The gym business hasn’t changed dramatically over the past 20 years, though we’ve certainly seen an evolution. Gyms are better at catering to different groups of potential customers, as many have added classes that appeal to women and men, and mixed things up with yoga, pilates and other options. Nutrition is also an area that gets more attention in gyms as well.
It’s on the marketing side where we’re seeing some big changes and opportunities for gym owners that are in tune with social media and see the potential to create a real online community. Facebook and Twitter should be a part of every gym owner’s strategy to market the gym. With these tools, your best and loyal customers can become evangelists for your gym, and then you can push out cool photos, workout ideas, class schedules etc that these people can then share with their friends. You’ll reach more people and build more customer loyalty.
This works best when you couple this with traditional methods like advertising and brochures. Gym owners can use online printing to reduce their costs by printing brochures online at UPrinting or other venders on the web. You can also use modern computer programs to effectively track all your customer memberships, and you should definitely use email blasts as well.
The bottom line is that you can run and promote a gym these days that makes your operation much more efficient.
