My 3 Marketing Tips for the Changing Post-Covid Fitness World

The fitness industry is one of the hardest hit by Covid-19 there is little doubt about that. I can say this as someone who specializes in fitness/sport marketing and who has many clients operating in this space and also as the wife of a professional athlete and trainer. The industry literally came to a stop overnight and now three or so months on we’ve witnessed the closure of a many fitness companies globally and in the UAE such as FlyWheel and Cult Fit and now for the rest, the slow rebuild begins and without doubt more closures will come, as well as a change to the way they operate going forward. 

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve actually quite enjoyed being home and I’ve loved the selection of live stream fitness classes and I’m not alone in this. Many of us have seen the benefits of working out at home – it saves time, it’s cheaper and there is lots more variety and quite a lot of us now have a small home gym kit too.  For these reasons alone, plus the fact many are still not comfortable leaving their home and many now have a reduced income, of us have, the fitness industry won’t look the same again. Here are my thoughts on some business and marketing considerations for those in this sector.

1. It’s important to keep an online offering  

 Everything is starting to re-open, but ultimately nothing has changed and coronavirus is still very much alive and well. Whilst there are those who are happy to venture out and get back to “normal” life, there are still many who are committed to staying home and avoiding riskier places such as gyms. I’d recommend to all fitness centres to parallel run their physical and online offerings for the next 3-6 months at least, if not as a permanent change to business. There will always be those who can only get motivated in the actual gym, but there will be those that online works for better. Have an offering and therefore strategy for marketing for each group.  Remember, if you are operating online, you need to have a digital strategy and be spending online especially if you want new customers and don’t want to lose the loyal ones– a lot seem to forget this.

2. Re-look at your messaging and value proposition

What you said about your business and offering 3-4 months ago may not stand today, so I’d recommend all in this sector spend at least half a day re-looking at their corporate messaging and value proposition. Take a day or two, go back to it and check it still rings true and then make sure you reflect this messaging on all your touch points – website, social, collateral, press releases, digital ads etc.  Focus on specifics – are you niche, are you something for everyone.  A lot of what I am reading suggests generic fitness will cease to exist and that niche specialist fitness is very much the way forward now.  As a fan of specialist and niche businesses, owning a specialist agency myself, people always ask me if this is a good thing and if it limits me and my business growth and I firmly believe and argue no!

3. Look at new business models

The way we all do business will change going forward and new business models will be created. Pay per workout models, 24 hour gyms to spread out usage across members to comply with distancing rules. Have a look at the regulations where you are, try and gauge from customers what they want and what the likely trends are. A few of the fitness studios I visit have been sending me online surveys for my opinion, so consider doing this with your customer base to really understand what your customers want.

I know in parts this may seem a little negative but trust me as I do believe that the fitness industry will come back and it will thrive again and change isn’t always a bad thing as we know.  Many of have had a shock to the system and a jolt to the reality of the importance of health and wellbeing, with fitness firmly at the centre of this. Let’s see where the next 6-12 months takes us!