While you might not be interested in becoming the next Muscle Beach, you do want to build a successful gym operator, create a community and help people move towards their fitness goals. Making matters even more difficult, everyone with a qualification in sports science wants to open a gym creating somewhat of fitness glut in the market. You have the know-how and the experience, but you want to be able to translate these two assets into a business that generates income.
More than just furnishing a building with expensive gym equipment and inviting beautiful people to lounge around your new facility, you need customers who will enjoy your take on fitness, what you can offer or simply your brand. Your brand is going to be your calling card, one that will be recognisable to prospective clients. Even amongst the competition, you can traverse the fitness craze while establishing a brand that attracts loyal and regular clients.
To learn more about how you can create a successful gym continue reading below.
Create A Budget
Whether operating on a small or large scale, figure out how much you have to spend toward operating the facility. As a part of budgeting, you want to research all of your available options as it relates to expenditures on gym equipment, staff, insurance and all of the other incidentals, as you might find alternatives to pricier options. When budgeting, you also want to look at leasing space and how it might cut into your overall overhead. For example, it might be cheaper to operate a private gym working with chosen clients, as opposed to going into a larger, more commercial setup.
Gym Layout And Location
As part of your research for a target market, determine who is likely to frequent your gym. If you are in a location that has a general population, then setting up your gym so that it caters to most of the people in the area would be a great idea. Alternatively, if you see a niche within this market, focus on that population.
For example, if you happen to be near an affluent residential area with a lot of stay-at-home parents, setting up classes that would take place during the day for parents and their children would be attractive to that particular demographic. In a situation like this, swimming, yoga classes, Pilates or light callisthenics classes would be popular choices.
Marketing
Use effective marketing techniques to predict and determine who your target market will be. You can easily pay for marketing agencies to help you figure out who the best demographic to target is, but more importantly, they can show you how to attract their business. As a part of your marketing plan, use your website and social media to create a community of followers who will engage with your brand and support your ethos.
Once established, introduce other activities that will attract new and existing clients to the gym. For example, weight loss competitions that are paired with nutrition classes can be a useful way in which business owners can pull in clients wanting to learn more about fitness and nutrition at the same time. Also, those wanting to explore a particular aspect of fitness might benefit from specific programs.
Some good examples of this are conditioning vs. strength training, the benefits of free weights over fitness machines, or how to build lean and bulky muscle tissue. These are all topics that can be developed into relevant classes to suit the needs of your new customers.
Branding And Building Your Business
Building a fitness empire will not happen overnight, but by constantly remaining in tune with your clients’ needs it’s not an impossible goal. By focusing your marketing strategy on a particular demographic and then making adjustments over time as your target market changes or grows, you can build your brand up one step at a time and create a successful gym that you can be proud of.
