There are two types of businesses when it comes to marketing and advertising — proactive marketers and reactive marketers. The former has a plan and works that plan, and the latter waits for a competitor to do something and then responds. The former increases its chance of success, and the latter is almost guaranteed to fail, or certainly underachieve.
Make life easier on yourself and get a plan. I am convinced that there are a couple of reasons why most gyms that I work with do not have a marketing plan in place until I get involved:
1. Many gym owners are not strong organizers. Go to www.personalityandfitness.com. Take the FULL personality assessment (username: clubsolutions, password: magazine). Learn how strong your organizational skills are. If you are lacking, then find an employee who is a strong planner and have him or her help you with your marketing plan. Or contact me at jason@jasonlinse.com and I will design one for you.
2. Many gym owners don’t know where to start. Even if you are a strong planner and organizer, you may simply need a formula and some basic rules.
- Rule number 1: You need to spend between 5 percent and 10 percent of gross annual revenue on marketing. The reason for this range is because your goal is to get to 10 percent after a couple of years. So, start at 5 percent if you are new or have been under spending currently.
- Rule number 2: You need to market year round. You will spend more in January than you do in July, but you will not take time off. Email me at jason@jasonlinse.com with “formula” in the subject line and I will give you my recommended monthly breakdown.
- Rule number 3: You will use a variety of mediums — track their individual results and spend most of your marketing dollars on print.
3. Print marketing: Door hangers, newspaper inserts, direct mail, business-to-business passes — they all work if done correctly. The target market here is the over-35 crowd, which most of you covet. I use the acronym H.I.P in many of my presentations to help gym owners remember the tried-and-true forms of print that are still very effective.
- H: Hangers. Door to door, get a group of kids and get 1,000 hung in three to four hours.
- I: Inserts. Get these in your neighborhood paper a few times per year.
- P: Passes. 3-inch by 5-inch classic guerilla-style marketing focused on your retail business neighbors. Email me at jason@jasonlinse.com with “HIP” in the subject line and I will get you a five-page marketing guide.
4. Electronic marketing: If you aren’t using social media, you are so late to the party you may as well stay home and go to sleep. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the big three right now.
- Facebook: Post twice per day and use it to build a tribe. This tribe is composed of your members AND of people who are not members. Post once in the morning and once in the evening. Focus on inspirational and educational. Use fun photos and be sure to respond to comments and engage your followers.
- Twitter: Post between one and 10 times per day. Ask questions, be funny and follow everybody who follows you.
- Instagram: Post at least one picture per day and really make sure the images are great quality and aesthetically pleasing. Use as many hashtags as you want. Take pictures of your equipment, group sessions, your staff and your members.
Marketing is the lifeblood of your business. You need to pound your marketing message constantly and you will see the most bang for your buck on marketing if you have a plan and follow it.
Keep changing lives.
Jason Linse is president and founder of The Business of Fitness, a consulting company. He also owns a personality assessment company called People Plus+ Fitness. He can be reached at jason@jasonlinse.com or at 612-310-1319. Visit www.jasonlinse.com.
