Low-effort, low-spend ways to market your fitness business

Growth starts with marketing and promoting your business. How do you grow when you have limited resources and budget for marketing? Read on for tried-and-tested tactics you can take advantage of without a big team or huge budget.

Marketing. You know you should do it. But when you’re busy juggling a million and one things, it’s easy to let it slip. And if you’ve got more than one location to oversee, the challenge only grows.

The UK Gym Operator Insights Report shows you’re not alone. Gym operators are time poor and budgets are stretched.

The good news? You don’t need a big budget or marketing team to attract new members and grow your business.

Whether you’re an independent single-site gym or a multi-site operator, there are ample ways to promote your business and bring in extra revenue. Ways that are simple and low-cost.

The trick is to make sure that the tactics you try will contribute towards bigger objectives. For example, if you want to build brand awareness, becoming the gym of choice in the locations you operate within, pick tactics that will result in more people hearing about your business.

Read on for practical, low-cost gym marketing ideas to consider. Ideas you can get started with right now.

Let’s get stuck in!

1. Turn your members into advocates

Word of mouth marketing is a powerful way to win new members. And can even help you attract more and higher-value members in the long-run.

Those who’ve acted on a recommendation typically spend 2x more and go on to make 2x as many referrals compared to those who’ve come via other marketing channels.

And when you let your members promote your business, you can keep spending to a minimum. Plus, often you can use ‘set and forget’ tactics.

Try:

Encourage social media sharing / user generated content (UGC)

Chances are you’ll have plenty of members who are already publicly sharing their fitness journey and workouts on social media. Ask members to tag your account (or even use a specific hashtag if you’re a chain).

Running small competitions (think sweatiest selfie of the month) can encourage more members to get involved.

Testimonials and stories

Sharing social proof is powerful.

Why? People trust real people.

Start small by asking members to leave you a review on Google or Facebook as a part of your new gym member onboarding journey. Build up to sharing member success stories with quotes and photos or even video.

Referral programmes

Make it easy for members to recommend you to their friends. Offer an incentive for both the referrer and referee. Once you’ve set this programme up, all you need to do is regularly remind your members it exists, and it’ll run automatically.

Create a referral programme to turn members into advocates

Go deeper

What does it take to design a high performing refer-a-friend programme?

Find out

2. Make the most of what you’re already doing

When it comes to gym marketing, optimising what you already have and are doing can be the fastest (and cheapest) way to boost the results you get.

Try:

Website

Check your website:

Google Business profile

Claim your profile for each location. Make sure details like opening hours are kept up to date (including bank holidays). Add photos. Routinely ask for reviews.

This’ll help you show up when people search for ‘gym near me’ as well as when they’re researching your brand.

Social media

Are you posting regularly? While some corners of the internet will tell you to post 1-3 times a day, it’s better to focus on consistently posting each week. Start at once a week and build up to 3-4 posts a week.

Need some inspiration? Here are 15 business boosting social media post ideas, plus tips to help you get the most out of social without spending lots of money on advertising – read now.

Email (& SMS)

Make sure your gym management software is set up to send gym marketing emails and text messages at key points during a member’s journey.

For example, nurture leads, re-engage members showing signs that they may cancel soon, and re-target former members with timely win-back campaigns.

3. Connect with your local community

Community sits at the centre of almost every successful gym business. And you can tap into the communities you serve to promote your fitness business with limited resources.

Try:

Posters and leaflets

It’s old school, but asking local businesses and community hubs (like libraries or village halls) to display your posters or leaflets still works. Look for community notice boards and leaflet displays.

Go for bold eye-catching designs, keep messaging simple, and include a clear call-to-action.

Partnerships

Go beyond posters and leaflet drops and form partnerships with local businesses. Think cafes, physios, or workplaces. Cross-promote each other’s business and offer special deals for customers/employees.

If you have multiple sites, you could give each manager a toolkit so they can set up partnerships locally while staying consistent with your brand.

Open days

Open days or weekends are a fantastic way to market your business using what you already have. Get locals in to try out classes, meet your personal trainers, and tour your facilities. Run these on a seasonal basis.

