How is health and fitness marketing changing in 2020? 

Well, word-of-mouth is still the strongest form of marketing, but now it takes place online. To thrive as a fitness business owner, you need to step up your marketing game to match the pace of the changing fitness marketing landscape. 

The number of health club facilities increased in the US by 2.8% in 2018 and there were more than 6 billion gym visits in the same year. Imagine how many of these visitors started their journey online searching for the right fitness studio, gym or personal trainer.  

More prospective customers are searching for fitness services online than ever before. 

The fitness industry is getting more competitive every day and you need a fitness marketing game plan to stay ahead of the competition.

How can you get up to speed to the changing fitness marketing trends? 

Making sense of online marketing: A guide for health and fitness businesses

In order to help you with developing a robust fitness marketing plan to keep up with the changes, we have worked with Constant Contact to develop the ultimate guide to health and fitness business marketing. And best of all — You can download this guide for free.

Our guide to health and fitness marketing helps fitness business owners understand the shift in marketing trends and shares the actionable steps to increase your brand awareness, and grow your fitness business. 

The 65-page guide covers the following topics:

• Understanding the change in health and fitness marketing trends
• How people are looking for fitness services online
• How to engage & convert prospects into customers with a content strategy 
• Which marketing channels are good for your fitness business

Where should I start with marketing my fitness business? 

In the last three years, I have helped fitness studios, gyms, and personal trainers enhance their online presence and grow their fitness businesses through my agency Fitomate. I found that just like other small businesses, fitness business owners are wearing many hats. They are busy building relationships with customers that regularly come to their fitness studio or gym, and often forget to prioritize their online marketing.

We get it — you don’t have infinite time to spend on your marketing, so your tactics need to be easy-to-execute, sustainable, and most of all, effective.

There are some basic marketing ground rules for fitness businesses to stick to if they want to grow in this digital era. When prospects search for your fitness business online, they should be able to find you. 

Audit your current online presence

It is imperative that you do a thorough audit of your entire online presence, including social channels, your business website, search results, and Google My Business.

Most people will discover your business via a web search. Ideally, you should show up for local search terms in your niche. For example, if your gym is located in Beverly Hills, CA, it should show up for search terms such as “best gym in Beverly Hills,” “gyms near me,” and “Beverly Hills gym.” People also search for specific attributes in a fitness business such as “24 hours gyms” or “gyms with personal trainers.”

Youll also want to check your Google My Business reviews. It is usually the first thing that shows up on Google when someone searches for your fitness studio or gym. 

Imagine if your reviews are not good or you only have a small number of reviews because you never thought of asking your customers for a review. The reviews on Google or Facebook are social proof of the quality of your fitness services. As I said, word-of-mouth is still the strongest form of marketing, but now it happens online. 

Which online fitness marketing strategy works best?  

After auditing and setting up your social media channels, you need to develop your marketing strategies and tactics. Assess what has been working for you in the past, and build on that. If you’re not sure where to even get started, revisit our free online marketing guide for health and fitness.

Something to note — the strategies for gym marketing will be different from personal trainer marketing. For example, a personal trainer can focus on publishing the individual success stories of their clients as their fitness service is more personalized. This might not be as sound of a marketing strategy for a general fitness center that has 500+ members. 

Another thing to be aware of is that each online channel is different in terms of how content is displayed on it. A good practice is to have a consistent marketing strategy across all channels. If you are a spin studio sharing weekly spin class challenge winners on your blog, make sure you share it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and in your email newsletter as well.

TIP: Learn more about the different social media channels you can use in your online marketing.

One thing is clear — The conversations where people decide which businesses to use are happening online. People are sharing and engaging with the content shared by the fitness businesses or health clubs they visit. When you are planning your marketing, keep this in mind. Your content should be something that people want to read and hopefully, even share with their networks. 

Ready to grow your online presence?

Now you know the importance of enhancing your online presence and developing the right marketing strategies to grow your business. Next, why not download our 64-page health and fitness marketing guide for a fresh perspective on your online marketing plan?

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