Robyn Rivera
Fitness businesses, including personal trainers, gyms, yoga studios, etc., have been hit hard by COVID.
But, regardless of how difficult 2020 was for your fitness business, it’s a new year. Here are a few things you can do to make your fitness business more successful in 2021.
Whether it’s a group fitness class, a personal training session or even just a workout at a gym, it’s going to involve being in an enclosed space with other people for an extended period of time, which makes operating during the pandemic a challenge for fitness businesses.
However, there are a lot of changes fitness businesses can make in order to comply with restrictions and meet the changing needs of members and customers. Here are a few ideas:
Staying nimble by changing up your services will ensure that you’re meeting the current needs of your members and customers, but in order to do so, you need the right technology on your side.
From organizing a rental system for fitness equipment and scheduling virtual personal training sessions to moving your pro-shop online, making the necessary changes in your business can take a lot of work. However, having a modern website with the functionality you need will help tremendously.
With Websites 360®, it’s easy to build a fitness website that has the functionality you need And since it’s backed by Marketing 360®, you’ll also have easy access to the tools you need to stay organized, like the CRM, Scheduling and Payments.
The average membership fee for a fitness center is almost $60 a month. That’s not exactly chump change, and consumers aren’t going to spend it lightly, They are going to want to know that they’ve picked the right fitness center or personal trainer. To do that, they’re going to read reviews.
Fitness reviews give potential members insight into what it’s like to work out at your gym or with your personal trainers, and new members are going to want to read them before making a commitment. That’s why it’s critical to get more reviews.
One of the easiest ways to get more reviews is to send a follow-up email or text message after a new member has used the gym for the first time or worked with a trainer. This ensures you’re asking everyone, and allows you to send reviewers your most important review websites.
Most businesses are creating content in order to expand awareness, build trust or inform their audience — all of which can be done more efficiently and effectively when you do so with a video.
Video is, by far, the most engaging type of content you can create, and it’s something that can be useful on social media, on your website, on your YouTube channel, in your ads and beyond.
You don’t necessarily need a lot of pricey video equipment or a professional videographer to create great videos for your fitness business. You can do a lot more than you might think equipped only with your smartphone.
If you have a brick and mortar location for your fitness business, it’s important to take the same steps that all local businesses need to take in order to increase their visibility. That means managing your local listings.
Your fitness business needs to be listed anywhere and everywhere people in your area are looking to get fit, including Google, Facebook, Yelp and more. You also need to make sure that your business information (name, address, phone number, etc.) are all up to date and consistent across your listings.
With the pandemic, more and more people are spending more and more of their time on social media. Whether you’re hoping to get your name in front of more people or build stronger relationships in your community, social media is a great place to focus your energy.
Build profiles on the social media platforms the people in your community are using most, and make it a point to be active on them. Use a social scheduling tool, like Marketing 360 Social, to help you save time and post consistently.
Your members don’t drop in out of thin air. They are people who have first seen your message or been exposed to your business in one way or another.
Visibility can come in many different forms, from advertising and word of mouth to organic search results. And, if you want to ensure that your business shows up in the organic results on search engines, like Google and Bing, you need to focus on SEO (search engine optimization).
The basics of SEO involve identifying the keywords you want to target, optimizing your website with those keywords and then consistently creating content on your website and social profiles.
Advertising on the top channels is a fantastic way to make your fitness business a lot more visible, and thanks to the pandemic, there’s never been a better time to advertise.
A lot of businesses in the fitness industry have pulled back their advertising budgets, leading to less competition, cheaper advertising and greater potential for businesses.
When you combine cheaper, less competitive ads with the ability to micro-target the people in your area most likely to want your services or products, it has the potential to create quite a bit of bang for your buck.
There are a lot of steps you can take to set your fitness business up for a successful 2021, and it all starts with having a modern, professional fitness website.
Start building your fitness website with Websites 360 today.