Black Friday Marketing Strategy for Health Clubs

It's no secret that Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. Most businesses are opening up early, distributing advertisements in the local newspaper, and staffing for huge sales. Consumers continue to line up for early-morning Black Friday shopping because this day usually offers the best discounts of the season.

But how can a circuit training health club, or any gym for that matter, take advantage of the Black Friday phenomenon? How can you, as a gym owner, ride the "Black Friday train" to huge sales and profits?

First of all, you must realize what you are NOT. Even though YOU know that your gym is awesome, you're still not a huge destination for Black Friday morning. If you're offering gym memberships at 90% off, for example, and MegaMart is offering IPODS for 90% off, you're going to lose. In other words, the vast majority of consumers are going to be out shopping for Black Friday "toys" like electronics and other giftables. They're really not looking for a health club membership, which everyone already knows they SHOULD buy but they just haven't gotten around to it yet.

So, keeping in mind that a gym membership is probably NOT at the top of the list for most Black Friday shoppers, you should avoid going toe-to-toe with the big boys. If MegaMart and other popular retailers are offering their discounts from 5:00 am to 9:00 am, then you should offer your best discounts from 7:00 am to 11:00 am. Acknowledge that customers, if given the choice, are going to choose MegaMart first. That's okay. You just want to position your sale so that they can ALSO visit you when they're done buying gadgets.

Once you've picked the time frame for your Black Friday sale, you'll need to plan the offer. Make it BIG and keep it LIMITED. That's the reason why Black Friday sales are so successful!

If a customer can come into the fitness center Saturday and get the same gym membership deal that was offered on Black Friday, then something's wrong. You'll never pull people in unless the Black Friday offer is not only good, but GREAT. So, if the best offer you've ever run is 60% off registration, then offer 65% or 70% off registration this Black Friday only from 7:00 am to 11:00 am. Make it a big deal.


Now that you've identified the time you're going to run your Black Friday sale, and you've also created the offer, now it's time to let the public know about it. Although your facility, and your budget, is probably too small to run a full newspaper advertising insert you can still get the word out. Try the old-fashioned but effective yard sign out in front of the health club. Send out an email to all current gym members. Send a postcard to every single person on your lead list (folks who have previously expressed an interest in joining the fitness center but haven't yet done so). Send a postcard to every expired member (ex-member) inviting them to come back. Think outside the box and let people know about this sale!

Finally, the key to Black Friday success is being appropriately staffed to handle the influx of business. If you've done a good job of letting the public know about a great offer, then you're going to be busy. Plan to have everyone working during Black Friday morning. You may even want to enlist the help of some friends and family as temporary workers. The fact is that most people coming in on Black Friday will be brand-spanking new prospects, and you'll never get a second chance to make a good first impression! If you leave a customer waiting for 25 minutes because you're not staffed correctly, the odds are good that they're going to bolt out the door before you can sign them up.

Planning a Black Friday promotion is not only easier than most gym owners think, but also has the potential to generate much higher sales that most people anticipate. Get planning today, and good luck on Black Friday!

Gym Member Retention Strategies That Work

Continuing our series of FREE articles on how you can boost member retention in your own health club, we've posted three entirely new and original articles that you can read right now!

Gym Member Retention Ideas That Work

Gym Member Retention Programs That Work

How To Increase Your Gym Member Retention Rate

By the way, some more essential reading for circuit training gym owners is our original article titled "How To Sell Gym Memberships In November". Just click here to read the article.

Where else but www.cuecd.com can health club owners get FREE marketing ideas? If you haven't browsed through our store yet, please take the time to do so now by clicking here.

How To Get Free Gift Cards Online

Most circuit training gym owners have some down time during the day. While the early morning is very busy, and the after-work rush is busy too, somewhere in between there's an hour or so where you still have to be in the health club but you're not actively helping anyone.

So what do you do during that down time?

Instead of reading the latest copy of People magazine (again), why not earn some free gift cards online? By spending just a few minutes each day, you really can get free gift cards online.

One of the best sites for this is Rewards1.com where you can earn points gift cards just by taking short surveys and clicking on some links.

The best part is that you can use these free gift cards as prizes for member contests! Next month, how about sponsoring an attendance contest? Every time a gym member comes in to work out, they get one entry into the contest. At the end of the month a winner is drawn from all entries. The winner gets the gift card that you received FREE from Rewards1. It's a win-win for you, because you're keeping the gym FUN and thus increasing member retention. At the same time, it didn't cost you a dime!

