a particular ad or post. These come up as advertisements or sponsored posts on the user feed.

The thing is, if you select your target demographic correctly, you can be sure that everyone who sees your ad has at least a passing interest in going to the gym. If your content is striking enough, you’ll attract a lot of people that way.

Plus, you only have to pay when someone engages with that content.

That’s right. That means that 2,000 people could see your advertisement, whereas only about 100 might actually follow through on it. You’re only charged a minimal fee (a few pennies) for each of those legitimate engagements, while the rest of the exposure is free.

When it comes to getting out there to people in your community, the fact that they know you’re there is often enough to plant the seed for a future customer.

If you’re having trouble with the digital marketing and social media marketing/SEO element of things, it might be worth the investment to consult with a professional who can breeze through getting you into the top ranking spots in searches.

If you can tap into the ideas above, odds are you’ll have a great edge on the competition when things are fully reopened.