Fitness centers rely on local marketing tactics to attract new members.
Personal fitness is a popular trend that is likely to gain momentum well into the future. Consumers' demand for health-, wellness- and fitness-related products and services creates ample opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs to build innovative fitness companies. Types of fitness companies include personal trainers, fitness product manufacturers and health clubs. Having a comprehensive marketing plan in hand for your fitness company can help you to gain market share quickly.
Target Marketing
All fitness companies necessarily cater to a specific niche: fitness enthusiasts, or more specifically people who want to get in shape. Fitness companies do have additional market segmentation options, however, to create niches within the niche for themselves. A marketing plan for a personal trainer may target office workers in a downtown area, for example, or senior citizens. Fitness machinery manufacturers can choose to target gyms and sports organizations, as another example, or people who live in apartments. Use the target marketing section of your marketing plan to thoroughly describe your target customers. The decisions you make here will affect all subsequent sections of the plan.
Products and Services
Marketing plans include detailed descriptions of the products and services that a company will market to its target customers. For fitness service providers, this section may include narratives of service offerings, sample workout regimens and other descriptive materials. For manufacturers, the product section should include photos of the products and blueprints for complicated machinery. Go into detail in this section to describe exactly how your products and services meet customers' needs better than your competitors.
Advertising
Advertising is a major component of any marketing campaign, especially for new businesses. Advertising plans can vary widely depending on the type of fitness company you plan to open. Personal trainers focus on local advertising by placing ads in local publications, building a search-friendly website, posting flyers in local health clubs and making personal connections. Gyms and health clubs also can benefit from a local advertising focus. Fitness product manufacturers, on the other hand, may decide to market their products regionally, nationally or even internationally, effecting the types of advertising media they will favor. The larger the target area, the more effective mass media advertising on national television networks and in national publications becomes.
Delivery Model
A plan for getting your products and services to consumers is an essential part of a marketing plan. Service providers, such as personal trainers, can choose to offer their services at a single gym, at the gym of clients' choice, or even in clients' homes. Manufacturers of gym equipment can choose to sell products directly to consumers or sell products through retail outlets. Health clubs can choose to continually invest in a single, large facility or to continually open new facilities.
Tags: marketing plan, fitness companies, health clubs, products services, fitness company, local advertising, personal trainers