How to Market for Gyms and Health Clubs in 2023

If you own a gym, health club, or rejuvenation center, you probably already know how challenging it can be to market for gyms in such a digitally-crowded space. The fitness industry is huge and growing more each year. Between now and 2028, the health and fitness industry is expected to grow by nearly 172%. This means that understanding how your business can set itself apart is the first step in making sure you capture available market share.

Let’s explore how to market your gym or health club to stand out in 2023.

Health Club vs. Healthcare Marketing

Although we’ve previously discussed how the healthcare sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, health clubs occupy a fundamentally different place in the market. Because of this, health club and gym marketing don’t have to follow a traditional healthcare marketing plan, despite offering a healthcare-adjacent service. 

Why? For one, most health clubs, gyms, and other groups in the health and fitness industry are small businesses. This means that your gym can market like a small business without the red tape, bureaucracy, and HIPAA regulations that can inhibit healthcare organizations — such as by limiting their presence on social media or access to different avenues to pull in customers, like PPC campaigns. 

However, there is a downside when marketing health clubs compared to traditional healthcare. Because medical care is necessary for sick people or individuals with injuries, healthcare facilities have something of a captive audience. With health clubs and gyms, however, you’re in the somewhat more optional business of enhancing people’s health through the services you provide. 

Through necessity alone, even the worst-marketed healthcare organizations can be successful. Gyms and health clubs, on the other hand, can be made or broken by marketing. 

How Should My Gym Get More Customers?

More individuals than ever before are ditching home gyms for professional fitness studios. While this presents a great opportunity, you need to get people to start choosing your gym over your competitors. 

Here are three easy steps you can utilize to turn your business into a recognizable brand and start driving more revenue to your bottom line. 

1. Spotlight Your USP

You probably didn’t start your gym on a whim. Instead, most founders discovered a gap in the fitness market that wasn’t already addressed and created a place where they and their ideal customers both wanted to go.

However, it’s easy to lose focus on your niche. When first trying to build a customer base, you probably wanted to cater to everyone. Sometimes, businesses need to cast a wide net to keep the lights on, but gym owners and managers can get stuck in this mindset. If you want to market for gyms effectively, you need to remember what makes you special. Revisit what made your approach unique and what problem you wanted to solve when you first had the idea to open your health club.

Consider your most passionate and engaged customers and treat them as your target audience. Then, stop with the cookie-cutter campaigns that you’ve run in the past and instead focus on how you can best highlight your unique selling proposition (USP). 

2. Define Your Goals

This may seem like a dumb question, but what are your goals? Most business owners typically answer, “I want to increase my revenue.” As true as this may be, you’ll need a more specific target if you want to develop the best possible marketing plan. Ask yourself how you want to go about increasing that revenue. Do you want to attract new clients, offer additional services, solidify your brand image, or focus on retaining more of your current clients? 

Each of these methods requires a different strategy and tactic. Start by gathering regular feedback from patrons and plan for where you want to be using S.M.A.R.T. goals. By developing both short and long-term goals, you can holistically push your business forward and measure your progress according to your key performance indicators (KPIs).

3. Use a Marketing Plan or Get Help from a Marketing Partner

One way to define your goals and develop a strategic approach to achieving them is by creating a marketing plan. Marketing plans can help you recognize the best channels to target and give you and your team a clear understanding of how successful your implementation strategy will be. 

Another method that you can employ is to team up with a marketing partner that can help you define and capitalize on the channels where you can accelerate your business growth and drive revenue the fastest.

Get Ahead with Joseph Studios

With enough time and research, you might be able to write a great plan to market your gym on your own. But wouldn’t it be better for industry experts to help you implement your strategies? Instead of limiting your bandwidth, work collaboratively with Joseph Studios to capture market share, solidify your brand image, and increase your revenue. 

We pair our proprietary Deep Insight® methodology with expert market research, intelligence and analysis, customer profiling, writing, and design to create and implement a strategy to create and capitalize on the relationships your business needs to thrive.

The marketing professionals at Joseph Studios know how to find your best channels for audience growth so that you can make the most of your gym or health club business in 2023. Let us empower you to grow a loyal following through social media outreach, PPC campaigns, public relations, and more.

Don’t know where to start? Schedule your free expert consultation today!