8 Alternative Marketing Strategies for a Hybrid Fitness Business

Jenny weller, 03 july,2020

https://www.glofox.com/blog/7-alternative-marketing-strategies/

You can create and use heavily targeted ads that are relatively cost-effective. However, it’s essential not
to put all your eggs in one basket. When you rely on one marketing stream and something changes like
Facebook’s advertising guidelines, you may find yourself in a tricky situation. As ads are getting more
expensive, in general, finding a range of creative and smart ways to market your services means you’ll
always have a tactic to turn to.

When you think about alternative marketing strategies, you’re focusing on finding new places to interact
with consumers. For businesses that have shifted to a hybrid business model, your marketing approach
will need to adapt to suit that change. Using alternative marketing strategies that resonate with ever-
changing consumer behavior means you don’t have to rely on a single marketing method for growth.
With fitness businesses reopening in a post COVID world, it’s a great time to nail down your marketing
strategy. Skip ahead to:

What is Alternative Marketing?

Marketers spend hours researching how to find new ways to reach their target audience. A powerful
marketing strategy is essential for long-term success. As a membership-based business, member
acquisition is critical. Whether you’re marketing new services to an existing member or acquiring new
members for your digital membership, your approach is crucial.

Alternative marketing strategies are a way to generate interest with a unique and sometimes
unconventional approach. This is usually a relatively cost-effective marketing strategy. Basically, it refers
to anything that falls outside of traditional marketing definitions like broadcast, print, and electronic.
These types of marketing methods require imagination and out-of-the-box thinking to create something
unique. Different types of alternative marketing include:

 Buzz marketing – this type of marketing is also known as word-of-mouth marketing that focuses
on encouraging customers to share positive information about your business.
 Guerilla marketing – this tactic focuses on finding a creative marketing approach with minimal
resources. It’s about expanding your marketing reach without increasing your budget.
 Lifestyle marketing – interacting with your target audience in a relaxed setting, such as
marketing your gym services at a local smoothie bar.
  Experimental marketing – sometimes called event marketing, this strategy focuses on getting
the customer to experience your brand.

It’s essential to have different marketing avenues. Relying on one stream could potentially stall future
growth. For more guerilla marketing ideas, we’ve pulled together the top 12 ways to implement it in
your gym.

For further inspiration on marketing tactics, listen to this episode of our podcast with Stuart Brauer,
owner of WTF Gym Talk, on “outside of the box organic lead generation.”

How Consumer Mindset Has Changed Throughout the Pandemic

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, consumers are spending considerably more and more time
online. People have been told to stay indoors. The way they use the internet is changing. Many fitness
businesses have taken to digital fitness to meet the recent surge in demand for home fitness.

With the rise of social distancing, people are searching for new alternative ways to connect online.
Whether it’s a digital group training class or a one-on-one video chat with your personal trainer, the
digital fitness revolution has arrived. By talking to customers in a different way that matches the current
changes in the world, you can find low-cost ways to nurture potential customers and turn them into
paying members.

One thing that has become apparent throughout the lockdown is that fitness is essential to mental
health and physical well-being. It’s time to solidify brand loyalty and think about what your customers
really need. Switch up your marketing strategy so that it fully supports your new business model as a
hybrid business. Consumers’ attitudes and behaviors are changing throughout the pandemic, and
marketers need to adapt.

The Association of Fitness Studios Podcast explores this topic further with Thomas Plummer. Plummer
has been in the fitness industry for over 30 years and is a trusted advisor in the fitness world. He touches
on how the consumer has changed during COVID-19 and what marketing message you should send.

8 Alternative Marketing Strategies for a Hybrid Fitness Business

As you start re-opening your business, you may find your marketing budget needs to stretch a little
further than usual. Alternative marketing strategies are a great way to multiply your marketing efforts
and show off your creative, out-of-the-box thinking.

Create a Virtual Community

Taking the time to build and nurture your gym community is an excellent marketing technique. It
encourages members to stay with you, helping to increase retention, but it can also attract members to
you in the first place. Building a sense of community will help members to feel welcomed. When they
feel comfortable and a sense of family, it creates a very positive experience.

A positive and bustling fitness community can help to boost word-of-mouth marketing. When members
love the experience and feel entirely supported, they are much more likely to tell their friends and
family about it. With social distancing guidelines in place, many people are looking for community
digitally. As well as developing a fantastic gym community, create an online fitness community where
members can continue to interact and support one another.

Take Advantage of Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool that you can use to grow your business and organically reach potential
customers. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses shifted from the gym to social
media. They started to produce quick at-home workouts using Instagram and Facebook Live.

