Trends change over time, and the world of marketing is no different. While the typical idea is that time-tested marketing tools and principles are always good to keep in mind, we wanted to specify five areas to focus on in 2024 if you are working to establish your fitness training studio’s marketing efforts.
Know Your Fitness Facility’s Target Audience
When running a gym or training facility, it typically operates the same as any other small business in the sense that your product (gym type or services provided) won’t be for everyone. Whether your training and equipment type fits the needs of a niche within the market or your membership price point is set to appeal to a specific income level, “everyone” is never the answer. We need to look for the ideal client that fits your gym’s unique market offerings – aka your target audience.
Finding your ideal client profile does not always need to be a hard project, but the earlier you establish this, the easier your marketing work becomes going forward. This is because when you have an idea of the “who” you are trying to market your business to, all of a sudden, you start to get a better idea of “how” and “where” to do that by just working to understand them better and meet them where they are.
Set Business Growth Goals for Your Gym
In the personal training and fitness business, the concept of goal setting, SMART goals, or even process/product goals is not a new idea. However, these tools can (and should) be applied to your fitness business, especially if you have aspirations to grow and expand your fitness studio.
When setting business growth goals for your gym, having a clear idea of your objective can help get the ball rolling. Similar to establishing your target audience, knowing more specifically what you want can better direct you on the steps you will need to take to accomplish them. Additionally, when you have your goals established, you can weigh business decisions against them to see if they help move your fitness facility in the right direction or not. As an owner, you are constantly presented with opportunities, challenges, and issues. Knowing which ones to focus on based on your goals can help reduce the noise of emotions when making strategic decisions.
Ensure Your Training Studio’s Conversion Point is Simple and Streamlined
Once your goals and target audience are set, knowing what the goals of your marketing resources are is the next step. Each resource (website, social media accounts, flyers, or even your business cards) might have a different call-to-action for your gym; however, knowing which to use and when to use it is critical to promoting client conversions.
When presenting your gym’s brand and materials to new audiences, you want clear messages that easily direct interested parties to the right next step for them. Depending on the piece, it might be more generic and prompt the prospective client to visit your website for additional information. Or a piece might be more refined towards a hot lead to have a clear call-to-action to convert via signing up for a membership or a 1-on-1 consultation. Understanding the message content, intent, and point in the customer journey is key to keeping your marketing material effective.
Marketing Resources Should Flow To Your Fitness Studio’s Sales Funnel
Based on the concepts discussed in the streamlining conversion points section, the sales funnel concept works around this effort. The premise is built on the idea of the customer’s journey from lead to becoming a member of your gym and the interactions they have along the way. Considering the structure of the funnel, you may realize that more of the content at the top portion will be more generic or attention-grabbing, and the call-to-action focus is to lead prospects to the next step of the process rather than a hard sell. As they “travel” down your funnel by interacting with your business by self-serving information or dealings with staff, the information becomes more refined and focused toward their specific needs and your studio’s unique offerings. At the end of the funnel, your lead decides if they want to join your gym as a member or exit the funnel.
Focusing on the sales funnel in 2024 is critical as this is a tool that helps give your collateral and resources direction and purpose. Also, when establishing a sales funnel, you can even map your marketing campaign. By emphasizing the process and flow of the funnel, you can then begin planning your marketing materials to support the sales structure you want to put in place.
Tie Fitness Marketing & Advertising To a Structured Campaign
As mentioned above, once your sales funnel is established, you can build out your fitness facility’s marketing campaigns more strategically. Marketing and advertisements for a gym, with the sales funnel roadmap in place, can become more effective and useful when the pieces are designed to work with your sales process. Additionally, the more successful your pieces become at engaging and reaching your target audience, the better your conversion rates should trend.
Making A Splash
For gym owners looking to take action on their marketing efforts in 2024, we highly recommend taking a strategic approach before diving too quickly into running ads or promoting social posts as a way to drive interest. By focusing on developing a well-crafted marketing plan around your target audience, fitness studio’s growth goals, and sales funnel, you can help optimize the impact your efforts have on converting leads to new members.
