Today, it is no longer enough to try to attract non-users of Fitness . It's time to look around and show your competitors' clients why they should switch to your gym.
The marketing machine in the fitness industry has focused its efforts on the user who wasn't yet a gym member. And it has worked very well for many years, attracting hordes of people who wanted to look and feel better.
Some of these people have become gym users, and another, much larger, part paid 1, 2 or even more monthly fees without ever using their membership.
But, What happens now? In urban areas with a high concentration of fitness centers, the market share of non-users with the potential to become users has dropped significantly.
More and more people are choosing to lead healthier lives. According to IHRSA , Spain, for example, is among the countries with the highest development of the population that attends gyms, but the number of sports facilities has also increased at a faster rate.
So, it's time to really compete. Call your team together and prepare to take up arms.
Of course, we need to keep attracting non-gym members. There are always new potential customers, just like there are new potential buyers of dishwasher tablets. But now it's your turn to look at the gyms in your area.
This is war, and you're going to have to show customers from other centers why they should come to yours.
Prepare for battle
The first thing you need to understand is that you're going to roll up your sleeves and get fully involved in direct competition, and that means two things:
1) Most likely, your competitor will notice and act accordingly. You might get lucky and they won't even realize it: there are many gym owners who are more fitness professionals than businesspeople, but they are becoming fewer and fewer. Most of those who are lacking in their areas of expertise, quite rightly, start hiring consultants to become more competitive.
2) Competition must be fair, honest, and conducted according to the rules. This doesn't mean we won't fight hard. Remember, it's nothing more (and nothing less) than that: competition. This doesn't mean we should denigrate our opponents, speak ill of them, attack them indecently, or anything of the sort.
"Okay, you've convinced me! We'll prepare a marketing strategy to target each and every gym in our area."
NOOOOOO! Stop! Remember that in any war, there's always someone on the other side of the battlefield. Don't take on too many opponents, or very powerful adversaries, without planning carefully beforehand.
Planning the strategy
The first thing you need to do is observe all your competitors and conduct a complete SWOT analysis ( weaknesses , to threats, strengths and or occasions) of each one. Infiltrate someone as a member in those gyms, have them tell you firsthand what the fitness experience is like there. You need to know everything.
With this phase completed, now it's time to decide who you are going to attack and with what weapons: Attack their weaknesses with your strengths . Show the associates of those gyms how you're going to improve their fitness experience. They'll be receptive, especially if the competitor's weaknesses are acute. If you do it right, you'll start gaining ground and new clients.
Avoid price wars , because they benefit absolutely no one. If you need to adjust your rates slightly, do so, but don't enter a price competition if you're not certain you'll win. On the contrary, creating value for the customer is a better strategy: instead of lowering the cost, Give them more services for the money they already pay .
And here comes the fun part: create communication which will explain to your competitors' customers why they actually want to be at your gym.
Those fantastic years when you opened a gym, sent out some brochures made in Word, and went out to make money are long gone. Gym marketing managers now face truly interesting and rewarding challenges.