As people worldwide start to get creative with their at-home workout, it’s a great idea to encourage
user-generated content. Ask your members and followers to post their at-home workouts and creative
home equipment ideas. Encourage them to tag your brand and create a shareable hashtag. You can then
re-share user content on your own social media channels. All this helps to build your online fitness
community and share what is essentially free content.

Leverage Technology

Leverage technology to focus on keeping your services running smoothly, especially your digital fitness
platform. When you have a superior member experience across all channels and social media platforms,
it encourages member referrals and makes your brand easier to market. The fitness experience should
be smooth and personalized. Customer experience is an integral marketing tool. As technology evolves,
it rapidly pushes the bar higher for intuitive user interactions and user-friendly interface.

Technology gives businesses the ability to pivot and shift quickly. With some fitness brands launching
digital streaming and on-demand video platforms in less than a week, technology is often at the heart of
innovation. By creating online fitness platforms and fitness apps, your boosting customer experience,
which can keep your members loyal and increase referrals.
The Fitness Founders Podcast has a recent episode on fitness experience. Barry Ennis and Shay Kostabi,
who support fitness studios with their online offering, talk about the fundamentals of a great online
class experience.

Strong Appetite for Content

In March, Zoom topped the free app download charts, knocking down giants Facebook Messenger and
Netflix off the top spots. With screen time increasing, more people are spending time on their phones
and computers. Whether it’s to connect with family and friends or to find a way to spend the time,
online content consumption is on the rise.

It’s the perfect time to push out relevant and helpful content. With a strong appetite for content, you
can help both existing members and potential members combat the issues they are currently facing.
Starting a podcast is a great way to establish yourself as an authority in the fitness industry. Roughly 144
million Americans listen to podcasts. So you can see why it has enormous potential. Other content ideas
for your business include:

Blogs

Video

Workout tips

Nutrition guides and recipes

Behind the scenes photos

Educate Others

Depending on your position and what you’re looking to achieve, there are a few different options for
educating others. Workshops are a great way to educate potential members on a specific problem while
giving them a taste of what it would be like to join your gym. This way, you don’t worry about giving
away lots of private sessions free of charge. You could offer a free 30-minute healthy eating workshop to
establish yourself as an authority.

You also have the option to host paid workshops for helping members hit goals or educate other fitness
professionals on how to overcome certain obstacles. As a hybrid business, you have the opportunity to
offer both in-person and digital workshops. A digital workshop may be ideal for those short on time and
looking to work out from home. While a workshop in-person may go into more detail and provide more
support.
Explore Partnerships

When exploring partnerships, think about both digital and physical businesses. Through affiliate
partnerships, you offer an incentive for a small business to send clients your way. Try to think of
businesses that naturally fit with your brand. For example, as a yoga studio, you might explore
partnerships with a yoga clothing brand, an organic cafe in your local area, or even a spa.

The partnership should feel like a good fit for your business. First, reach out to an initial list of 10
potential partnerships to set up an incentive program for referrals. You have the chance to expand your
partnerships as your business grows. As a hybrid business, you can reach out to online businesses and
local brands in your area.

Team Up with Local Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers are ordinary people with a large number of followers on social media. In general, they
are experts in a specific niche like travel, health, or fitness. Their opinion holds value and has a
significant impact on the thinking and perception of their followers. Micro-influencers can be very
beneficial to a business as you can reach a large number of people. The followers tend to trust the
opinion of the influencer and value their advice.

When searching for potential influencers, you can use a combination of local and more national
influencers. If you’re trying to increase members at your gym in a specific location, it’s good to work
with a local influencer. Focus on finding people who are established in your niche and would connect
well with your target audience. Whether influencers have 500 followers or 20,000, you can leverage
their credibility to reach a potential new membership base.

Update Your Referral Program

A referral program is a way of asking your current customers to refer friends and family members to
your business. It’s a systematic way of growing your business by offering incentives. A referral program
is a proven and cost-effective way to bring in new members. When a new member arrives based on a
friend’s recommendation, they will be more likely to trust it. They have chosen to come to you. In
general, it takes less time to close the sale with referrals.

If you think about how many people trust recommendations from a friend, it’s essential to consider how
your members can become brand cheerleaders. A great referral program consists of a compelling offer,
excellent communication, and a simple program. Make sure to include both digital and physical
membership options for your referees. The referral program should be relevant to a hybrid business. For
example, for every digital membership referral, you may offer one-month access to premium digital
content.

