Intro:

Fitness training in gyms and studios is yesterday’s news. Nowadays, especially after the pandemic has drawn a whole new reality to us, home workouts have become more and more popular. People adjusted to the new routine and realized that in order to work out you need nothing more than some space, a cozy air conditioner, and perhaps some accessories that can be found in every home and online shop.

Moreover, people who didn’t work out before the pandemic due to reasons such as high gym membership prices and lack of time, are now working out consistently at home via fitness apps or online sessions.

Online fitness training has become the next thing with a variety of choices between different training methods, trainers, far more affordable prices, and tremendous time-saving.

After all, this being said, gym owners can use this new reality to leverage their business. In this article, we will overview five ways gym owners can attract more online fitness customers.

 

The advantages of online workouts for the trainees:

  1. Time - Time is a precious resource. Home workouts save the trainee the time to get to the gym and back. For those who have not exercised in the past due to lack of time, home workouts address this issue, and more people have started exercising from home and adopting a healthy lifestyle.
  2. Costs - membership to a gym is considered expensive, due to costs such as rent, equipment, maintenance, etc. Home workouts do not require such expenses from the gym owner; hence it is much cheaper than gym memberships.
  3. Comfort - There is nothing like the comfort of home. For some, training in the gym in the environment of many trainees gives a sense of personal discomfort. This is a common reason for a lot of people to avoid doing sports, who prefer to exercise at home.
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People exercise for all sorts of reasons: to lose weight, to slim down, or to gain muscle mass, everyone has their own goal. In order to make a personal connection with the trainee and succeed in accompanying each of them to reach their goals, the gym owner must adopt an online platform that will help the trainees track their results. This can be a smartphone app, direct reporting to trainers, or some digital channel to which any trainee (with a username and password) will connect and enter their training results there. Tracking results increases motivation and raises trainees' sense of commitment to the training program. A good example for a company that provides such a solution is Spivi, with both dedicated solutions to cycling and HIIT training.

5 ways to attract more online fitness customers:

 

  1.     Use digital marketing and social media:

The advantage of digital marketing is that it is interactive. It combines marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction between a business and a customer.

Digital marketing can be conducted through mobile devices, which makes it easier to address more potential customers. One way of digital marketing is through social media which helps to increase brand awareness and build social trust. As you dive deeper into social media marketing you can use it to gain leads and even serve as a direct sales channel.

The first step you should take is to create a business page on Facebook. It is the largest and most popular social network with over 2.5 billion users. After Facebook, start posting on Instagram, Youtube and TikTok. The best posts that attract viewers are combined with pictures and videos such as members transformations and workout tutorials.

 

  1.     Offer varied workouts:

To reach as many potential customers as possible, the gym owner must offer a variety of workouts. From training designed for beginners in low-intensity level, which includes calmer training, through medium-intensity to high-intensity training. Even within the difficulty scale of training, the types of workouts must be varied to prevent muscle adaptation. Working out on the same muscle groups will make the workout non-effective. In addition, we are getting tired and bored from the same workouts and the motivation drops down. Different types of workouts can be Pilates, core muscles for those looking for something relatively relaxed, HIIT training, kickboxing, aerobic dance, functional training, etc.

 

  1.     Tracking results:

People exercise for all sorts of reasons: to lose weight, to slim down, or to gain muscle mass, everyone has their own goal. In order to make a personal connection with the trainee and succeed in accompanying each of them to reach their goals, the gym owner must adopt an online platform that will help the trainees track their results. This can be a smartphone app, direct reporting to trainers, or some digital channel to which any trainee (with a username and password) will connect and enter their training results there. Tracking results increases motivation and raises trainees' sense of commitment to the training program. A good example for a company that provides such a solution is Spivi, with both dedicated solutions to cycling and HIIT training.

4.     Nutrition track alongside training

Nutrition and fitness are inseparable from each other. Anyone who has ever exercised without investing in nutrition must have noticed that although they got stronger and improved their technique, the results themselves were not noticeably visible. On the other hand, someone who invested only in nutrition with the aim of losing weight, but did not work on strengthening the muscles, may have achieved results and lost weight but was left with excess skin and a lean and unformed body. To build the body in an ideal way one should work according to a fitness plan and a nutrition plan together. As a gym owner, you can create new content to post daily such as nutrition tutorials and varied daily menus to assist in attracting more potential customers and assist your existing customers in their online workouts routine.

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  1.     Offer free online classes as trials:

As you go online, offer your potential customers some free online classes. This way you will remove the customers’ natural objections and allow them to get to know the classes you offer. Many of those who experienced the free trials will continue as paying customers.

 

In summary:

During the pandemic, all gyms and fitness clubs’ owners had to close their facilities and rethink how they will survive. Turning the lemons into lemonade is going online. Gym owners must think outside the box to attract new online fitness customers and keep the business growth while providing the same high value and experience as an online fitness business.