Why Gym Membership is a Fantastic Employee Benefit to Implement

by

 

“Why You Should Offer Your Employees A Gym Membership Incentive!”

 

Over the course of the Covid-19 through 2020 and 2021, individual health shot up the agenda in a big way. From an employer’s perspective, this was part of a long term, growing trend seen amongst employees. 

As such it is not surprising that even as society opens up, the focus on fitness has not receded. In fact if anything, it has intensified. 

Now that all restrictions have been lifted on everything from gyms and fitness clubs to swimming pools and stadiums, the desire has been met with the means and it has caused an explosion in popularity. Increasingly, employers are realising the power of offering on-site gyms and reduced corporate memberships as employee benefits.

As such, we’ve taken the time to write this article where we will be examining the benefits of an employee benefit scheme for both employee and employer with specific focus on these benefits in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

 

Click them to skip ahead…

 

A History of Steady Growth into A Fitness Explosion

How fitness benefits benefit both employees and employers

Different methods to improve fitness within the workplace

 

A History of Steady Growth into A Fitness Explosion

Reduced corporate gym memberships and on-site gyms are nothing new, yet they’ve gained massive popularity in recent times.

The popular app, Engage, reported a 32% increase in the trend of employees demanding gym membership discounts from employers in April 2021. It is no stretch to imagine that this came as a result of the desire to return to the crossfit trainer after sustained periods of lockdowns and closed gyms. 

We are confident that this trend isn’t just a kneejerk reaction to the pandemic. The public desire for fitness and wellness has been on a steady but significant rise for over a decade. This has been borne out time and time again on surveys of both employees and the general population.

The current demand we are seeing is built on a solid foundation of a general consensus and desire for fitness. The benefits of the Gym and other organised fitness environments have lived large in the public consciousness long before the Covid-19 pandemic and this has merely solidified the myriad benefits of a healthy lifestyle. 

The fact that between 2011 and 2019, the number of UK gyms doubled. It is apparent that this was a rise in supply to meet an ever growing demand. A demand that has only been intensified over the period of 2020 to 2022. 

So, how can we use our knowledge of this growing desire for fitness and transplant it into tangible benefits within the workplace?

 


How fitness benefits benefit both employees and employers

 

Perhaps one of the biggest strengths of fitness and Gym memberships as an employee benefit is its universality. It is a benefit that helps employee and management alike in both their personal and professional life.

It is therefore little surprise that we are seeing more businesses incorporate fitness into their workplaces and workplace benefit packages. 

Let’s examine some of the benefits that Gym or fitness club membership can bring to a workplace.

Increasing the General Fitness Level

While this might seem like a given, we aren’t so much looking at the increase in fitness as what it represents and the powerful knock-on effect it can have. 

Studies have proven that even thirty minutes of working out a few times a week can yield significant health and morale benefits. Now replicate this across an entire office.

An increased level of fitness can mean increased self-esteem, confidence, wellbeing and even team cohesion. Even if employees within a given team or company aren’t going to the Gym together, they have a shared place of interest. It has been shown that employees going the same Gym together will deepen their personal and professional bonds.

In addition to all these benefits, an employer can take statistical solace in the knowledge that more active workers have been proven to take fewer sick days, to be happier in their work and more productive.

And speaking of which…

 

Higher productivity levels

The impact of productivity can be so profound that it warrants its own section. If the employee Gym membership scheme has enough up-take and regular engagement, a workplace can see significant improvement to its energy and morale levels.  In turn, these benefits quickly spread to nearly all aspects of an employees personal and profession life.

A stronger, healthier and more motivated workforce is something no employer would pass up. And it is all the better if they can partially trace the origin of their happiness to the employers Gym membership benefit scheme.

Reduced stress

Exercise has been proven to have a tangible effect on both stress and mental health. I know I always feel a whole lot better after 30 minutes on a Crossfit trainer. We all know the science at this point (further proof of a rising public knowledge of health and physical fitness).

By releasing endorphins through exercise, people are more able to navigate the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Including work! In turn, an employer can look forward to stronger attendance and employee performance.

Better talent

By offering Gym membership as part of an employee benefit package, a company is demonstrating their commitment to their employees wellbeing.

Company culture has become a huge element in recruiting and then retaining the best staff. As such, employee benefits have come to form a core pillar of any corporate culture or employer ethos 

To take it one step further, an employee Gym membership scheme as part of a benefits package shows that a company understands the values of the era. It shows that they take a dynamic, money-where-their-mouth-is approach to fitness. Prioritising their employees physical and mental wellbeing by offering them benefits that have a broader impact in their lives beyond the workplace.

 

Different methods to improve fitness within the workplace

It is only natural that fitness in the workplace will take a different shape for every business. There are a lot of options to choose from, but we’ve narrowed it down to a few. We will be discussing the pros and cons. 

Providing Free gym membership as an Employee benefit.

With many owners now setting aside a set amount of money ‘per head’ for their Employee Benefit scheme, a free Gym membership is becoming increasingly viable.

It hits that sweet spot of being just enough that your Employees will notice and appreciate the gesture, without being pie-in-the-sky, like a company car for everyone. Given the number of benefits we have already discussed, you won’t be surprised that this gets our seal of approval. 

Providing Reduced gym membership as an Employee benefit.

Alternatively, if the budget can’t stretch to free Gym membership, there is plenty of leeway when it comes to just reducing the cost.

The two most popular methods for this involve salary sacrifice, where the employees sacrifice a very small portion of their wage in order to help fund the membership. This method is as flexible as it gets. The split can range from 1% to 99%.

The value for this will nearly always work out favourably because businesses generally get a collective discount. The power of collective bargaining! 

On-site gyms

If you have the space and the funds, an on-site Gym could definitely be the way forward. However for many companies this will be too expensive and inhibitive. It requires a significant amount of money, expertise and space within an office place.

In addition, with the rise of Working From Home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is less likely that an employee will actually be in the office than ever before. 

 

Want to find out more about Gym Membership as an employee benefit?

Interested in exploring the potential of a Corporate Discount Gym Membership scheme for your Employees?

Here at Ashbourne, our twenty five years experience within the Fitness industry allow us to offer you a wealth of experience and resources. Having overseen and assisted the implementation of these schemes with our partners, we are confident that we can help your Gym or Fitness Club obtain new members and increase your standing and profile in the local area.

 

Are you interested in obtaining and enacting an employee Gym membership scheme in your workplace? Drop a message me a message, I’m contactable on [email protected] 

Proven Marketing Tricks for Gym and Fitness Club Owners

by

 

“Proven Marketings Tricks For Your Gym!”

 

Marketing for Gym and Fitness Club owners can feel like an undiscovered country to the uninitiated. We know that every Gym and Fitness Club is marketing themselves to a greater or lesser extent every single day and yet the discourse regarding it feels listless and perhaps even a little secretive.

This is why we thought it was time to write this blog. Ashbourne has been working with independent Gym and Fitness Club owners for 25 years. In that time, we’ve seen the ascendancy of internet marketing in a huge way and we’ve helped Gym owners keep up the pace in a rapidly changing and challenging online environment. 

 

So if you’ve ever looked at a sleek looking mega-Gym and wonder how they have built up such a large customer-base. The silver bullet you might be looking for is marketing. 

 

Given how competitive the fitness industry can be, it is no wonder the aforementioned secrecy has come to define the industry when it comes to talking about what works in the vital arena of marketing.

So many times we’ve had people come into a Gym they’ve never set foot in before and say ‘Oh wow, I had no idea it was like this in here!’ or ‘This is so much better than the Gym I go to’.

Unfortunately, without spreading the good word, customers can walk past your Gym or Fitness Club every day and never know how much better it is than the soulless chain gym they are going to just down the road. 

So what do Gym and Fitness Club owners need to do to stay competitive in this market that is obsessed with increasing levels of automation and price-reduction? In this article we will be going deep into the details of marketing for independent Gyms, how to energise your existing membership base with impactful engagement and most importantly, how to reach new customers, soon to be members, within your local area. 

 

All Our Marketing Tricks (click them to skip ahead)…

 

Content Marketing

Events

 Educational Videos & Infographics

Google Business Profile

Forge Local, Meaningful Partnerships

 

Content as a tool for increasing your Marketing potency

 

Content as marketing is not a new strategy, but it is one that has seen a marked increase. We think that part of the reason for this is that it has never been easier to get a long-form, detailed opinion out to the public at virtually no cost.

Whereas before the rise of the internet and digital marketing, there was always a prohibitively expensive cost associated with length that has started to recede and vanish. Now there is very little to stop long form, insightful content from being published online with a high chance of reaching its audience through ever more advanced search engines.



This is, in our opinion, a blessing. It has allowed companies to post valuable and meaningful content without fear it will go completely unread, or even end up costing significantly more than it generated.


Now the ability to share relevant and impactful information directly to the audience cannot be overestimated as a tool for marketing. Now rather than relentlessly and monotonously bombarding potential customers with the same message in order to build some semblance of trust, businesses can put their message, their product, their expertise and their value right where their mouth is.

Unlike terrestrial advertising, this method allows for the story and expertise of the company to be demonstrated through the content they produce. In turn, this can help create a bond with the potential customers that a business is trying to reach. 

