For virtually every health club, gym and fitness center in the industry, there are two distinct events that lead to increased sales and profits. The first is obviously January, which brings New Year resolutions and plenty of new members. The second occurrence that impacts health club sales is back-to-school season. The family settles back into a routine, the kids have returned to classes, and suddenly mom and dad find themselves with time to exercise again. Most gyms report that this back-to-school period brings the second-best sales boost of the year.
Increased sales may begin in August, although many schools begin in early September. However, simply hoping for success will inevitably lead to disappointment. To guarantee a prosperous back-to-school sales promotion, you absolutely must have a solid marketing and advertising program in place. Now is the time to pull out all the stops, focusing on online advertising and newspaper advertising in the local gazette. Those fitness center owners wishing to spend a little more may want to consider radio advertising or other local advertising methods, or maybe even running some television advertising if costs are not prohibitive.
The potential sales during this back-to-school time of year are tremendous! The problem is that most health club owners don't hold a small business marketing degree. Fitness professionals are usually not direct marketing experts or even using a comprehensive marketing plan that is designed for the fitness industry.
Fortunately, although you may not have a marketing agency working for you, you DO have full access to the free advertising advice provided by www.cuecd.com! August brings with it five unique business advertising opportunities, one of these being the second-most powerful marketing strategy of the year!
National Health Center Week (2nd week) www.healthcenterweek.com
Each year the second week of August is a special week dedicated to recognizing the service and contributions of Community, Migrant, Homeless and Public Housing Health Centers. Thanks to the health center model, people in over 4000 communities around the nation enjoy a true sense of 'ownership' over their health care system. It is this 'patient democracy' that drives community empowerment and makes health centers the focal point for a whole host of activities that serve the community and its people.
Health centers focus on providing low-cost health care to uninsured and/or low-income citizens. National Health Center Week is a great time to spread the word about your local health center and the good work it is doing for your community. Health Fairs, Screenings and Open House events comprise the core of activities for National Health Center Week.
This is a fantastic marketing tool for gyms because you can become involved almost immediately and at very little cost. Call the local health center and offer to set up a booth in their building during Health Center Week. Although you probably won't want to staff this booth, you can certainly fill it up with print advertising and a nice supply of 2-week free passes.
In your promotional advertising it would be a good idea to emphasize how being physically fit lowers health care costs for all Americans.
Another marketing tip to tie in with National Health Center Week would be to host a fund-raiser for the local health center. Usually operated on a non-profit basis, these centers can almost certainly use the extra money!
As is the case with every marketing program you participate in, don't hesitate to contact the local media about what you're doing. Especially if you're putting together a fund-raiser for a health center, you may just pick up some free tv advertising in the form of a short 'human interest' story on the local evening news.
National: America's Night Out Against Crime (1st Tuesday) www.natw.org
At first glance, National Night Out Against Crime might appear to have absolutely nothing to do with an advertising campaign for a health club. However, the Night Out Against Crime provides a wonderful opportunity for an event marketing strategy.
National Night Out is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for anti-crime programs, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships, and finally to send a message to criminals that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back!
As any marketing firm will tell you, it's a good idea to align your business with a worthy cause. If you haven't yet 'adopted a charity' for your fitness center, then you should consider helping this one.
One advertising idea here would be to invite the local police department into your health club to teach a class on crime prevention. Invite your members, their friends and the general public. Don't forget to use email marketing techniques like announcing the class in your gym newsletter! Emails get forwarded to friends, so this can be an effective way to get the word out.
Again, with every marketing initiative you will want to issue a press release to the local newspaper, television and radio stations. A good small business advertising campaign will always seek to obtain that free coverage, even though it may be just a short article or 30-second news story.
Another strategic marketing step to take would be to teach a class (or series of classes) on self-defense. Tie this into the Night Out Against Crime theme, and again be sure to invite everybody in town. It should go without saying that everybody who attends has the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter and receive a free 1-week pass to your fitness center. You may even consider a random drawing with some small prizes to help generate excitement.