Make sure you’re ready to sign up prospects on the day with an attractive incentive. Use your gym management software to automatically follow up with prospects who didn’t sign up on the day.

Create an effective marketing strategy & plan

Go deeper

Everything you need to know about building a marketing strategy and plan that helps you achieve your business objectives.

Get stuck in!

4. Get digital without spending big

Marketing your business online can be incredibly cost effective. And with the right set up it’s easy to track and measure success.

Try:

Facebook/Instagram ads

Use the Meta platform to strategically target relevant people who are within the catchment area for your location(s).

Keep ads simple – a relatable image, a clear call-to-action, and your best audience. Make sure your online joining system captures details of leads who abandoned their basket before signing up so you can follow up.

Boost organic social posts

A simple way to get started with Meta advertising without having to spend time creating ads is to boost your best organic posts. Where a post gets strong engagement, spend a little to reach a wider local audience.

Basic SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a cost-effective way to reach new members that pays off over the long-term. Focus on making sure your website is optimised for local searches, that your pages load fast, and are designed use on mobile.

SEO for gyms: The complete guide

Go deeper

Elevate your online presence and win new members by mastering SEO. Get 7 practical tips for success.

Get stuck in!

5. Focus on the member experience

A lot of the low-effort, low-cost promotion ideas covered have been focused on winning prospective members. Attracting these prospects is only half the battle. Keeping them matters more if you want to grow long-term.

Try:

First impressions

Every time a member (or prospect) walks into your club(s) your brand comes to life. The little things count.

Flexible membership options

Make it easier for more people to get a taste of your member experience. Offer pay-as-you-go access, sell short-term passes, and promote rolling contracts.

If you have multiple locations, introduce multi-location memberships to attract those who want some variety and add value for existing members too.

Feedback

Proactively seeking out feedback from members and acting on what you hear will help you fine tune your member experience. Use your gym software to ask for feedback at key points in the member journey.

Let members and prospects know what action you’ve taken because of feedback – highlight improvements made.

11 ways to get actionable member feedback

Go deeper

With the right mindset and approach, you can gather a regular flow of constructive feedback. And use this to increase member loyalty and grow your gym or fitness club.

Read now

6. Share helpful content

The idea of creating content can be daunting. Yet, content doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. And it can be a low-cost way to fuel other marketing efforts.

Try:

Content themes

Introducing regular features for content that you’re putting out on social media and in your email newsletter can make creating content easier. For example, trainer tip of the week or member spotlight.

Video tours

Bring your facilities to life with quick video tours. Video is especially important for nervous prospects, helping them imagine themselves there.

You can create these videos on a low budget with trainers giving tours. Just make sure the camera or phone you’re using is held steady!

Blog posts

Build brand authority, showcase the expertise within your business, and boost your search engine rankings by regularly publishing blog articles.

Write short, simple articles that provide educational tips to prospects and members. Promote your articles across other marketing channels

How to start a fitness blog for your gym

Go deeper

Want to find out how you can start a blog for your business? In this how-to guide, we’ll help you create a blog that your members and prospects will want to read.

Get stuck in!

7. Work smarter, not harder

Finally, when you’re looking for gym marketing ideas that are easy and cost effective, never overlook how habits and systems can help. The right approaches will take the hard work out of marketing, reducing the resource needed.

Try:

Templates

Social posts. Emails. Leaflets. Having a selection of templates to use when creating marketing content speeds up the design process. Plus, it makes sure your branding is consistent to create a strong impression.

Batch tasks

Context switching can really slow you down. To get more done in less time, try to set aside specific chunks of time to work on different marketing tasks. For example, an hour a week to write marketing emails, review ad performance, or schedule social posts.

Delegate or train staff

Spread the load by upskilling managers and other team members with basic marketing training. For example, in tools like Canva or social scheduling.

35 AI prompts to make gym email marketing easier

Go deeper

AI can help you work smarter not harder! Find out how to write effective prompts – and get 35 prompts for marketing emails across the member journey.

Read now

The wrap up…

Impactful marketing can be both low effort and low budget. Be strategic and focus on tactics that will help you on your way to achieving bigger business objectives:

See how Xplor Gym can set your business up for marketing success.