Health Club Marketing Made Easy! 7 Strategies to Get Free Publicity For Your Health Club Or Gym

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You might think that your small gym or health club isn't newsworthy. Think again! Do something to help others, and you in turn will reap rewards. The opportunities to market your health club are only limited by your own imagination. Here are seven amazingly simple ways to improve your health club marketing efforts and generate free publicity for your gym.

1. Canned food drive

"Free Enrollment when you bring in 5 canned foods!" Your fitness center can partner with a local soup kitchen or Salvation Army. Be sure to tell the newspapers and news stations about the partnership...they eat that stuff up! (And of course, you're also helping those in need, which always feels good)

2. Write for your local newspaper

Does your local paper have a weekly fitness editorial? Write one for them! Contact your local paper(s), introduce yourself as a local health club owner, and let them know you would like to write a weekly fitness tip/article for them. The worst they will say is no. What other publications are distributed in your area. Community newsletters? Free newsstand periodicals? What about online resources? Are there websites catering to your area? Write articles for them. If you can't write, have one of your staff members write.

3. Partner with your local radio station

You can have a radio station sponsor an 8-week weight loss contest for your health club. Get a DJ as your advocate. They can announce the contest to the listeners, have them submit applications, maybe even get teams set up between two DJ's. All participants can have a free gym membership during the contest in exchange for lots of advertising for your health club over the 8 weeks.

4. Run a contest for charity

Get members to have friends and family pledge an amount per mile you spend on the treadmill or for every step you climb on the stairmaster. Even if you only get 2 people to participate, it doesn't matter. Tell the radio station about it and they will do a story on it. It's different, it's interesting, and it's not negative news...which seems to be all there is on the news these days. Run a successful health club marketing campaign and help others at the same time!

5. Provide free seminars

These can either be onsite at your facility or at a community center. If you call or visit your local Chamber of Commerce and ask about a listing of presentations, you will be amazed. People give presentations on anything from basket weaving to coding HTML. If they don't already have someone regularly presenting on fitness-related topics, just ask them to put you on the schedule. They announce all upcoming presentations to their member and email list. Come up with a good headline for your presentation though. "Fitness Tips" just won't cut it. How about, "How to lose that 10 Pounds before Bikini Season" or "Show Me the Diet You're on and I'll Show You Why it isn't Working: A Roundtable Discussion" or "7 Things You Can do Right Now to Begin Losing Weight Tomorrow". If you hold your seminar at your health club, announce it to all of your members and allow them to bring friends. Then contact your local newspaper and have them announce your fitness seminar to their readers. This is one of the most powerful gym marketing strategies and a great way to become recognized as the best health club in your market.

6. Write a Report

It doesn't have to be incredibly long...perhaps only between 10-20 pages. Write about weight loss myths, yo-yo-diets, overweight children...anything that is a hot topic right now. Contact your local newspapers and let them know that you, a local fitness expert and health club owner, has written a free report for the community. It can be promoted as, "FREE Report Reveals the 10 Reasons Why Your Current Diet isn't working!" or "FREE Book written by SmithTown fitness expert reveals why our children are gaining weight and what to do about it". Your Free Report can also announce when your next seminar is as well.

7. Make one of your members a hero

Media loves success stories, especially ones that involve someone overcoming incredible odds. You probably know someone like this in your club, but why not allow members to submit applications to be "SmithTown Fitness Hero". Have everyone submit a 300 word article on how they have overcome the odds and how your club has helped them. Once you select a winner, send a press release to the newspaper, "Local SmithTown citizen wins Hero award". Of course, give something to everyone who submits an application. Perhaps frame and post all of the success stories and create a "SmithTown Fitness Wall of Heroes" at your club to let all of your members be inspired. Think of how powerful this would be to show a prospect as you're touring them! Of course, these 7 strategies only scratch the surface of how you can get free publicity in your fitness facility. Be creative and you will see your health club become more popular the more proactive you are in your PR efforts.