on January 19, 2022
Organizing an open gym day to acquire new members is a very effective marketing tool. Still, organizing an event like this is also challenging and requires quite some resources.
In this article, we listed some pros and challenges you should consider when organizing an open gym day. If you consider all the mentioned points, we are sure that your open gym day will result in excited new prospects and new members.
The pros
Attract new leads / convert existing prospects
Organizing an open gym day seems to be a very logical step if you’re trying to drive conversions. Contact all your prospects you have collected in the Magicline lead dashboard with a newsletter about the event. Let them know when and where the event takes place and what they can expect.
Obviously the goal is to convert these prospects after they were able to experience your gym in action. We also recommend to advertise the event to the public to generate completely new leads.
Besides that, you should also inform your existing members about your event. Maybe they have friends that are interested as well? Members spreading the word about your event are the most credible source of information.
Tip: Having the special day on the calendar early may make it easier for your members to plan ahead and invite their family & friends to try out your facility.
More referrals
We advise you to combine your open gym day with a referral program. Within Magicline there is a handy feature that creates a real win-win situation for you and your members: members get rewards when their referral to your gym results in a new membership. Find out more about the feature here.
Position yourself in the local community
Try to make your open gym day as beneficial to the local community as possible and position yourself as a caring health provider. For example you can promote a healthy lifestyle by organizing not only classes but several lectures on active living and nutrition that everyone can benefit from.
You may also advertise your event in companies for corporate fitness programs. For sure it is a good occasion to start or test partnership opportunities with local businesses (for example, to add an organic food corner).
Perfect occasion for marketing efforts
An open gym day is the perfect occasion to make some investment into your gym advertisement. For example, you can use the advertising options in social media to promote your event and increase awareness. The easiest way is to publish a post about your event on Facebook or Instagram and then advertise it with some budget via the facebook ad manager.
With the help of geo-targeting, you can set the radius in which your ad should be displayed. This means that the ad is only shown to people who live or work e.g. within a 2 km radius of your studio, who belong to your potential target group.
You can achieve a high reach with a small budget, e.g. 50 Dollars, and place the ad online 2-3 weeks before your event. For some inspiration you may visit the facebook advertising library. Simply enter the topic you are searching for and look at ads from other studios in your area. With little effort, you can increase the attention for your event.
Challenges and ideas
Resources and services
Make sure to allocate your resources wisely: manage the class rooms availability, instruct your staff so that everyone feels comfortable without any rush and knows exactly what to do – again, proper planning is the key. Furthermore, you should probably consider having cleaning & maintenance arranged before and after the event.
Personalize as much as possible
An open gym day is more like a party and does not allow much of a personalized approach. Still, it is valuable to talk to people during the event. Your personnel and you have a unique opportunity to meet your members and guests in an informal atmosphere and see their needs better.
Thoroughly planning the schedule for the open weekend may keep the visitors busy and give them a feeling that they are cared about even without personal gym tours.
You can for example include specialized classes in your schedule. A training for people who want to lose weight, one for muscle building, one for mobility, etc. Through this you can see which topics are relevant for your potential new members and can address these issues during the class more in depth.
Plan visitor flow and traffic
When planned properly with well set up marketing campaigns and referral programs you might run into the issue that you will have a very crowded gym. For this scenario you need to be prepared well – Magicline has you covered with our utilization tracker and check- in registration feature.
You may use Magicline to pre-register the guests for different activities and appointments/ classes per time slot. Some outdoor games or classes in order to give people a wider range of choice are also an option.
How to guarantee conversions
Sometimes prospects do not convert as fast as you expected it. But don’t worry: you still have their information available in your Magicline. So you still have plenty of opportunities to reach out to them via automated processes and emailing campaigns via Magicline and convert them at a later stage.
Costs
To create a valuable event there is definitely a need to have a proper investment. Staffing, decor, printouts, advertisement, cleaning – make sure your event budgeting is done properly including all the specific expenses you may think of (maybe some additional light or a DJ will add on to the atmosphere).
Having an “emergency fund” would also lower the stress and let all go more smoothly. Nevertheless, you may still try to be creative in sparing some budget by hiring volunteers, advertising through barter, partnering with local businesses as discussed earlier or even trying to attract sponsors.
Conclusion
With smart planning, resource allocation and the use of Magicline software for proper management, your open gym event may become one of the best tools to grow your member base. Start to plan an open gym day in your studio for January – when statistically most memberships are sold.
Any questions?
