6 simple tips that should help you succeed in the fitness industry | Most people like to think of fitness as a healthy pastime that can change your life but not exactly make you a fortune. They couldn’t be more wrong since this pastime makes a multibillion-dollar industry that still scores a healthy year-on-year growth.
According to recent research, in the period between 2014 and 2019, the fitness industry experienced a 3.7% growth reaching a total worth of $94 billion while the growth of franchises almost doubled at around 6.3%.
If you have an itch for breaking a sweat and entrepreneurial spirit to keep you going the time for starting your own gig couldn’t be better than now. Let us see if we can help you along the way.
Ensure healthy financing
Granted, opening up a gym will cost you less than starting a manufacturing facility, but you will still need to spend anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 to get your company going. Don’t even think of making any commitments without having access to that much money. On the other hand, writing down a detailed business plan that will outline your long-term goals, business model, financial projections, and marketing strategies will earn you a lot of goodwill with potential investors so start your search for financing by penning down this important piece of document.
Get the best equipment and tech
Of course, we are talking both about the workout equipment and the tools you are going to run your company. What you should do in this regard is to find a niche, aim for quality instead of quantity, and acquire the equipment that is actually going to be used rationally. Trying to compete with established companies by simply stacking the gear that won’t see much action wastes space, money, and resources. So, try to position your gym as a specialized service for selected customers rather than firing up on all cylinders and burning through your budget.
Consider joining a franchise
As we’ve seen earlier, fitness is a very competitive industry. In such an environment, building up your own name from the ground can be a very hard task. That brings us to the question, why would you even try to do so when a large portion of the industry growth is built on franchising. Acquiring an established fitness franchise for sale will provide you with a recognizable brand, a developed business model, made-ready marketing assets, and a built-in audience. All these things make branching out much easier even if they come at the slight expense of your autonomy.
Make your pricing model adaptable
The outbreak of COVID-19 had a devastating effect on the financial world and its ripples can be felt in every household in the world. That is why you should make your pricing model adaptable and invite more people, who otherwise wouldn’t consider joining a gym, to hop in. One of the best ways to do that is to offer discounts for the traditionally slower hours. This way, you are going to ramp up the membership numbers while at the same time eliminating vacancies. Another way to keep people coming in is to offer discounts for long-term memberships or referrals.
Remember that member experience always comes first
This is, by far, the easiest way to get a competitive edge and build up a loyal customer base. So, always look for new ways to improve the customer experience and turn the membership into an engaged and motivated community. Take some time to meet the members in person, be ready to offer free advice, share your knowledge through webinars and tutorials and try to build an active social media presence. Treating your customers as royalty takes a lot of effort but the sense of community you get in the end can’t be manufactured any other way.
Use effective marketing solutions
Digital marketing is here to stay, so unless you are aiming for some specific demographic, it’s better to skip the traditional altogether and focus your marketing efforts on the virtual realm. Since most users you are going to get will find your company through a casual search, you can make SEO your number one priority. But, keeping in mind the nature of your business, occasional guerilla marketing actions can’t hurt your cause either. The best way to promote your gym is to show the people the benefits they are getting first-hand.
These few tips are far from a complete story but they should give you some general guidelines you can use to finally get your fitness company off the ground. The fitness industry is very promising and has a great built-in audience. But, these favorable factors come hand in hand with very harsh competition. If you are to succeed, you need to find a way to stand out. We hope this article will help you along the way.
