Starting Out: Affordable Marketing Strategies for New Fitness Studios

Starting Out: Affordable Marketing Strategies for New Fitness Studios


Implementing the right marketing strategies could bring your business to new heights. However, many marketing channels are cash burners. Not only that, finding the right marketing mix takes time. Both are scarce resources for early stage fitness entrepreneurs. Moreover, 47% of small business owners handle marketing efforts on their own to control the cost and quality. Thus, it’s critical that you understand what are some affordable yet effective marketings strategies that you can adopt on your own. 


  1. Start a referral program



Many case studies have shown that referral programs are the easiest and cheapest way to attract customers with the highest lifetime value. Studies revealed that individuals who are referred by their acquaintances are 4x more likely to make a purchase with a 37% higher retention rate compared to non-referred individuals. Since referral programs are highly dependent on word-of-mouths, develop a referral program that incentivizes both the referrer and the referee for the most optimal result. 


The most common reasons for a failed referral program are lack of promotion, complicated program, and poorly-designed incentives. So do be mindful when designing a referral program. You want it to be as straightforward as possible to make it easy for you to promote and for members to understand.


  1. Build your own website & social media accounts



The importance of building websites and social media presence can often be underplayed by fitness studios when they launch their business, especially in the early stages. PPC and sponsor-leads aside, having a website and social media from an early stage can amplify your marketing results by bringing you organic leads.


There are many free resources available online, from host providers to SEO tools, to help build your website and presence. For instance, Google PageSpeed Insights & Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. These platforms can provide improvement suggestions for your website in regards to the traffic and SEO performance. Subsequently, you can utilize hashtags and location in social media to attract new relevant customers and build your online presence.


  1. Optimize your result through video marketing




Video marketing has become more popular in recent years. In fact studies revealed that  72% of customers rather learn about a product/service through videos. Another study shows that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text. Fitness core activities require a lot of movement, hence showing the dynamics through videos can better portray the nuance to the general public.Some ideas on videos that you can create include member success stories, or vlogs of your instructors. 


If you are not familiar with video editing, worry not. There are many free user-friendly platforms you can use like Canva or Vimeo to create and edit your content. 


These strategies are effective if well executed. More importantly, they do not require a lot of investment, which is perfect for a new studio. Beyond these marketing strategies, the most important success factor is to provide a great experience for your members, so that you can convert them into brand advocates.

Location: Singapore

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