Is the COVID-19 pandemic hurting your gym? Usually, when things get dire, you pull back. That’s fine, but it doesn’t mean you should limit your all your activities, including marketing.
Now is the right time to press on and give your advertising strategies a significant boost, but you might need to modify your techniques. Begin with these ideas:
1. Stay on Top of the Guidelines
Because the pandemic’s trajectory can still be unpredictable, guidelines can change fast. It’s your business’s responsibility to keep yourself and your clients informed at all times. What changes can you possibly expect?
- Whether it’s okay to open the gym facility (this might depend on how fast the cases go up or decline)
- Those who can go to the gym (restrictions are still in place for older people, those with a compromised immune system, and pregnant women)
- Sanitation and health protocols
- Number of people who can use the facility (depending on the guidelines, they can limit those who can go gyms)
- Whether the rules apply to the entire state, county, or city
You can visit your local government page, including social media accounts, to get the latest news on COVID-19 restrictions and rules. As a business, though, it’s best to be flexible and practice this sensible rule: hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
2. Show Your Commitment to the Protocols
Whether the state allows you to open your gym or not, never fail to show your clients that you are following all the health and safety protocols that include:
- Disinfecting and cleaning the gym areas and equipment regularly
- Practicing safe distancing, perhaps by limiting the number of people who can use the area in any given time
- Making sanitizers, soap, and water available at all times
- Improving the ventilation system
- Checking the temperature and monitoring the health and symptoms of both the staff and the gym goers
With the help of gym business marketing experts, you can use this commitment to boost your online advertising strategies. For example, you can take photos of the changes you made and then publish them on social media.
3. Give Your Clients Options
Even if cases go down and the pandemic improves, you cannot expect everyone to go out and exercise in your gym. You are, therefore, on the run of losing more clients and, thus revenues for the business. How do you prevent this? Give them options.
Here are a few ideas:
- Leverage the Internet. You can create an exclusive membership site where clients can sign up and access your workout videos. You can also provide online classes through Zoom or Skype. All these can even help you earn more money since you can market these outside your state.
- Allow them to schedule their visit. This is also ideal when you want to boost social distancing and keep track of the people going into your facility.
- Give them vouchers they can use for the whole year. It’s a nice way of saying they’re always welcome to come back when they’re ready.
When you deliver the right message to your audience, your gym is more likely to survive this pandemic.
