Trends To Hit The Fitness Industry In 2021

Hygiene above all else

This one may seem obvious, but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic hygiene is front of mind for everyone. This is especially true for public spaces where people are coming into close proximity and making contact with the same equipment – meaning this is highly important for gyms and fitness clubs.

Showcasing to your members that you are implementing the highest levels of hygiene through rigorous cleaning and in-gym rules for members is important in creating an environment that feels safe and inviting for those training. This may mean stepping up the frequency and depth of your cleaning and communicating this to members through verbal and visual cues. It is equally important to make the effort as it is to make sure that members know about it, to give a sense of assurance that their workout venue is up to par.

Further, gym managers and personal trainers on the floor should remain extra vigilant about making sure members use towels, wipe down the equipment after use, and maintain social distancing where required. This ensures the safety of members and staff whilst displaying to prospects and existing members that hygiene is a top priority.

 

Virtual Training Offerings

There is no doubt that we all spent a lot of time at home throughout 2020, and many businesses (especially gyms) had to adapt to be able to continue providing their services. For many fitness businesses this mean moving to a virtual platform, in order to reach their members from the safety of their homes.

This came in many different formats including websites, zoom training sessions, full-service apps, and many other adaptations. However, the general vision was clear, and that was to provide training resources and advice to clients wherever they may be, removing the requirement to be physically present at a gym or studio.

Despite fitness-based businesses opening their doors once again, for many people the appeal of being able to access workout plans and training advice anytime remains. Creating and maintaining a virtual training presence will be a popular mission among gyms and studios in 2021 as business owners look to keep up with the changing desires of consumers.

 

Outdoor Adventure

With many fitness based businesses closed or operating under restricted trading, many of those looking to move their body explored the outdoors as their workout of choice. Hiking, rock-climbing, running, cycling, and many other outdoor activities rose in popularity throughout 2020 and this shift towards outdoor fitness will likely stick around.

Whilst it may not be the same type of adventure activities, gym owners can look to incorporate outdoor training into their class schedule. This could be as simple as moving a circuit class outside, incorporating runs around the block into a PT session, or even hosting hiking trips on the weekend for local members!

This might not be feasible for all gym and studio owners, but those who can should consider offering members more variety by switching up their class locations.

 

Fuel Through Nutrition

Last but not least, we look at the role nutrition will play in the 2021 fitness landscape. Whilst the concept of nutrition and the use of supplements in commonplace within the industry, the way this is incorporated into the offering of fitness businesses is changing.

Previously PT’s and studio owners may give personal advice to members on how they can adjust and supplement their diet to help achieve their fitness goals, but now members want to see a more holistic approach to health and fitness. This means that many gyms and studios are incorporating nutrition classes into their offering, which may include meal plans, recipe advice, and even selling certain products on-site.

This is a great way to provide added value to members and help them adapt their lifestyle beyond just physical movement. Selling products on-site also offers another level of convenience and can act as an addition revenue stream for business owners.

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How To Start Facebook Marketing For Gyms

For gyms, the best way to gain new members is to make a connection with your target audience, and Facebook provides a way for you to do this. Facebook is a powerful platform for growing fitness businesses and its user-friendly interface makes getting started a breeze.

The social media platform allows users to build a business profile and fill it with free organic content for its followers. There is also the option to use the paid marketing features to generate new leads, this can come in the form of post ‘Boosting’ and the Ads Manager feature through which businesses can launch paid campaigns.

 

Setting Up Your Gym’s Page

Step one is to make sure you create a comprehensive business page for your gym, providing followers with all the key information they might be seeking as well as a little extra. The first important distinction is to ensure that you are setting up a Facebook Business Page and not a personal profile, there is a few key differences, mainly that a personal profile requires people to send you a friend request. Rather, you should start with a Business Page where users can openly view your content and choose to Like/Follow.

When setting up your page, try to be thorough and provide all the information you have available. Begin with the key visual elements such as your Profile Picture and Cover Photo, make sure that they feature your logo and are recognisable as your brand. Complete the ‘About’ section and include your business address, website, company story and any other important information such as pricing. Finally, set up the ‘Call to Action’ button that appears front and centre on your page – depending on where you want to drive potential members you can direct this to a phone number, email address or website.

Next, you will want to focus on filling out your Business Page with some content. When doing this, try to make sure that the content is thought out and delivered with purpose, this will aid in boosting engagement and ensure that each item you publish adds value to your customers. Mix it up with a combination of text, photo, and video posts and over time you will learn what your audience prefers. You will also gain an indication of when your audience are online the most and can publish your content accordingly to provide the optimal chance for engagement.