At time of writing, it is estimated that over 80% of brands are either utilising or in some way participating in Content Marketing. It has become a tour de force that has transcended marketing and become a way to get a business into search engines while generating valuable and meaningful content.

So how can a gym or fitness club owner incorporate content based marketing into their marketing strategies? We are going to cover off a few of the most accessible and impactful methods that can be implemented swiftly.

 

Blogging

Blogs are the mainstay of content-lead marketing for a number of reasons. As we discussed previously, one of the draws is the ability to communicate impactful information and have it reach the audience for the lowest possible cost.

Blogging fits that criteria perfectly. Not only is creating it cheap, requiring only expertise and a word processor, hosting it on a website is a negligible expense. Furthermore, given search engines focus on keywords, the potential for it to be found is very high relative to other forms of marketing.

 

So that is the positive news. The downside is that, especially within the fitness industry, Gym content lead marketing is very competitive. It is an industry full of people who know their stuff and do a significant portion of their business through their websites.

 

As such, it is important that gym owners keep in mind two mantras when producing blogs as content lead marketing for their websites. 


First, it must make a real contribution. No half measures. The information that Gyms are putting out shouldn’t be contentless clickbait or a guide that has been done better elsewhere. Every gym or fitness club should be a hub of talented and experienced individuals, with valuable expertise to contribute.

It is therefore necessary that Gyms bring their A-game to all content. The blogs will be what is selling the gym or fitness club to the customer. We want them to be drawn in and understand that the organisation has something to offer them that can improve their life. That it is worth their time and money. 

 

 

A useful thought exercise is something we call ‘The bookmark test’. Does the blog provide valuable enough content that someone who is interested in the subject would want to bookmark or favourite it on their browser so they can return to it. If the answer is yes, the content is on the right track.


The second is the more pragmatic and marketing side, and that is keywords. The best content in the world won’t draw a business any new custom if it can’t be found. As mentioned earlier, blogs trade in keywords and that is especially true in the fitness industry.

With prospective customers often searching very specific queries, whether it is related to an exercise, or a class, or an exercise machine. It is necessary for the content to be precise and purposeful in the language that is used. 

 

In addition, a successful blog should try to mention the location of the gym or fitness club it is trying to promote. A lot of searches are locational, so the more that the gym or fitness club can be linked with the specific area, the better. 

 

Podcasting

Take it from us, making a podcast and getting it onto the big platforms that people actually use has never been easier. 

There has been a big rise in the number of brand podcasts and they are enjoying a large amount of success. In a recent poll, 50% of content-led marketers who have adopted and utilised podcasts as a marketing tool have described it as one of their most effective content mediums they use. 

So then the question becomes, why are podcasts experience such an increase in adoption by businesses?

The answer is actually above, it has never been easier.

Accessibility and outreach always used to be the issue. Even as little as ten years ago, podcasting was a niche with few defined outlets. Still very much the domain of iTunes and Apple. Recording, editing and then releasing a podcast was a lot of work and there was no guarantee it would be downloaded (not streamed!) onto more than a few devices.

Now both recording and distribution has been made simple. Multiple websites can allow a business to upload a podcast once and then have it put onto all major streaming services (including the big hitters like Spotify).

As it often goes, this meant that businesses were able to test the water with comparatively little time and effort. In turn, businesses learned that there was a market for these podcasts and so a content marketing method was born.

 

The success factor has come from the casual nature of podcasting. A conversation between two people within the fitness industry, about the fitness industry doesn’t feel like marketing but it is highly effective at doing so. Given that people will be listening to the podcast on either a phone or a computer, they will have a search engine to hand, so any mention of a gym or fitness club that grabs their attention can be instantly followed up upon. 

The topics are endless and normally we find if you just set out a few topics of conversation and get the right people in the room, the conversation will flow nicely. Unlike a blog, it can be more freeform and anecdotal while still communicating valuable insight into the fitness industry.

It can also exist to deliver news about a gym or fitness club, a few-minute segment either at the beginning or the end of the podcast is the perfect time to detail new equipment, renovations, classes or events. These topics could even spark a conversation themselves about the running of the gym or fitness club. 

 

The last aspect is promotion. By putting up posters and sending out emails promoting the podcast, a gym can get a core group of followers interested in the podcast. In turn, just like with blogs, this will help with discoverability. 

The only limitation, and it is a relatively minor one in 2022, is getting the necessary equipment together. This will include a recording-quality microphone or microphones, headphones and computers to record and edit on. Nothing particularly outlandish and with a little candid conversation and audio quality, any gym can join this exciting and contemporary content marketing avenue. 

 

Events. Virtual, Real, Hybrid

 

Hosting events may not feel intuitive to many gym or fitness club owners, but their facilities are an asset that many businesses envy. A big public space with plenty of room for activities. It has novelty value to some and lifestyle appeal to many. 

 

This makes gyms and fitness clubs a very attractive place to host events, whether they are in-person events, virtual or a hybrid between the two. 

It is important to take stock of every asset a given gym or fitness club has. Whether that is a spacious lobby, a central location within the town or city, a coffee bar or a large, easily emptied space for free-form events. 

Open Days

It is the oldest trick in the book, but it stayed in the book for a reason. Open days are a great event for the area to see what a gym is made of, invite people in, publicise it in your area, invite local people of note.

Furthermore make sure the day is filmed so that footage can be uploaded to your social media channels. It might even be a good topic for a podcast. 

 

A Food Fair That Focuses On Healthy Living

A universal human experience and perhaps one of the best. Partnering with local food distributors, cafes, restaurants or healthy takeaways can be a great way for a gym to act as a nexus and a hub for the local community. 

 

Online Classes

Utilise a gym’s existing class system and personal trainers to hold free online classes.

 

Charity Events and ‘Event’ Events

It may sound slightly ridiculous but we all love a tie-in event. Whether it is for Easter or the Olympics, the Tour De France or St Valentine’s Day. Topical events are easy to market and will get people through the doors. The same with charity, everyone loves to support a good cause and for some a good cause can be the push they need to get exercising.

 

 

Educational Video and Infographics

The chances are everytime you log onto social media, you see at least one instance of the following two things.


The first is educational video content. Whether it is the TikTok ‘how to’ or YouTube short ‘life advice’, short-form video is everywhere. And where the individual goes, a company can follow. Just as we discussed with podcast, this new cultural trend is just ripe for companies to get onboard with and many have already. 

 

The second are infographics. We live in a world teeming with statistics, data and advice. This is good for content-marketing because it means that the audience of today is very receptive to infographics. More than ever, people are consuming their information from individuals and businesses through the snappy combination of data, images and text. 

 

Both methods are capable of turning someone who has just stumbled across the content into an interested party right away. More people than ever before are discovering new businesses due to the informative video content that they are putting out. The rise of near limitless mobile data means that people are doing this everywhere and at every time of the day. Combine this with Instagram, Twitter and Tiktoks ever more efficient video integration and shareability and a Gym would be remiss not to capitalise on this effect and far-reaching trend. 

 

As for what to show, we’ve listed ideas below for inspiration. 

 

Facility tour: Showing off a Gym or Fitness club is a surefire way to get people interested. Unless a gym has large windows, local people can pass by every day and never know the great facility instead.

 

How to use equipment: education and entertaining: This can also help reduce gymtimidation if someone has never used a piece of gym equipment. 

 

Exercise tips from your PTs: Short-form, well edited tips are the most shared and likely to hit the biggest audience. 

 

Classes in Action: If a class is going on, ask for permission and then get filming! 

 

Testimonials from the regulars: If regular customers are content and comfortable with saying a few words, the genuine enthusiasm they display can be a powerful motivator. 

 

Meal preparation and diet tips and tricks: Whether it comes from customers or staff, a great way to share what works for the people who use a Gym.

 

Google Business Profile (Previously Google My Business)

We thought we’d start with a feature so ubiquitous that it requires little introduction. Chances are that if you’ve googled a business in the last eight years, you’ve seen a Google Business Profile. Their success and omnipresence make them a powerful tool for communication and legitimacy. 

Many people, even those who don’t really understand the concept of a Google Business Profile, gravitate to that box in the top right hand corner of their google search or those little pins on Google Maps. 


But despite their status as one of the most well-known and efficient methods of business communication in the business world, it is often misused. Everyone can remember the time they came across a nonsensical or out of date Google Business Profile while looking for legitimate information. It is an instant turn-off and a quick indication that some aspects of the business in question need polishing.

And there are very few excuses for this. Google Business Profile is a free service for businesses, provided by, you guessed it, Google. 

 

It is a simple and effective tool for communicating the nature of a business, including key contact information, pictures and location, all within a succinct information box. 

 

Having this box filled in is vital for driving business from the online arena, into your actual Gym or Fitness Club. 

 

Too often we have found that Gym Owners have suboptimal or poorly filled in Google Business Profiles. It has reached a tipping point where many people within that key demographic of 18-34 will assume that the business may be in trouble or has ceased to exist if they can’t find a confirmation that it is ‘Open’ on the Google Business Profile.

This reflects a compounding consumer trend of reliance on the Google Business Profile to determine whether a business is open, or whether it even still exists.

As such, you can imagine the damage that not having a sufficiently setup profile can do to the prospect of converting internet interest into feet through the doors. 

