The health and fitness industry is always looking for the
next business to come out with an innovative workout plan, supplement, or
recovery routine that can help improve athletic performance. For this reason it
can be unbelievably profitable to start a business in this niche as everyone
wants to be in better shape or in their best health. Growing a business has to
be done with care as growing too quickly can impact the quality of
products/services that the customer receives. Taking your health and fitness based
business to another level will take continued education, participation in
industry events, and a good bit of effective marketing.
Get All Of The Appropriate Certifications
The fitness world is full of certifications such as the personal
trainer certification which has various tests to be recognized by different
organizations. Staff having these certifications allows a gym for example to
offer quite a few more classes. A nutritionist on site could also be something
that puts a gym ahead of others when people are deciding where to join. The
business licenses and certifications even impact insurance rates as companies
understand those with these qualifications have a certain set of expertise
versus those that do not have them.
Attend Tradeshows/Conferences
Attending conferences in the health and fitness industry can be quite eye opening in some of the tactics people use to attract people to their booth. Conferences can be a great way to form partnerships that can be mutually beneficial and expose your products/services to a larger audience. The education that presenters can impart can be invaluable as this is going to be the highest concentration of people in your industry that there is. Demoing a new supplement here can be quite a good thing to do as you can possibly attract thousands of customers as supplement based conferences usually are opened to the public. A massage chair with healing hands massage can be the perfect addition as those at a fitness trade show most likely have hit the gym hard the week before.
Be Active On Social Media
Social media offers the best platforms to showcase knowledge
as well as results of workout plans/supplements. Instagram is obviously
extremely popular in this niche but Pinterest does have an advantage when it
comes to healthy recipes offered. This can also be used to promote pieces of
content produced by your company whether it is an interview, podcast, or article.
Engage with followers when discussing topics related to your business as plenty
of people appreciate knowledge being spread. A social media presence can also
allow you to announce sales or specials with a coupon code in a post. People
who might have been wary about purchasing a membership or product could have
their fears quelled with this sort of discount.
Local SEO and Digital Marketing Are Essential
If you are opening a local business like a gym or health
food store local SEO could not be more important. You are going to want to rank
highly in the local search results as this can bring in quite a bit more foot
traffic. You are going to want to list your business on Google as well as
monitor reviews and response to both negative as well as positive ones. This
shows care for the customer and the reply could retain a customer that would
have otherwise never returned to the business. Offsite link building can be
quite effective if you have articles published on industry or local
publications including a link to your business. Not only does this help search
engine rankings but it can help showcase knowledge that your staff has on a
certain topic.
Start growing your fitness/health based business by using
the above tips and basing decisions on data. We now have so many ways to track
ROI on certain expenses so take advantage!