When it comes to marketing strategy, we’ll admit that email isn’t usually the most glamorous option. But email marketing has proven over time to be incredibly reliable and effective. It’s instant, customized and unobtrusive.
As gym owners, our goal is to connect with prospective clients and turn them into long-term members. The people you interact with are not looking to make a one-time purchase from you. They’ve come to you for help and need to trust you.
You can use the personalized nature of email marketing to create that bond. An effective campaign lets your leads know that you care about them and want to help them reach their goals.
Even simply building your target list is beneficial for your fitness business. Especially if you have a detailed lead generator on your website, collecting individual data helps create buyer personas. This allows you to personalize your marketing even more.
So what kinds of email content should you be sending out? Here are some options to build into your overall strategy today.
Six Email Campaigns To Create Today:
To help you develop an effective campaign, here are seven ideas for variety in your content:
1. Newsletters.
Think of your newsletter as the backbone of your email marketing strategy. Start by choosing a cadence that you’re able to keep up with, like monthly or quarterly. This will let your members know how often they can expect updates. Just be sure to deliver once you begin.
When you sit down to create the newsletter itself, remember that there are two keys to an effective newsletter: Relevance and professionalism.
First, the content of your newsletter has to be relevant to your members. This is a great place to include gym updates, member features, upcoming events, apparel pre-sales, etc. But skip the “filler” if it’s not relevant. Put yourself in the shoes of your reader, who might not be interested in an article about the best detergents for washing gym clothes.
Second, a professional newsletter is well-structured and well-written. Try to avoid being too folksy with your writing. Save the long strings of exclamation marks or abundance of emojis for personal text conversations. Remember, your emails should be fun but informative.
And if writing isn’t your jam, consider outsourcing this to a professional copywriter.
2. Milestone Celebrations.
Email marketing is a great way to show your leads and members that you’re paying attention when an important milestone occurs for them.
If they’ve just joined the gym, send them a welcome email with all the details they’ll need as they get started. Welcome emails can also explain how your gym corresponds, so they understand the communication they can expect to receive.
Along the way, create the ultimate member experience by celebrating birthdays, gym anniversaries and PRs via email. This is also a great way to use your gym CRM to hit them with the “one-two punch” of texts and emails, making them feel recognized and celebrated.
Pro Tip: Save yourself a ton of time by making milestone celebrations automated! Book a demo with the PushPress Grow team today to find out how!
3. Co-Marketing.
Teaming up with another local business is a great way to expand your reach. This allows you both to use email marketing for your combined subscriber lists.
First, it reinforces the fact that your business is community-oriented and excited to help other businesses grow. Second, it gives your clients value propositions that they wouldn’t have without being a member of your gym.
Try choosing a holiday or special occasion to create a fun promotion with a related brand. Need suggestions? Here are seven local businesses to form a gym partnership with.
4. Brand Story.
Chances are, the people who are loyal to your brand would love to hear your story. Once a year, perhaps on your gym anniversary, use email marketing to reflect. Recap the story of your gym’s inception. Then talk about where you are now and your goals for the upcoming year.
This is a fun way to share the story you’re proud of with new members who perhaps haven’t heard it yet. And it establishes your authority as a long-standing business in the local community.
Try turning the email into a gym social media post as well, and ask your members to share!
5. Internal Updates.
Whenever your business is making a significant change, email is a great avenue to communicate the changes. However in this case, there’s a difference between a simple update and effectively using email marketing.
Sending an email about a change to the class schedule can go one of two ways: First, you can tell your members the schedule is changing and that’s that. Second, you can announce the change and include all the reasons why this is beneficial to your community.
Take the proactive approach to updates by marketing with a “help first” mentality, which drives gym revenue and retention. Show your members that you’re always striving to improve and explain why you’re making this change. This sets a progressive tone and lets clients know you have their best interests in mind.
6. New Owned Content.
When it comes to the various content you’re publishing, owned media is a powerhouse.
Pro Tip: To better understand the various forms of gym marketing, check out this recent blog about earned versus paid versus owned media!
When you create content that will benefit your members (and the people they’re connected with), use email marketing to share it! For example, if you write a blog post that you know would help your members, create an email teaser with a link to direct their eyeballs to it.
Once again, this shows your community that you’re here to help them succeed. In addition, it directs them to your website, which features even more content for them to explore.
Note that you don’t want to spam your subscribers with emails each time you publish a new piece of content. So choose the more impactful ones along the way, then use email to increase the reach.
In Summary: Use The Power Of Email Marketing
Email has the power to increase your gym’s revenue and retention numbers. With the right campaign strategies, it’s proven to be reliable and effective.
Use email marketing to share new content, celebrate member milestones, provide gym updates and more. No matter what you’re sending out, make sure it’s relevant and professional. That way, members will look forward to your emails and take the time to read them. Over time, you’ve built a method of communication that benefits your fitness business in a variety of ways.