Not only that, but due to the poor state that many Gym and Fitness Club’s keep their Google Business Profiles in, having a functional one can greatly increase your visibility in your area. A fully optimised Google Business Profile makes it more likely that it’ll be your Gym that shows up higher on the list when someone googles ‘Gyms near me’ or ‘Gyms in *your area*’.

So how can you improve your Google Business Profile you are asking? We’ve set out the immediate and impactful steps you can take to give your business profile a boost.

 

Visual Media (Photo and Video) are a MUST!

It has been estimated that businesses with photos and video are clicked on 30% to 40% more than those without. That is without the inestimable psychological effect that it has on the average potential customer to see what a business hasn’t even uploaded any pictures.

While it is a simple bar to clear, it is one that many businesses do not do successfully and it is an easy and effortless way to stand out from the crowd. Use the pre-existing photographs and videos that are on your Gym website, pick the most striking one first, as they will be the thumbnail that most potential customers see. Alternatively, pick the feature you are most proud of, or that you think makes you stand out the most from your local competition.



Be sure not to just put up pictures of an empty gym, wide shots of your gym or fitness club being used by many people are a must, as well as any classes that you hold. This will show people a snippet of what you have to offer, and psychologically it will be more appealing than just an empty Gym (even if said empty Gym is well furnished). 

 

Add Keywords (or get your Keywords in order) and Make Them Relevant

While keywords are a kingdom unto themselves, we can simplify it for the sake of this section.

Make sure they are relevant! And understand that more does not equal better. Ten pertinent and powerful keywords will do more than 100 vague and meandering ones. Keywords are a tool to be used precisely and sparingly.

For anything more advanced, we recommend you visit a dedicated guide regarding keywords. But with just a thorough review and a refresh, you are guaranteed to be displaying higher than you were before. 

Choose the Right Business Category

Much like with keywords, this is another case of less being more. Google will let you select up to ten Business Categories but it is not recommended to use your full allotment. For the average Gym or Fitness Club, it will only be necessary to use a few. For instance, if you specialise in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing, it might be pertinent to put ‘MMA Gym’ or ‘Boxing Gym’. From there, you could also put ‘Octagon’ as a sub-category if that is a feature your Gym has. Conversely, if your club has a Swimming Pool, it would be fair to say that that is a category unto itself.

Make sure your categories are distinct from one another and that each one is contributing something meaningful or adding a layer of specificity.

Overlap will only confuse the issue and too many will dilute the potency of the search terms and result in less overall hits.

 

Update Regularly

Because a Google Business Profile is free and low maintenance, it is often completely neglected. In our experience, a useful paradigm is to consider your Google Business Profile to be like your Twitter or Instagram feed. If you hadn’t updated or maintained those for a week, we would like to think there would be raised eyebrows.

As such, we recommend you dedicate a small amount of time regularly to the maintenance of your Google Business Profile. Whether that is responding to reviews, updating the circumstances of your business or just adding new pictures.

Given that many will use the state and circumstance of your Google Business Profile to determine the health of your business, make it look alive! Less than ten minutes of care a week can make a significant impact in the long term. 

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and you’ve learned something about this small but powerful and transformative piece of internet infrastructure.

Chances are you had seen it every day of your life and never questioned what was driving such a useful box.

 

Forge Local, Meaningful Partnerships

While online marketing is a vital and powerful tool for gyms and fitness clubs, we should not lose sight of more traditional marketing techniques.

The most effective in our experience? Engaging with the local community that surrounds the gym or fitness club. Ultimately, even when partaking in social media and other online content, what a Gym is trying to do is grow a network of individuals within the proximity of the gym. Of people who could realistically be customers of the gym.

 

This is where local partnerships come into play. While the internet can make us feel connected to someone on the other side of the planet, the most important connection in most people’s lives is within their local area. Whether this is the centre of a town or city, a neighbourhood or college or a school, people will have somewhere they gravitate to.


We have found that gyms and fitness clubs can benefit immensely from identifying these areas and attempting to support and integrate. Ultimately this is what sets apart independent gym and fitness club owners from cold, corporate chains and the importance of a connection to the local area can’t be overstated. 

 

As we covered earlier in the article, a spacious gym or fitness club is the ideal place to host community events. Reach out to council and local charity networks to see what projects they have running in your area. Chances are they will already be engaged in encouraging fitness and healthy living within the area.

In addition, approach local businesses that either also work within or are related to the fitness industry. Whether it is health supplements, sports and fitness equipment or sports clubs. Whether it is just to pass on advertising materials such as leaflets and pamphlets, or deeper collaborations involving the products of the business, these partnerships can help spread the reputation of the gym into the local area. 

 

Moving Forward

We hope this article has given some actionable ideas to any gym or fitness club owners with a desire to grow their business. 

 

Over the past 25 years in the fitness industry, Ashbourne Membership Management has worked tirelessly with independent gym owners to streamline their processes and grow their businesses. Whether it is through our lightweight and powerful membership management software, sleek and professional website design or our wealth of industry expertise, we are confident that we can help any gym or fitness club owner take their business to the next level.

 

Interested? Book a meeting with our team today and find out more here.

How To Make Your Gym Stand Out From Competitors on Google…

by

 

“How To Maintain & Improve Your Google Business Profile”

 

A Google Business Profile, a feature previously known as Google My Business, is a vital but often neglected piece of online infrastructure for any business.

We’ve noticed that Gyms and Fitness Club owners aren’t always on top of their Google Business Profile and there is a very fine line (and amount of effort!) between a sleek and professional-looking profile and one that looks shabby and abandoned. 


So for today’s article, we will be looking at what we can do as Gym and Fitness Club owners to improve our Google Business Profile and really stand out.

 

All Your Questions Answered (click them to skip ahead)…

 

What Is A Google Business Profile?

How Quickly & Easily Can Your Improve & Maintain Your Google Business Profile?

 – Visual Media

– Keywords

– The Correct Business Category

– Update Regularly

 

What Is A Google Business Profile?

 

Chances are that if you’ve googled a business in the last eight years, you’ve seen a Google Business Profile. Their success and omnipresence make them a powerful tool for communication and legitimacy. 

Many people, even those who don’t really understand the concept of a Google Business Profile, gravitate to that box in the top right hand corner of their google search or those little pins on Google Maps. 

But despite their status as one of the most well-known and efficient methods of business communication in the business world, it is often misused. Everyone can remember the time they came across a nonsensical or out-of-date Google Business Profile while looking for legitimate information. It is an instant turn-off and a quick indication that some aspects of the business in question need polishing.

And there are very few excuses for this. Google Business Profile is a free service for businesses, provided by, you guessed it,Google.

It is a simple and effective tool for communicating the nature of a business, including key contact information, pictures, and location, all within a succinct information box. 

 

Having this box filled in is vital for driving business from the online arena, into your actual Gym or Fitness Club. 

 

 

Too often we have found that Gym Owners have suboptimal or poorly filled in Google Business Profiles. It has reached a tipping point where many people within that key demographic of 18-34 will assume that the business may be in trouble or has ceased to exist if they can’t find a confirmation that it is ‘Open’ on the Google Business Profile.

This reflects a compounding consumer trend of reliance on the Google Business Profile to determine whether a business is open, or whether it even still exists.

As such, you can imagine the damage that not having a sufficiently setup profile can do to the prospect of converting internet interest into feet through the doors. 

Not only that but due to the poor state that many Gym and Fitness Club’s keep their Google Business Profiles in, having a functional one can greatly increase your visibility in your area. A fully optimised Google Business Profile makes it more likely that it’ll be your Gym that shows up higher on the list when someone googles ‘Gyms near me’ or ‘Gyms in *your area*’. 

 

So How Can You Quickly and Easily Improve and Maintain Your Google Business Profile?

 

So how can you improve your Google Business Profile you are asking? We’ve set out the immediate and impactful steps you can take to give your business profile a boost.

 

Visual Media (Photo and Video) are a MUST!

It has been estimated that businesses with photos and video are clicked on 30% to 40% more than those without. That is without the inestimable psychological effect that it has on the average potential customer to see what a business hasn’t even uploaded any pictures.

While it is a simple bar to clear, it is one that many businesses do not do successfully and it is an easy and effortless way to stand out from the crowd. Use the pre-existing photographs and videos that are on your Gym website, pick the most striking one first, as they will be the thumbnail that most potential customers see. Alternatively, pick the feature you are most proud of, or that you think makes you stand out the most from your local competition.



Be sure not to just put up pictures of an empty gym, wide shots of your gym or fitness club being used by many people are a must, as well as any classes that you hold. This will show people a snippet of what you have to offer, and psychologically it will be more appealing than just an empty Gym (even if said empty Gym is well furnished). 

 

Add Keywords (or get your Keywords in order) and Make Them Relevant

While keywords are a kingdom unto themselves, we can simplify it for the sake of this section.

Make sure they are relevant! And understand that more does not equal better. Ten pertinent and powerful keywords will do more than 100 vague and meandering ones. Keywords are a tool to be used precisely and sparingly.

For anything more advanced, we recommend you visit a dedicated guide regarding keywords. But with just a thorough review and a refresh, you are guaranteed to be displaying higher than you were before. 

