Health Club KPIs
As a gym owner you may find that one of your biggest challenges is marketing gym memberships in a way that keeps them affordable and competitive. Yet, this doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, there are numerous cost-effective and straight-forward ways for you to increase and retain membership. The following are some Best Practices and Measure Goals for you to consider as plan your marketing strategies and build your gym memberships.
Determine and Set Goals
As with any business, this one is a no brainier. And, with fitness especially, as you know, goal setting is the backbone of our industry. Just as setting goals helps people stay motivated to increase personal fitness, reasonable and achievable goals for your club membership will help you stay focused and motivated as you execute your marketing strategy. Many club owners have adopted the same S.M.A.R.T goal setting that so many personal trainers in the industry use. Your goals should be:
- S – Specific. Be as specific and detailed as you can when setting your goals. A vague aim won’t get you where you need to be.
- M – Measureable. For example, don’t just say, “We need more members.” Have a specific number in mind with measure results and analytics to get you there.
- A – Attainable. While, “1000 more members by Friday” would be nice, it probably isn’t attainable. Stick to goals that you can achieve in a reasonable amount of time. Setting mini, attainable goals can keep you pumped for bigger goals.
- R – Realistic. Sure, you’re probably used to thinking big. After all, that’s probably what got you in the position of owning your own studio in the first place. But be sure you stick to realistic goals so you can stick to being results-oriented.
- T – Timely. Be sure you can stick to your goals in a reasonable amount of time.
A good goal that fits this pattern would be something like, “Sign up 60 new fitness club members within 30 days.” If you need help coming up with realistic goals, review previous months to see what was accomplished and how long it took. Let that be your guide.
Also Read: Make Your Studio Website Work For You
Most importantly, make sure that you are able to measure your goals. You should be able to measure how many new people signed up for club membership within a specific time period. Having a realistic and measurable goal creates a positive feedback system that will help you succeed. You can also translate the goal into terms of revenue to help keep everyone involved motivated. For example, you could express the goal of singing up new members as “increasing monthly dues revenue by 5 percent within 60 days and by 15 percent within 90 days.” You can then measure your progress against these goals and make adjustments, if necessary. As a business owner, everything you do should contribute to helping you achieve your goals.
Identify Your Target Audience – Health Club KPIs
Prior to opening your club you probably had an idea of your target audience. Now that you are open and ready for business, it is time to really zero in on your target audience. You can do this by analyzing the local demographics (age, gender, income, education level, and spending habits) for the neighborhoods around your club, and the demographics for your current members. One of the best places to start doing demographics research is at the Small Business Association website. From there, you can focus your efforts on your target audience and promote services that will attract them to your club rather than to your competitors. This will help you identify your customer base and the specific target audience for your new member campaign.
For example, if after analyzing your current membership data and the surrounding demographics, you discover the area has a very large population of upper class 25-40 year-old males and females, and that your current membership is significantly underrepresented by that population, then you can make this demographic your primary target audience. Your new membership drive and social media use (popular with this age group) can help you reach them and get them to act.
Use Social Media Marketing
As mentioned, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram can all be used to keep your existing club members engaged as well as attract new ones. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that some platforms are better for social media for gyms than others. For example, if you are targeting 18-29 year olds, you may find that Instagram to be a better choice than LinkedIn. Alternatively, LinkedIn could be very effective for an older, more professional target audience like the one mentioned above. Twitter can almost always be used to re-purpose your content and drive people to your website to sign up to be a new club member. And, as a general rule, Facebook is a good choice for almost any target audience.
The following are a few easy ideas to help engage members using social media:
- Announce seasonal or time-sensitive promotions. For example, “Memorial Day is just 14 weeks away! Get that Beach Body now!” You could even invoke Facebook “boosts” to advertise this to locals.
- Cater to members’ needs and potential prospects by posting tips on how to perform certain exercises or how to plan a healthy meal. Include photographs or videos will engage an audience and encourage sharing.
- Offer a special promotion, such as a “No Enrollment Fee!”
- Get your audience involved by asking them questions such as workout playlist suggestions or success stories.
- Promote a contest such as a push-up or pull-up challenge. You’ll want to promote the contest on your website and link to your social media pages. The more pictures, video and visually appealing design you can make, the better.
Use the Power of Video Marketing
It’s been determined by studies that websites including video are at least 20 times more likely to show up on the first page of a Google organic search. That’s a huge marketing value without even spending marketing dollars on Google advertising! Video helps improve the search engine optimization (SEO) for your site, which should result in increased traffic—and increased conversions. The video doesn’t have to be long, but anything over 10 minutes on YouTube are typically the videos that get shared the most. Aim for 10:04. To attract and convert viewers into new club members, create a video and mention it on your social media page. A few great video ideas are:
- An introduction to your club showing the motivating, energetic and warm staff. For those new to fitness, joining a gym can be pretty scary. Seeing a video with the smiling faces of your inviting staff can be just what it takes to get someone past their anxiety to sign up.
- Create an instructional video on the basics of a hot fitness activity. What is the newest fitness craze? Do you have it in your gym? Let people know!
- Show the key features and equipment of your club.
- Testimonial videos by club members can be very effective at highlighting the unique qualities of your club and helping persuade people to join.
By creating S.M.A.R.T Goals and following these Best Practices you can be well on your way to optimizing and growing your wellness business. While all of them are effective, you may need to see which ones work best for you and your club. And, don’t be afraid to come up with some innovative ideas of your own. The more invested you are in your club, the bigger the investment you will get from it!