Mecanicien

Posts Tagged ‘marketing a gym’

Stop throwing crap against the wall, wishing for something to grab a hold. Have you heard that saying? We notice this type of marketing each day in all types of fitness centers. Marketing is not rocket science, but it is easy to fail if you don’t have a system in place. Don’t waste your marketing budget and use these simple steps to health club marketing success!

Step 1: Designate X % of revenues towards your marketing efforts. Do not plan on waiting until you need a bump in your health club revenues to start your marketing. Don’t ever stop your marketing efforts. Marketing books will tell you that the average amount you should spend towards marketing is 13% of revenues. We are talking about revenues, not profits. You might be wondering I am not even bringing in enough money to pay myself! Hmm, the famous question is which comes first, the chicken or the egg? You cannot use money if you don’t have any money and you cannot make money without using money! But if you examine closer, you can see some places to reduce costs or increase profit centers by several dollars. Begin with 2% of your revenues, then 5, then 8, and so on. You need to allocate an amount of your revenues to marketing and you MUST decide how to spend that money. You need a reasonable ROI to increase your marketing budget the next month and the month after that! But have a plan.

Step Two: Create an advertising plan. Successful marketing is simply not a one-time mailing or spending money on ad space because a salesman knocked on your door with an awesome Val-Pak offer. With doing a la cart marketing, you will never have a steady flow of prospective traffic. It will not take long to form a plan for success. Sit down one Sunday and create a separate page for each month in the year. After reviewing your budget, you should know precisely how much you can afford in marketing. Decide on what types of marketing would work best during certain times throughout the year. For example, January is a time of New Years resolutions, March is countdown to bikini season, June is summer for free and August is back to school time. Those are the most practical ones to do. If you are a gym in the northern United States, your climate will become much colder faster than in the lower states. If you are in the south, people will want to get out of the heat during summer by going indoors and exercising. Or perhaps your demographic area will help determine what your advertising plan will be. If your health club is in a blue collar area, what time is better to advertise than during tax season? Or if you have childcare opportunities, the summer is a perfect timing to give a break to parents from their children while they work out? Just schedule your gym marketing calendar, month by month.

Based on the theme of each month, which type of marketing will be the best for your potential members? Perhaps a direct mailer in January? Become involved with youth organizations during the spring and summer? Does your area have a parade or festival? Look for ways in which you can get involved or volunteer. Your plan may need tweaking as the months progress or if you are presented with new marketing opportunities. As a fitness center owner, you have been accustomed to bobbing and weaving.

Step 3: Do not try to do it all by yourself. You have enough responsibilities already. Imagine trying not to allow your marketing efforts to slip through the cracks. Hire a person responsible to market your health club. And think about this…if your marketing efforts are successful, will you be the one who will have to sell the memberships? While an increase in members is always wonderful, is your sanity worth it? In addition to running your gym, handling member comments, monitoring billing and member check-ins, manage personal trainers, and even train a few members yourself, keeping the club tidy, training your staff, maybe even finding time to have a bite to eat…can you picture trying to give prospects a tour and selling several memberships a day and also follow up with missed guests? Wow, I am exhausted just thinking about it all! Allocate certain marketing tasks to your health club staff, outsource your mailings, find a Boy Scout troop or youth group in your area to distribute door hangers and here is my favorite…Hire VMG to do it all!

Pretend not to hear that shameless plug. Here’s the point; you have your plate full. It is obvious there is a lot more to marketing than what I have covered in this article, but these are the foundational elements to successfully marketing your fitness center. Stay on course with these three easy steps and you will set the stage for marketing success!