Question

Topic: Strategy

Gymnasium Marketing Plan

Posted by reneandlesley on 2/28/2009 at 6:51 PM ET 250 Points
I am in the procees of writing a marketing plan for a ladies only Gym which is part of franchise that is a very poor brand. There appears to be a lot of flexibility of what can be done outside of the franchise constraints and I was wondering if there are any great ideas for marcomms or promotional activity that you may have heard or seen in yor travels.
The retention aspect of a gym is vital and the current rate is approx 52%. i.e they lose 48% of their client base annually.
Primary target audience due to locale and nature of business is female 30- 49. I have broken this down to 2 sub groups 30- 40 and 40+ so ceratin classes are targetted differently
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 2/28/2009 at 7:54 PM Member
    Are you asking about getting members or keeping them?

    Seems to me your client needs to work on retention, which would in turn reduce the necessity of working so hard on acquisition.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 2/28/2009 at 11:34 PM Member
    If you haven't already, start contacting people who have recently left the gym. Find out what's missing, what you could do better, what it would take to bring them back, and what they're planning to do instead. You need more information before you can create a new plan.
  • Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 3/1/2009 at 2:52 AM Accepted
    From previous experience with gyms, a key to retention (and acquisition) is the social contact among the members. While members differ greatly in how much off-fitness contact they like (eg gym parties), they typically do like to work out together, if only to have a soft motivation to come to the gym at a certain time.
    Women-only gym offer a wonderful, safe opportunity to work out together. So the question is: does your gym enable or hinder that social contact?

    You have heard about Curves and circuit training: women perform groups of 6 to 10 strength exercises in a circuit, typically with other women. Some more ideas are available at:
    https://womensfitness.lifetips.com/cat/65290/women-only-gyms/
  • Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 3/1/2009 at 2:54 AM Member
    Agreed with Phil that the current economic conditions make it harder for members to justify paying for high gym membership fees: discretionary spending is the first to go. Have you considered promotions such as loyal customer discounts, discounts if you bring in more people, or even spreading the payment/ 0% financing?

    good luck
  • Posted by reneandlesley on 3/1/2009 at 3:29 PM Author
    Thanks to all who have responded and I will accept some of the answers shortly.

    In the gym world rention is one of the major issues as people have great intentions when they join but interest and committment wanes -like diets etc. A rention rate in high 60's and above is considered industry acceptable. This gym was in the low 10% when we started. Agree economic decline is contributing to difficult times. I think the social network/ contact may be teh way forward but happy for any more suggestions before close the question. Thanks
  • Posted by Dorothea on 3/1/2009 at 8:50 PM Accepted
    The gym I'm a member of, which is a co-ed gym, recently offered female members the opportunity to meet with a nutritionist for one month free - 6 weeks if you were already a member. They had a huge sign-up by their standards - 32% more members signed up and quite a few current members whose memberships were about to expire were resigned. I resigned too. The rationale was that learning to eat better and being monitored on your eating and weight loss was a necessary complement to the healthy living. Granted my gym has a nutritionist/nutrition program inhouse, but the idea can easily be implemented by offering similar programs led by knowledgeable people in your gym too.
    Remember, women are the caretakers and learning how to eat, when and what filters down to their families, who are potential future members for you.

    Hope this helps you. Good luck.
  • Posted by reneandlesley on 3/1/2009 at 9:10 PM Author
    Thanks to all contributors and lets keep this forum going as a valuable resource.
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