Don't ever feel that health club marketing and positive press are only for large health clubs. If you do something charitable or something that is unique and attracts attention, then opportunities for free PR for your gym are everywhere!
1. Canned food drive
Promote an offer of something like, "Bring in 3 canned goods and pay no enrollment". Not only are you driving traffic, you're also helping those less fortunate. Local media such as news stations and newspapers love writing about positive things. Let them know that you're working with a local homeless shelter and donating all canned goods to them.
2. Submit articles to your local newspaper
If your town's newspaper doesn't have a weekly fitness write up, volunteer to write for them. Try to find other types of print media, smaller papers, community newsletters, etc that you can contribute to. There might also be local websites that are specific to your area that you could contribute to. If by chance you are not much of a writer, pay a staff member or use a service like Elance to find someone who will write for cheap.
3. Run a contest with a local radio station
You can run a contest among the listeners of the radio station to see who can lose the most weight. The contest can run for 8-12 weeks. Give the DJ's free memberships to your health club and have them promote the contest, get lots of people to apply to be in the contest, and provide you contact information for all applicants. If there are two DJ's it can be a lot of fun for them to form two separate teams and compete. It makes for an exciting contest for listeners of the radio station and great free marketing for your health club.
4. Conduct a charitable contest
Always remember that the media is always in need of positive news topics. If you set up a charitable event at your club, they will run a story. You can have your members get their friends to pledge money for every mile you walk or every pound you lift. And don't worry if there aren't many people who participate, anything charitable, even on a small scale, is newsworthy.
5. Conduct Seminars
Go to your local chamber and they will have a huge list of people in the area who present on a large variety of topics. There will be topics ranging from financial planning to scrapbooking. See if they already have someone who presents fitness. If not, see if they'll schedule you. If they do already have someone presenting a fitness topic, find a different fitness topic to talk about. They do all of the promotions for the events, but you should do some promotion on your own as well.
6. Create fame for one of your members
Give the media what they want...Positive stories! Ask your members to submit applications to be in the "Local Hero" contest. They can discuss how your health club has provided the support to help them reach their goals and be a local hero. Once a winner is selected, write a press release and send it to all local media groups. It can say "Local citizen earns hero recognition", or something similar. Don't forget to give a prize to all applicants, and maybe even put their success stories on a "Wall of Fame" to show prospects when the visit your health club. This is a very powerful health club marketing strategy!
Add a little creativity to your health club marketing and you will find that these 7 strategies are only a small sampling of all of the marketing opportunities available for your health club. Everyone loves free press...be creative and you'll get lots of it. - 15336
1. Canned food drive
Promote an offer of something like, "Bring in 3 canned goods and pay no enrollment". Not only are you driving traffic, you're also helping those less fortunate. Local media such as news stations and newspapers love writing about positive things. Let them know that you're working with a local homeless shelter and donating all canned goods to them.
2. Submit articles to your local newspaper
If your town's newspaper doesn't have a weekly fitness write up, volunteer to write for them. Try to find other types of print media, smaller papers, community newsletters, etc that you can contribute to. There might also be local websites that are specific to your area that you could contribute to. If by chance you are not much of a writer, pay a staff member or use a service like Elance to find someone who will write for cheap.
3. Run a contest with a local radio station
You can run a contest among the listeners of the radio station to see who can lose the most weight. The contest can run for 8-12 weeks. Give the DJ's free memberships to your health club and have them promote the contest, get lots of people to apply to be in the contest, and provide you contact information for all applicants. If there are two DJ's it can be a lot of fun for them to form two separate teams and compete. It makes for an exciting contest for listeners of the radio station and great free marketing for your health club.
4. Conduct a charitable contest
Always remember that the media is always in need of positive news topics. If you set up a charitable event at your club, they will run a story. You can have your members get their friends to pledge money for every mile you walk or every pound you lift. And don't worry if there aren't many people who participate, anything charitable, even on a small scale, is newsworthy.
5. Conduct Seminars
Go to your local chamber and they will have a huge list of people in the area who present on a large variety of topics. There will be topics ranging from financial planning to scrapbooking. See if they already have someone who presents fitness. If not, see if they'll schedule you. If they do already have someone presenting a fitness topic, find a different fitness topic to talk about. They do all of the promotions for the events, but you should do some promotion on your own as well.
6. Create fame for one of your members
Give the media what they want...Positive stories! Ask your members to submit applications to be in the "Local Hero" contest. They can discuss how your health club has provided the support to help them reach their goals and be a local hero. Once a winner is selected, write a press release and send it to all local media groups. It can say "Local citizen earns hero recognition", or something similar. Don't forget to give a prize to all applicants, and maybe even put their success stories on a "Wall of Fame" to show prospects when the visit your health club. This is a very powerful health club marketing strategy!
Add a little creativity to your health club marketing and you will find that these 7 strategies are only a small sampling of all of the marketing opportunities available for your health club. Everyone loves free press...be creative and you'll get lots of it. - 15336
About the Author:
Curtis Mock has quickly become the go to person for fitness marketing advice. You can sign up for his fitness marketing strategy of the week and be sure to take advantage of your trial membership to the powerful fitness marketing resource site created specifically for health club owners.
