Four easy gym marketing ideas for maintaining engagement over holidays

Gyms have always had a love-hate relationship with public holidays - while they can be a distraction for current members from their workout routines, they can also be a strong motivator or even a trigger motivating new members to sign up. Some members struggle to keep on track with their workout routine over the holidays. Distractions are everywhere, family are home from work or if they’re one of the lucky ones going away on vacation they might struggle to find the time to get their workout in.

It goes without saying that many clubs see a lull in visitation as a result - but how well your club engages with members during these holidays can also help increase retention by encouraging them back into the facility after they are over. In contrast, holidays can become a catalyst encouraging new members to sign up to the gym, whether it be for the guilt of over eating at thanks giving or just simply having a bit of extra free time to notice they are out of shape and finally having an opportunity to do something about it. Whatever the reason, many clubs increase their gym marketing efforts during these festivities to not only maintain but also grow their membership base.

Here’s four gym marketing ideas for engaging with your members over public holidays

1. Host a holiday themed class

Running specialty, one off classes over the holidays can give members the fun opportunity to shake things up and get involved who might not normally participate in these activities. Give a regularly scheduled class a twist or create a one off event to give members a break from normality and an opportunity to get involved with your club - hopefully to get them attending more classes in the future.

A fun way to make a novelty class for the holidays is trying out some of the new gamified equipment on the market, such as TechnoGym. TechnoGym uses MyWellness software with their equipment to gamify workouts and encourage members towards achieving new goals. MyWellness integrates with GymMaster, to learn about this integration and others click here to read more.

1. Run a holiday competition

A club competition held over the holidays is a great way to boost involvement when members otherwise might struggle to find the motivation to work out. Whether it be a week or month-long competition rewarding members who visit the most or a weight lifting competition such as the popular “500 club” competitions giving members some stylish club merch who can lift over 500 Kgs for males or 500 lbs for females.

You can make use of the new GymMaster - Zapier integration to make the task of running random club competitions a breeze - click here to learn how

1. Have an open night event

Building a strong community is crucial to creating a healthy club atmosphere and can boost member engagement by making them feel welcome and valued as a member of your gym - having a club open night with snacks and activities can help get members socialising with one another and with club staff can go a long way towards this (and while encouraging new members into the doors). The holidays are a great opportunity to host an open night as the constraints of a regular routine aren’t holding people back from attending (excluding those who go away on vacation of course).

1. One-off novelty equipment

Renting equipment or tools for your members to use at your club are a great way to get them in the doors over the holidays. For example, you might like to find a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) machine which measures your member’s body fat to muscle ratio and offer your members free scans over the holidays when they visit. Or. alternatively you could offer them a new cardio machine such as the assault bike which members can use to test their skills and get away from their normal machine rotation. This can also be a great way to trial whether or not your members will use equipment if you were to buy it in the future.

You can use GymMaster’s in-built communication tools to inform your members of these by sending bulk emails or SMS messages to your members, or - if your club uses it - you could send a push notification out to your members via the GymMaster members app.

Using the gym marketing ideas above will not only improve your relationship with your members directly through facilitating more club-member interaction, but also can help your brand image through making your customers perceive your club as being more inviting, engaging and inclusive. Making your club feel like a friend to its members instead of just another service company where they spend their money helps ensure they feel important and valued in the club.