Direct Mail Marketing for Gyms

Here’s the good news, both gyms and print companies who create direct mail for gyms will benefit from this article. So whether you are a print company looking for ways to help gyms more effectively using Direct Mail or you are a gym owner / marketer looking to work with a print company that can help you grow your business then this is the place to be.

First let’s start by saying that these strategies are not only for gyms but apply as direct mail marketing strategies for crossfit gyms, yoga studios, and other types of fitness centers or health clubs.

This single statistic is the main reason you should be using direct mail to promote a gym.

Consistent direct mail to your target audience can increase membership to your gym by over 100% year over year.

That’s a HUGE number!

 

Define Your Target Audience for Direct Mail

There is definitely a wide range of profiles for the target audience profile of a gym. But there are a good number of gym types and within that a more specific target audience is needed. The better defined the target audience is the more successful the fitness focused direct mail marketing campaigns will be.

Since we don’t know what type of gym you have or are marketing for, here are a couple resources that give you the perfect strategy to define what that target audience is for every type of gym or fitness club.

How to define your target audience for health & fitness experts

https://healthpreneurgroup.com/how-to-find-your-target-audience/

7 Types of customers who might be right for your fitness business

https://member.afsfitness.com/content/7-types-customers-who-might-be-right-your-fitness-business

 

4 Types of Direct Mail Campaigns for Gyms that Work

Once you have the target audience the next component is the offer. We’re sharing here 4 of the most successful types of direct mail marketing campaigns for gyms that are guaranteed to grow the business.

 

New Member – Free or Discounted Sign Up

This is the most common and is a tried and true method of gaining new gym members.

Sending out postcards or brochures to the target audience giving them either a free period of time for their new membership such as 1 to 3 months, giving them a discount for signing up to the gym or a hybrid where they get the first month free and a discount after that.

This relieves the pressure of a cost commitment and gets new gym customers to sign up.

 

Gym On-Site Event

An on-site event is a great way of getting potential customers to the gym so they can see people there working out which is a perfect way to inspire and motivate them to sign up.

Different ideas for on-site events are…

• Raising money for a local charity or cause
• Holding a competition such as a hot dog eating competition (something average people do, not a fitness related competition, those people already go to the gym)
• Collaborating with another company such as a chiropractor, car dealership, etc.
• Or hosting a vendor fair which could include local colleges, small businesses or craft makers

 

Current Member Upgrade

Another great direct mail campaign is to send upgrade offers to existing gym members.

This again could be a free or discounted upgrade for some period of time to get them to sign up. Some type of value added product or service could also be used to get them to make the shift and upgrade.

It is approximately 70% easier to get an existing gym member to upgrade than it is to acquire a new member and it costs about 90% less to acquire the upgrade than it does to acquire a new gym member.

 

Old Member – Re-Registration

This is a direct mail strategy that no one likes, but it works every time.

Re-engaging old members who have cancelled some time ago (typically 6 months or longer) and offering them some incentive to sign back up will deliver re-registrations or re-activations of their old gym membership.

The reason many gyms don’t like this, is that it can sometimes come with negative responses from old members. And as long as the gym or club has thick enough skin to deal with the abuse of a few but typically loud old disgruntled customers, they’ll still be met with a good response and an increase in gym membership revenue.

 

So if you are working with gyms to help them grow their member base or you are a gym looking to have direct mail done for your club / center, then take our advice here and push these fitness focused direct mail strategies and watch the business grow significantly.