The world of fitness is constantly changing. Nowadays, if you’re not on the internet, it’s as if you don’t exist. Moreover, in such a saturated and competitive sector, standing out is a must. But how can you increase the visibility of your gym? By creating an online visibility strategy. Don’t know where to start? We give you the 6 key steps to increase the visibility of your gym!
How to increase the visibility of your gym
As we have already said, to increase the visibility of your gym, it is necessary to create an online visibility strategy. Good visibility will make your gym known and stand out from the competitors. But to do this, you first need to figure out how and where to show up, so your customers can find you. Before you start taking concrete actions to increase the visibility of your gym, you will need to carry out the two main steps of a visibility strategy; setting goals, and establishing a strategy.
Set goals
People have to be able to find you online, which is a reason, but not a goal. Wishing to appear online just because your competitors do it is not an objective either, and it is a common mistake. The first step, and the core of everything, is to determine why to be found and what your goals are. Let’s see it with an example; “I want to increase the online visibility of my gym because it is an opportunity to:
- Set my gym as a benchmark in the sector.
- Improve the brand recognition of my gym considerably.
- Increase the reach in terms of potential customers.
In addition, you need to decide which indicators to look at when measuring results. But we’ll get to that later. You can’t put the cart before the horse.
Establishing a strategy
You have set up your goals and the reason for improving the online visibility of your gym. Now is the time to work on a strategy. Once you have the why, you need to think about the how. In other words, you need to create a strategy. For that, you need to be clear on the following points:
- What specific objectives do you have and what do you want to achieve with this strategy? E.g. Increase web traffic by 5% or increase the number of users this quarter.
- What steps are you going to follow? Make a plan with all the actions you will carry out and organise them chronologically.
- What tools are you going to use to achieve these objectives?
- Are you going to carry out this plan by yourself or are you going to hire a professional to manage it?
In addition to outlining the broad lines of the visibility strategy, you will need to choose channels and content
Choose your channels
There are endless options for channels, but not all of them will work for you. Before starting to spend madly, you should research where your competitors and customers are. Take advantage of the high level of competition in this sector and learn from the mistakes and successes of others.
If your competitors are using one channel and not another, there is a reason. They have probably realised that it is much more effective to use Google Ads than to place ads on YouTube, for example.
These are the possible channels for your box or gym, among others:
Website
Blog
Youtube
Facebook ads
Google ads
Google my Business
Choosing the right content
To get good online visibility, think about the type of content to upload. And we are sorry to say that not everything goes. Based on the strategy you have drawn up, you should plan the type of content to create. Let us give you some guidelines to make this path easier:
– Be regular: it is not a question of posting every day for a week and then not uploading anything for a month.
– Offer solutions: create content that really contributes something, that offers a solution to a problem or obstacle in the life of your target audience.
– Be dynamic: social networks and internet content, in general, are very visual and your content should be too. Try to use media with added value, such as images, videos, guides, tutorials, and infographics…
– Quality over quantity. If for reasons of time, knowledge, or desire you think you are not going to be able to carry out the plan effectively, go to a professional. Consider hiring a copywriter or content creator to outsource some of your work, so you can focus on what you are good at.
The channels you have chosen play a significant role here. It’s not the same if you’re going to have a blog as if you’re going to publish a post on Instagram. But this does not mean you have to make separate content for each channel. The best thing to do is to reuse all the content adapting it to each place where it will be published.
Analyse
The possibilities to increase the visibility of your gym are endless, so determine from the beginning what you want to achieve and how you want to reach your goals. Otherwise, you will end up with scattered and ineffective marketing actions. It is important to choose the right marketing tools. That’s why we advise you to follow these steps: – Determine objectives and performance indicators. – Determine the strategy with its corresponding stages according to the objectives. – Implement and execute each stage of the plan. – Periodically analyse the results through Google Analytics. – Once you have concluded each action, analyse if they have been effective or if, on the contrary, you should change the plan.
Essential channels to increase your gym’s visibility
1. Create your website
To boost your online presence, your website has to say what your potential customers need to hear. Many boxes and gyms survive without a website. Although it is possible, Resawod does not advise you to do so. A website and a domain with your name on it will automatically boost your visibility. In addition, it is the perfect place to sell and derive all the traffic from other channels. The basis of your online visibility strategy is your website, so invest time in designing and planning what to say on it and how you want to address your audience. You can only make a first impression once, so make it count.
“81% of consumers search online before purchasing or contracting a service.”
2. Set up GMB
What is Google My Business? It is a free Google tool to help businesses manage their online presence. What is its purpose? To provide greater visibility for businesses to make it much easier to find them. What are the benefits of using Google My Business for your gym’s visibility?
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- You will appear in localised searches and on Google Maps. So, when a user searches for “Crossfit box” in a place, you will appear. These will increase the possibility of them visiting you. That is called proximity marketing.
- Google My Business creates a tab with the basic data of your box or gym, which will make a user who searches for you, see on the right side the data of your gym (phone, address, etc.).
- It allows you to read the reviews and evaluations that your users have written about your gym and its services, so you can respond to them and make them feel that their opinion counts.
- Make statistics of your gym thanks to the data provided by the application. You can, for example, track visits, analytics, clicks or ‘likes’ on your profile to carry out the marketing actions that best fit these data.
- You can make virtual gym tours with Business View so users can see the facilities before signing up. This can be an added value and differentiate you from the competition. It all adds up.
What steps should I follow to make good use of the account?
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- Create a complete profile with all the necessary information about your gym: name, address, telephone, email, and opening hours…
- Create a description of your gym, making the most of SEO, that is, adding keywords that define your business and help to improve its positioning.
- Add a virtual tour so that all users can get an idea of what your establishment is like.
- Interact with your users through reviews.
- Keep the information about your services and news updated.
- Add quality images of your gym’s highlights..
- Add your website so that users can learn more about your gym and contact you quickly.
- Add the exact location.
- Report news in the “publications” option. Remember that keeping a routine of this type of article is important for Google to favour the positioning of your gym.
3. Choosing your social networks and their content
The importance of social networks has grown steadily in recent years. Situations such as a pandemic have helped this tool become one of the most widely used means of communication. Focus your efforts on the social media channels where your current users and target audience are active. This could be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Take the time to do your research before putting a lot of effort into a channel where there are no active potential customers. By being active on the right social networks, you can get additional traffic to your website. Social media is the perfect place to create a community around your gym, encourage interaction and, over time, create a sense of engagement and ownership that will help you with customer loyalty. It is only when your customers become followers of what you do that the issue of ‘social sharing‘ becomes relevant. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool. Once you have started sharing valuable content and are gaining followers on social media, you ask yourself: how do I direct them to my website? That’s where links come in. You have to include different CTAs or links that naturally lead to your website.
Good online gym visibility is vital for growth and loyalty. With the steps we have given you, you will be able to lay the foundations of a good online visibility strategy and position your gym as a reference in the sector.