National Pain Awareness Month www.nationalpainfoundation.org
One in four Americans (75 million people) live in chronic, debilitating pain. Many have endured years of agony and undergone two or more failed surgeries seeking pain relief. Chronic pain accounts for more than 80% of all physician visits and yet the majority of providers have little or no training in pain medicine and management. Pain costs the nation an estimated $70 billion a year in medical claims, disability payments and lost productivity. Despite the physical and financial toll, millions of people suffer needlessly, unaware of effective pain-management options.
As health and fitness professionals, you know that regular exercise may be the answer for many pain management issues. Obviously, you'll want to take great care to not 'prescribe' exercise as a treatment for somebody with chronic pain. As is always the case, it would be a good idea to refer patients (potential members) suffering from chronic pain to their health care provider prior to beginning an exercise program.
That being said, August is the perfect time to create an advertising promotion based upon pain management. There are literally reams of information and documentation proving that regular exercise can help relieve the pain of arthritis, fibromyalgia, and other debilitating diseases.
This is a perfect opportunity to partner with local physicians, chiropractors and massage therapists! Approach them individually, and simply ask for their referrals. Be honest and straightforward in your approach, letting them know that the workout plan you offer may help their patients with pain.
As 'payback', you might want to consider allowing the health care provider to conduct a class or seminar on pain management in your health club. Chiropractors and massage therapists in particular are always looking for new patients, so the chances are good that they'll be more than willing to teach a class. Not only will they pick up some new patients, but you'll have another creative advertising opportunity when you invite non-members to the seminar!
World Breastfeeding Week (always the 1st - 7th) www.lalecheleague.org
For the thousands of women's circuit training health clubs in the United States, World Breastfeeding Week provides a unique chance to create a marketing promotion for new moms and mothers-to-be.
To get a pile of new marketing leads this month, approach health care professionals in the area and offer to be a guest speaker in their pre-natal and post-natal classes. With very little effort, you can compile some marketing materials that prove the benefits of exercise for both pregnant women and for new mothers. When you speak in front a group of women that have recently given birth, you're basically speaking with your core target audience!
While you're certainly not going to create an advertising slogan based on World Breastfeeding Week, this event does offer you the opportunity to partner with local health care providers and market directly to their patients.
Back-To-School
In most areas of the country, local schools are coming back to life after a long summer of fun and sun. If you’re not taking advantage of Back-To-School as a promotional vehicle, then you’re missing the best-targeted advertising opportunity of the fall!
While there are many, many ways to market to local schools the bottom line is that you need to do something. There are three distinct ‘school targets’ you want to hit with your advertising and marketing efforts:
1) Teachers & Administrators
2) Parents & Extended Family
3) Students (if they are old enough to join the gym)
First and foremost, you need to approach the teachers and staff. The easiest way to do this is to simply visit each local school with a handful of brochures and/or 1-week free passes. Ask the receptionist if you can place them in the teacher's lounge or perhaps even in their mailboxes. If directed to do so, you should ask the administration for permission.
Teachers, typically a close-knit group, tend to respond as a whole. If you're able to successfully enroll one teacher in your gym (and that person gets results!), then many more teachers will follow. On the flip side, if you lose one teacher due to poor customer service, then you can bet that every other teacher will know about it within days.
While marketing to teachers is important, your main objective during August should be to target the parents and extended families of local students. There are far more parents than there are teachers, so you'll get more bang from your buck by aiming for this group.
One way to reach parents is to buy advertising in the PTA newsletter. This publication is carried home by children, which makes it a guaranteed-read for parents! Because this ad would be distributed through the local school(s), it's also guaranteed to reach only local families.
If the PTA in your area doesn't sell advertising in their newsletter, then you may want to consider buying an ad another school publication. High schools in particular are known for selling ads in their athletic programs. Consider sponsoring the cheerleading squad, the football team, or even the chess club! In return for your (monetary) support, they may agree to hang up your banner at every game.
