Gym and studio marketing: 8 ideas backed by data

There are plenty of gym marketing lists, and most of them are opinion. Here each idea starts from a number published by a primary source: the industry association, Google, government agencies and platforms reporting on their own users.

Eight ideas and the numbers behind them

1. Sell to people who do not want a membership

Nearly 19 million people used US fitness facilities without holding a membership, through day passes, guest privileges and other flexible options. Counting aggregator users, pay-as-you-go customers and employer programs, facilities reach 31.0% of the population against 24.9% for memberships alone. Drop-ins, class packs and day passes are a sales channel, not an exception.

2. Complete your Google Business Profile

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up. The right category, hours, photos, prices and a booking link are the cheapest marketing work you can do.

3. Ask for reviews

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking. Ask right after a good class, with a direct link, and reply to every review, including the negative ones.

4. Schedule for people with little time

Among gym members worldwide, 25% say they are too busy to train as much as they want, the most common barrier in the Les Mills report. On ClassPass, bookings between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. rose 38% worldwide. Short lunchtime and early-morning classes answer a measured demand.

5. Speak to the groups that are growing

Adults aged 18 to 24 have the highest membership rate of any age group, at 35.5%, and 45% of Gen Z and Millennial exercisers worldwide are actively looking for group workouts. Members aged 65 and over are the fastest growing cohort, up 8.6% in a year. They are two different audiences and need different classes, times and messages.

6. Reach people who are traveling

Americans took 2.40 billion domestic trips in a year, 1.95 billion of them for leisure. Travelers do not buy memberships: they look for a single class near their hotel. A clear drop-in price and a presence on booking apps capture that demand.

7. Do not count on being anyone’s only membership

Over 75% of studio users hold at least one other membership, and boutique studio users visit 2.5 times a month on average. For many clients you are one of the places they train: class packs and single classes get you chosen by people who already have a membership elsewhere.

8. Keep the members you win

Across fitness operators, the median annual member retention rate is 66.4%: about one member in three leaves within the year. Meanwhile the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 70 complaints a day about automatically renewing subscriptions, the category that covers gym memberships. Clear prices and easy cancellation remove reasons to complain.

Selling single classes with FlexDropin

FlexDropin covers ideas 1, 6 and 7: you publish single classes and open-gym time slots, and people book and pay in the app. There is no subscription or setup fee: you pay a 15% commission only on the bookings you sell. The Partner page has the details.