If you work in the fitness and personal training industry then you know how competitive and difficult it can be to keep loyal customers. Some clients give up after just a few sessions in the gym, while others will change their gyms to avoid the monotony.
You may feel people are going to come to train at your gym simply because it’s the closest one too them, but a gym needs more than being close to a client to draw them through the door. Marketing strategies are needed to not just get customers to join your gym in the first place, but also to build and maintain the relationship that keeps them coming back for more.
The only way to attract new clients and ensure old ones keep coming back for more is to offer them something that is unique to your gym. They must also be kept motivated. They rely on you to keep them on course for reaching their personal goals. It is also critical to create personal relationships with clients and offer them benefits that make training in your gym a more attractive and unique experience that what your competitors are offering.
Clash Graphics serves a number of fitness professionals that have and are aiming to grow their training businesses; below are 3 fundamental business strategies that will help accomplish that goal.
Offer Specialty-Focused and Unique Classes
One of the most common reasons for losing members – and an issue frequently brought up in customer feedback – is that there aren’t enough unique classes being offered by the facility. Providing clients with a range of relevant, popular, and interesting gym classes that give them the results they need is the simplest way to retain customers and boost business for your gym. Here are 3 fitness classes that focus and target varied demographics and customers.
Barre – Barre classes combines postures taken from disciplines such as ballet, yoga, and Pilates. Barre is popular with women in particular because it tones down the areas they want without stressing their joints. Barre is a group training that promotes community and brings women together as they tone their butt, thighs, abs, and arms.
HIIT – HIIT – short for High Intensity Interval Training – is a kind of interval training where short but intense periods of anaerobic exercise are combined with less intense periods used to recover. HIIT produces great results and is ideal for both men and women looking to push themselves past merely lifting weights.
Zumba – Zumba is an aerobic fitness program inspired by a range of Latin American dance typically performed to Latin American dance music. Zumba classes appeal to former dances and people that enjoy burning calories and enjoying an elevated heart rate while having a lot of fun.
Engage with your customers. Find out what they enjoy and any new classes they have heard of and are interested in. Kickboxing, spin, and Crossfit are all popular classes that have exploded in popularity. Listen to your clients and satisfy their interest with new and exciting ways to stay fit.
Build Community and Personalized Experiences
Personal trainers and gym owners need to give individual customers their personal attention. Providing quality customer service is another way to build sales and improve retention. Even if you have the most physically fit personal trainers around, clients will look elsewhere if they feel they aren’t treated as individuals.
A good quality personal trainer aims to make working out as enjoyable as possible. They encourage clients during the tough lifts, and show members proper form and technique to prevent injuries, which can cause clients to cancel their memberships.
Make the most out of group training and classes. Offer a range of group activities to get your customers conversing with each other and creating the kind of relationships that go beyond the gym. This creates the feeling of community and friendships, and gives clients more reason to come back to the gym outside of having a good workout.
Prioritize Online and Search Marketing
Search engine optimization and marketing through search engines allows customers to discover you when looking for a gym or personal trainer in their area. Consider how important and valuable it would be to have your service right in front of potential customers right when they want to find a workout solution or personal trainer. There’s also the important fact that these people might be customers you would otherwise have no access to, and they might go to a competitor.
Search engine marketing involves creating and distributing content relevant to your gym and potential clients. Create content that would interest your customers and makes you – and your gym – come across as an expert. You are an expert after all!
The content should be a mix of things like workouts, ideas for meal plans, and photos and videos of exercises. After producing the content you should push it out onto your social media networks and make use of relevant hashtags and keywords.
It all goes together to tell a search engine that you have a lot of relevance to fitness training, which means that your business will show up higher in Google search results when people search for local gyms and personal trainers.
Note: 9/10 online experiences start with using a search engine, and over two-thirds of customers that perform local searches go to locations within 5 miles of where they live.
Grow Your Gym Through Meaningful Marketing and Action
It is important that you think proactively about the next strategy you will use – along with how to best communicate the value and benefits of your services to ideal customers.
All too often a promotional or marketing campaign is focused entirely on bringing in new customers – and they do it well – but without considering, or indeed offering, the kind of long term care and attention needed to retain customers.
The process of marketing your gym or training business is an ongoing one. Surviving in the modern market means building interest and credibility through word-of-mouth, impactful advertising, and – perhaps most importantly – the results and experiences you deliver to clients.
Once you satisfy your customer’s needs, you must continue creating an unforgettable experience in the gym to keep them engaged, committed, and spreading the word.
In a later series we will cover specific strategies and promotions that will instantly drive new business. Check back, and for additional printing and marketing articles, visit
http://www.clashgraphics.com/printing-tips/
Clash Graphics Print Shop Atlanta Flyer Printing
2233 Peachtree Rd NE Ste 202 Atlanta, GA 30309
(678) 235-3464
To view the original version on Clash Graphics, visit: http://www.clashgraphics.com/printing-tips/three-secrets-growing-your-gym-personal-training-business/
