As a gym owner you probably have dreams of growth; of moving to a larger site, setting up multiple gyms or even franchising your brand. Ultimately your goal is to create a successful business - one that attracts more members over time.

No matter what your long-term vision might be, advertising and marketing will play a key role in getting you there. It presents an opportunity to make people aware of your gym, and to convince them to choose you.

Gym ads can take a number of different forms: paid spots in legacy media (print, TV and radio), organic digital marketing (SEO, social media), word-of-mouth (referrals, partnering with influencers), and many, many more.

Exactly how you market your gym will depend on a few factors, including your budget, goals and target audience. But no matter which marketing methods you choose, the aim is always the same: to make you stand out in a competitive market.

And the innovative gym marketing ideas below are designed to do exactly that.

Understanding your target audience

Before we dive into the difference-making marketing methods at your disposal, we first need to understand exactly who you should be advertising to.

We need to understand your target audience.

Ask yourself: what does your ideal gym member look like? Some fitness centers and health clubs will target a specific type of customer, e.g. women, professional athletes, or people interested in a particular form of training like yoga or boxing.

To understand your target audience, begin by analyzing the sort of members you currently attract. Create a ‘buyer persona’: a fictional profile that represents that target audience, which you can keep in mind when you make key marketing decisions, like where to advertise and what to say. Your main buyer persona should represent your ‘average’ member in terms of their age, sex, income, fitness goals and challenges.

But this is also a great opportunity to consider potential members that you may have previously overlooked. Perhaps you could more precisely target women, an older demographic, or people looking to hone specialized skills.

You can create a buyer persona for each type of target customer, then design a marketing campaign with them in mind and place content wherever that group is found.

Once you understand who you’re advertising to, the next step is to break down your ad options to understand the whats, wheres and hows of effective gym marketing.

Digital advertising strategies

These days when people talk about marketing they will inevitably be referring to the digital form. When compared to traditional marketing such as print, broadcast and outdoor advertising, digital offers a far more compelling opportunity:

• The barrier to entry is incredibly low - minimum spend is as little as $1 a day on major platforms - and you can spend what you want to the nearest dollar.
• You can target a very precise audience, e.g. men in their 40s who are interested in strength training.
• You enjoy accurate performance tracking (including ROI), which can tell you exactly what is and isn’t working.
• You can use those insights to optimize your campaigns on the fly, using techniques like A/B testing to make them more effective over time.

What exactly does a digital marketing campaign look like for a fitness business? Let’s look at a few of the most common types, and examples of effective strategies within each, to find out.

Social media marketing

Overflowing with beautiful people and inspirational stories, the fitness industry is built for social media. Social media marketing can either be paid (e.g. Facebook ads) or organic (posting content on the feed or in your stories).

Creative and effective social media marketing ideas include:

• Facebook and Instagram advertising: Meta Ads grants you access to the 3 billion Facebookers and 2 billion Instagrammers who use those platforms at least once a month. Meta allows you to target an ultra-specific audience, and you can start a campaign for as little as $1/day.
• Influencer collaborations: Search for local fitness influencers who you share some brand alignment with, and invite them to create some content with you, which grants you access to their audience. The charge for such a collaboration will depend on the influencer’s follower numbers and engagement levels, but could be as little as offering them a free membership.
• TikTok marketing for gyms: No social media platform understands its audience better than TikTok, so if your video shows up on someone’s feed, it’s there for a reason. Organic content can be super powerful on this platform, as long as you capture your audience’s attention in the first few seconds.
• LinkedIn for B2B gym partnerships: LinkedIn offers a more strategic form of social media marketing. Reach out to complementary businesses - physios, supplement stores, apparel brands - to offer added value to your (and their) existing customers through discounts and special offers.

Search engine marketing

When someone is looking to join a gym, they’ll inevitably Google something like “gym in [CITY]” or “personal training near me”. The key to winning that business is to make your gym prominent on the search engine results page when someone types in those terms.

Search engine marketing aims to improve your ranking and enhance your visibility. There are two main approaches: paid (ads) or organic (search engine optimization).

• Local SEO strategies: If you want to earn a very valuable spot at the top of the Google results page, you can do so without paying Google a cent, through local SEO. Strategies include inserting local keywords in your website copy, and creating (and maintaining) a Google Business Profile.
• Google Ads for gyms: If you want to rank higher quicker, you can pay your way to the top using Google Ads, which are the results marked [Sponsored].

Content marketing

Content marketing is built on the idea that you need to give a little to get a little. You give your audience information and/or entertainment through content like blogs and videos, and they give you their attention, which could ultimately turn into their business.

• Create a fitness blog: Fitness is a deep and complex subject that potential members want to learn about, so consider sharing your knowledge on a blog to showcase your expertise. By strategically including keywords within your blogs, you can also move up the search engine rankings.
• Video content and YouTube marketing: From teaching proper form, to sharing member testimonials, to uploading full classes that people can enjoy in their own time, video has the power to spread your brand far and wide, while positioning you as the best gym a new member could choose.

Traditional advertising methods

While non-digital advertising isn’t as important as it once was, it can still be an effective way to get the message out about your gym.

Print advertising

There’s something satisfying about holding paper in your hands. Print advertising still has its place, as long as you are strategic and precise with your ad investments.

• Local newspaper and magazine ads: If you want to advertise in a printed publication, make sure it’s one that potential members actually read. Local newspapers can be a cost-effective way to reach a homegrown audience, while fitness magazine ads might make sense for larger gym brands with multiple locations.
• Flyers and brochures: Letterbox drops allow you to precisely target specific areas. Include a personal note or an introductory membership offer to make this strategy more effective.