If you have important content that you want to be easily accessible, you can use Facebook’s ‘Pin’ feature to pin a particular post to the top of your page. This could be a class timetable, a promotion for a current 8-week challenge, or anything else you want to highlight!

The great thing about Facebook is that it offers a platform where businesses can engage in a conversation with their audience, instead of a one-way communication strategy. This means that your gym can utilise features like Facebook Messenger to enable their following to reach out directly. This is nice and easy to set-up: you simply have to enable the feature under the ‘General’ settings on your Business page. But make sure that you have the manpower to monitor and respond to incoming messages, otherwise this could damage your customer service levels. You can also set-up auto replies for frequently asked questions, this can include things such as your opening hours and address.

 

Promoting Your Gym’s Page

Now that you have everything set-up, the next step is to think about how you want to proceed in promoting your Business Page. This can be done using Organic (free) methods or Paid features. A combination of both is a great way to feed content to your existing followers whilst still growing your audience.

Organic promotion methods involve publishing content to your page and encouraging members engagement through Likes, Comments and Shares. The more engagement on your posts, the more likely they are to reach a bigger audience, which means more exposure for your business. As well as original content you can also share third-party posts such as blog articles and photos of your members.

Paid promotion is done through the Facebook Ads Manager platform, where business owners to build campaigns tailored to specific audience segments and create ads to be displayed. There is also the option to ‘Boost’ content published to your Business Page, however this is not as targeted or impactful as the campaigns you can build through Ads Manager and we recommend the latter. The Ads Manager platform is highly intuitive and helps create campaigns designed to meet the goals of your business. The first step is the identify your marketing objective: awareness, consideration, and conversion – based upon this you will be able to choose appropriate ad formats.

Next up, you define your target audience. This can be based upon a broad range of factors including demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural traits. Spend some time at this stage and explore all of your targeting options to find the best fit for you, however don’t make an audience that is to narrow and specific as this can impact on your campaigns reach.

Once you have decided on your audience, you can build the actual ads you want to display. This involves creating a headline, copy, selecting what images or videos you want to use, and choosing a call-to-action. All of this can be tailored to your gym’s promotional needs, however there is a trend towards video content on Facebook, so we suggest trying to include this in your campaign. Studies show that video content gets much higher engagement and has better recall rates among consumers, meaning they are more likely to watch and remember your ad if it is a video.

Finally, you can launch your campaign and monitor its performance. You may select to run your campaign for a specific time frame, on a particular budget, or just ongoing until you decide to switch it off. It is important to monitor your campaign as you may want to alter poorly performing ads or boost the budget if it is not reaching as many people as you hoped.

 

What To Do Next

Once you have set up your gym’s page and created your first ad campaign, you may be asking what to do next? Well, continue to use that platform and take note of what is working for your business and what is not. As you run campaigns you will become better and better at defining your audience, picking the right photos and videos, and nailing the engaging copy that will draw new members in.

We recommend planning a content calendar and even scheduling organic posts and paid campaigns to save you time down the line. This also provide you with a holistic view of your Facebook marketing efforts, so you can ensure that your content is varied and not repetitive.

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8 Gym Promotion Ideas You Can Do Right Now

Host a live Q&A over Social Media

A great way to get exposure for your fitness business it to utilise the power of social media as an outreach and engagement platform. Whilst your gym likely has its own social media pages that are filled with photos and videos, take a break from your regular content and host a live Q&A session! This option is available on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, and allows you to talk to your followers in real time. Whether you leave it as an open forum or set a particular topic, this is a great opportunity to boost engagement whilst showcasing the knowledge base of your team.

 

Collaborate with Local Businesses

Whether your gym is part of a larger national franchise, or an independently operated business, your target audience is within your immediate geographic area. If you are looking for a way to reach out to new customers, collaborating with other local businesses is a great way to connect with new people. This could be a joint promotional offer, where members get a discount on their meal at the coffee shop next door, or new members get a reduced joining fee if they spend $50 at the bookstore down the road. Talking with other small business owners to see what would be most beneficial is a great first step!

 

Refer a Friend Promotion

Create a refer a friend promotion for members that is worthwhile and encourage them to bring along a new workout buddy. Whether it is a cash reward, a complimentary membership month, or even free merch – any kind of incentive can work! In addition to this, you could offer a free trial period for prospective members where they can come in along with an existing member for a week at no cost. This ‘try before you buy’ method can often increase the chance of purchase and is simple to manage.