Still another method of Back-To-School advertising is to purchase give-away items with a sports theme. Examples would be the small cones that cheerleaders yell through, fun-size footballs, or even t-shirts. Buy in bulk to lower the cost-per-item, and be sure to place your name and logo on each piece. Give these to the cheerleading squad to throw out to the crowd during home games. Think how powerful this type of sports marketing could be for your fitness center…..at every local high school football game the cheerleaders pass out a dozen free t-shirts that say "ABC Gym Supports XYZ High School Athletics". These freebies continue throughout the season, and soon dozens (hundreds?) of students are advertising your health club by wearing your logo!
As forceful and dominant as these promotional marketing ideas may be, even more effective is the use of the local school fund-raiser. Even if your PTA and/or school athletic association doesn't allow advertising by outside companies, it's almost guaranteed that they DO allow fund-raisers. Is there a school in the United States that doesn't have at least a few fund-raisers each year?
One such program is a type of affiliate marketing plan. After gaining the approval of the local school, you print up an advertisement for your gym. The ad should contain an offer, and preferably a coupon that must be turned in to receive the discount. This ad must clearly and specifically state that the school will receive a percentage of all purchases made. For example, your offer could be 50% off registration with coupon, and the school would receive half of the registration fee. Another option would be to offer $100 registration (instead of the usual $149 registration), and give the school $50 for each new member that joins using one of these 'school' coupons.
The beauty of this school fund-raiser model is that it effectively emulates direct mail marketing without the associated high postage costs. You are able to get your ad into local homes in such a way that parents will read it, and in the process you're helping schools raise much-needed funds. As an additional bonus, consider that specialty advertising like this is truly pay-for-performance based. In other words, you pay nothing for an ad that doesn't result in a new member. Because you're paying the participating school a percentage of the profits, YOU PAY ONLY WHEN YOU GET RESULTS. That's powerful!
Are you excited about the possibilities for health club advertising in August? Do you need one more idea? This next concept will create a virtual network marketing web that will literally blanket your local community with your ads! You'll have hundreds of local kids pushing and promoting your gym to their families and neighbors! This final idea is truly sales marketing on steroids!
Instead of selling whole memberships as a fund-raiser, consider selling '10 for 10' cards. These cards offer the customer ten workouts for just ten dollars. In other words, they're paying about $1 per day, which for many fitness centers is the regular price anyway.
By taking advantage of the business card pricing at your local printer, you can have these '10 Workouts For $10' cards professionally printed, full-color, on glossy card stock for less than 10 cents each. Then you turn around and 'sell' them to the local school for $1 per card. The school sells them to parents, neighbors, etc. for full face value ($10 per card). The school earns $9 profit per card, you earn 90 cents profit per card, and most importantly you have a stream of new potential customers coming into the gym to use their '10 for 10' cards! This is lead generation marketing at it's best, because you're capturing new leads (potential customers) and you're actually GETTING PAID to do so!
Every good sample marketing plan has a follow-up strategy, and this one is no different. When each potential member comes into the health club to begin using their '10 for 10' card, you obviously give them a tour of the facility. At the conclusion of the tour, you then offer them a trade: If they give you their '10 for 10' card before all ten workouts have been used up, you'll give them $100 off the regular registration price.
The beauty of the '10 for 10' Back-To-School advertising technique is that you actually have ten opportunities to 'sell' that card-holder a regular membership. They're probably going to be in your gym ten times, trying your equipment and visiting with you face-to-face. That's the perfect sales situation! The '10 for 10' method will certainly get them in the door - the rest is up to you!
Note: If you’re not able to find a local printer that will give you a great deal on their business card package, then you should check out this link: Full Color Business Cards from PsPrint 
Successful marketing and advertising campaigns don't just happen by accident. They take planning, effort and follow-through. The good news is that now you have the knowledge to conduct the most potent direct marketing operation you've ever launched in August!
Now go get some members!
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