Holiday Marketing

Thanksgiving will be upon us before we know it, and soon after, Christmas and the New Year. For each holiday, specific marketing promotions can help bring in new membership sales, revenue and prospects. To help you best position your club during the holiday season, we spoke with clubs to discover how they channel their marketing resources during Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.

Michael Olander Jr., the president and CEO of O2 Fitness Clubs, said one of the biggest issues O2 Fitness faces during the holidays, is a decrease in member visitation. To remedy this situation, “We try to encourage them to keep up with their fitness routines by offering a variety of programs such as Group X samplers, clinics [and] boot camps, during this time of year.”

To increase sales, O2 Fitness has offered a “low money down until 2013” Black Friday promotion after Thanksgiving. For both Black Friday and New Years, O2 has utilized external advertising to market to prospects. Around Christmas, more emphasis has been placed on internal advertising to O2 Fitness’ existing members.

The promotions help to further alleviate the dip in traffic typically seen by O2 Fitness during this time of year. “Around Thanksgiving, [and] Christmas, we see a slow down in the area directly before each holiday,” said Olander Jr. “With our Black Friday specials we pick up in the end of November, and then we see pre-resolution traffic pick up around the 27th of December.”

Throughout the entire holiday season, O2 Fitness makes use of guest passes for members’ friends and family as well, to help bring in traffic and leads.

This year, for the third year in a row, Gainesville Health & Fitness (GHF) will sell “Holiday Gift Bags,” during the holidays, which contain two one-on-one personal training sessions, two “Custom Fit” sessions for $149 and a variety of vendor products.

“The idea with these bags is to drive non-dues cash in the last month of the year,” explained Tara Sampson, a personal training sales organizer for GHF. “Historically, it’s difficult to sell long-term personal training packages when folks are traveling and eating around the holidays. By discounting the price — but not by too much, you still want qualified prospects — you are essentially selling what you would have given away in a promotional campaign.”

The bags are pre-wrapped with the gift certificates inside. “We find that one of our biggest days is a few days before Christmas, as a last minute gift idea, and the fact that it is ready to be put under the tree really helps,” said Sampson.

After Christmas, GHF pushes hard for the redemption of the gift. “We find that many people who purchase these bags for themselves, or receive them as gifts, end up being long-term clients for us,” said Sampson.

Last year, the gift bags generated around $65,000 in additional revenue for GHF.

According to Sampson, giving away free personal training sessions might be a great holiday promotion to benefit your personal training team. “Most personal traning departments give away tons of free sessions,” she said. “This is a way to sell short term packages, drive cash and allow your customers to experience your product without spending marketing dollars.”

After the holidays, O2 Fitness focuses on the needs of the members who came through their door, during the holiday season. “We have a lot of de-conditioned guests who come in looking to achieve their New Years Resolution,” said Olander, Jr. “Many of them are walking into a health club for the first time in January, and it’s our responsibility to make them feel welcome and help guide them on their journey towards a healthier lifestyle.”

By Rachel Zabonick