In Summary
When a lot of businesses are following the same marketing techniques, it is difficult to stand out. The
result is consumers end up scrolling past your content without a glance. Alternative marketing strategies
make you step back and evaluate how you can interact with your target audience in a new and exciting
way. Using clever and imaginative marketing tactics, you can expand your marketing reach while sticking
to your budget.

Spa and wellness redefined in a COVID-19 world

May 26,2020 jennifer findlay

As an industry we find ourselves navigating a quantum challenge. Overwhelmed by uncertainty, it is easy

to become paralyzed by what we don’t know. There is however one thing we know for sure: The
physical, mental and emotional impact of the COVID-19 crisis on humanity has been devastating.
Unfortunately, the effects will continue. And the impact runs deep.

For our industry this presents an undeniable priority: the care, health and wellbeing of our team and
guests in a COVID-19 world takes on a whole new meaning. Adopting new minimum standards of care,
cleanliness and hygiene will be a prerequisite to re-entry. Arguably these practices will get your doors
open, but alone it is unlikely they will be enough to get your guests to walk back through them.

As government bodies and regulatory boards around the world work to establish new minimum
standards of care, hospitality professionals are also coming together to advance industry best practices.
Yet beyond these sweeping fundamental actions, we identify two additional initiatives as critical to your
COVID-19 survival plan:

A clearly defined and personalized brand position around health and wellbeing, paired with renewed
commitments to your team and your guests.

A transparent operational and experiential overhaul of your existing health and wellness programs.

Developing a personalized brand position

It is expected that as consumers return to travel, they will look first to brands they trust that have taken
a clear stance on what health and wellbeing means to them in this new world.

Proactive: Your “healthy hotel” strategy will likely be your most effective marketing tool in advance of
reopening. This should be actively developed now and communicated early to the market.

Practical: New protocols and procedures must be formalized and accompanied by rigorous preopening
training, transparently shared with colleagues and guests to develop trust.
Effective: A complete strategy must encompass both illness prevention and health optimization.
Hospital-grade standards of cleanliness and hygiene will be non-negotiable. Seek expert support as
required to establish and implement.

Accessible: Policies and procedures must be adopted by all team members and guests. The health and
protection of your guests is reliant on the health and protection of your team more than ever before.

Emotional: Anticipatory of physical and emotional COVID-19 buttons, the heart of your business and
brand must be audible, speaking to your team and guests on a meaningful level.

Experiential and operational overhaul

Phenomenal spas, robust fitness programs and healthy menu alternatives will require an operational
and experiential overhaul in the short-term at the very least. Owners, operators and consumers alike
will consider what they actually need to spend money on. Safe and simple will be the best approach. On
an individual level, we expect recovery, resiliency and immunity to be key themes.

Deep physical and emotional healing will be needed by many, which requires expert care and specialized
attention. Call on medical, health and wellness professionals to assist in the development and
implementation of new programs.

This crisis has reinforced the importance of illness prevention and health optimization, underscoring the
need for a proactive versus reactive stance on health and wellbeing. Services and programming should
follow suit.

Amenities and experiences that support immunity and respiratory wellness will be under greater
demand. Halotherapy, infrared saunas and mindfulness programs that focus on breathwork and
visualization will be opportunities.

The demand for fit-tech and health-tech was already surging and will continue. Consider virtual wellness
programs you can offer in guestrooms to meet this demand.

Simplified spa treatment menus focused on less-invasive services that protect guests and staff are
recommended. Consider restricting offerings to clothed services such as Thai massage, PNF-assisted
stretch and acupressure to start.

After months of self-isolation, we expect there will be a deep desire to connect with others in
meaningful ways. Mind-body programs such as yoga that promote social wellbeing are ideal for this yet
will require a revised approach to guarantee the safety and wellbeing of guests.

Wellness beyond the spa and outside of the built environment will be essential. Taking services and
programming outdoors enables guests to maintain safe social distancing practices while still enjoying
enriching programming. There is great opportunity for innovation here in both urban and resort
locations.

Urban hotel spas can often derive close to 50% of their customer base from the local market. In early
stages of recovery and reopening, locals will be crucial. Keep their needs top of mind when planning
new programs and services.

Our industry is being called on to serve like never before. As we continue to implement all possible
measures to minimize loss and long-term damage, we must also begin to turn our focus forward, making
the choice to be part of the solution. Leaders rise above great difficulty. Legendary brands are known for
what they do, not simply what they say.

Like Mark Twain said, “the secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

https://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/302838/Spa-and-wellness-redefined-in-a-COVID-19-world