Marketing your gym starts with getting a few things in order.

I've always enjoyed helping others. Don't get me wrong, I love to win, but I get almost as much excitement from assisting others to reach their goals. I had worked in the service industry, mainly in bars and restaurants, for years, and I wanted something new and exciting. Entering the fitness industry was a choice that made itself for me. 

I found a school and immediately enrolled. Upon completion, I was a certified personal trainer and a nutrition consultant through the Massachusetts Board of Education.

I found a local boutique-style gym and got myself a job.

I spent the next few years there refining my skills, building a clientele, and learning how to create a newsletter. This period was way back in the day, so these newsletters were literally printed for us, picked up, folded by hand, and then placed in the entryway for clients and potential clients to grab.

I won't get into the details, but the original business I had joined began to change. A new partner was brought on, and little by little, things began to spiral downward. Don't get me wrong, companies should change to keep up with current times, but these changes could have been better.

Fast forward a few months, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I did what any normal rational person would do. 

I quit and went to Italy for a couple of weeks! 

A recurring thought kept popping into my head: "There's no reason I couldn't open a gym and just do it better!" 

When I returned, I laid the initial groundwork to open my gym. 

I took several classes and certifications while I worked training clients out of my home. (Because credentials are what brings in the clients, right?!). Hint: Wrong, but I didn't know then what I know now.

We worked in my garage on rainy days and in my driveway on nice ones.

Eventually, I found a small industrial space and turned it into a CrossFit affiliate. I expanded after a year, doubling my space. (Because if you have tons of space, you'll bring in tons of clients, right?!). Hint: Wrong again!

I was open for about ten years when I decided to make another career change, but we'll stick with the fitness industry for this article.

In the early years, I had everything wrong. You know, if you couldn't tell from my hints above.

Like many other young fitness pros, I assumed that clients are looking for things like how many classes and certifications you've taken or how many pushups you can do. 

Boy, was I wrong?!

Clients don't care about that stuff at all. When you learn to make it less about you and more about them, you finally start to make real progress with people. 

By the time I realized how to be a great personal trainer, I had made another realization. I needed to figure out how to get more clients.

If clients aren't looking for the certifications on your office wall and don't care much about the initials and abbreviations on your business cards, what are they searching for?

Solid question. And I can answer it for you. 

I am trying to remember where I read this stat, but something like +80% of all micro gyms fails within their first year. Gyms fail for many reasons, from not having a plan to not understanding how to market themselves effectively. 

I want your micro gym to succeed. Thrive, in fact! 

Ok, let's get into what clients are looking for and how you can attract more of them to your business.

I'll be blunt here: you need to set up some systems and establish some things as you launch your marketing plan. I'll touch on those first because the last thing you want to happen is a bunch of new people find your business and then choose to go elsewhere. 

Do yourself the favor of putting in the work. 

The first thing you'll want to focus on is the professionalization of your business. 

You don't need to be the most prominent and newest-looking gym, but you'll want to come across as a professional if you want people to do business with you. 

You have to treat people with respect if you want the same. Professionalism can look different, and you'll need to figure out how it looks for your gym. It could include keeping regular hours, having an optimized website, and keeping the music at an enjoyable level but still allowing for communication. 

You'll also want systems in place to standardize your gym company. 

People need rules. What does that look like at your gym? You'll want to treat everyone equally, so you may need to update and simplify your pricing structure. 

The most powerful system I'd argue for is your onboarding process. 

I used a binder with my offerings and prices printed on laminated sheets that I could pull out. The reason I wanted to be able to pull out single sheets was to help people avoid decision fatigue. It would be best to have every detail worked out ahead of time so that you're not fumbling around when a potential client calls or shows up to chat about your services. 

I'd have a conversation where I'd dig deep into why they wanted to join a gym and their actual goals. Then I could make a recommendation I, as the professional, knew would be best and hand them that sheet to consider if we made changes due to budget, etc. I could easily pull out another sheet with a better-suited option. 

Those little details kept things professional and organized. 

Your culture is another thing you'll want to have nailed down.

Are you at the gym where the trainers wear khakis and polo shirts carrying around clipboards? Maybe you're at the gym where the music is thumping, and the guys throw their shirts off to the side during their workout?

Either is fine, but how you interact with people and the type of person you attract will differ—having this stuff figured out beforehand will go a long way toward getting your marketing efforts dialed in.

Once your professionalism is worked out, your systems are in place, and your identity is locked down. You can get to work attracting the right clients!

Step one: Establish authority

To be effective at helping people with their health and wellness goals, you'll need to be trusted. There are plenty of ways to establish authority, from blogging to social proof. 

Choose a few methods and try them out. 

You could try what I did when I started and worked on developing a newsletter. It will likely look like an email newsletter because I don't think most people are dropping by gyms these days to pick up their folded copies of your articles. But hey, if you want to bring that back, go for it!

Step two: Have a clear offer that you repeat often.

If people are unsure about what you do, they'll likely become confused and move on. 

Your offer could be, "We help people who are short on time achieve their wellness goals through our in-person and remote coaching practice!"

Then repeat that in as many different places as possible and keep repeating it forever.

Flood social media and your website with your offer!

Step three: Have a referral process.

This strategy is enormous because if you can form relationships with multiple groups of existing relationships, your clients will likely stay longer. 

Now your client knows that you're expecting them for their appointment, but they also have a friend or family member expecting them. That's powerful.

Step four: Give people a look inside.

Walking into a gym for the first time can be pretty intimidating. People are still determining what to expect or how they'll be treated. We automatically assume that we'll feel uncomfortable and stick out.

Solve that problem by giving them a look inside your business.

Social media is excellent for this! Instagram stories are perfect behind-the-scenes footage. Post daily! Make people understand that you're there to serve them and that you have their best interest at heart. (As long as you do.)

YouTube is good for longer format content. Create videos that walk through your enrollment process. Remember to embed them on your website as well. If you need help embedding videos, reach out, and we can show you.

Step five: Create a community.

People want to feel like they belong. You can provide that. 

Micro gyms are the perfect venue for events such as talks or competitions. 

Collaborate with other fitness pros and offer nutrition, mobility, or endurance seminars. These types of events will help create a sense of community within your business and also serve as a way to drive additional revenue.

Step six: Create a resource.

Share everything you're doing. 

When I owned my gym, I'd publish multiple workouts daily and share them for free everywhere I could. 

I had variants that people could perform at home with little to no equipment. I had free recipes, articles, and a Facebook group that anyone could join.

These are all tangible ways to warm leads.

Step seven: Be different.

You need to stand out whenever you're attempting to capture someone's attention. 

Don't act like the gym down the street. Find your voice and identity.

Layout your key differences (what separates you from every other gym in town) and tell that story over and over again!

I hope that reading about some of my experiences as a gym owner will help you grow as a professional and ultimately help more people.

If you're curious about taking your digital marketing to the next level, give us a call today!