Email marketing can be a powerful way to communicate with members and prospects. From monthly newsletters to sporadic gym updates, email is reliable and effective when implemented correctly.
There are three key elements that make up a successful strategy: Audience, message and measurement.
Here are some tips to break down of each part and make email marketing effective for your fitness business.
Five Strategies To Grow Your Gym With Email:
1. Build A Strong Audience.
The first step in creating a strong email marketing strategy is building a distribution list. After all, the best messaging won’t accomplish its mission if you have no one to send it to.
Building the list may take time but the key is to focus on quality over quantity. It’s better to have a smaller list of people who’ve asked for your content than a sizable list of junk emails.
This may take some creativity on the front end but the time and effort will be well worth it. Use a social media contest to gather contact info or create a lead generator on your website. Attend local events with a signup list and include referral requests in your gym onboarding process.
Over time, your marketing channels will cohesively collect information to compile a solid distribution list.
Further, take the time to divide your email marketing list into categories. Tag recipients to customize messaging and campaigns for leads, members and former members.
2. Send The Right Message.
Now that you have an audience that’s interested in receiving your content, design a strategy to deliver on what they want.
Optimize your subject line with something that piques their interest. And although emojis are known to grab attention, limit yourself to one in the subject line.
Write an easy-to-read email that’s concise and to-the-point. Break up big blocks of text with images, videos, headers and bulleted lists. Once again, limit the emojis.
Personalize communication by using first names and information that specifically relates to them. For instance, you don’t want to send membership offers to recipients who are already members. In the same way, avoid sending info about this Friday’s gym community event to former members.
3. Provide Value.
Above all, provide value through your email marketing communication. When applicable, use the 80/20 rule. If 80 percent of the email is helpful, the remaining 20 percent can be aimed at driving revenue.
Remember, your readers are perceptive. They’ll recognize your communication as sincere and genuine if it lines up with your brand voice and personality. As long as you provide value, you can count on them to open and read your emails.
A gym newsletter is a great way to regularly communicate with members. If you’re consistent and helpful, your members will look forward to the content.
Here are a few other ideas for email communication, other than just gym updates:
- Link to recent, helpful blog posts
- Educational information (nutrition, mobility, etc.)
- Partner features highlighting offers from other local, small businesses
- Telling your brand story (this is a good one to do annually on your gym’s anniversary)
No matter what, at the end of every single email, be sure to include a CTA (call to action). Whether you’re asking them to sign up for a new program, leave you a Google review or refer a friend, ask them to take a simple action. This is how you drive revenue and retention with each piece of communication.
4. Send, Measure, Adjust.
When you’re sending email marketing, utilize A/B testing for sends that you want to perform. This means sending out two (or more) versions to see which one performs better.
Obviously, something like a monthly newsletter might not need versions testing. On the other hand, a marketing campaign to get former members to return could be a great one to A/B test.
Variables to A/B test could include things like messaging, images and CTAs. However, be careful not to test too many variables at once. This could limit your ability to differentiate the performance metrics.
Once you’ve dialed in the optimal version of your email, send and analyze. Then use the data to consistently refine your email marketing strategy over time.
5. Win With Automation.
Automating your marketing campaigns for both email and text is a game-changer. You can save time and effort by simply setting up automated workflows in PushPress Grow.
First, you can schedule emails to be delivered at any time. So while you’re going about your day, the automation takes care of the distribution. Second, send emails in drip mode. That way, if recipients reply immediately, your inbox won’t be inundated with responses.
In addition, you’ll be able to analyze interaction metrics like open rates and clicks.
Finally, automation can be especially powerful for marketing to prospective gym members. It can sometimes take multiple touch points over longer periods of time for them to take action. So the right automated workflows will nurture them through the entire process.
Pro Tip: Want to find out how automation can help you with your gym’s email marketing? Book a demo with the PushPress Grow team today!
In Summary: The Power Of Email Marketing
To make email a crucial part of your gym’s marketing strategy, focus on audience, message and measurement.
Build a strong audience using tools like social media, website and events. Categorize recipients so that you can customize the information they’re receiving. Create a genuine, valuable message that provides value. Send the email using automation and, when applicable, utilize A/B testing to dial in the most effective messaging.
