In the past few years, I have made it my mission to help my clients generate as many leads as I can for their fitness businesses. In doing so, I’ve spent a tonne of time and money testing and figuring out exactly what does and doesn’t work when it comes to marketing and lead generation for gyms and fitness businesses.

While every gyms performance varies based on factors like location, offer, sales process, marketing budget and the quality of the service they deliver, the most successful gyms and fitness studios on the planet follow these simple strategies.

A PROVEN OFFER

The first part of your online advertising campaign must start with an amazing, proven offer at your fitness studio. This is what catches potential members’ attention. We’ve found that offering 1 free week to be the most effective, because it allows people to come check out your studio and take a few classes without any commitment. If you give them a great experience during their free week, it’s likely that they’ll sign up and become paying members.

A one week free trial is a good bet, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only option out there. Here are a few other paid offers that other fitness studios have had a lot of success with as well:

  • Start now and pay nothing until next month
  • 3 for $30
  • 6-Week Challenge

Once you have a proven offer, your next step is to get it in front of as many people in your target demographic as possible.

MADE IT A VIDEO AD

Fact: Facebook videos get a 135% broader reach than photos and gets better engagement.

In your video, think about giving people a quick tour of your facilities, showing them what your classes look like, and explaining what they can expect when they come in. Show off your personality and get people excited to come check out your studio.

When you are done editing your video, add captions to increase view time by up to 12%. Not everyone wants to watch video with sound, so captions make people more likely to watch your video longer and engage with it.

Another tip to increase engagement is to upload videos directly to Facebook instead of sharing a link from YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia. Native videos auto-play on Facebook, whereas shared links require you to click on them and take you to an external website.

So once you have an awesome offer and a great Facebook ad to promote that offer, you want to take people somewhere easy for them to redeem the promotion. That’s where landing pages come in. And in order to optimise that landing page and stay in front of people who decide they don’t want your free week even after they click on your ad … you need retargeting.

RETARGETING

On average, it takes about 7 impressions of your business before someone decides to buy. Retargeting comes allows you to continuously market to people who visit your website or landing page even after they’ve left – and all because you’ve placed a Facebook retargeting pixel on the page(s). This way, you still have a chance to convert people with your free week even after they’ve left.

Here’s the process: If someone sees your ad, clicks on it, and goes to your landing page but they don’t claim the offer, you can use retargeting ads to remind them about your promotion.

Once they claim their offer, the first thing they should get is a welcome email that thanks them and lets them know what they should do next. After a few days, send out another email that asks them if they’ve claimed the offer, and you can include a bonus offer to give as an incentive.

The most successful fitness studios generate tonnes of gym leads online with these strategies. Once the leads start pouring in, be sure to follow up with them as soon as possible and have a strong sales process.

if your find these tips on lead generation for gyms helpful be sure to leave a comment below or share it with a friend