Hot off the 2016 IHRSA show in Orlando, FL - AFS was excited to take the floor and meet with our partners, advisory council members, and focus on building stronger relationships within the fitness industry.
Without a doubt the top three trends witnessed were the focus on fitness studios, technology (especially wearables), and training.
Over the past decade, advancements in technology have reshaped the fitness industry to become more personalized and consumer-friendly.
From workout tutorials that can be downloaded in seconds to wearables that monitor your every heartbeat, fitness professionals are taking advantage of technology to connect and engage with trainees. In 2014, YouTube reported that viewers watched 5,500 years-worth of yoga videos alone.
Timely, targeted marketing campaigns are critical to the growth of your business, yet many studio owners don’t even want to think about it, let alone set aside time and money for it! The reality is that daily operations keep you running from open to close and beyond and let’s face it marketing is at best, challenging.
It can also be time-consuming, frustrating, and is often confusing. Without a doubt, however, Marketing is absolutely necessary to grow a successful business.
A beautiful weather summer can be a painful season to endure if you own a fitness studio. The nicer the day, the fewer clients you see. Prospect inquiries evaporate, program sales burn out and there is lackluster enthusiasm all the way around. It’s no secret that you would rather be outside enjoying the weather, too!
For your consideration (and motivation), I’ve put together an action plan that addresses nearly every aspect of your business. The way I see it, summer is ripe with opportunities to be busier than ever, highly productive and because of this, better positioned for the inevitable; Winter Is Coming.
“Your brand is possibly your most important attribute. It defines who you are, your values, your desires, your goals and your beliefs. It is the character of your company, from the inside out and how it is perceived from the outside looking in. It must work to develop credibility and foster trust in your business.”
This is taken directly from SKB’s website, it’s our philosophy on what a brand is and it is from this place that we work to develop a visual identity to uphold the brand and execute a strategy to reinforce and nurture it.
As a Marketing Coach, I want you to take charge of your marketing and I urge you to make this question an integral part of your sales process. It needs to be asked by you and once answered, it must be recorded by you. And that’s the real message in this article: Track the results of each and every marketing campaign you deploy.
You spend time and money on your marketing efforts and like everything else in life; you want to know both are being spent wisely. The only way to do that is to track the results and analyze them to predict future decisions.
Before understanding the impact of the Personal Health Incentive Today Act (PHIT), one must understand the world of Internal Revenue Service approved Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA).
IRS rules allow individuals to put pre-tax income into these special accounts, but the money can only be used for IRS-approved definitions of “healthy spending.” Currently, typical fitness-related expenditures do not qualify.
What a week! With over 12 hours of education packed into only a few days, nearly 200 studio owners and fitness professionals came away with some of the best expert advice available today!
Check out the Club Industry page to learn about AFS' next event at this show and receive 25% off! At Club Industry in Chicago (Oct. 7-9), attendees were treated to an all-star panel that included some of the top minds in the industry.
During the nearly 10 years I spent running large scale health clubs and consulting with small fitness studios, one of the most common questions I received was "How do I motivate my team?"
This question was always top of mind for studio owners, directors, managers, GM's - everyone shared the same issue. So how do you overcome this? How do you connect with your team, whether it be personal trainers, Pilates instructors, group exercise, front line staff, or customer service?
While researching the hundreds of fitness studios over the past few weeks, it was alarming to see the amount of common mistakes that studio owners make. Most might seem minor but often lead to a significant loss of leads and sales for their owners.
As a studio owner, you want your website to compliment your business. You want people to understand exactly what you do as quickly as possible. Someone once told me to design your website as if “the dumbest person in the world was trying to understand what you do and navigate your site.” While a drastic approach, that statement stayed with me.
• Trainer, Manager or Owner • Beginner or Veteran • 500-10,000 sq.ft.