Guest Post: Faxage.com

Building your gym’s reputation and business will take time, but there are few things you can do to get people talking about your gym, bring in new customers, and generally make your gym stand out from the crowd.

While you may not be able to pursue all the opportunities listed below, it’s important to try some of them and anything else you can think of. People have lot’s of fitness options now so you need to put in extra effort if you actually want to differentiate your gym from the others out there.

Have a Hook
It might be a discount for law enforcement or a unique type of fitness class or a play area for the kids or a cool soundtrack. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it is memorable and gives people a reason to choose your gym instead of someone else’s. You might not find a great hook right away but if you keep trying then it will payoff. Just remember that you need to be original or at least present things in an original way.

Team Up with Neighboring Businesses
Partner with neighboring business to drive more awareness and foot traffic. Maybe team up with a local shoe store to offer a 1-day running clinic, or ask someone from a health food store and talk about nutrition. Partnering with other businesses will give you access to their customers and build another source of referrals.

Share Success Stories
Share the stories of your members. Ask them to tell you why they come to the gym and about their goals. Then see how you can help them. Make sure to promote their success when they reach their weight loss goals or run their first 5K. You can build real relationships with your customers by making the gym about their success and not just yours.

You can also take the success stories online and use them to build a community on social networks. You can get creative with social media as well to really engage your members. One good strategy is to have members create workout memes that are either motivational or funny and post them on the Instagram or Twitter with your gym’s hashtag and have the gym pick out the best one for the day, week, or month. If you like that idea, then here’s some more gym social media ideas you can try.

Help Foster Competition
Come up with monthly contests to get people coming to the gym more. You can offer a free training session or maybe guest passes as the prize. If people get excited about the contest, then they’ll tell their friends about the experience and you’ll be able to take advantage of word-of-mouth advertising. Just remember to make the contests fun and accessible to members with different fitness levels.

Sponsor Events That Aren’t About the Gym
Connecting with potential members outside the gym is great way to stand out. Look for meetups or clubs where you think you can meet more of your target audience and then attend a few events. If the audience looks right, then look for a way to sponsor. For example, many meetups will allow sponsors to talk about their business for a bit in return for buy refreshments.

It’s Might Be Hard, But It’s Worth It
Getting your gym to stand out won’t necessarily be easy. That said, the process and the eventual success can be very rewarding. Take the time to try the ideas discussed here and also think of some of your own. You’ll eventually find the right set of tactics for your gym and you’ll be a happy you put the effort into it.

Jessica is a professional blogger who writes for Faxage, a leading company that provide email fax services for individuals and businesses.