Are you looking for creative fitness marketing ideas that’ll generate more revenue? Perhaps you want to attract more members to your gym, fitness studio, or health club. Or boost retention and decrease churn, so that your clients stay loyal for longer?
In this article – we share 25 proven fitness marketing ideas to help you boost your revenue, retention, and brand awareness.
Even if you’re on a tight budget, these ideas will generate positive business results for zero cost. That’s right – they’re totally free to implement!
Whether you need marketing ideas for fitness classes, personal training services, or a seasonal campaign, we’ve got it covered.
- Social media ideas
- Lead generation ideas
- Event marketing ideas
- Partnerships & networking
- Pricing & packaging ideas
Save these ideas for later ⇒ Bookmark the page or download our free ebook which includes over 80 fitness marketing ideas for your gym or health club.
Social Media Ideas
Social media is a powerful marketing channel for gyms and fitness studios. It allows you to reach a huge audience, build brand awareness, and turn followers into hot leads. Here are some ideas that you can use…
#1 – Optimise Your Bio With Keywords
Adding keywords to your social media bios will help you show up more often in search results. Include phrases that your ideal client is likely to search for to boost your visibility. And gear your bio around their needs (e.g. workout videos) rather than yourself (e.g. dog lover).
#2 – Run Competitions
Hit up your existing suppliers for freebies that you can give away as prizes. Then promote the competition via social media channels and collect email addresses from all the contest entrants.
This makes it easy to follow up with them about joining your facility afterward. Social media software like Hootsuite and Rafflecopter makes it easy to run contests and collect emails.
#3 – Tap Into Communities
Fitness marketing isn’t just about promoting yourself – it’s important to interact too. So, network with specific communities where your target client hangs out. Join Facebook groups, Twitter chats, or online forums then start building relationships and positioning yourself as the fitness expert.
#4 – Run A Quick Poll
Ask followers for their opinion and start a conversation. You could…
- Discuss fitness-related topics like their training preferences
- Ask for feedback about your business
- Get them to vote for your next new class
Be sure to respond to comments promptly and announce the results of any polls. Incorporating their feedback will improve your offering and make it more appealing to potential clients.
#5 – Promote Your Audience (Not Yourself)
People love to share social media posts that make them look good. So help them out! Promote their stories, successes, and achievements – anything that makes them look smart, successful, funny, or helpful.
Posts about people achieving personal bests, winning challenges, or overcoming obstacles all work really well. Your followers will be much more likely to share this type of content (especially if they know the person being referred to).
You might also like… Our in-depth articles on social media marketing for gyms and personal trainers.
Fitness Lead Generation Ideas
The objective of most fitness marketing ideas will be to generate leads. These are the lifeblood of a gym as they feed the membership sales funnel. Here are some ideas you can use to capture lead information…
#6 – Ebooks
Create a short ebook that explains how your audience can solve a specific problem. Think about common challenges that your clients typically face, and what the smaller steps are to achieving that. Then pick one step to focus your ebook on, so that readers aren’t overwhelmed by trying to do too much at once.
For example, if your clients typically need help with weight loss, then create an ebook about healthy lunches or making time for exercise.
#7 – Video Courses
Videos help people get to know and like you in a short amount of time. They’re ideal for topics that need a visual explanation, such as demonstrating complex exercises.
Use your phone to create 3 videos that break down a key skill such as ‘perfecting your clean and press’. Then package them as a course using YouTube or Teachable.
You might also like… 10 Creative Fitness Video Ideas or How to start your own fitness YouTube channel in 5 simple steps.
#8 – Challenges
When it comes to health club marketing, you can’t beat a fitness challenge. They’re a great way to build a community and get people on the right track towards changing their lifestyle.
You could create a pack that walks people through a 10-day plank challenge, 7-day smoothie challenge or simply builds up to a total rep count (such as 100 sumo squats). Be sure to align your fitness challenge with a common goal that new members have when joining.
Check out our list of fun fitness challenge ideas and engaging weight loss challenges to get started.
#9 – Meal Plans & Shopping Lists
These are both really popular, especially if you tailor them to a training need for very specific audiences. Think protein-packed meal plans for vegan powerlifters, 5:2 meal plans for busy working mums, or shopping lists that support healthy eating challenges.
#10 – Workout Guides
Exercise programs and visual workout guides are always popular lead magnets. Be sure to tailor them to your specific target audience, so you attract high-quality leads.
For instance, if you’re wanting to work with corporate clients, then create a desk workout guide or travel exercises they can do in their hotel room.
Event Marketing Ideas
Events are a powerful marketing tool for gyms and health clubs. They allow you to meet people face to face and enable them to try out different aspects of your offering. Here are some fitness event ideas to get you started…
#11 – Hold Client Appreciation Days
Boost retention by putting on a free seminar, small group PT session, or exclusive preview of group exercise classes before they launch. Members will feel valued and that they’re getting extra bonuses for free.
#12 – Run Courses
Combine practical training with theoretical knowledge and create 4-6 week courses on specialist topics. Popular themes include pre or post-natal fitness, IronMan preparation, or nutrition-related topics. This provides extra value to members and positions your brand as an expert.
