You might think that your small gym isnt newsworthy. Think again! Do something to help others, and you in turn will reap rewards. Your health club marketing opportunities are only limited by your own imagination.
1. Canned food drive
Free Enrollment when you bring in 5 canned foods! You can partner with your local soup kitchen or Salvation Army, and then tell the newspapers and news stations about the partnership...they eat that stuff up! (And of course, youre also helping those in need, which always feels good)
2. Submit articles to your local newspaper
If your town's newspaper doesn't have a weekly fitness write up, volunteer to write for them. Try to find other types of print media, smaller papers, community newsletters, etc that you can contribute to. There might also be local websites that are specific to your area that you could contribute to. If by chance you are not much of a writer, pay a staff member or use a service like Elance to find someone who will write for cheap.
3. Partner with your local radio station
The DJ can be your main contact person and they can help you promote a 2 month weight loss program to their listeners, who just happen to be local prospects for your fitness business. The DJ can make announcements regularly over the air, can get lots of listeners to send in applications, and form two teams to compete against each other to make the announcements more exciting. Make sure as part of the contest all contestants receive a complimentary membership. This will be a benefit to the radio station since they get to offer this bonus to their listeners. You can even give something to the people who weren't selected for the contest and/or ask for their contact information to follow up with them.
4. Host a charitable event
Get members to have friends and family pledge an amount per mile you spend on the treadmill or for every step you climb on the stairmaster. Even if you only get 2 people to participate, it doesnt matter. Tell the radio station about it and they will do a story on it. Its different, its interesting, and its not negative news...which seems to be all there is on the news these days.
5. Conduct Seminars
Go to your local chamber and they will have a huge list of people in the area who present on a large variety of topics. There will be topics ranging from financial planning to scrapbooking. See if they already have someone who presents fitness. If not, see if they'll schedule you. If they do already have someone presenting a fitness topic, find a different fitness topic to talk about. They do all of the promotions for the events, but you should do some promotion on your own as well.
6. Create fame for one of your members
Media loves success stories, especially ones that involve someone overcoming incredible odds. You probably know someone like this in your club, but why not allow members to submit applications to be SmithTown Fitness Hero. Have everyone submit a 300 word article on how they have overcome the odds and how your club has helped them. Once you select a winner, send a press release to the newspaper, Local SmithTown citizen wins Hero award. Of course, give something to everyone who submits an application. Perhaps frame and post all of the success stories and create a SmithTown Fitness Wall of Heroes at your club to let all of your members be inspired. Think of how powerful this would be to show a prospect as youre touring them!
Add a little creativity to your health club marketing and you will find that these 7 strategies are only a small sampling of all of the marketing opportunities available for your health club. Everyone loves free press...be creative and you'll get lots of it. - 15465
1. Canned food drive
Free Enrollment when you bring in 5 canned foods! You can partner with your local soup kitchen or Salvation Army, and then tell the newspapers and news stations about the partnership...they eat that stuff up! (And of course, youre also helping those in need, which always feels good)
2. Submit articles to your local newspaper
If your town's newspaper doesn't have a weekly fitness write up, volunteer to write for them. Try to find other types of print media, smaller papers, community newsletters, etc that you can contribute to. There might also be local websites that are specific to your area that you could contribute to. If by chance you are not much of a writer, pay a staff member or use a service like Elance to find someone who will write for cheap.
3. Partner with your local radio station
The DJ can be your main contact person and they can help you promote a 2 month weight loss program to their listeners, who just happen to be local prospects for your fitness business. The DJ can make announcements regularly over the air, can get lots of listeners to send in applications, and form two teams to compete against each other to make the announcements more exciting. Make sure as part of the contest all contestants receive a complimentary membership. This will be a benefit to the radio station since they get to offer this bonus to their listeners. You can even give something to the people who weren't selected for the contest and/or ask for their contact information to follow up with them.
4. Host a charitable event
Get members to have friends and family pledge an amount per mile you spend on the treadmill or for every step you climb on the stairmaster. Even if you only get 2 people to participate, it doesnt matter. Tell the radio station about it and they will do a story on it. Its different, its interesting, and its not negative news...which seems to be all there is on the news these days.
5. Conduct Seminars
Go to your local chamber and they will have a huge list of people in the area who present on a large variety of topics. There will be topics ranging from financial planning to scrapbooking. See if they already have someone who presents fitness. If not, see if they'll schedule you. If they do already have someone presenting a fitness topic, find a different fitness topic to talk about. They do all of the promotions for the events, but you should do some promotion on your own as well.
6. Create fame for one of your members
Media loves success stories, especially ones that involve someone overcoming incredible odds. You probably know someone like this in your club, but why not allow members to submit applications to be SmithTown Fitness Hero. Have everyone submit a 300 word article on how they have overcome the odds and how your club has helped them. Once you select a winner, send a press release to the newspaper, Local SmithTown citizen wins Hero award. Of course, give something to everyone who submits an application. Perhaps frame and post all of the success stories and create a SmithTown Fitness Wall of Heroes at your club to let all of your members be inspired. Think of how powerful this would be to show a prospect as youre touring them!
Add a little creativity to your health club marketing and you will find that these 7 strategies are only a small sampling of all of the marketing opportunities available for your health club. Everyone loves free press...be creative and you'll get lots of it. - 15465
About the Author:
Curtis Mock has quickly become the go to person for fitness marketing advice. You can sign up for his fitness marketing tip of the week and be sure to take advantage of your trial membership to the powerful fitness marketing resource site created specifically for fitness center owners.
