Health Club Marketing and Attracting and Keeping Members

By Chris McCombs

When it comes to health club marketing, all too often personal trainers and business owners make the grievous mistake of spending too little time in this department, if any, and as a result, their business inevitably suffers. Don't keep your club's services a secret any longer by making it a point to vamp up your marketing efforts and start enjoying the plentiful rewards.

Here are a few simple, but rather important health club marketing strategies you won't want to overlook in your own business endeavors, whether you're just starting out, or you're looking to expand and increase your existing revenue.

Direct Mail
Marketing via direct mail should be one of the top marketing strategies just waiting in your arsenal for you to put everything into motion. Simply include a brief letter or flyer stating what your club is all about, the type of equipment it has, the hours of operation, and of course, the location and contact information.

If you aren't exactly comfortable looking to your current clients for referrals directly, starting a direct mail campaign is always an excellent way to achieve the very same results.

Reconnecting With Previous Clients
Pull up the database of previous clients and get to work inviting them to reacquaint themselves with the club. Consider offering an incentive, such as a percentage off their membership renewal fee, or a free week to ease them back into the idea being a paying member once again.

Hopefully you'll have made updates since the last time most of the members were there, giving them yet another reason to sign on again.

Increasing Presence Within the Community
Nearly every town, large or small, has some type of festival, fair, or annual gala with local merchants coming together to increase their awareness in the community. Sponsor a booth at your next local event and provide people with information about your business, perhaps even handing out promotional materials such as pens, notepads, stickers, and key chains. Or, even better, water bottles printed with your company's name, address, phone number, and web site listed.

Remember to introduce yourself and network with other merchants and propose a brochure exchange in which each entity displays flyers or brochures about other respected businesses in the area.

Besides making an appearance at community events, consider running a small advertisement on your local community television statement that lists public service announcements. Or, take out a small ad in the local Yellow Pages, small because although many people do still search for new businesses and services this way, a growing number rely upon the vastness of the internet for finding what they need.

When working to increase your presence within your local community, don't overlook the all important aspect of doing the same thing in the online virtual world in your health club marketing plans. Developing a web site that provides pertinent information about your club as well as useful tips and facts about health and exercise that prospective clients can use is an invaluable way of promoting your business as a reliable and knowledgeable source in the health and fitness industry.

If writing isn't your forte, hire someone to craft articles and information that you feel clients, current and future would find useful and also send out press releases announcing special discounts, new equipment, a reopening, or anything you can think of that's newsworthy and will draw people in.

While it's certainly true that successful health club marketing will indeed take some effort on your part, the outcome is worth far more than initially invested, in both terms of time and money. Businesses don't market themselves, and although word of mouth from existing clients is always needed, it's not enough to remain lucrative in the competitive world of today.

Chris McCombs is a health club marketing specialist. Chris teaches Internet marketing to personal trainers, health club owners and fitness entrepreneurs.