Fitness Industry Marketing Trends for 2019
Fitness marketing trends for 2019 are going to focus on social media, user generated content, experiential advertising, and good old coupons. Your 2019 marketing tactics are going to depend on the audience you are looking to reach and your location. The IHRSA recommends that gyms have beef up their digital marketing to gain quality attention.
Digital Marketing Trends for 2019
Significant trends in cities will continue working to build an experiential conversation with consumers along with featuring specialized group activities for younger generations to share in. User-generated content will also continue to be an essential marketing tool for fitness boutiques and centers.
In 2019 fitness centers should work to draw both younger and older populations through digital marketing. From apartments to gyms, to dining, and shopping the growth of the experiential customer has become a trend. Communicating that your gym caters to this need will be most easily done via social media marketing using a combination of user-generated and your own content.
Creating conversations around the actual experience will be important in both cities and rural areas to attract younger crowds into gyms. Digital trends for 2019 include:
- Social Media Marketing
- User-Generated Content
- Blogs or Other Posts that Give Consumers a Feel for Your Gym.
Crafting online personas gives people the opportunity to get a feel for your gym before they enter it. This idea is similar to how Maytag built trust through commercials using the Maytag Man that no one ever needed because the appliances are so trustworthy.
You should plan to create blogs, YouTube videos, a Twitter personality, or another way to get the feeling of your gym across to the public so they may experience it before they walk in the door. The point being, in 2019 you will need to communicate your niche and why people should come to your gym over others, beyond saving money or losing weight.
Combining Traditional Coupons with Digital Marketing
Let’s be real; people don’t have a ton of extra cash to spend on things like memberships, especially people that are living on fixed incomes. Most people these days have Facebook accounts, email addresses, and the like. Once you start building your digital marketing community, you can use that data to find new customers or give incentives to customers you already have.
While it may sound old school, to offer coupons or other incentives to get people in the door and coming back, it works. A post about social media advertising by divvit.com suggests that your ads should be tested and proven for the best click through rates and return on capital. Rather than tackle this learning curve on you own, hiring someone to do it for you will lower the cost to entry and keep things easy for you in the longer run; you do have a gym to run after all.
Overall in 2019, the communication of your gym’s specific niche and experience will be very important for fitness industry marketing. Your marketing plan will depend heavily on your location and the type of members you attract. Unless you already have a great social media marketing plan in place, think about using a marketing professional. Digital marketing professionals can inexpensively get your social media marketing efforts producing new members and improving member retention right away.
For more information about fitness digital marketing contact soOlis at info@soOlis.com.
