The Power of Hosting Events at Your Gym
Most (41%) marketers believe that events are the single-most effective marketing channel over digital advertising, email marketing, and content marketing. This reflects a 32% increase since 2017.
How about you? Have you harnessed the power of events to grow your gym? Events build community and provide the perfect opportunity to connect with leads.
Harnessing the power of events:
Almost everyone who attends a gym once had the opportunity of attending a host of other nearby gyms. But they chose their gym. Why? Probably because something about that gym made them feel at home.
When you bring your community to your physical gym location, you have the perfect opportunity to gain their loyalty. More so than online, if someone steps inside your gym and has a good impression, they’re likely to think of you if they ever decide to attend a gym.
Finding an event to host at your gym should be fairly easy (we’ll talk more about this later). The question is, how do you make the most of the opportunity?
Whether or not the event has any connection to fitness and whether or not you are running the event, since your facility is being used, it’s perfectly natural for you to throw in a small pitch for your gym. You can hand out promotional materials, or better yet, give a small speech. If attendees get to connect with you in person, that’s when they’ll feel the strongest bond to your gym.
To drive a sale, your best bet is to offer a discount to attendees. If there’s a time limit attached, they’re more likely to seriously consider it.
Finally, if you are the one running the event, give it your very best. For instance, if you are hosting a public seminar on how to have a healthier diet in the coming year, take time to do your research, refine your presentation, and come up with quality examples. If you can blow everyone away, you’ll earn their loyalty big time.
Hosting an event:
Hopefully, you now understand the power of events to boost your business. The question is, what event will you host? Here are a few tips.
Always keep the gym full. Any day (or time of day) your gym is not in operation is a marketing opportunity. Venues are always in demand. Especially if you open up your location free of charge, you’ll be able to find someone who wants to host an event at your gym. This is much easier than hosting an event yourself, though it may still require you or an employee to be physically present.
Plan around holidays. Holidays tend to be a time for social activity and good cheer. If you can theme an event around a holiday, it may be more successful. You could give out candy on Halloween or host a food drive around Christmas.
Don’t forget about the parking lot. You might feel that your gym is not suited for most events, but maybe your parking lot is. Some parking lots are suitable for outdoor events and at least you could host a food co-op drop location.
A Challenge
Wanting to host an event is not the same thing as doing so. Before it slips from your mind, go find and an employee or friend and brainstorm one event you could host at your gym. If you know a date when you won’t be using your gym, let your friends or business contacts know it’s open for them to host an event. With planning, a small event can create big success.
1 Sang, Anna. (2018, December 17th) 2019 EVENT MARKETING STATISTICS, TRENDS AND DATA. Retrieved from https://blog.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-statistics