 

Host a Fitness Challenge

Hosting a fitness challenge at your gym is a great way to entice new members and retain existing members. Setting a structured challenge gives people an incentive to join, and creates a friendly competitive environment where members often thrive and achieve results. Whilst this requires a fair bit of planning by the team at the fitness club, it is a highly effective strategy and a worthwhile investment. This is also not a one-off promotional idea and can be repeated throughout the year for the benefit of new and existing members.

 

Share Success Stories

Social proof is an important part of marketing, and sharing reviews, testimonials and success stories of your members is a great way to get potential members across the line. Whilst people have varying motivations for joining the gym, ranging from fitness and lifestyle to strength and physique goals, sharing a broad range of success stories is a great way to showcase what people can achieve at your gym. Pairing these with before and after photos also increases the element of social proof and can help build a positive reputation for your fitness business.

 

Open your Doors

People often want to get an idea of what your gym offers before committing to a membership. Whilst offering gym tours to potential members is a great tool, you can take this one step further and host an open day for prospective clients. Throughout the day you can run free classes hosted by your team, invite in suppliers and other local businesses to showcase their products, and let the public get to know the existing gym community.

 

Investigate Corporate Partnerships

Corporate wellness programs are a great way to increase membership numbers and create another stream of revenue for your fitness-based business. Whether this is running one-off events for corporate groups or offering a discounted/bulk membership rate to organisations who want to include a gym membership as part of their employment package – there are plenty of opportunities in this space!

 

Revamp your Digital Presence

Finally, take a look at your gym’s digital presence. This includes not only social media, but websites and apps as well. A poor user experience on your website, or a forgotten Instagram page can be damaging to your overall brand image and may be creating a barrier for potential members. Ensure that everything is up to date, easy to use, and showcasing your business in its best light.

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Our Conclusive List of The Best Fitness Wearables

Ensure your website is comprehensive

First and foremost, ensure that your website is an easy to use and informative platform for both existing and potential members. The number one reason that consumers are likely visiting your website is to find information, so ensuring that they can find what they are looking for will make for a positive user experience and be more likely to lead to a membership sign up or enquiry.

Important elements to have on your website include things like membership prices and inclusions, available amenities, class timetables, FAQ’s and contact information. If you offer the ability to join or book classes online, ensure that this process is user friendly and simple to understand. Complex forms or unreliable systems can lead to frustration and high abandonment rates, and potentially a lost membership.

 

Make sure you are mobile responsive

On the topic of websites, the vast majority of consumers engage with business websites via a mobile device. For this reason, it is more important than ever that your website is mobile responsible and easy to use on screens of varying sizes. Including mobile friendly features such as adapting font sizes, sticky menu’s and search bars, and click-to-call phone numbers will ensure that website is accessible no matter how the consumer chooses to view it.

 

Know your audience like the back of your hand

What type of people are your existing members, and what type of people do you want to attract to your gym? Your fitness club might have a niche specialising in something such as Yoga, Pilates, or Cross-fit. In this case you want to get to know this audience segment thoroughly so that you can effectively market your offering towards them.

The best place to start is by defining a primary, secondary, and tertiary target audience, and then building out a profile for each of these segments. These profiles should include characteristics such as demographics, geographics, psychographics and behavioural traits to provide a wholistic picture of exactly who your ideal members are.

 

Be driven by data

Making data driven decisions will generate the best results in your digital marketing and ensure that you are investing your time and money in the right areas. Audience segmenting is a great example of how to utilise data to enhance your marketing. Different groups of consumers will have different motivations and obstacles to joining your gym, and it is important that you tailor your marketing campaigns to address these specific drivers and barriers.

Utilising analytics platforms such as Google Analytics for your website, and the back-of-house insights tools for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn can provide a wealth of information that you can use to better your marketing efforts. Do some research about which key metrics you should be tracking to help you achieve your goals, as it can be easy to start over-analysing and tracking too many things.

 

Create a community

One of the great things within the fitness industry is gym-goers propensity to build connected and meaningful communities. Many of your most loyal members will be going to the gym multiple times and week, maybe even every day, and as a result they can create strong bonds with their fellow members.

As a gym owner, you should lean into this community and encourage these relationships. Showcasing the community you have built within your gym can be a powerful digital marketing tool, acting as a retention strategy for existing members and an incentive for potential members to join. Do so by sharing photo’s, video’s and highlights to your social media accounts and other digital assets – and encourage your community to share and be active online as well!