#13 – Hold In-House Workshops
These offer greater flexibility than courses since they are one-off events that don’t need a long term commitment. You can either charge for attendance or offer them for free in order to generate leads. Be sure to offer complimentary places to your existing client base as an ‘exclusive loyalty perk’.
#14 – Offer Community Seminars
Get involved in your local community by running seminars on popular topics. Why not arrange a 45-minute seminar on healthy family meals, active aging exercises, or meditation for stress?
Make sure you encourage people to invite a friend for free, then collect all their details during registration so you can market to them afterward.
#15 – Online Events
Not all events need to be held in person. You can organise online events too like webinars or Twitter chats. Or participate in digital events organised by others to help promote your own brand to new audiences.
You might also like… our article on gym event ideas for more suggestions that you can use in your business.
Partnership & Networking Ideas
Partnering and networking are often overlooked as fitness marketing ideas. But they allow you to reach new audiences and leverage other company’s relationships. Here are a few options…
#16 – Officiate For Sports Clubs
They often need fit and healthy people to referee during matches. If you’re a personal trainer, then it generates extra income whilst building relationships with clubs for future training opportunities.
#17 – Contribute To Publications
Write articles for magazines and websites that your ideal client is likely to read. Editors are always under pressure to produce content, so they’ll happily print good quality articles for free. Make a list of target publications and then pitch fitness article ideas to them.
#18 – Attend Meetups
These events are a great way to network and meet new clients. Join local Meetups that your ideal client would be interested in, such as those focused on sports, healthy eating, and fitness. Meetups are also great for developing relationships with other local businesses.
#19 – Try Podcasting
Get interviewed on health podcasts (or record your own!) and tap into a much wider audience. Prepare a customised lead magnet that will appeal to listeners and offer it for free during the interview. That way you’ll not only increase awareness of your brand but capture leads too.
#20 – Promo Partners
Partnering with other local businesses can help you extend your reach in the community. Advertising at a local health food store or juice bar is a great way to get in front of potential new members.
They’ll often let you advertise on their notice board or cashier desk for free. Or why not run a nutrition seminar at your local organic cafe and offer all the attendees a complimentary one-day gym pass.
Pricing & Packaging Ideas
How you price and package your services will have a profound effect on sales revenue. Here are some options you might want to consider…
#21 – Bundle Your Offering
Combining several products or services into a ‘bundled option’ has been shown to increase sales. So, try combining complimentary offerings into a larger bundle to drive more revenue.
#22 – Re-Think Free Trials
Anything that’s free has no value. So, stop referring to ‘free trials’ in your marketing! Positioning them as ‘7-day memberships worth $50’ or ‘1 Day Passes’ will subconsciously reframe how customers view them.
#23 – Use Anchor Pricing
Things only seem expensive (or cheap) when compared to something else.
Research shows that by offering three price options, people will invariably choose the middle one. This can be used to bump up your average order or sign-up value.
#24 – Offer Online Options
People increasingly want to learn and train on their own schedule. So, why not repackage your offering into an online course that people can access at any time they like? Udemy, Skillshare, and Teachable are all great platforms with plenty of guidance on how to get started as an online instructor.
#25 – Reframe Pricing
Break down the cost of your gym memberships into weekly or daily equivalents. This helps people to get over their initial impression that something is ‘expensive’. Then compare it to an equivalent daily cost – “that’s less than your daily latte”!
You might also like… Effective Gym Membership Pricing Strategies For Clubs & Studios.
Fitness Marketing Ideas Summary
Here’s a quick recap of all 25 fitness marketing ideas we’ve covered…
- Optimise Your Bio With Keywords
- Run Competitions
- Tap Into Communities
- Run A Quick Poll
- Promote Your Audience (Not Yourself)
- Ebooks
- Video Courses
- Challenges
- Meal Plans & Shopping Lists
- Workout Guides
- Hold Client Appreciation Days
- Run Courses
- Hold In-House Workshops
- Offer Community Seminars
- Online Events
- Officiate For Sports Clubs
- Contribute To Publications
- Attend Meetups
- Try Podcasting
- Promo Partners
- Bundle Your Offering
- Re-Think Free Trials
- Use Anchor Pricing
- Offer Online Options
- Reframe Pricing
Want even more marketing ideas for your fitness business? Then check out our free download…
Fitness Marketing Ideas – Downloadable List
If you’d like more fitness marketing ideas to help grow your business, then download our free guide. It contains over 85 ideas to attract new gym members, get more PT clients, or boost your fitness blog.
The guide covers advertising, promotions, social media, events, and networking, so you’ll never be short on health club marketing ideas for your business. Download it below for free.
Fitness Business Templates & More
Our ready-made templates make it quicker, cheaper, and easier to promote your fitness business. They can improve the effectiveness of your sales and marketing campaigns. If you aren’t an experienced marketer, then templates also provide a useful guide for you to follow.
Whether you run a gym club, fitness studio, or personal training business, these templates will save you time and effort. They’ll help you to plan and organize your promotional activities so that you generate more revenue. You’ll get 40+ templates covering sales, marketing, and business start-up resources.
