By FitGrid
The fitness industry is becoming more and more crowded with competition, and it may seem difficult to keep up with all of the marketing trends that come with the territory. Whether you own a small studio or a franchise, the way you promote and maintain your business is crucial for success.
Set Reasonable Profit Goals and Pricing
You must thoroughly understand your costs and profit goals to set fair prices. FitGrid’s Profitability Calculator helps boutique studio owners calculate the number of clients needed per class to break even with studio maintenance and instructor costs, as well as the class size that will reach their target profit margin. Providing instructors with the FitGrid Pro app allows them to openly communicate with and encourage clients, driving more client returns to get closer to your ideal class attendance rate. You can monitor each instructor’s performance and efforts to see where they fall in terms of increasing retention and assess any changes that must be made to keep clients coming back.
The price of each offered service should reflect its value. What can clients find at your studio that can’t be found elsewhere? How much are they willing to spend? What factors play a role in their assessment of your studio’s prices? Understand your ideal customer’s budget and needs to deliver a valuable yet reasonably priced service that satisfies them and fulfills your studio’s financial needs.
Presentation makes all the difference in gaining versus losing potential leads, as it justifies the pricing and reflects the quality of your services. Keep an eye on competitors’ rates while considering your own studio’s ideal profit. If the service is properly marketed, clients will see the value in its price and be more receptive to making that investment.
Create Objectives that Align with Studio Goals
Having a better understanding of both your clients’ and your studio’s needs makes it easier to pinpoint specific goals and create a plan to achieve them. Consider how to reach leads successfully by not only attracting their attention but pushing them to action. Your high-level marketing goals, or objectives, should be SMART:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The more detailed or measurable these objectives are, the easier it will be to create specific guided strategies and tactics that fall under each one. These will serve as an outline or to-do list for your marketing initiatives. And, having measurable objectives creates a specific milestone goal to guide performance and marketing efforts.
Focus on Retention
Retaining clients you already have uses far fewer resources (and money!) than recruiting new ones, and once you earn a paying customer, your marketing work has only just begun. Continue to sell to current clients, whether that’s encouraging them to extend their membership, upgrade to a different package, or recommend the studio to others. The fitness industry relies on the concept of community. People need to feel like they truly belong to keep returning.
Here are some popular methods to increase client retention:
- Keep your offers and promotions updated. Constantly providing new options maintains interest in current clients and attracts it in potential clients. It can be tough to stick to the same routine, so switching it up will keep morale high.
- Encourage healthy competition. Humans need a little healthy competition to stay motivated – why not capitalize on that? Fitness challenges keep participants active and engaged, and competitions hold them accountable. A monthly Instagram yoga pose challenge not only keeps clients working hard, but boosts online traffic as well.
- Send regular emails and follow-ups. Connections are key for retention – clients want to feel like their attendance is valued and their efforts are noticed. Sending them regular studio messages and having instructors follow up with them after class can increase the chance they’ll stay. FitGrid Pro allows instructors to easily send quick, personal follow-up messages to each client, giving them the extra push to continue towards their goals. A few minutes of messaging can make a huge impact on retention!
- Host special events. Encourage camaraderie by creating opportunities for clients to hang out after class. Spending time together beyond exercise creates a bond that motivates people to keep coming back. It can be as simple as a small celebration for a client who reached their weight loss goal.
- Form strategic partnerships. Partnering with relevant businesses nearby provides a symbiotic opportunity to increase sales. Offering free trial passes at a supplement or nutrition store, or hosting an event at a local workout clothing boutique raises brand awareness and secures potential leads. Win-win!
Measure Your Success
Track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts with a program that provides detailed summaries of client returns, instructor performance, and more. FitGrid provides owners insight as to how their instructors maintain consistent attendance rates, so success is easily measurable. Are your instructors sending follow up messages to create a welcoming environment? Are the instructors that send more follow-ups garnering more returning clients? Receiving live data feedback on the efficiency of follow-up messages sent by instructors and other marketing tactics is indispensable to a fitness studio looking to grow and retain its client base.
Word of mouth drastically increases a consumer’s decision to buy a product or service, so customer satisfaction is key. As a retailer of any sort, having confidence in your marketing strategies establishes trust and credibility in the eyes of consumers. It is important to have the research to back up whichever campaign route you take, so you can predict what will work and what might not work as well.
Get Started
Now that you have a basic outline of best practices in setting realistic marketing objectives, it’s time to bring them to fruition! To learn more about the benefits of FitGrid and how it could help your boutique fitness studio increase retention, book a demo with their sales team today.