Choose the Right Business Category

Much like with keywords, this is another case of less being more. Google will let you select up to ten Business Categories but it is not recommended to use your full allotment. For the average Gym or Fitness Club, it will only be necessary to use a few. For instance, if you specialise in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing, it might be pertinent to put ‘MMA Gym’ or ‘Boxing Gym’. From there, you could also put ‘Octagon’ as a sub-category if that is a feature your Gym has. Conversely, if your club has a Swimming Pool, it would be fair to say that that is a category unto itself.

Make sure your categories are distinct from one another and that each one is contributing something meaningful or adding a layer of specificity.

Overlap will only confuse the issue and too many will dilute the potency of the search terms and result in less overall hits.

 

Update Regularly

Because a Google Business Profile is free and low maintenance, it is often completely neglected. In our experience, a useful paradigm is to consider your Google Business Profile to be like your Twitter or Instagram feed. If you hadn’t updated or maintained those for a week, we would like to think there would be raised eyebrows.

As such, we recommend you dedicate a small amount of time regularly to the maintenance of your Google Business Profile. Whether that is responding to reviews, updating the circumstances of your business or just adding new pictures.

Given that many will use the state and circumstance of your Google Business Profile to determine the health of your business, make it look alive! Less than ten minutes of care a week can make a significant impact in the long term. 

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and you’ve learned something about this small but powerful and transformative piece of internet infrastructure.

Chances are you had seen it every day of your life and never questioned what was driving such a useful box.

 

Want to understand more about your membership?

Ashbourne can help you gain unprecedented insight.

 

Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we are committed to not only working with our partners, but growing their businesses in every way. Whether it is something as large and vital as streamlining the collection of monthly membership fees, or something as small but impactful as fine-tuning their online presence. We are interested in being a valued partner that elevates your Gym or Fitness club to the next level.

Interested in knowing more? Follow the link here and a member of our team will be in touch swiftly to see how we can help your Gym or Fitness Club to reach the next level.

Hot Takes! Never Give Away A Free Pass Again

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No More Gym Free Pases

 

“Never Give Away A Free Pass Again!”

 

Free passes were a constant issue for us at our test gym “The Fit Club Redditch“,  last year. Members asking if they could ‘bring a mate’, trainers bringing guests and people generally trying their luck. The system we bought in: Pay for your day pass (£7.50), and get the money back when you sign up on a full membership. It’s a fair system, one that staff can easily get behind and it’s easy to administer when you have the right software package to manage it. Here’s how we do it: 

 

All our implemented ideas (click them to skip ahead)…

 

Charge them for a pass (and make it expensive!)

Data capture form

Automated follow up

Human follow up pipeline (optional)

 

Charge them for a pass (and make it expensive!)

 

To start with we set a price for a day pass that was palatable for our area. At £7.50 it’s our most expensive membership when we look at cost per day. However, the price is for convenience and designed to make our longer term memberships look more attractive.

At this price we rarely get objections, especially when the member is already at our front desk and eager to start their session!

 

Create your system

A crucial part of the system that we introduced was the use of Ashbourne’s prospect management system. If you are using a different system you may also be able to replicate this. There are three main components to the process we introduced:

Data Capture Form

 

When a day pass member comes down to the gym on a day pass, they have either already paid online or will do so at our front desk. We created a simple form that captures crucial contact information (name, email, phone). All the visitor needs to do once their payment is confirmed is to fill out their details on the digital form (hosted on a tablet computer at reception).

day pass data capture form

 

Automated follow up

 

Once the member has inputted their data into the form, they are automatically added to our lead management platform. We have the system set up so that it waits a day (allows the day pass visitor to enjoy their session before we get in touch), before sending out the first of a series of emails and text messages.

The first email includes a voucher code which, as promised, removes the value of their day pass from the cost of a full membership. Crucially, the system will perform checks to see whether the day pass visitor has signed up. In the case that they have joined, the system will stop pestering them!

 

Human follow up pipeline (optional)

One additional feature that we have recently set up, is a system for following up with people that go through the entire automated process without ever signing up.

These potential members fall into a ‘deal pipeline’, as imaged below.

Ashbourne CRM pipeline

 

Here, a member of our team will go through the list of contacts, calling each one up and asking about their session and if they wish to join us. They then simply drag and drop the contact to the relevant column, each of which includes its own automation.

If the contact is placed in the ‘Successfully contacted – Interested’ column, they will automatically then receive an email from us with the link to join.

Provided you provide clear instructions to your team, this process should mean that you never need to give away a free pass again!

It provides a clear and fair incentive to the potential member.

The system also means you can capitalise on every single person using your gym. Not only that, but it also puts you in good stead to convert them into an actual member! 

 

Want to understand more about your membership?

Ashbourne can help you gain unprecedented insight.

 

As you can see, we really get stuck into every aspect of helping gyms and clubs succeed. Our success is directly tied to the success of our partnered clubs, so we are always ensuring that we’re at the cutting edge when it comes to helping all of our gyms grow and market themselves effectively.

If you’d like to get in touch about how we can help your club succeed, then you can always book a demo with our sales director, Grant Harrison, who would love to show you how our full club management package can help you improve and grow every aspect of your business.

The Only Metrics You Need To Focus On To Grow Your Gym – Free Webinar

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metrics to focus on to grow your gym webinar

When it comes to running your gym, there is a mountain of data and analysis that you could potentially review to streamline and improve your gym.

But the reality is, no busy gym owner has time for that!

In this webinar, we’ll help you grind down the hundreds of data points, numbers and metrics that you could look at…and boil it down to the figures that are important, which you can use to grow your club as a very small team.

 

 

Watch The Only Metrics You Need To Grow Your Gym

 

 

 

Get Your Complete List of Free Resources Here!

You can find all the free resources mentioned in the webinar to download below and start utilising your business’ data effectively, without drowing in data.

All of these strategies are designed for you to implement right now, with no extra spend and without overloading your staff with more work and responsibilities.

  1. Download our free ebook on the Crucial Metrics You Need To Track
  2. Join the Gym Owner’s Forum here

 

The 6 Metrics That You Need To Grow Your Gym Business

It’s important for us to clarify upfront that none of this is simply old wives’ tales. All of the data and information we talk about is sourced from real world examples of gyms and industry data collected over decades.

Everything we talk about is:

 

Tested by us in our own test gym – The Fit Club Redditch.

Sourced from the thousands of clubs that we partner with, as we frequently keep in contact with their strategies and provide advice for them to implement.

25 years of wisdom and industry knowledge.

 

 

METRIC 1: Review your prices – How much are you members paying?

Export a list of your membership and sift through it. Have a look at what they are paying. You might have a group of members paying nominal rates. This could be in comparison to more recent members, or as the result of previous promotions. Sometimes you forget how far you’ve come, and how little you used to charge!

 

You might even be under charging for the demographic in your area, or compared to local competition.

 

A quick method of growing income can be a price increase. Members who are paying under the odds / average are a good place to start.Sure, you may lose a few members putting a price up. But in some cases, you can actually be making a loss on individual members.

Take us at The Fit Club, we recently found a collection of members paying 10.99 a month! The remnants of previous owners and we were none the wiser. At this price, if the members choose to leave, we wouldn’t have been unhappy. Fortunately, none did, even when we more than doubled their monthly price

 

And now let’s talk more about those club improvements…

Perhaps you have made sweeping changes to the club in recent times. Again, this could be justification for a price increase. In these situations, as long as the price increase is an amount reflective of the changes you have made, then there can be little complaints from members. Although you’ll always get a few!

Make sure you make the most of a price increase. It’s not something you want to be doing regularly (chains like Virgin active seem to reevaluate prices once a year). So don’t bother with miniscule increases of £.50 etc – it will be much more likely to cause more problems than it solves.

If you are worried about how many sleeping members you might be hitting with a price increase. You could cross check the list that you export with a list of recent attendees, removing anyone that hasn’t attended in a while.

 

 

METRIC 2: Day / free pass conversions

 

The key metric to track here is number of day passes (or free passes if you do them) vs. number of conversions. 

 

This metric won’t exist if you aren’t recording people’s details when they come into the club. Obviously it is vital, if you aren’t recording details for every visitor coming through then you are doing it wrong!

 

Contact these people with an offer!

 

At The Fit Club we have an automated follow up system.

We stopped giving out free passes. All day passes are £7.50. Member fills out a web form on arrival. This puts them into Ashbourne’s automated system and the member is followed up with an email asking them about their first visit, alongside a voucher code which gives them a £7.50 discount if they then sign up. Alas, you only get a free pass if you sign up!

The system is checking if these members have signed up on our behalf. If they don’t sign up after x number of days the member then gets passed onto the guys at reception to call. Each of these ‘hot leads’ gets two phone calls.

If they are interested we sign up, if they aren’t we add them to our ‘prospect’ to try and tempt back at a later date.

 

 

METRIC 3: Assess retained membership

This is one of the most important numbers to track and yet so many club owners struggle to answer these 2 questions when asked:

 

How do you measure churn?

Are you growing month to month?

 

A good metric for this is simply gains and losses. How many have we signed up vs. how many have we lost. Super simple, but absolutely crucial.

Are more members leaving then signing up? Seeing a lot of members who joined in January losing their motivation just about now!

