The world of marketing is constantly changing, which means so must your strategies if you want to be successful. Keep up with the trends by reading our complete guide to text message marketing for gyms. Let’s face it, we’re all addicted to our smartphones, and texting has become one of the most popular ways of staying in touch with friends, family and acquaintances…and why not continue the conversation at your new gym?
That’s where a solid text message marketing campaign will come in handy. Unsurprisingly, many fitness centers have now taken advantage of this new social media tool in order to connect with their target audience without having to pay for advertisement or display ads on social media sites. So what are you waiting for? Read on to learn about some great text message marketing apps for gyms!
What is Text Message Marketing?
Text messaging is a means of communication through short messages sent through a telephone network. SMS traffic is sent as “short message service,” or “SMS,” which stands for “Short Message Service.” This means the messages are limited to 160 characters (or fewer, depending on the network) because a phone number can only handle so many digits.
Text messaging is growing in popularity as a way to communicate with customers because mobile users prefer it over email as a way to get information. The convenience of sending a text message to someone’s phone is why more and more people are turning to the service as a method of communication. Text message marketing works especially well when you’re trying to connect with your current or potential members. They may not know that they prefer texting to speaking on the phone, so your campaign could be their first introduction to your club.
How to Use Text Message Marketing for Gyms
There are many different ways to use SMS marketing, depending on what your goals are for the campaign.
Here are a few examples of how you can use SMS marketing for gyms:
Send a weekly, “What We’re Doing This Week” text message
Maybe you do a weekly fitness class, offer a specialized fitness session or host a special event at your Gym. You could send a weekly text message to your members letting them know what’s going on at the gym, what they can expect and what they can do to participate.
Send a weekly, “Progress Reports” text message
Perhaps you’re a fitness studio that offers custom training or nutrition plans. You could send a weekly text message to your members letting them know how their training or nutrition plan is progressing.
Send a weekly, “Fitness Tips” text message - If you’re a fitness studio that offers personal training, group fitness classes or group fitness sessions, you could send a weekly text message with fitness tips, advice or reminders for your members.
Create Your First Gym-Specific Message
Text messaging is a great way to get your name out there without throwing a ton of money at an advertising campaign. Instead, focus your efforts on creating a gym-specific message that’s relevant to your members.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Daily Deals
Fitness studios often host events and competitions, which can be a great way to get members excited about your gym, as well as generating new members. Hosting a monthly contest, for example, can help you get more followers on Instagram, get more likes on Facebook and get more members for your classes.
- Community Service
Being a part of the community is important for gyms with a physical location. You can help out your local community by donating shoes to the homeless, collecting toys for children in need, or hosting events that encourage residents to get active.
- Member Spotlight
One of the best ways to generate interest for your gym is to spotlight your members. If you have regular members who are willing to share their stories, send them a text message asking them to share their experience with other members.
Use a Template when creating your messages
You can save time and effort by using a pre-written gym-specific message template. This can help you stay organized while also ensuring you include all the necessary information in your text message.
Here are some examples of useful messages you can use a pre-written template for:
“I’m excited to share that we’re offering a new fitness class this week! Our Fitness Upstairs will focus on weightlifting, core training and cardio.”
“We’re hosting a special event this week. All profits will be donated to the local community service center.”
- “This week, we’re offering a special discount so you can bring a friend to class for free!”
Find the Most Effective Conversions for Your Gym
There are so many factors that go into choosing which SMS marketing app for your gym is best for the campaign. You have to consider your target audience, their engagement with social media, how accessible they are and what devices they use to access social media. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, you can use the app that gives you the most insight into your campaign.
A good example of this would be how many messages you send per week. If you’re trying to figure out which app gives you the most insight into your SMS marketing campaign, you would want to choose an app that lets you send a maximum of 20 to 50 messages per week.
If you’re sending a weekly “What We’re Doing This Week” text message or a similar campaign, you’ll want to choose an app that lets you send up to 100 messages. Likewise, if you’re sending a weekly “Progress Reports” text message or a similar campaign, you’ll want to choose an app that lets you send up to 500 messages.
If you want to send a “Fitness Tips” text message or a similar campaign, you’ll want to choose an app that lets you send up to 1,000 messages. All in all, the more insight you have into your SMS marketing campaign, the better off you’ll be.
