5 Marketing Tips to Increase Local Awareness of Your Fitness Studio

As a small business owner, you probably have a fairly limited marketing budget. Which means that you need to stretch the budget you do have as far as it will go to raise brand awareness for your gym. The best way to get the most out of your marketing spend is to heavily target it. For service-based businesses, that means staying local. Here are 5 marketing tips to increase local awareness of your fitness studio.

1. Create a Google My Business Listing

What’s the first thing you do when you’re looking for a new service in your town? You probably Google it, and your clients are doing the same thing. Create a Google My Business listing to increase your chances of showing up in the local search results. This will be a draw to clients who aren’t looking to travel too far for fitness classes.

2. Target your ad spend locally

If you utilize Google AdWords or another paid advertising service, ensure that all of your ads are targeted to people within a certain radius of your business. After all, why would you advertise to people in Wyoming when your business is in Tennessee? By targeting locally, you’re only paying to advertise to people with real potential to become long-term clients.

3. Host and sponsor community events

One way to reach your local community is to put yourself smack in the middle of it. Host a free community workout at the park. Advertise on social media channels, by posting flyers on community bulletin boards, through local listservs, and through word-of-mouth. Even if you can’t host your own unique community event, you can still get involved around town by sponsoring other events or teaming up with another local business to co-host.

4. Start a referral program

The majority of your clientele are locals, and you can take advantage of their networks by setting up a referral program. Especially with a little incentive, your happy clients will be more than happy to talk up your studio and bring in their friends for a class. Combine the referral program with special “bring a friend for free” classes to maximize new client acquisition.

5. Cross-market with other local businesses

There are plenty of other businesses around town that aren’t direct competitors to your fitness studio, and you shouldn’t feel shy about reaching out to them. Maybe the coffee shop will agree to let you post a flyer about your studio on their bulletin board, and in exchange, you can offer vouchers for a discounted coffee at your studio’s front desk. Talk with other local business owners to figure out how you can best support each other.