Think outside the box. Use your downtime productively. Visit Rewards1 and get started earning free gift cards online. It's free and it works!

FREE Health Club Marketing Ideas You Can Use RIGHT NOW

Just a couple quick ideas for all you health club owners out there. The Biggest Loser Season 12 has already started, and two episodes have already aired. The same people who are watching The Biggest Loser contestants on television should be joining your gym, but how do you get them through the door?

The health club marketing team at www.cuecd.com has written a FREE article on how you can use The Biggest Loser television show to sell more health club memberships. Just click here to read the article.

Oh, and if you haven't yet read our original article titled How To Sell Gym Memberships In October you should do so ASAP. Just click here for that article.

More Free Health Club Marketing Strategies

Good news, everyone! We've posted two entirely new, original and (best of all) FREE articles to help circuit training health club owners earn more cash. To check them out just click on the links below:

Gym Member Retention Strategies That Work

How To Sell A Health Club Membership To A Previous Gym Member

Since it's almost October, this would also be a good time to think about ordering our Creepy Halloween Sounds circuit training cue CD. Here's the description: "Ready for a NEW and EXCITING circuit training program for your health club members? Try our CREEPY HALLOWEEN cue cd! Instead of the usual 'change stations' commands, this cue cd features three different sounds: spooky owl, man screaming and evil laugh. Your members will LOVE the change!" Click here to order.

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Using A Sign Spinner As A Health Club Marketing Plan

You've seen them before - that guy (or gal) standing on the street corner holding a sign that's advertising a local business. Typically, the sign has a message that is very short and easy to read. For example, signs we've seen recently simply include the name of the business and an arrow pointing towards that business.

While the traditional 'sign stuck in the grass' is a mainstay of American marketing, this new technique takes it up a notch. The sign-holder usually spins the sign, waves it around, jumps up and down, dances, or does just about anything to get attention. After all, that's the name of the game: to get attention.

A local tax prep company is well-known by their sign spinner. Each year, starting in February, they dress somebody up in a Statue of Liberty costume and have them walk up and down in front of the store holding a sign for their business.

More than one local pizza company, during 5 pm rush hour, has a sign spinner that stands out of front of the store holding a sign.

We've even seen a local personal trainer take it up a notch. When he doesn't have any clients or appointments, he jumps rope out in front of his shop. Does it look corny? Kind of, but it sure gets your attention and practically forces you to notice his business!

Probably the best sign spinner we've ever seen is from the local bread company. This guy was dressed in (we're not kidding) a slice of bread costume. He was holding a sign that said the name of the company and had a yellow arrow pointing the way to the building.

What makes the bread-guy sign spinner so awesome, though, is his attitude. Sure, he could be self-conscious about this slice of bread costume. He could just stand there and be bored. But he was dancing, doing some karate moves, doing the 'robot' and just basically having a ball. Cars were honking, people were smiling, and cell phones were being pulled out for pictures. The slice of bread sign spinner was having fun but more importantly IT WAS A HUGE WIN FOR THE BUSINESS THAT HIRED HIM.

Think that using a sign spinner as a health club marketing plan is too 'small time' for you? Think it doesn't portray your business in a flattering light?

Think again.

Sign spinning as a marketing plan is well established. Entrepreneur magazine recently did a huge article on this topic. Aarow Advertising will earn $4 million this year doing sign spinning ads for their clients. Huge companies like Pepsi, McDonald's and Staples all use sign spinners, as do countless mom-and-pop stores nationwide.

As a gym owner, part of your health club marketing plan should include a sign spinner. Even if you don't hire a person just for that task, you can still have your existing staff go outside during slow times and spin the sign. You certainly don't need a costume, but at the very least the sign spinner should be wearing a gym t-shirt.

To be a successful sign spinner, the key is to HAVE FUN. Watching a self-conscious sign spinner is just painful, but watching an outgoing and impulsive sign spinner is fun! Check out this YouTube video for some helpful hints on how to be a sign spinner. Here's another good video example.

This health club marketing plan doesn't have to break the bank, either. The best deal we found is from Vistaprint, where you can Get a small vinyl banner sign FREE. Plus save 50% off other sizes.

Get 20% off your first order of brochures at PrintingForLess.com. Use Coupon Code NC20PB

Continuing.....The How To Sell More Gym Memberships Series of Articles

As our regular readers know, lately we've been posting some of our 100% new and original articles on another site. Here are the links you need to check it out.....

How To Sell A Gym Membership With Website Marketing

How To Sell More Gym Memberships When Answering The Phone

How To Sell More Gym Memberships At Trade Shows