Outdoor advertising

At a time when you can direct personalized marketing materials at a very specific group of people, the value of general brand awareness is often overlooked. While outdoor advertising lacks the metrics of modern marketing methods, it can be a great way of building familiarity and trust with potential customers.

• Billboards and bus stop ads: According to Salesforce, it takes an average of 6-8 marketing touchpoints to generate a viable lead. Billboards and bus stop ads help to hit those numbers sooner.
• Vehicle wraps: This once-off investment lets you advertise your business without even thinking whenever you go for a drive.

Community-based marketing

Gyms are (usually) local businesses that serve a specific community. And when potential members see that you’re active in your community, they’re more likely to choose you. Community-based marketing ideas include:

Partnerships with local businesses

Are there local businesses that offer products and services that complement your own? Think sports and nutrition stores, physios and massage therapists, even cafes and juice bars. Partner with these businesses to offer mutual discounts that encourage their customers to become yours, and your customers to become theirs.

Sponsor local events

Give back to your community (while putting your name up in lights) by sponsoring a festival, fête or fun run. Alternatively you could put your name on the uniform of a local sports club for season-long exposure.

Host fitness challenges

Bring in new potential members by holding a competition that anyone can enter: a run, a CrossFit-style event, a combat sports tournament. Or host a longer-term fitness challenge where entrants work to reach a certain goal, like losing X amount of excess weight or improving their performance by a certain percentage.

Referral programs and word-of-mouth marketing

88% of people trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of marketing. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful, and there are ways to encourage these valuable referrals.

Create an effective referral system

A good referral system is defined by a few key features:

1. Simplicity: Use referral links or codes that are quick and easy for a member to share.
2. Promotion: Advertise the system through email, social media, app notifications and in-store signage.
3. Encouragement: Give a shout-out (in the gym or on socials) to your best referrers.
4. Rewards: Incentivize referrals with enticing rewards for both the current member and new member.

Referral incentives

What does an enticing incentive look like to both the person referring, and the person being referred?

For the referrer/existing member:

• Free membership time: One free month per successful referral.
• Discounts: Reduced membership fees for each referral.
• Exclusive perks: Free personal training, nutrition coaching or group classes.
• Gym merchandise: Branded T-shirts, water bottles or gym bags.
• Points-based rewards: Accumulate points for each referral to earn bigger rewards.

For the referral/new member

• An initial discount: 50% off or a week/fortnight/month free trial.
• Waived joining fee: Let them save on initial sign-up costs.
• Bonus perks: A free personal training session or fitness assessment.

Email marketing for gyms

With an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, email marketing is unmatched in terms of driving revenue. Why? Because you’re speaking to a captive audience - people who have handed over their email addresses because they have shown an interest in what you have to offer at some point in the past.

Here’s how to make the most out of email.

Building your email list

Take any opportunity to secure the email addresses of current and potential members. Make it a required field in your member sign-up forms, and consider these other methods too:

• Downloadable content: Craft training guides, meal plans or streamable workouts that people can access in exchange for their email.
• Exclusive offers: Capture website visitor emails with pop-ups that promote special offers.
• Social media promotions: Run contests or giveaways that require an email sign-up to enter.
• In-person sign-ups: Collect emails at the reception desk with a sign-up sheet or tablet.
• WiFi access: Offer free gym WiFi in exchange for an email sign-up.

Crafting engaging email campaigns

Once you’ve built a healthy email database, it’s time to use it. Maximize the ROI of your email marketing campaigns with:

• Catchy subject lines: Keep it short and punchy. Use action words. Try to spark curiosity. A/B test different headline options to find the most effective one.
• Personalization: Address recipients by name and segment your email database so you can tailor content based on the interests of different groups.
• Clear calls-to-action: Tell the recipient exactly what you want them to do at the end of the email: claim an offer, book a session with a trainer, read more, etc.
• Eye-catching visuals: Use clear branding and high-quality images and videos.
• Value-driven content: Give a little to get a little. Share exclusive offers or success stories to keep subscribers engaged.
• Mobile-friendly design: Ensure emails look great and load fast on all devices.
• Consistent schedule: Send emails regularly, but avoid spamming. Once a week is a nice starting point, but track open rates and click through rates to see what works, then adjust accordingly.

Case studies: successful gym advertising campaigns

Want to draw from a bit of real-world gym marketing inspiration? The following campaigns are examples of creative fitness advertising done right.

Planet Fitness recognized that a lot of people, particularly those at the start of their fitness journeys, feel a bit self-conscious and even intimidated about the prospect of going to the gym. The chain’s “Judgement Free Zone” campaign targeted those would-be members, and included a number of funny “No Gymtimidation” ads designed to resonate with that specific audience. The result? An 8% annual membership increase, growing to 15 million members across 2300+ locations by 2023.

Orangetheory Fitness, meanwhile, tapped into the broader benefits of exercise with the “Welcome to More Life” campaign, which also featured a very catchy song by electronic duo and Orangetheory Fitness members Krewella, which was written specifically for the campaign. It highlighted how regular workouts give you more energy and zest for life, and resulted in class bookings increasing by 10%.

The best gym marketing ideas are only as good as their implementation

Effective gym marketing strategies can be transformative for your fitness business. But coming up with a gym advertisement idea is just the first step to marketing success. You then need to refine, implement and optimize that ad campaign to ensure it drives the return your fitness business needs.

For more information on how to do just that, check out our ultimate gym marketing playbook.

You also need the right tools. And that’s where we come in. From online sign-ups, to promotional memberships, to effective email marketing, GymMaster is built to seriously enhance how you market and advertise your fitness business.

Ready to get started? We are too.