You’ve done some careful planning and put in a lot of work to make sure that your health club is set up and running. You’ve found the perfect building, decorated it to your liking, reviewed all the banking arrangements, set up the business accounts, filed with the right government agencies, purchased everything you need, and maybe even hired an employee or two. WHEW! With months of work behind you, now it’s time to sit back, relax, and collect some profits………right? Wrong. Now the real work begins!
The best business in the world will soon be faced with bankruptcy if nobody knows it exists. As a gym owner, your success is based on two things: bringing in new members and keeping the members you have. Once a prospect has seen what you offer, it’s not that hard to close the sale. The real challenge lies in getting people who have never heard of you to walk through your door. There are two tools that you must master if you are going to make the door swing: advertising and publicity.
First of all, we need to differentiate between advertising and publicity. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines ‘advertise’ as “to call public attention to things for sale”¹. Advertising encompasses newspaper ads, radio ads, phone book ads, television ads, or any ad you place that is designed to get people through your door. As a gym owner, you will be doing quite a bit of advertising.
Publicity, on the other hand, is the process of getting free exposure for your gym. For great ideas on how to get more free publicity for your gym, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.cuecd.com/articles.asp
When it comes to advertising, there are two rules that cannot be overemphasized:
Rule #1: There are a lot of people and/or companies that will try to sell you expensive advertising. Don’t be fooled into ‘blowing the budget’ just because a salesperson convinced you to buy an expensive ad!
Rule #2: There is no silver bullet in the advertising world. Just because one ad vehicle works wonders in Texas doesn’t mean it will be effective in Oregon. Similarly, the same ad may yield very different results in two neighboring towns!
That being said, what is the best way to let people know that you’ve opened a gym? The most critical time to get the word out is the month before you open the doors.
It is important to get six things in place before you are open to the public:
1) Chamber of Commerce ‘After Hours’
2) ‘Business of the Week’ in the local newspaper
3) Flyers and/or brochures distributed
4) Pre-Sale
5) Grand Opening newspaper ads
6) Grand Opening
Chamber of Commerce ‘After Hours’:
Join the local Chamber or Commerce, and do it immediately! Membership in the Chamber of Commerce will provide you with several advantages right off the bat, including the opportunity to host an ‘After Hours’ event. These are usually very informal gatherings of Chamber members, and are held in the evenings. Most groups hold one per month. As the host, you will provide drinks and light snacks (check with the local Chamber of Commerce to see if alcohol is acceptable). In return, you will have the opportunity to give many of the local business leaders a personal tour of your gym! Think about it: dozens of local opinion leaders socializing in your gym for several hours! This is how you start the ‘buzz’.
The Chamber of Commerce will also offer you the opportunity to distribute a flyer or brochure to the members. This is usually done in the monthly information packet, or perhaps at the monthly luncheon. Either way, it’s a very inexpensive way to let people know who you are and what you do. Although services vary from area to area, most of the time a Chamber membership will also entitle you to a listing on the city web page, a listing in the community directory, and the opportunity to network with local leaders.
‘Business of the Week’ in the Local Newspaper:
The local newspaper can be a powerful force in the success of your gym. You need these people to be on your side! To that end, you must do whatever you can to befriend the local newspaper staff. We recommend that you visit the newspaper and introduce yourself. Let them know that you are opening a gym, and be sure to bring along a dozen or so free 2-week passes for the news personnel. It is imperative that you introduce yourself to the news editor, the advertising people, and the community page editor.
The first thing you are going to request of the local newspaper is if they offer a ‘Business of the Week’ program. This is a weekly column where they spotlight a new local business. If such a column is offered, you MUST make sure that your gym participates! Ask what you need to do to become a featured business, and then complete all the necessary paperwork. Don’t forget to send the newspaper a thank you card when the article has run!
Flyers and/or Brochures Distributed:
Once the ‘After Hours’ is scheduled and you’ve done all that’s required to get the ‘Business of the Week’ article, the next step is to finalize your brochure and poster. The brochure should be a general overview of your gym and how you can help members achieve their fitness goals. The poster will be reserved for the grand opening announcement. It is perfectly acceptable to just use the local Staples or Kinko’s for copies of the brochure and the poster; there’s no need to pay for professional printing. However, if you desire a very polished look you may wish to pay the extra and have a printing shop produce your materials. Be aware, though, that in order to get reasonable prices from a professional printer you will need to order 1,000+ copies. Should you decide to change your hours of operation or anything else, then you’re stuck with hundreds of inaccurate brochures!
Once you have several hundred copies of your brochure, and at least 50 copies of your grand opening poster, then it’s time to start walking! The best approach is to personally visit each and every business within a 2-mile radius and introduce yourself to the owner. Ask if they will put up your grand opening poster, and also if they’ll set a few of your brochures in the employee lounge. The goal here is to simply reach as many people as possible. Don’t be discouraged when a store declines to put up your poster! Many chain stores have a strict corporate policy against posters, and you really can’t blame the manager/owner for following their corporate policy. If a store says that they cannot put up your grand opening poster, ask instead if they’ll put one in their breakroom. More often than not, the answer to this ‘smaller’ request is a YES!
