Generating leads is the “make it rain” of the rap world. Not familiar with the term? Head on over to our friends at Urban Dictionary and have a look. It’s the end goal of every gym owner out there.

If you’re the owner of a gym, you know that generating new gym membership leads is one of the most important aspects of your business. New leads turn into new clients and new clients turn into increased gym revenue. Recurring monthly revenue is the life-blood of any fitness business, and the more leads you generate, the better. However, there is no secret gym lead generator out there. It takes work, patience, failure and practice. However, if you put in the work, you’ll be getting more leads in no time.

Before you can start generating gym leads, here are some questions you need to ask yourself. How do you generate leads for your gym? Are you doing flyer marketing, social media marketing, any marketing? Secondly; How do you get those leads to actually take advantage of their promotion? Are you following up on a consistent basis? Finally; How do you close those leads? We won’t talk about closing leads in this post, but check out our future posts on that. Generating leads is like prospecting for gold. You’ve got to work a few strategies, but when you hit the motherlode, you go big!

Below you’ll find 10 lead generation ideas for your gym (or the gym you manage). These are simple idea to generate gym membership leads at your gym, fitness club, yoga studio, you name it! Seeing as we’re the creators of FitnessTexter, all of them leverage FitnessTexter in one way or another. Even if you don’t want to use a text messaging keyword for your business, you can still use these tips (we’ve just added a FitnessTexter spin to them).

If you’ve ever looked for ways how to generate fitness membership sales, you’ve probably come upon newspaper advertising, Google AdWords marketing, Facebook marketing, flyers, etc. However, there are some other more creative ways to generate fitness leads that you probably haven’t thought about.

1. Leverage Facebook Following to Generate More Gym Leads

When you sign up for a 10-day free trial of FitnessTexter, we send you a flyer to post on your business’s Facebook wall that has your logo on it, as well as your FitnessTexter texting code and promotional information. To get the word out about your FitnessTexter promotion and start generating leads, simply post the flyer to your Facebook. Instantly, you can leverage your Facebook followers and start producing tangible business results from them. If they aren’t already members, they might send a quick text and get your promo deal. If they ARE members, have them share the flyer on their own Facebook walls so that their friends sign up as well. It’s that easy! Most of our clients also request that we photoshop their current Facebook cover photo to include their texting promotion. It only takes us a few minutes to do the photoshopping and it can pay big dividends when you start generating a lot more leads each month. If you’d rather do your own design work, check out Fotor’s Cover Photo tool. Facebook provides a great way to generate more gym leads. Make it a point to post your FitnessTexter banner every once in a while (and change your background picture), and you should start to see some nice lead generation.

2. Convert Website Traffic into New Gym Leads

Besides Facebook, putting your FitnessTexter code word on your website is very important. Just think of how many people are visiting your site and not contacting you about membership. Your website provides a constant lead generation medium, use it! With FitnessTexter, you can start converting website traffic into new leads. New leads become new members! It’s as simple as telling your web designer to add your codeword to home page. The bigger and bolder you make it, the more people who will see it, and the more leads you will generate. We always suggest to our clients that they include their texting promotion near the top of their website, somewhere near the logo. That way, every single person who visits the website will see their texting promotion. It’s common knowledge in web design that people are not willing to scroll that much; that said, keep your texting code towards the top for best results.

3. Use a Sign Spinner on Busy Local Roadway

We discuss the use of gym sign spinners in another blog post, but it’s a great way to generate leads. If there’s one thing that’s great about sign spinners, it’s that they get a LOT of eye traffic. Just think about the last time you saw a sign spinner. You probably remember EXACTLY where you were at when you said to the kids in the car, “Kids, look at him spinning that sign over by the stoplight.” You also probably remember the business he/she was promoting. Put your gym logo on the sign and get that spinner out there! Better yet, put your FitnessTexter texting code on your sign. That way, if people are stuck at a light, they can text your code for your free week pass and you’ll get an email lead notification. If you’re not a fan of using a sign spinner, sit down with your marketing team and try to think of creative ways to get the word out about your business. You could be the best gym in your entire city, but if no one knows about you, it doesn’t do anyone any good. Time to brainstorm!

4. Turn Your Emails into a Lead-Generating Tool

There’s a good chance that as a gym owner, you’re sending out quite a few emails per day. Some are going to business partners, but a fair share are probably being sent to prospective new gym members who have emailed you with a question about you facility. Why not put your email signature to use and start getting gym leads from your sent emails. In the picture above, a FitnessTexter client added their texting keyword to their email signature. You can see it below his name and business title. Every email they sent included their texting code and they were able to generate more gym membership leads. You might not realize it, but your email signature can be very effective sales tool. Make sure it includes all your necessary business contact info, along with your texting keyword. You’ll start to generate leads that you didn’t think were possible.