 

Tracking your Direct Debit members…

Look at your recent cancellation list, people have cancelled their Direct Debit instruction and start making some calls. Your management company will deal with defaulters I’m sure. But what about those who have seen out their membership term or are on flexible contracts, They have every right to cancel, and so often they will be left to do so without a fight!

Obviously churn is a part of the business. There are always going to be people coming and going. Injuries, people moving away are common reasons. But just as regularly members are telling us ‘I’m not using it enough’, ‘I don’t know what i’m doing’, ‘i’ve seen no results’. These aren’t valid excuses for me. One thing that has helped us turn round more of these objections, has been having a solid offer to reengage such members. 

We explain to the members how important the gym is and how important their health is. A simple reinduction to something they already knew. Once they accept that, it’s easy to book them into the diary for a reinduction there and then. At this point we’ll also agree to reinstate the members DD, we won’t allow them to take up the reinduction without it.

A personal trainer or gym instructor taking the member through our induction checklist, reassessing goals, weighing in and going through a simple session plan. They are back in the gym, using it. Their initial reason for cancelling has been turned around. 

 

Tracking your Paid In Full members…

Also worth looking at your paid in full members. Are any coming up for renewal soon? Contact these members and get a renewal set up before they expire. No good leaving it down to them!

 

Is retention even your issue? If you are retaining members then fair play to you.

That is the number one most difficult thing to do. Now how can you grow?

 

Especially keep tabs on your advertising, things like Facebook ads. Whether you do this yourself or have a specialist company. Track track track. Use a thank you page as an end point to see how many successful conversions you actually have.

 

 

METRIC 4: Tracking marketing spend

It can be very easy to simply do what you think you should be doing when it comes to your marketing.

Do social, spend hundreds on a mailout to the local area, get an advert in the local paper – all tried and tested ideas that gyms rely on.

But you have to rethink your marketing so you can track your spend and what it brings in. Don’t just shout loudly, spend money everywhere and hope for the best.

So how do you do this?

Well if you use Facebook ads or social media ads, then make sure your ads are tracking conversions, not just link clicks. Knowing how many people visited your website is useful because the more eyes on your service, the more likely someone is to buy, but it gives you no information about your marketing spend to membership gain.

Make sure you set up actual conversion targets, like knowing your members have to hit a thank you page to confirm a sale from an ad, so you measure on how much member you’re getting for your buck. There’s no reason not to track this information.

 

Offline media can use a similar trick. Make sure you’re using promo codes, or asking people to enquire at reception – something that you can note down to ensure that you know where your members are coming from. Do things in proper campaigns with unique codes and tracking for each one, so you can keep track of where your money is going and where you’re investment is.

 

We recently used a voucher code as part of a campaign with a local newspaper. 0 people used the code. When we took over from a previous club, they always had an ad in the paper, but we were able to cut this instantly and move all our ad spend over to online. 

And how can you tell what a member is worth?

This is why knowing retention is so useful. By knowing what a member pays per month and how many months they stay on average, you can now work out how much to spend on your members. If your gym costs £29 a month and it takes you £50 to get a member, but they stay for 10 months, then you can start looking at your budgeting long term, that you’re spending £50 to make £290, rather than halting every campaign because it didn’t make money on the first month.

 

 

METRIC 5: Capacity utilisation (gym, classes, secondary spend)

Classes are such a huge missed opportunities for so many clubs!

 

Are you tracking your class usage? – A busy class is a good class.

Are you being efficient with your time and space? – Think about alternative classes that would fit your member demographics better.

Are you making sure your classes are busy? – it improves the atmosphere and brings people back!

 

You can track class attendance and proactively fill classes by reaching out via email or push notification. Quick, and will only cost you the 5 minutes it takes to send the message. With the Ashbourne system you can target this message to members that actually attend classes. This being said, I think you should hit as many people as possible. Even those that don’t currently attend classes.

 

Put on a total gym cap across your facility!

You can take a similar view with gym capacity / usage. Your gym might be rammed at 7pm on a Monday. But what about the day time traffic? If it’s a lot quieter then perhaps it’s time to look at an off peak membership option.

Don’t stop there though, get the word out to the relevant people. Who are available during the day, retirees, certain industries – factory workers, nurses etc, the unemployed. Your local council can be a great place for reaching out to groups like these. 

Dissect your secondary spend figures:

  •       What % of your income is currently coming from secondary spend activities? – This is all down to your till software and the reports it can produce. 
  •       Are all categories pulling their weight?
  •       Are there options that you can add?
  •       Are there lines / products / services that are only costing you money? – Spend on stock greater than revenue on product group.

 

A quick example of how to use downtime to improve secondary spend…

Are you being efficient with how you are ordering stock for example. I visit so many clubs that have empty vending machines, shelves that lay bare. We’ve had a problem in The Fit Club with downtime on sunbeds for example.

You want to be a place that members can rely on for secondary purchases whether that’s a bottle of water or minutes on a bed.

 

 

METRIC 6: Are you tracking usage?

Two sides of the coin here. I’m a big believer that you can grow your gym business with or without sleeping members. On one side you can refrain from contacting sleeping members, sitting on the fact that they will continue paying for a period and then eventually notice and possibly cancel memberships.

 

On the other hand you can look to contact sleeping members and actually get some more investment from them.

 

When looking at our sign up information at The Fit Club, I can see that ‘Referred by a friend’ is by far the most common reason for joining. So yes, you may see a few cancellations by waking sleeping members. However, there is also potential for growth!

There’s a big fear around ‘waking’ sleeping members sometimes. But when you take into account secondary spend and referral it makes you think whether it’s actually a good approach to take. Open and honest marketing may be a better approach. But that’s up to you!

 

 

Get In Touch With The Team At Ashbourne

Ashbourne is focused on making it easier for health clubs to grow their business and keep delivering their members a better service.

Ashbourne can manage every single aspect of your fitness business, handling everything from your payments to your website, entry and booking systems.

This gives you more time and freedom to focus on your members, revitalise your marketing and have time to actually manage your club properly.

And of course, Ashbourne are here every step of the way with free resources and advice to help your club be the best it can be.

If you want to discuss the future of your club, then don’t hesitate to set up a chat with our team and we can pay a visit to your facility to chat about your business and how we can help you maximise your profit.

Should You Be Increasing Your Prices At Your Gym?

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Increase Gym Membership Prices Features

Increase Gym Membership Prices

 

“Should I Increase My Gym’s Prices?”

 

Certain industries and sectors have little to no reservations about putting up their prices. The council is all too happy to dictate when their cut will rise, as are the trains and the petrol stations. But unfortunately for some in the fitness sector, the rise of national chain budget Gyms has turned the health and fitness industry into an arena of constant price warfare.

As such, we will be taking a look at each of the most common questions and concerns that gym owners have to try and navigate in this minefield when they increase their membership prices.

We’ve recently carried out our own price increase in our test gym “The Fit Club Redditch“, so you can follow our roadmap for increasing your prices and building your club’s revenue.

 

All your questions answered (click them to skip ahead)…

 

Is it time to raise the price of your Gym Memberships?

How much should they increase by?

Should you increase the price for all members?

How should you communicate the price increase to your members?

Should you be wary of increasing your prices?

 

 

 

Is it time to raise the price of your Gym Memberships?

 

The aforementioned price war is not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly leads to a lower price for the consumer. But in times of budget squeeze, the ability to remain competitive will naturally come into conflict with the ever-increasing, real-value cost of running your Gym.

As such, when it comes to contesting the percentage of the population who will actually purchase Gym or fitness club membership, the subject is best approached with, at the very least, caution.

 

With increasing property rents and energy prices, the time has come where the industry is wondering if even the budget chains will be able to sustain their rock bottom price metrics.

 

And of course, unlike many economic factors that assail the industry, property rents and energy prices are both concerns that impact the spending habits of the consumer. The economical and societal upheaval of the last two years has left many consumers in a very different position when compared to 2019.

It is important that we keep this in mind when both considering and communicating potential price rises.

 

More than ever, consumers will be concerned about the value they are getting for their service.

 

family working out lifestyle budget

 

We will go into more detail when it comes to communicating the price rise but it is important to highlight in this section that your price increase cannot come with no benefits. At the very least be prepared to showcase how your Gym has improved, is improving or will be improved. If you can’t showcase this, a price increase may well result in a net loss of revenue.

To expand, it is important we reinforce that increasing the prices of your Gym or fitness club membership is not a silver bullet solution.

 

It is possible that, if mishandled, your club could end up with less collected in membership fees than before.

 

This is, of course, a worse case scenario but it is a consideration that should be held at all points of a membership price review. As we previously mentioned, there is an increasingly price savvy consumer base out there as the public starts to cut unnecessary costs. Many people will be reacting in a knee jerk fashion. A poorly timed or poorly communicated price increase could be just the thing to cause an exodus of people looking to reduce their monthly expenses. It is also important to consider that the obligatory communication may alert sleeping members to the fact they are still paying for your service. 

If either of these take place during a price increase, it may be significant enough to reduce or even negate the benefit of a Gym membership price increase.

 

 

How much should you increase membership prices by?

 

While this is possibly the most important question here, it is also, unsurprisingly, the one with the most nuanced and situational answer. This will require not only a comprehensive review of your membership but also of the competition in your local area.

