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One of the biggest problems in fitness businesses, and in most small businesses for that matter, is the lack of consistency in marketing. Many gyms will ramp up their marketing efforts during a back to school drive and at New Years…and that is the extent of their marketing. This is a big mistake.
Let’s assume you take a more aggressive approach to marketing and you implement one marketing strategy every single month. While this is obviously better than only marketing twice a year, you’re still missing out on the true power of marketing.
In order to make your marketing work for you, and consistently drive traffic to your business month after month, you must do two things:
1) Plan Your Marketing
2) Use a Multi-Touch Approach
First of all, it goes without saying that you need a detailed marketing plan for your club, laid out month by month. Even if you only have tentative marketing strategies planned for each month, you can fill in the details and identify your exact plan as a particular month approaches.
A simple way to get this process started is to get a Calendar to put on your wall. Or for that matter, you can take 12 note cards, one for each month, and put them on the wall.
On each card you will write down three marketing strategies you plan to do during that month. Don’t overthink this; just write down three things that you feel would work during that month. For example:
April
1. Mail a letter to all of your current members and clients to offer a complimentary personal training session to prepare for bikini season
2. Send a “Summer is almost here” greeting Card to all of your expired members with a special offer for them to rejoin
3. Buy several cases of water and tape a gift card to every one of them and go around to local businesses mid afternoon each Monday to distribute
May
1. Send 10,000 direct mail pieces for a summer special
2. Run a referral event and offer summer for free for anyone who refers two new members
3. Call the owner of all businesses you took water to, and offer a special membership to their employees
See how easy that was?
I just created your first two months of your upcoming marketing plan in less than 3 minutes. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Just write down what you feel would be a good strategy for that month. You can always tweak your plan as the month approaches.
As for touches, you absolutely must deliver your message multiple times to each person. Did you know that in any given day you are exposed to over 3,000 marketing messages? With all of the marketing “noise” out there, the only way to get noticed is by being consistent.
Your prospects may not pay attention to your direct mail piece in May, but they’ll then find a door hanger at their home, then they will receive that bottle of water and gift card, then they receive a special offer through their employer, then they see you at a local health fair, then they see an article you wrote for the local paper, then they hear their friend talk about you. You get the picture.
This is how you become relevant in the mind of a prospect. But consistency must be planned. If you take a passive approach to marketing or you randomly try things on a whim, you will not be maximizing your results. The more times you can touch a prospect with your message in a shorter amount of time, the greater the likelihood of that prospect becoming a member.
So grab a pen and paper and take a few minutes to write out your tentative marketing plan for the next 12 months. Then take a closer look at the next 2 months and identify the EXACT strategies you will use to generate leads. Plan your touches and you will find your marketing message is much better received, and the results of your marketing will be exponentially greater.
What marketing strategies do you have planned for next month?
I have 19 spaces left to fill my bootcamp and plan to have every member x2 gift cards to give to their friends and family. This should seal the deal for me.
Jose,
Make sure to incentivise your clients to actually bring in the new campers. A gift Card is great but, you want a way to reward those who take initiative.Make it a contest and say the whoever brings the most new members gets 3 months free of bootcamp
Great post! That was really simple and if done right could be very effective. I always tend to over analyze and make it way harder than it has to be, when it comes to marketing. Thanks for shedding a light on it’s simplicity!
My plan is to be committed to give away 30 personal training free trial sessions in 30 days. To accomplish this we are giving away free pass cards to clients at the front desk when they arrive for their PT session. For every new person that joins the client that referred them gets a free PT session. Trainers are also getting out into the community to network and give away free passes. Everyone is on board and working together.
We are also running a raffle. Each current client who brings in a new free trial client gets an entry into the raffle. The first prize is 10 PT sessions, a $680 value. The more clients they refer, the more entries they get into the raffle bowl.
Great post Curtis. I had not considered writing out 12 months of plans, but I can see the value of doing that.
…we just generated some quick cash by sending out 27 letters to some pre-pay members. We encouraged them to pre pay for another year and we would give them 3 free months! fast cash and great gift to some faithful members!
I will be doing the “case of water” to businesses! love the idea!
I’m already a step ahead. Woohoo! I have each month themed. Ie April is Easter and get ready for beach season. May is kids are out of school, use us as an escape, June is summer for free. Then as the month approaches I normally come up with the specific strategies then. But I definitely see the value if writing those down too. Awesome post!
One thing to do for the upcoming Spring Months
Member Appreciation/Referral Open House Party.
See you at IHRSA tomorrow
Any advise on how to maximize my open house this Saturday? I got a few venders, live band, cookout, healthy food givaways, and a fitness figure champion of mine there. Thanks, Josh