The members of your gyms are there for the same reasons. Fitness goals.
People join your fitness business because they want to feel better and stronger, or to start living healthier lives. To them, your studio or gym’s services translate to a unique and personal connection that allows them the opportunity to get what they need.
So if a strong connection with your customers is the key, then a proven weight loss challenge is a good strategy to use for this.
As winter approaches, many gyms will be running weight loss challenges, and this is a good avenue to provide a community program that puts your members and participants on a fitness mission together.
The length of the weight loss challenge can vary, but the majority of gyms have been successful with challenges that last between 4 to 10 weeks. Once your customers sign up, it’s your job, not only to engage them as they begin their journey to change their lifestyle, but also to celebrate with them after each win and to support them when they realize how great it feels to achieve a goal they set.
To help you organise and launch your very own challenge here 4 steps that may help you:
STEP 1: GET THE BASICS DOWN
To build a challenge, you need 4 things:
- The number of customers you want to include in your challenge. You can create demand for it by advertising only a limited space, but of cours let more jump in if they want to join.
- A point of connection with your customers where you can engage them. This can be done through technology so you all have a way to track goals, nutrition, exercise, and progress.
- Free challenge apps like “Lose It” and “Diet Bet” that have been developed for this. They are great for groups of friends or peers, but doesn’t really provide value to your business.
- Other technology, such as Evolution Nutrition’s professional and enterprise editions, is a more preferred app that enables you to connect with your members and provides you with insight into their progress. You can also use this to keep the challenge associated with your business, and the business resources can be used for weekly giveaways, promotions, and any social marketing.
- Guides and resources on healthy nutrition to add more value to your program. If you don’t already have these, you can share your own blueprint grocery list, top foods to boost your metabolism, and more.
- Rewards for winners: these can be directly related to your services, such as free sessions or passes, or even discounts for products/retail.
STEP 2: PROMOTE YOUR EVENT
Being able to bring attention to your challenge makes or breaks your weight loss challenge. Here are some suggestions:
- Hang banners in the facility and around the community if possible.
- Include promotions or announcements for the challenge in your e-mail newsletter or other email marketing resources you use.
- Promote it on all of your social media platforms.
- Reach out to current members directly at your facility. Remember, personal interaction is powerful.
- Offer a referral program and include incentives for them.
STEP 3: LAUNCH YOUR CHALLENGE
After you’ve you created and promoted your weight loss challenge, set the date and launch! These key factors will help make your challenge a success:
- Monitor your clients’ results with a weekly check-in, and track their progress by creating visuals in your business, such as a Leader Board, that shows how everyone is doing. This increases the energy & encourages healthy competition among the challengers, and gets them excited to join future challenges.
- Leverage the power of your social media channels by creating specialised groups through Facebook where you can post updates, weekly progress reports, mini weekly challenge winners, etc. You’ll find that they’ll appreciate when you celebrate their wins!
STEP 4: WATCH YOUR CUSTOMERS MULTIPLY
Once the challenge is complete, take note of how many people participated and use everything you learned from the challenge and make them a staple in your business.
- Repeat the challenge at least 2 to 3 times a year to keep your customers engaged and motivated. With each challenge, you’ll learn changes you want to implement. The key is to create a better challenge as you go.
- Once you do these challenges regularly, establish a constant connection with your community and contribute to the three R’s of success for your business: Retention, Referrals, and Revenue.
Have you ever done a weight loss challenge at your fitness business? If so, let us know what did and didn’t work!