 

Before increasing the price, it is vital to research the entire fitness market in your area.

 

Understand if any of your competitors have already increased their price. If you don’t know their price previously, merely understanding the different benchmarks for different Gyms in your area is still valuable information. Even if you feel like an increase of £x is justified, if it prices you out of the current market in your area then it is time to ask some intrinsic questions. 

In regards to your current membership, it is important to understand several different aspects of their current situation.

 

It is vital to understand how satisfied your current membership is with the gym or fitness club.

 

The two primary methods of achieving this will be social media, reviews and surveying. Thankfully consumers are very willing to give their feedback in the internet era. Review all outlets of feedback for your Gym, including review sites such as TrustPilot and Google Reviews, as well as your most active social media accounts.

If your clue is not meeting the expectations of your members at the current value, it is very hard to justify a price increase, let alone a significant one. It is important to keep your finger on the pulse of your customer’s opinion. Too often we all complain of businesses being out of touch, but in a value driven, competitive market, being in touch is paramount.

Only then will you be able to have the necessary confidence in the service you are providing to justify increasing your price.

 

 

Should you increase the price for all types of members?

 

The answer to this question will once again depend on the nature of your Gym or fitness club. From our (very, very long) experience in the fitness industry, we know that Gym membership categories are as varied, if not more varied than the number of clubs.

The reason we have decided to write this as its own section is to reinforce that you should take into consideration every membership when conducting a price review. 

Even if you are perfectly happy with the price point of certain membership tiers, it is still necessary to communicate effectively across the entire business.

On the other hand, it may be that you wish to increase the price of every membership by a set amount. The difference between say, £1 per member and 3% per member could vary massively. Both are systems that have been implemented in the fitness industry to varying levels of effectiveness.

 

Gym Membership Tiers

 

The economic logic here is simple.

 

Increasing everyone’s membership by a static amount, for the sake of argument here, £1, will give the sense of uniformity.

 

BUT

 

This method will represent a smaller increase in terms of percentage for your higher paying members. Increasing the price by a percentage across the board will, conversely, spread the load more equally, but perhaps extracting less from your lower paying members. 

 

Another frequently asked question during a price review is whether or not loyal members should get preferential treatment. Or whether the price increase should only apply to new members. While this can be tempting and even effective, it is important to note that an increase only on new members may take months, or even years to have a noticeable impact on the margins.

 

 

How to communicate the reasons for the price increase to your members…

 

It is vital that when you start to communicate the price increase to your membership, it is done in a calm, clear and empathetic manner.

The tone and professionalism of the communication will be important to get the point across that you are not:

 

  1. Making this decision quickly or lightly.
  2. Making this decision due to panic or in a reactionary manner.
  3. Nor that you are making this decision due to greed.
  4. That you have considered all possible options and avenues before making this price increase.

 

In order to demonstrate that the price increase is being implemented in a controlled manner, it should be communicated well ahead of time. Preferably this should be done in writing, either via e-mail or letter.

 

Our Rules For Gym Price Increase Communication…

 

This communication should lead with an acknowledgement of the current situation. The consumer is fully aware that the price of living, energy and rent is increasing and therefore this is a solid justification for any rise.

 

Focus on the improvements that have been made to the Gym and how the service is different to what was being provided a year prior.

 

Highlight the strengths of your gym or fitness club compared to other Gyms in the area and show that the price is still competitive.

 

Highlight other improvements that will be being made in the future and where the additional money will be going.

 

Make sure to brief all staff, most importantly the managers, about this upcoming change. Make sure everyone appreciates why it is happening, so that there is a unified response to any complaints. If the team running your social media is separate from your Gym staff, make sure that they are also fully briefed.

Ask staff to refer any severe complaints to the management team. 

 

If you have more than one gym or fitness club, make sure that the price increase and the communication is tailored to the area. 

 

Offer to arrange a face to face meeting for members to attend to discuss the price raise. This will give the sense that their voices are being listened to. Set an agenda that involves improvements they’d like to see given the new price. 

 

 

Should you be wary of increasing your membership prices?

 

While it is a decision that should be taken with the utmost care, ultimately gyms and fitness clubs should not be scared of increasing their prices. In the current circumstances it is an understandable and necessary evil.

While there will be some inevitable pushback, any gym should be able to effectively articulate that these price increases do not come from a place of greed.

 

Woman clutching piggy bank in shock

 

With all the disruption to the economy within the last half decade, price increases have become an accepted part of life.

 

With that being said, it is important to understand that you still have to be competitive within your local fitness market.

 

It is important to understand the strengths of your gym or fitness club, what makes it continue to appeal to your existing members.

 

  • If it is the advanced equipment, great location or versatile facility, that is a solid foundation for a small but impactful price increase.
  • If it is purely that you are the cheapest gym or club in the area, then that may make you more vulnerable to the attrition caused by a price increase.

 

Further more it is important not to fall into the trap of incremental, yearly rises. This will just result in a yearly exodus of customers.

 

It is better to announce a one off increase that can be justified and clearly communicated to your membership.

 

You may want to look into offering members options when you announce the increase. This could include offering them a year of membership at their old rate if they pay the full amount upfront. While this will represent a loss of income overtime, it will mean that you collect a full year’s membership where otherwise you might not.

As stated earlier, the confidence of which a price increase can be implemented should be directly linked to the sophistication of the membership monitoring systems you have in place and therefore the knowledge of your members. 

If you are confident you understand which of your members are loyal and active, and which are perhaps inactive, sleepers or non-committal, then you will understand the full implication of the decisions you take when conducting a price review.

 

 

Want to understand more about your membership?

Ashbourne can help you gain unprecedented insight.

 

As you can see, we really get stuck into every aspect of helping gyms and clubs succeed. Our success is directly tied to the success of our partnered clubs, so we are always ensuring that we’re at the cutting edge when it comes to helping all of our gyms grow and market themselves effectively.

If you’d like to get in touch about how we can help your club succeed, then you can always book a demo with our sales director, Grant Harrison, who would love to show you how our full club management package can help you improve and grow every aspect of your business.

8 Simple Ways To Keep Your Members At Your Gym For Longer – Free Webinar & Resources

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8 ways to keep your members for longer webinar

Across Ireland and the UK, membership retention has become an ongoing challenge for gyms.

As a gym owner, it can be tough to know exactly what steps you need to take in order to keep your members engaged, without disturbing your so called “sleeping members”.

As a gym consultant and fitness sales director, Shannon White has spoken with hundreds of gyms and health clubs on their strategies to keep their members with them for life.

In this webinar, Shannon has condensed her 8 best techniques for you to keep your members for longer – providing practical methods that you and your team can actually put into action straight away in your club.

 

 

Watch 8 Simple Ways To Keep Your Members At Your Gym

 

 

 

Get Your Complete List of Free Resources

You can find all the free resources mentioned in the webinar to download below and start utilising all of these strategies to increase your gym member retention and drastically grow your business.

 

All of these strategies are designed for you to implement right now, with no extra spend and without overloading your staff with more work and responsibilities.

  1. Download the webinar slides here.
  2. Download our free e-book on how to maintain engagement with your members
  3. Use our Google Form template to create feedback forms for your members
  4. Read the latest gym retention report and statistics
  5. Join the Gym Owner’s Forum here

 

 

Read All 8 Retention Tips For Your Gym Here

The following advice for increasing your membership retention is not just words to make you feel good, every idea we suggest here has been:

 

  • Tested by us in our own test gym – The Fit Club Redditch
  • Sourced from the thousands of clubs that we partner with, as we frequently keep in contact with their strategies and provide advice for them to implement.
  • 25 years of wisdom and industry knowledge.

 

Our 8 methods are going to focus primarily on that customer experience side. We’re going to look at what you can control right now in the way you manage your members, work with your staff to create a great environment and handle your onboarding system to get more of your members through their first 6 months and staying with you for years to come.

 

Tip 1 – Get a 12 month contract in place and lock your members down

This might seem like a no-brainer but some gym owners are worried that having a contract turns potential members off. Instead of looking at it as a negative, turn it into an opportunity to offer a lower cost membership to incentivise people to join. 

That also offers a guaranteed period of time that you know you’ll have a membership for.

There is generally three methods of payments that can be used to collect regular payments during a contract:

  • Standing Order
  • Recurring card payment
  • Direct Debit

 

Tip 2 – Increase your staff presence

The goal of any retention system is consumption. People rarely cancel or quit things they actually use. It’s much easier to quit a gym than it is to quit a relationship. 

So with that in mind, let’s look at the first part of our onboarding, because that’s a huge factor in members making it past the first 6 months.

We’re splitting onboarding into 2 parts, which is your staff’s part to play, and then automating and rethinking your communications.

So how can you increase your staff presence with just the resources and staff you have now?

Be ready to review your staff’s responsibilities and cut out silly jobs – this is the most important part of freeing up your staff to focus on customer service!

 

  • Make member interaction a job responsibility, not a bonus. 
  • Systematise making notes on members.
  • Create rewards for staff to do feedback forms (every good review gets a bottle of wine / the most feedback forms get a spa day).
  • Combine this with PTs to get more secondary sales.
  • Automate areas of your club to get members off the desk – add a turnstile/kiosk/reduce staff phone time by redirecting customer service through live chat or Facebook messenger.