 

User generated content is your best friend

This relates closely to our last point about creating a community within your gym. Your members are likely sharing their personal bests and posting workout selfies to their own personal social media accounts. Leverage this content by encouraging your members to use your brands hashtags and re-sharing the photos and video’s to your own brands social media accounts.

This strategy allows you to pump out new and relevant content to your account without having to invest the time creating it yourself. Further, it shows your members that you are celebrating their achievements and encouraging them to engage with your brand not only in person but online.

 

Reviews, reviews, reviews

Once you have built a community of happy and healthy members, you need to share this with the world! Reviews are the cornerstone of digital marketing and provide an important element of social proof to potential customers. Collecting and publishing reviews across all your digital assets is a must and can help guide people through the decision-making process through to conversion.

 

Video is vital

Video is quickly becoming the most popular form of content across digital platforms and for a good reason. Research shows that when someone sees something 20% retain the information, whereas when they see and hear it this increases to 80%. Further, if you website has video content it is 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of search engine results, meaning that investing in video content is not only an excellent engagement strategy but can fuel your SEO efforts.

 

Think about the big picture

Finally, we want to highlight the importance of looking at your marketing strategy as a large integrated operation. Ensuring that you adopt an integrated marketing communications approach means that you present a consistent brand image across all your marketing channels, and that customers are more likely to recognise and retain your brand image.

This doesn’t just apply to digital marketing, but also across traditional marketing platforms such as print, outdoor and television. Ensuring that all of your campaigns flow together and utilise the same call-to-actions to drive consumers towards one core conversion point makes your marketing investment more impactful.

 

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Our Conclusive List of The Best Fitness Wearables

There are plenty of things to take into consideration when purchasing a fitness wearable. The best option for you will be based on what type of workouts you do, what metrics you want to track, and how much you want to spend. However, we have compiled a list of what we think are the best fitness wearables on the market right now!

1. Garmin Vivosmart 4

The Garmin Vivosmart 4 is one of the best devices available for the everyday athlete. Offering an appealing slim design, the tracker will measure your heart rate and activity. It is waterproof so can be used for a range of activities and provides a lengthy battery life, as well as smartphone connectivity. In addition to fitness tracking, the Vivosmart 4 offers sleep monitoring and measures the stress levels of its wearer. One of its most unique features is their ‘Body Battery’ which helps you find the best time to exercise based on your daily habits.

2. Apple Watch Series 5

The Apple Watch Series 5 is a great choice for those who want to combine the key features of a smart watch with a stellar fitness tracker. With GPS, Bluetooth, heart rate monitoring and an excellent fitness tracking app this wearable is a great all-rounder. The Apple Watch Series 5 gives its user easy access to their key metrics during workouts with the new always-on display and can operate without a phone nearby due to its great device connectivity. The workout app allows users to select from a wide range of pre-chosen workouts, and it swim-proof for tracking in the pool.

3. Fitbit Inspire HR

This recent release from Fitbit promises to provide motivation at your fingertips with a wealth of useful features packed into a sleek device. The Fitbit Inspire HR offers all-day activity tracking as well as sleep tracking, giving a 24/7 overview of the wearer’s health backed by a 5 day battery life. Unlike other devices, the automatic exercise recognition means you don’t have to set-up your workout before hand in order to track it. As well as heart rate, calorie and distance tracking the Fitbit Inspire HR offers some smartwatch functionality such as on-screen notifications and app alerts.

4. Samsung Galaxy Fit

Promising smarter fitness tracking, the Galaxy Fit from Samsung is a lightweight tracker with waterproof capabilities. With a 24/7 heart rate monitor, gyro sensor and accelerometer this wearable offers top-level information about the users’ daily activity. Connecting to the Samsung Health app, users can pick from over 90 workouts as well as having a comprehensive sleep pattern tracker. Finally, the Galaxy Fit offers message previews with pre-set replies so you can continue with your workout.

5. Garmin Vivoactive 4

Another wearable from Garmin, the Vivoactive 4 is a GPS smartwatch designed for those who lead an active lifestyle. With a full suite of health stats available, and more than 20 pre-loaded apps available the Vivoactive is the ultimate fitness resource. With a whopping 8 days of battery life, the wearer can stay connected with the ability to store their favorite playlist and virtual wallet on their wrist. The larger screen makes this wearable more of a smartwatch, but with more viewing space comes more capability. Animated on-screen workouts and the Garmin coach feature ensures that you keep on track during your workout. When you’re not exercising, the Vivoactive 4 also offers stress tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, sleep monitoring and even hydration tracking.

