You are not expected to be a successful CrossFit gym owner and a professional marketing guru but marketing is key to driving new members and promoting your business. We understand marketing your gym efficiently and effectively takes time and knowledge, and that’s where we come in.
We’ve put together 5 Free Marketing Tips for CrossFit Gyms, all of which are very simple to master and, if the title isn’t clear enough, FREE.
1. Post on social media every day
Let’s focus on the main social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Not only can you link these two giants together by the click of a button, but you only have to post on one platform for it to be shared automatically to the other.
It is relatively easy to build a social media following on both Instagram and Facebook for fitness-related businesses, and your audience will only continue to grow the more you are active online and generate content.
From talking to gym owners about their social media presence, the biggest issue we come across is the lack of inspiration for creating content. We have therefore provided some fool proof suggestions to get you started;
Post about your daily WODs
We can comfortably assume that most CrossFit gyms in the world have a daily WOD, so why not post about it. You could announce what the WOD is, provide tips and techniques on how to approach it or just confirm movement standards. This will create a short, simple but effective social media post.
Showcase your members and their achievements
People from all walks of life celebrate achievements in CrossFit each and every day. With members’ permission, why not showcase these achievements by posting photos and videos on your social media platforms; it could be a PB, a first strict pull-up or even that raw community spirit encouraging others to get through a workout.
Promote your events
Whether you are hosting an in-house competition or a social gathering at the pub, advertise these events on Instagram and Facebook. It may also encourage potential new members to book a trial and entice them to become part of a social and competitive facility.
2. Use Instagram Stories
Showcasing your classes in action
What better way to share your services than to show your members working out. CrossFit, in particular, has a reputation for being quite an intimidating environment for newcomers. By showing potential customers exactly what a class looks like and the types of people attending, they will no doubt feel more at ease when they attend their first session. CrossFit is an incredibly fun and supportive environment for people of all ages and abilities and that’s the image we want to share.
Putting your members in the spotlight
Capturing a short video of your members working out in class is very effective as it provides several benefits:
- Fresh content for your daily stories;
- An insight for other members to see what is expected from the WOD;
- Material for your members to share themselves
When posting individual stories of members, always remember to tag them (with their permission of course). By tagging your members in stories they are then able to share the story on their own personal account. This is a fantastic way of promoting your box to new and potential customers, as well as encouraging current members – we can’t deny we all love being filmed when working out!
Promote your events and products
The beauty of Instagram stories is the simplicity – you can literally post about anything. Have you just restocked your supplements? Have you got new apparel on offer? Film a quick video and let your members know. Do you have an in-house competition coming up? Share the event poster to gather interest, whether they’re competitors or spectators. There are no limitations.
3. Send bulk emails using MailChimp
MailChimp is an all-in-one marketing platform and the best feature available is the ability to send bulk emails. It’s free to use for up to 2000 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month, so the free version should be sufficient for most affiliates.
Once you’ve signed up you’ll easily be able to create a mailing list using data you already have (from your existing customers for example) and you’ll also have access to a sign-up form which can be added to your Facebook page and website.
MailChimp is very easy to use and comes with some predefined templates to get you started. Sending out regular emails to members is a great idea as we must remember that not everybody is on social media, yet nearly everyone has an email account.
I have provided some frequent email ideas below;
Programming
If you like to release your programming to your members in advance then sending it out in a bulk email is a very efficient way to do it. This could be done monthly or weekly and is a great excuse to mention any other news you may have.
Send out your blog posts
If your website has an active blog full of articles for your members then share them via email. If you’re not regularly writing content for your blog, it’s never too late to start. Your articles can be focussed on anything, from the importance of rest days and nutrition to explaining why classes are run the way they are.
Sending out your blog posts via bulk email is a great way to encourage more engagement.
Event announcements
As mentioned previously, we must always remember that not all of your members will be on social media so if you have an event coming up, social or competitive, replicate the information you would post on Facebook and Instagram and send it out via email too.
4. Create a "Members Only" Facebook group
Facebook groups are one of the key features within this platform. When setting up your group be sure to set it to “private” so it can only be accessed by people you manually approve.
A group is a great place to not only advertise your services but also somewhere members can chat with each other, ask questions and learn more about CrossFit and your gym.
Facebook is flooded with advertisements and most people tend to have several hundred connections so when you post on your business page, it can often get lost in the chaos. Being ‘group admin’ means members within the group will be notified (by default) that you’ve posted, which will considerably increase the chance of them seeing it.
5. Plan and advertise your events
Sit down with your staff and plan the year ahead. You don’t have to iron out the finer details for, say, an in-house competition in 6 months times, but at the very least decide the theme and set a date.
Members like to see that you’re always thinking of ways to bring the CrossFit community together and by planning out a year of competitions, activities and goals it will keep motivation flowing and spark excitement and engagement.
Once you’ve planned out your events, announce them to your members so they can discuss them with friends, family and other members. There are several ways to let members know about your plans;
- Via Social Media! Posts, stories & your Facebook group are good place to start
- By bulk email using a free service like MailChimp
- Printed media - put posters up around your gym!
- Set up Facebook events and invite your members
- By word of mouth
We hope you found this information helpful and if you’d like to find out more about how WEBWOD can help your CrossFit affiliate grow, please get in touch.