 

Tip 3 – Making your onboarding automated – “The Member Journey”

Many gyms underestimate how long their onboarding process should be when it comes to their initial communication with their members. 

Regular contact breeds a sense of familiarity and loyalty to your club.

You need to be very simple and direct in how you get your members from signing up to their first few sessions in the gym.

It’s not as easy as getting your members into the club and then they’re all set. You need to have an onboarding system which keeps your members coming back, discovering more of your facility and finding what works for them.

It can be very easy to underestimate just how much of a newbie your member is. We’re all gym experts here, so we often look at our club as if people like us are attending.

Your onboarding process needs to be longer, more explicit in what you offer and be with your members every step of the way to breed loyalty to your business.

This will also help some members overcome what we call “gymtimidation”.

 

This is a very basic outline of what an onboarding process should look like, but these are the touch points you can do:

 

Not everyone reads every email, so be comfortable repeating yourself and even sharing tips and advice within your emails. Better to repeat yourself than say nothing. 

None of this has to require anything fancier than a pre-written email that’s useful, has a purpose and is interesting to read.

And when you automate it, you only have to do this once and free up your staff for that customer service in the club itself!

 

In short, make sure your onboarding process is simple, clear, covers every aspect of your club, and lasts into your members first few months.

 

Tip 4 – Get your numbers together

You need to do a full club review and have a system in place to allow you to get an oversight into your members and how they’re using your club.

Find out who your sleeping members are, who your active members are, and even, how many members you have who are using the gym but aren’t paying by sharing codes or just by virtue of being a familiar face (this number will be higher than you think).

 

The more you know, the more you’ll know how to targetyour business’ problems!

 

Tip 5 – Community Building

It is proven that being active in your community and turning your gym into a social space increases retention.

So come up with some fun ways for you and your team to make your gym a social space, by hosting activities that involve the local community and make your gym a social space for your members, that they won’t want to ever leave behind.

The best thing is, this can all feed into your marketing to gather more new customers, so it kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

Always think about how you can recycle your retention strategies to appeal to new customers.

 

Tip 6 – Community Building

It’s becoming a huge trend that people want overall health advice, rather than just focusing on exercise.

Diet, mindset, mental health – you need to fully integrate yourself in your members’ life. If you only focus on exercise, then you can easily become a place that your members dread after a few off days.

Create resources, blogs, social media with simple and followable advice for your members. Stop them going on other Instagram pages and using other apps for this advice. Become the place they go for that advice.

 

And most importantly – Partner with local business to add more value 

 

Be sure to add extra benefits. Partner with local businesses that specialise in health and wellness.

Dieticians, health food shops, doctors, physiotherapists – be active in making sure your club has wider benefits in the community, and give your partners the same benefits.

 

Tip 7 – Consider a member’s app

This is one of the more technical suggestions on this webinar, but if you want to make investments in your club, then this could be a technical route to go down.

The most cost efficient way to get one is usually through your gym software provider – for example at Ashbourne we split the cost of the app monthly which makes it more affordable.

 

The benefits of an app are clear:

 

  • Find new ways to contact your members – push notifications, texts.
  • Change your members mindset, allow them to track their behaviour and make it a challenge that they can stick to.
  • Make using your gym easier – book classes and book personal trainers.
  • Protects against “Gymtimidation” by providing online support like on-demand videos. 
  • What’s key about this is only paying members can access the app, or you can create a special membership for it and sell just that. This online service model is still relevant even post covid.

 

And of course, you can achieve some of these benefits by expanding your website’s offerings, so there are ways to achieve similar results and services without developing an app at all.

 

Tip 8 – Find out why members have stopped coming to your club

More data, data, data – this is key to knowing what’s going on with your club.

Don’t leave it up to assumptions or industry wisdom to know what’s happening in your club.

Be direct with your members and send them out quick, easy feedback forms where they can identify their problems with your club.

We’ve already created a feedback form template in Google forms so you can start collecting that data right away.

As we’ve mentioned before, fitness professionals don’t think the same way as the average gym-goer or newbie. We need to understand those members better or else risk losing them to a cheaper and simpler club.

Don’t give them a reason to go to a large budget chain.

 

Bonus Tip – Change your gym’s layout

If you can’t upgrade your equipment (one of the biggest reasons why members stick with a club), then change your gym’s layout.

Freshen up the place, make it open and more inviting and clear to use for new members.

Look at your club and see if it’s inviting. Is the first thing a newbie will see is a squat rack being used by your gym veterans.

 

Get In Touch With Shannon At Ashbourne

Ashbourne is focused on making it easier for health clubs to grow their business and keep delivering their members a better service.

Ashbourne can manage every single aspect of your fitness business, handling everything from your payments to your website, entry and booking systems.

This gives you more time and freedom to focus on your members, revitalise your marketing and have time to actually manage your club properly.

And of course, Ashbourne are here every step of the way with free resources and advice to help your club be the best it can be.

If you want to discuss the future of your club, then don’t hesitate to set up a chat with our sales manager Shannon White and she can introduce you to our club management solutions.

Thank You For Joining Ashbourne Membership Management At PerformX Live

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Ashbourne Membership Management performx live 2022 (no border)

Ashbourne Membership Management performx live 2022

 

Over the weekend, the Ashbourne team were thrilled to attend the very first PerformX Live, the freshest addition to the world of fitness industry expos.

It was amazing to meet our VIP guests, our existing partners and all of the attendees to this massive 2 day event.

The team at PerformX did an incredible job helping us get set up and give us the best chance to show gym owners across our industry the impact that Ashbourne can have on their business.

We’re eagerly waiting for next year for our second PerformX and can’t wait to see everyone at our next event, which will be FIBO 2022 in Germany.

If you’re interested in joining us, then we’re providing gym owners with 2 day business tickets to the event, so please fill out our request form and we’ll be in touch to arrange your tickets if we have any available.

 

We’re Always Here To Talk Fitness

We pride ourselves on our customer service, which we couple with the most diverse offering of gym management software available today. We handle everything from direct debits, missed payment collection, class booking, full club membership software and website building – we truly become part of your team and your gym’s day-to-day.

Our success relies on our team being as integrated in your club as possible. It’s why we like to put a name and a face to our staff, so if you ever need something taken care of, you can always talk to someone who you know will personally help you out.

You can get in touch with us at any time to book a demo, or simply chat with our team (you can email grant at [email protected]) about what you need from your club management service.

5 Tips To Get The Most From Your Gym’s Instagram For Free

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Taking selfie for instagram at the gym (no border)

Taking selfie for instagram at the gym

 

If we said you could have free advertising for your gym, with access to millions of viewers, would you take us up on it?

Well the good news is, you already do – it’s your Instagram!

The only thing that holds you back from fully utilising the power of your Instagram page is how you use it. We’ve already gone into how paid advertising on the Instagram and Facebook has been broken recently, but that doesn’t mean that you still can’t grow a successful and engaging community on Instagram.

There are so many recent changes to Instagram lately that you need to implement to maximise your reach. So keep reading and discover our 5 top tips to growing your gym’s instagram page without spending a penny.

 

 

Tip 1 – Start Using Instagram Reels

 

Instagram Reels are the new photo posts. More and more users cite that video is their preferred way to consume content on the internet.

Creating small 60 second videos and spreading your message is the new way forward on Instagram, to mix up your content beyond just images.

It should be no surprise that Instagram wants you to use its newest and most popular features, so Instagram actually pushes your reel posts much harder than normal posts. This gives you more chances to be seen by more people and therefore grow your follower count much quicker.

And the good news is, you don’t need to be super tech-savvy to create good content with Instagram Reels.

 

Instagram stories layout

 

Here is a super quick tutorial on how to set up a reel:

  1. Go into the Reels creation screen and tap on the photo square in the bottom left corner of your screen. …

  2. Select one or more videos to create your Reel.

  3. Edit the length of each video, one by one until you have reached the 15 second maximum time.

  4. Then click the back arrow to watch the whole video.

  5. Add some music to it OR a voice over. A voice over feature is brilliant for gym tutorial videos. Get your staff and PTs involved and use their knowledge.

 

With just a few simple steps, you now have engaging content, which contains more of your club’s personality, reaching more people than ever before.

So experiment between your regular posts and your new Instagram reels and see which one brings you more attention.

 

 

Tip 2 – Switch To A ‘Business Account

 

If you don’t have one already, ensure you have a business account on Instagram.

Beyond just sounding more professional, a business account for your Instagram gives you access to more analytics which can help guide the kind of content you want to make.

You see everything from when your followers are active, so you can post strategically to get maximum views; All the way to the demographics who are watching your content, so you can post content which suits your members.

For example, if your gym has got 60% male following and you want to engage with more female followers, you can easily identify this and post more content that women relate to in the gym.

You can see these by clicking the ‘Insights’ button on your main menu.

 

Instagram business analytics

Great social media is equal parts art and science (with a dash of consistency)

 

 

Tip 3 – Re-Share Your Customers Tags

 

When your members tag you in a story or post, try to re-share their posts to encourage more customers to share and tag you in their own content.

If you can make your members feel special and included in your community, then you can truly build a loyal customer base.