When making your visits to area businesses, be sure to psyche yourself up first! The old adage that you never get a second chance to make a first impression is very true. The people you will be meeting have never been in your gym, so to them YOU are the gym! If you lack self-confidence, they will assume that your gym is not worthy of confidence. If you don’t smile and greet them warmly, they will assume that they will not be greeted warmly in your gym. If you don’t thank them for putting up your poster, they will assume that your gym is not grateful for new business. On this walk to the local businesses you will be, perhaps for the first time, truly representing your gym. So be courteous, be friendly, and most of all offer a sincere thank you when you leave.
Once you pay a visit to the businesses, you may have enough time to target other groups in the area. Schools are an excellent way to introduce yourself to the community! Be sure to leave brochures for the teacher’s lounge. Look also for any group in your local area that would be willing to take some brochures and distribute them. Churches, lodges (Elks, etc.) and senior centers are all good candidates for a visit.
Pre-Sale:
Advertising for the pre-sale is just as important, if not more so, than advertising for the grand opening. An effective pre-sale can easily generate $4,000 in gross sales, and that’s before the grand opening! Once the grand opening date is set, plan the pre-sale to take place at least one week prior. Many of the large national gyms engage in a 3-month pre-sale event, calling each month a ‘phase’ of the pre-sale. While you may not have the time or staffing for such a long pre-sale, you can certainly benefit from one or two weeks.
A pre-sale simply provides customers the opportunity to join before the gym is actually ready to open. Before all the prep-work is done, you can sell memberships! The benefit to the customer is that they receive a discount for joining during the pre-sale. Some ideas of pre-sale ‘hooks’ include:
1) ABC Gym now enrolling new members! Join during our pre-sale and become a CHARTER MEMBER, with rates GUARANTEED to never increase!
2) ABC Gym now enrolling new members! Join during our pre-sale and pay ZERO registration fees!
3) ABC Gym now enrolling new members! Join during our pre-sale and receive a prize package (includes T-shirt, water bottle and 1 month FREE unlimited tanning!).
You’re going to be in your gym the week before your grand opening anyway, working out the bugs and getting everything just the way you like it. Since you’ll be there anyway, why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to sign people up on a pre-sale basis?
Grand Opening Newspaper Ads:
One of the most cost-effective advertising vehicles at your disposal is the newspaper ad. Depending on the area, you can often place small ‘box’ ads for as little as $35 each. Considering that a newspaper ad has the potential to reach literally thousands of people, you can’t beat it for efficiency.
When approaching the newspaper about advertising, never ever ever go in and tell them you want to just run an ad! Instead, you should always ask to speak to your ad rep (they are assigned geographically) and ask them about advertising packages. It is not uncommon to see a 2″ box ad priced at $150 when purchased individually. However, you may also be able to purchase 6 slightly smaller ads per month for only $200. Newspapers like to sell advertising packages; it keeps you committed, and helps them budget their ad income.
Once you have decided on the advertising package that’s right for you, then you should designate your entire first ad cycle to the grand opening (or pre-sale) ad. A good example of a small grand opening newspaper ad could be as simple as this: “ABC Gym now enrolling! FREE registration for first 100 members! 555 Blaine Avenue (next to ABC Computers) 555-555-TONE”
Once you begin pricing newspaper ads, it becomes obvious why the ‘Business of the Week’ article is so critical: there’s not a lot you can say in a small box ad! An article not only allows you to effectively communicate your entire message to the public, but it’s also free! In addition, people in general tend to give more credibility to an article than they do to an advertisement.
Grand Opening:
The most important part of a successful grand opening is choosing the date. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, worse than announcing and advertising that you will open on _______ and then you don’t! Not only will you lose credibility in the eyes of the public, but also you will have sabotaged yourself for all future contact with the media.
In choosing the date, you must first and foremost recognize that others will choose the date for you! One of your main goals with respect to advertising/publicity, should be to get the media to run articles about you. With that in mind, we strongly recommend that the first thing you do in grand opening preparation is to invite the mayor to attend. Oftentimes, the mayor will be more than happy to attend your grand opening and will in fact perform the ribbon-cutting ceremony………..and where the mayor goes, so goes the press!
So, the first step is to invite the mayor. Provide his or her office with a range of dates, and then allow them to choose. The mayor is typically very busy, so do your best to work within his or her schedule. After the mayor has agreed to attend on _______ date, then you need to invite the Chamber of Commerce. The local Chamber typically has ‘ambassadors’ or representatives that will show up to your grand opening to lend their support. Sometimes the Chamber will even provide the ribbon and the big scissors for the ceremony. Once the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce have agreed to the grand opening date, then you will need to issue a press release.
Some additional tips for an expert grand opening include:
1) Provide food or a light lunch; this will boost attendance!
2) Host a drawing for a free television, a 6-month membership, or whatever.
3) Invite all your friends and family. You want bodies there!
4) Call and personally invite the local newspaper to the event.
5) Give everyone who attends a free T-shirt or water bottle.
6) Give everyone who attends a free 2-week pass.
The sky is the limit when it comes to your gym grand opening. Basically, if you can afford to do it, then go for it! You may even make it a full day long party including face painting, free BBQ, free balloons, door prizes, or the chance to win a large and expensive prize (must be present to win).
If you take the time and effort to implement each of the steps shown above, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t finish up your gym grand opening day with at least 50 members and at least $4,000 in the bank.
