Rike Aprea, the marketing director for Spartan DEKA, shares tips on how using fitness challenges can take your business to the next level.
An exercise challenge can never replace an individual exercise program tailored to a clients’ specific needs. It can also not replace supervised personal training or small group training. However, a fitness challenge can be a good kick-start that triggers other healthy lifestyle choices. It can also be a great motivational boost for anyone that needs a nudge to get their fitness to the next level.
Apart from that, fitness challenges are an underestimated business tool to attract new clients or engage existing members.
Why are challenges so powerful?
- The word challenge itself can foster the ambition to stick to a program.
- Challenges can increase accountability, even more so when they are set up for a team.
- Challenges can drive friendly competition among your gym members. Especially when your clients can track their results through a leaderboard.
- Rewards tied to challenges can help to increase extrinsic motivation.
- Challenges have a beginning and an end date. This clear duration of the program makes it easier to commit to.
- The deadline of the challenge will prevent procrastination and help encourage participation.
- Challenges provide framework and a structured approach, which make them easy to follow.
- Challenges usually don’t require big time commitments. This can help to undermine the No. 1 reason why people don’t exercise — lack of time.
- Challenges bring change. Committing to a certain behavior can help to open the door to long-lasting behavior change.
Here are some tips on how using challenges can take your fitness business to the next level:
- Make challenges open to non-gym members. This can help to attract potential new clients.
- Encourage existing members to invite their friends.
- Have your challenges as free-of-charge and utilize them as a member acquisition tool instead.
- Advertise your free challenge in your local community as a unique team-building experience.
- Reach out to former or inactive members to bring them back into your gym.
- Use specific hashtags to create additional social media buzz.
- Ask your clients for daily posts and make sure they tag your gym.
- If applicable, document before and after stats that you can share with your participants.
- Last, but not least, make your challenges fun. Set them up as community events and encourage people to bring family and friends.