5. Turn a Yard Sign into a Gym Marketing Tool

Everyone knows that yard signs are great for politicians, but they’re also a great way to generate gym leads (or find a kidney!) Go to your local sign shop and have them create some yard signs for your gym. You can get them for about $20 a piece, and they’ll usually print them out in a few colors as well. Get your logo on their, as well as your address and phone number. Stoplights are a great place to search for gym membership leads. People are driving home from work and when they see your gym sign at the intersection, it might be just the motivation that they need to get in shape. Think about putting your text message code on your sign to give people a super fast way to sign up. With the elections coming up, you can easily get some signs for cheap once the elections finish. These lawn signs are a perfect way to start advertising your business. Simply spray paint them white and you’ll have a clever little gym marketing tool in your hands.

6. Use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to Promote Your Gym

Every gym owner knows that Facebook needs to be an integral part of your gym marketing strategy. However, don’t forget about Twitter and Instagram. People(especially young adults) are using Instagram more than ever. Post fun and sexy fitness pictures to your Instagram to start building a following. Once you have a following, start posting your texting code flyer every once in a while (like the example at left). You can post the flyer like they do at left, or you can simple just add a caption to your Instagram photos and start getting gym leads from your Instagram account. You can always give Twitter a shot, though Twitter seems to be more business oriented. Last but not least, we should probably mention Facebook advertising. It goes without saying that advertising on Facebook is going to cost you some money. It’s not cheap these days to get your brand in front of Facebook’s user base, but it can be a good investment if you do it correctly. Spend some time getting up to date on the types of marketing strategies that businesses in the fitness industry are doing, and then formulate something that will work well for your specific situation.

7. Use a Billboard or Radio Advertisement

Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture for this suggestion. However, if you’re looking for a way to advertise your gym on the radio, get more gym leads and track the results, you can always have your radio announcer say your texting code on the air. Radio advertising is far from dead. We’re sure you have heard a radio announcer say something like, “Text the word TICKETS to 95577 for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the show!” Now that you have a texting code for your business, you can have the ad go something like this, “Check out [FITNESS STUDIO NAME HERE] today! Text [CODEWORD] to 95577 to get a Free Week Pass!”

7. Add Your Texting Code to your Business Cards

This suggestion can take a bit longer, but it will pay results in the long rung. Before you print your next batch of business cards, add your texting slogan to the bottom of the business card. Then, here’s the important part, make sure to GIVE OUT YOUR CARD. There’s no point to having a business card if you aren’t giving it away. I’ll be the first to admit, I have thrown away lots of business cards after logo changes and title changes. I always ask myself why I have so many left over. It’s because I wasn’t handing them out enough.

8. Wrap Your Car in Marketing Materials

If you’re wondering where to get good leads for a gym, look no further than…everywhere! With car wrap marketing, you’ll be able to generate leads anywhere you’re at, be it parked at the grocery store or at the football stadium in your town. Add your texting code to your car/truck wrap and you’ll give prospective leads an easy way to get a promotion from your fitness business. It doesn’t take more than a couple weeks and a couple thousand dollars to get your vehicle wrapped. It’s a great investment, believe us! Not to mention, having a vehicle wrap is a great way to get corporate leads for your gym. If your business has the money to wrap a marketing vehicle, it means it takes itself seriously. You’re not some little mom-n-pop gym. That said, if a big name company if your city is looking for a corporate gym program, you’ll rise to the top of the list.

9. Start Handing Out Flyers at Local Events

I know you might think it sounds like old news, but handing out paper flyers at local events is still a great way to generate those much needed gym membership leads. Have your graphic designer whip up some eye-catching flyer for your business and get out there and start handing them out. Gym owners are always looking for the most innovative ways to generate sales leads for their gym and they sometimes forget the most common. Flyers marketing works, it’s proven. Sit down with your marketing team and think about where you can hand out flyers. You could start at local sporting events, community events, you name it. The more you get your face out there, the more leads you’ll start generating.

10. Send Out a Quarterly Mailer to Your Neighborhood

Generating leads for gym doesn’t need to be back breaking work. Postal mail marketing has been around for over 50 years and it’s still one of the best ways to generate gym leads. Call up your local post office and ask them about doing some basic postal adverting. They’ll help you decide where you want to mail your flyer, how many you’ll want to send, etc. Direct mail advertising gets good redemption rates. Add your FitnessTexter texting code to your next flyer and you’ll see even higher redemption rates. If you see a surge in gym membership leads after you send out your flyer, you’ll know that FitnessTexter is working.

Here’s a Testimonial from the Owner of Magness BJJ (See Picture Above)

Image Credits:
HG Services Inc
AZ Pro Group
College Candy