However, don’t get too re-share happy. Be mindful of re-sharing the same content too many times. Once is plenty, as there is nothing worse than seeing accounts re-share the re-shared post over and over to pretend like they have something to say.

Instagram is all about trying to widen your reach, and one of the main source of new followers will be from tags. To tag someone in a post or story type ‘@’ followed by the account name. 

 

So give it a go, here’s just a few ways you could shout out your members:

  1. Shout out your members who have been signed up with you for the longest.

  2. Celebrate members who have hit their fitness goals and made the most improvement.

  3. Make it a routine of tagging every single new member to your gym and give them a warm welcome.

 

engaging instagram follower

 

The possibilities for engaging with your audience are truly endless if you make it a part of your business’ philosophy!

 

 

Tip 4 – Use Old Content That Did Well

 

If creating new content is taking up too much time, well we have some good news for you: You can just recycle old content.

Don’t be afraid to re-post an old post that is already featured on your page.

Posts that did well before, did well for a reason. So don’t waste them!

Whenever you post, only a fraction of your audience will ever see that post, so it will always be fresh even when you share it again. Maybe some of your new followers will benefit from seeing it who weren’t around the first time as well!

It takes a long time to build trust in your service and brand. Consumers need to see your service multiple times to be convinced to sign up or buy what you are selling, so make sure to maximise value from every single post, so your brand is always at the forefront of your potential members’ minds when they’re looking for their next gym home.

 

 

Tip 5 – The 10k Followers Limit To Link In Your Stories Is Gone!

 

Recently IG has changed its restriction for smaller accounts to add links to their stories.

The traditional ‘swipe up’ feature is still only available to accounts with more than 10,000 followers but now any account can add a ‘link’ feature to a story.

This means that you can link this to your gym ‘Join online’ page, or a product like Personal Training.

So start creating a journey and plan to get your Instagram viewers over to your gym’s website. It’s time to turn your social media marketing into profit!

 

 

Instagram is at its peak…so don’t miss it!

It can be very easy to assume that a social media platform will be around forever and you can get round to making the most of it someday when you have more time.

But social medias change. Facebook was once seen as a goliath of social media, but it’s reporting a drop in user numbers for the first time ever. And it’s no surprise, that when a social media platform wants to maximise its profits, then it can quickly become a “pay to play” service, where you start having to spend a lot of money to get a basic reach to your audience.

Instagram has been around for a few years, but it’s still finding its feet and has so much potential.

Its audience numbers are growing, and most importantly, it’s still being used by a younger audience who haven’t abandoned it for the latest social media trend.

So take advantage of the moment and start experimenting with your Instagram’s business page. You never know, you might just discover the fun in your marketing again!

 

taking notes for instagram post ideas

Get the notebook out and start brainstorming ideas with your team!

 

 

And we can help…

As you can see, we really get stuck into every aspect of helping gyms and clubs succeed. Our success is directly tied to the success of our partnered clubs, so we are always ensuring that we’re at the cutting edge when it comes to helping all of our gyms grow and market themselves effectively.

If you’d like to get in touch about how we can help your club succeed, then you can always book a demo with our sales director, Grant Harrison, who would love to show you how our full club management package can help you improve and grow every aspect of your business.

Facebook Ads Are Dead! Here Are Some Alternatives To Grow Your Gym In 2022…

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Facebook Platform Prison

facebook-ads-is-dead blog header

 

“Facebook ads is dead!”

 

…or at the very least has become much harder to use.

Thousands of clubs rely on paid social media to reach the members in their area and Facebook and Instagram are at the core of that plan.

Since Facebook stopped tracking Apple users (a lot of them use Facebook), it has made it extremely difficult for businesses with smaller advertising budgets to track which of their ads are actually working. Simply too many sales and potential customers aren’t being tracked, so many gyms have no idea where their money is going.

 

But hopefully, this is the shake up that is needed for your business to not rely on a single platform to gain your members.

 

It’s never been more important to diversify how you secure new members, because as we’ve seen, if your preferred platform changes how they do things…then it can shake your business to the core.

 

And with that, let’s look at some alternatives to Facebook ads that can help you discover an entirely new audience, using all the same resources you have right now!

 

 

CLICK ANY OF THESE TO SKIP AHEAD…

TikTok Ads

Linkedin Advertising

Google Ads

Google My Business

Your Local Area On Reddit

 

 

TikTok / TikTok Ads

 

TikTok has quickly developed from something that “just the kids” are using, to one of the most popular social medias in use right now.

If you were under any impression that TikTok is nothing compared to Facebook, then I have news for you.

 

In 2021, these were the user numbers globally for TikTok and Facebook:

  • TikTok: 700 Million

  • Facebook: 2.9 Billion

 

Tik Tok has already amassed a quarter of Facebook’s numbers and it continues to grow, while Facebook is reporting losses for the first time in its history.

While TikTok’s age demographic is much younger than Facebook, it still has a proportional size of users who are entirely old enough to sell your gym too.

 

Tik tok user

 

In 2020, a full TikTok user review in the UK revealed that:

  • 24% of TikTok users were aged between 15 and 25 years old

  • 9% of TikTok users were aged between 36 and 45 years old

  • 6% of TikTok users were aged between 46 to 55 years old

TikTok’s younger audience makes it the perfect platform to gain access to an entire age group which left Facebook a long time ago (or were born too late to even sign up to it – just to make you feel old).

And couple that with an ads platform which offers accurate targeting and allows you to actually crack your purchases across all devices – it’s the perfect next home if you want to expand your social media offering.

 

 

Linkedin Advertising

 

Linkedin has a reputation as a solely business social media. But it’s a ripe environment for you to start selling to new customers on a social media platform where the competition for health clubs is really low.

We’ve already put in a lot of research with our very own Linkedin Ads, so you can get a campaign that’s ready to go by clicking here.

But in short, Linkedin is Facebook, but 10 years ago.

More active users, with cheaper ad costs and a larger reach to an audience who are working and have money to spend.

It’s a dream come true for anyone looking for a Facebook alternative that targets a working age audience who are eager to purchase in your area.

 

 

Google Ads

 

Google Ads differs from other social media ads because it works completely on search terms and not just on targeting your interests.

So if someone is searching for something on Google, all a Google ad allows you to do is simply appear at the very top of the first search.

This is a great hack if you want to quickly shoot up for Google searches for gyms in your area, as the searches for local gyms are usually very simple in our experience.

 

google ads dashboard

 

Just a few examples include:

“Gym in x”

“Best gym in x”

“Cheapest gym in x”

 

So hop on Google Ads and set a small budget to start hacking your way to the top of Google searches for your area. You’d be surprised how few businesses use this as technique.

 

 

 

Google My Business

 

Is your gym listed on Google Business?

Then you’re missing out on an instant SEO boost to get you to the top of Google search results.

Whenever you Google a business you’ve likely seen the listing at the right of the page, giving you directions and quick ways to get in touch with them.

Google My Business allows you to enter this information directly into Google, which is great for 2 reasons:

  • It helps you show up on Google maps and more Google searches.

  • It instantly tells Google what your business is, so they can deliver you straight to the top of searches.

So take out the chance of Google’s robots trying to decipher what your gym is by your website alone, by directly inputting your business straight into their search engine.

 

 

Local Area Reddits

 

Message boards are a great way to get in touch with your local community, and especially if you live in a larger town or city, then you’ll easily find communities on sites like Reddit very easily.

For anyone who has never used Reddit, it’s the largest website in the world and is made up of small communities known as subreddits. Everything from “fishing” to “cute pictures of owls” has its own community, which you can join and post in.

 

woman using reddit in gym

 

It’s clear to anyone that having access to a large range of people who have formed a community in your local areas is great for your business, but even better, Reddit also has a very user friendly ad platform which allows you to target specific subreddits, which you can use to advertise to people in your area with their own local club.

It’s a technique that barely any local businesses are making use of and is the perfect way to get your gym in front of a huge range of demographics who all live locally for a very cost effective advertising cost.

 

…and why haven’t we mentioned Instagram Ads?

Instagram is owned by Facebook and uses exactly the same algorithms and tech that Facebook ads use.

If you’ve never used Instagram before, then it can certainly be  a great avenue to explore, but all of the problems with Facebook’s advertising system will be present over on Instagram.

 

There’s never been a better time to free yourself from a platform prison…

Facebook Platform Prison

 

It can be extremely easy to become comfortable using a single social media to run your entire gym from, but as we’ve seen, if anything changes then it can cause havoc with reaching your future members.

Facebook ads is a cautionary tale of how quickly a seemingly secure service that you’ve used for years and grown to rely on, can suddenly become unusable.

This is the perfect time to shake out of the comfort zone and start experimenting with new ways to find your members. Experiment with new social medias and diversify your techniques to reach as many people as humanly possible from your local area, to spread the good word about your gym or health club.

 

And we can help…

As you can see, we really get stuck into every aspect of helping gyms and clubs succeed. Our success is directly tied to the success of our partnered clubs, so we are always ensuring that we’re at the cutting edge when it comes to helping all of our gyms grow and market themselves effectively.

If you’d like to get in touch about how we can help your club succeed, then you can always book a demo with our sales director, Grant Harrison, who would love to show you how our full club management package can help you improve and grow every aspect of your business.