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Wearable Technology: A Training Tool

Despite the face-to-face approach usually adopted by personal trainers, as social distancing and business restrictions continue to impact areas of Australia the industry is looking for ways to adapt. While online or virtual personal trainers have been around for some time, those who usually run ‘in person’ sessions need to seek alternative ways to engage with their clients and accurately track their progress without being able to see it for themselves.

 

Wearable fitness technology is booming, with personal tracking devices become more and more popular among consumers and being integrated into a wide range of devices. From the classics such a Fitbit, through to more versatile devices such as the Apple Watch, and even Garmin’s wide selection of interconnecting products – there is something out there for everyone.

 

Such devices monitor all the key metrics needed to evaluate workout performance including heartrate, calories burned, distance covered, pace and much more. Some products even allow clients to take body measurements like fat percentage and muscle mass, meaning they can get a meaningful idea of how their workouts are transforming their body.

 

So, with all of this data easily accessible, how can personal trainers’ benefit? Well, with some trainer’s not being able to see their clients face-to-face, connecting with their smart devices is a great way to get a holistic picture of how their training regime is going.

 

With many devices providing live data, trainers can provide real-time feedback over voice or video calls as their clients complete the program. If you have provided your clients with a program to complete in their own time, you can look back at how they handled each workout and adapt future workouts accordingly.

 

If you are a group trainer, wearable fitness technology is a great way to keep your community connected and engaged. Not only can you see the performance of each individual during group classes, but the sharing of performance data among participants is a great motivator. A little friendly competition can help client’s bond and encourage them to go the extra mile to keep up with their classmates.

 

In fact, simply wearing a fitness tracker can encourage people to be more physically active. The ability to track live results and the desire to meet daily targets is motivation within itself. Trainers can set unique targets based on each client’s fitness goals, this helps them keep on track without going overboard.

 

Integrating wearable technology into your personal training methods is a great way to stay connected even if you can’t meet with clients face-to-face, and ensure that your program is delivering the best results based on individual needs and fitness levels.

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Virtual Training In A Post-Pandemic Landscape

As COVID-19 shut down gym across the country, digital fitness programs are having their time to shine. Whether this be existing online only programs, or new online offerings from major clubs and chains, consumers are taking full advantage of the boom in virtual training platforms. So, what do fitness clubs that invested in such platforms do in a post-pandemic landscape? There is a choice to be made as to whether they continue to invest in this digital offering or shift back to their core studio-based program.

 

During self-isolation home workouts have seen a peak in popularity, and even those who were not gymgoers before are opting to fill their time with some form of fitness. Classes such as yoga, barre and Pilates have been particularly popular due to their minimal equipment requirements and easy to follow formats. However with home workout becoming an integral part of many Australian’s routines, will this impact their desire to return to the gym once restrictions ease?

 

For many people working out from home helps overcome some of the barriers that deterred them from joining a gym or studio, whether it be family care commitments, feelings of nervousness or intimidation towards working out in public or simply convenience. For women, who have less leisure time and disposable income to invest in fitness, virtual training programs may be especially appealing. This is part of the reason that historically, many online training programs have been targeted towards women.

 

The increasing popularity of these virtual training offerings suggests that gym and studio owners should consider continuing to invest in their digital platforms post-pandemic. For some, the option to access resources online is a value-add to their membership, and for others it will be their main form of engagement with the business. Clubs could deliver resources to their members in a variety of ways including live streamed classes, pre-recorded workout guides, programs for specific goals (e.g. flexibility, strength) and even unique challenges.

 

Going forward, it is important for gym owners who choose to pursue their virtual programs to consider how to differentiate themselves from the free content available in the marketplace. With a wealth of free training guides and workouts on platforms such as YouTube, what can gyms and studios offer to paying members to make it worth the money. This additional benefit could come in the form of one-on-one training advice, tailored nutritional guides or even a free wearable fitness tracker upon joining to help them track their progress.

 

The bottom line is business owners within the fitness space need to acknowledge that self-isolation has made significant changes to the industry landscape. It is important that clubs and studios re-evaluate what is important to their members and adapt their offering to cater to these new needs. For many, this will likely mean an increased digital presence so that members can continue to engage on their own terms.

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