You and I both know that we don’t have unlimited amounts of cash. If we did, we certainly wouldn’t be banging our heads against the walls of our gym to think of ways to make ends meet.
Having a limited marketing budget means getting creative and finding low or no cost ways of generating new traffic to your club. Here are two good ones for you:
Fitness Gift Cards
I looked in my car yesterday and counted my stack of gift cards. I have 19 unused giftcards. Starbucks, Target, a wine store, McDonalds (thanks Grandma), Best Buy, GNC and many others.
Why do I still have these? Because I can’t throw them away!
We have been using gift cards in our gyms and selling gift cards to our clients for over a year now — and they work. Nearly 50 percent of all of our new membership sales are being attributed to these gift cards.
They’re inexpensive, they can be used a dozen different ways, and your prospects will find it very hard to throw out a plastic card that has the look and feel of a credit card (with magnetic strip on the back) and a dollar denomination on the front.
Business of the Month
We love using this system. When a direct mail piece falls on its face, or we are running into a lot of cold leads and ineffective follow ups, focusing on area businesses has worked really well for us over the past year.
When you visit a local business, don’t just drop off a stack of flyers or gift cards, make it “bigger.”
Stop in and introduce yourself to the manager or owner. Let them know you want to feature them as the Business of the Month to all of your members. (Note: you’re doing something for them before you ask them to do something for you). Feature them on your wall, in your new member welcome packet; send out an e-mail advocating them, etc. (I’ll bet they’ll hook your members up with a percentage-off sale)
Let them know that during their month, all of their employees get to work out for free — zero obligations. Then, you can provide them temporary membership cards, a gift card, a redeemable coupon, etc.
When those employees come in, make sure you have an irresistible offer ready for them. The goal in any “trial membership” is to flip them into a sale — the sooner the better. Come up with a WOW offer that will be tough for them to turn down, and turn all of these employees of your Business of the Month, into paying members.
Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Get started with these two strategies and start seeing a better return on your marketing investment.
Curtis Mock is the host of www.FitnessBusinessTelevision.com the TV show for fitness entrepreneurs. He is also the executive director of gymsuccess.com. Curtis can be reached at curtis@clubsolutionsmagazine.com.
