Hundreds of gyms, health clubs, fitness studios, and other types of fitness businesses are coming up every day, with each provider hoping to tap into this lucrative industry. As you may expect, the competition for available clients is also growing tighter.
So, whether you are a new or established fitness business, you will need to come up with long-term marketing strategies that can help to build brand awareness, set yourself apart, stay relevant in the industry, and grow your customer base. And this is where fitness content marketing comes in. It'll take great planning and lots of time. You'll have to plan out a content calendar for this, but it'll be worth it.
In this article, we will take a closer look at what fitness content marketing is as well as its benefits to your fitness business. We will also walk you through how to create an effective fitness content marketing strategy, which will help you to generate more leads, attract more customers, and grow your fitness business.
1. About Content Marketing
So, what is content marketing? As its name suggests, content marketing refers to creating useful, relevant and valuable content, and then distributing it to your audience. The content can be newsletters, blog posts, social media posts, infographics or white papers, just to name a few.
Fitness businesses use content marketing to increase brand awareness, create a strong online presence and generate more qualified leads. And with the right approach, content marketing can be a cost-effective strategy of attracting, engaging and converting leads into long-term customers.
2. Benefits of Content Marketing for Fitness Businesses
Content marketing requires a considerable amount of time and effort, compared to other fitness marketing strategies.
On average, it will take approximately six to nine months, before you can see noticeable results. So, why bother investing in a marketing strategy that takes so long to deliver results?
Well, content marketing comes with some unique benefits, which you may not get from other fitness marketing methods. Here are the main benefits of adding content marketing to your fitness marketing strategy:
2.1 Build Credibility
With lots of low-quality health and fitness products on the market combined with dishonest marketing techniques, there are enough reasons why some people are losing trust in the fitness industry.
As a result, it’s increasingly becoming hard for new fitness businesses to get prospects to trust the products or services they may be offering. Fortunately, content marketing can help you to overcome this challenge.
For instance, if you sell bodybuilding supplements, you can create a content piece featuring clients’ stories and testimonials. You can then share this content piece on your website or social media channels. By using this approach, you will position yourself as a credible fitness brand, thus making it easier for prospects to trust your products.
2.2 Build a Following
Content marketing can also help you to create a robust online following. For instance, if you create and post high-quality, unique and informative articles on your blog, your target audience will keep coming back for more.
And, some of them will share your content on their various social media channels or platforms. With time, your content will reach a wider audience, thus helping you to grow a large online following.
As you continue to provide more value, some of your followers may even subscribe to your email list, where you will be delivering your blog posts directly to their inboxes. You can then use this opportunity to nurture these prospects and convert them into long-term clients for your fitness business.
2.3 Boost Your Retention Rate
According to the IHRSA, health clubs and fitness centers have an annual attrition rate of approximately 28.6%. So, why do people cancel their gym memberships? Well, some get busy, others get bored while some give up after feeling as if they will never achieve their health and wellness goals.
And while there are several strategies that you can implement to boost the retention rate, content marketing remains one of the most effective. So, how can you use content marketing to increase your retention rate?
Well, there are different types of content that you can create and share with your clients, to help boost your retention rate. For instance, you can create a blog post that focused on helping your clients attain their fitness goals faster.
You can also make a case study, featuring success stories and testimonials from some of your clients. Also, you can create a video, sharing tips on how to overcome challenges that your clients may be facing, such as nutrition tips, workout tips, or even how to find balance in their lives.
By creating and sharing these different types of content with your clients, you will keep them interested and engaged. You will also help them to overcome some barriers that may be preventing them from achieving their fitness goals. And this will go a long way in helping to keep your attrition rate low.
3. Creating a Fitness Content Marketing Strategy That Converts: Steps to Follow
By now, you already know what fitness content marketing is as well as the benefits of adding fitness content marketing to your fitness marketing strategy. In this section, we will walk you through the steps of how to create an effective fitness content marketing campaign that will deliver results and help to grow your fitness business.
3.1 Define Your Target Audience
Just like other fitness marketing campaigns, it’s important to first define your target audience when it comes to content marketing. At the end of the day, you will need to create content that caters to their needs. If you create generic fitness content, you may end up with hundreds of leads, without making a single conversion.
For instance, if you are a nutrition specialist, creating a blog post on general nutrition tips may not help you to attract customers and drive sales since you are trying to appeal to everyone with an interest in health and fitness. It’s more like shooting arrows in the dark. And you know how it ends.
However, by offering nutritional tips targeted specifically to marathon runners, bodybuilders, new moms after childbirth or any specific group, you will be providing valuable information, catered to your specific audience. Also, you will be setting yourself apart from the competition. And the chances of making a sale are equally high.
So, before you sit down to create a blog post, video, infographic, newsletter or any other type of content, you should first define your target audience. You will only deliver value to your audience if you know what it needs.
3.2 Conduct Keyword Research
After defining your target audience, you should then go a step further to determine the type of information they may be searching for on various online platforms. And this is where keyword research comes in.
Conducting keyword research will help you to create content that’s useful, relevant and valuable to your audience. Also, it will help your fitness business to appear in search results, whenever your target audience searches a query related to those words or phrases.
3.3 Create Content
Once you’ve identified the phrases or keywords that your target audience is searching online, it’s now time to create engaging, relevant and useful content. There are several types of content to choose from, depending on your audience. Some of the most popular ones include:
3.3.1 Blog Posts
Blog posts are a great means of adding value to your readers. They can also help to increase brand awareness and boost engagement with your target client. Also, when properly optimized, they are an effective way of driving traffic to your website. On average, blog posts are approximately 1000 to 1,500 words long. But if possible, you should go for long-form content of around 3,000 words.
3.3.2 Infographics
Infographics provide a great means of presenting complex information in a way that is easy to consume for everyone. And according to Hubspot, infographics can increase your website traffic by approximately 12%. Therefore, you should also consider them as part of your content marketing strategy.
3.3.3 Video Content
Videos provide yet another powerful way of driving traffic to your website. While they may be harder to produce than other types of content, the results will be worth the investment. You can use videos to showcase various workout routines, host a Q and A session, or even share fitness-related tips.
3.3.4 Lead Magnets
At the end of the day, getting people to visit your website will not be enough. You will need to come up with ways of enticing your visitors to share their contact details, which you will then use later to engage further with them. And this is where lead magnets come in.
Lead magnets provide an effective way of offering valuable content in exchange for the visitors' contact information. Some of the different types of content that you can use as lead magnets include:
- E-books
- Webinars
- Free reports
- Case studies
- Guides
- Free courses
3.4 Distribute Your Content
Once you’ve finished creating your content, you will need a means of distributing and promoting it, so that you can reach your target audience. For distribution, you can choose between organic distribution channels or paid distribution channels. Some of the organic distribution channels you can use include search engines, social media channels, Pinterest, Quora and Linkedin, among others. As for paid channels, you can opt for search ads, display ads, social media ads, content discovery networks and native ads.
3.5 Optimize Your Landing Page
With the right implementation, your fitness content marketing campaigns will start driving traffic to your website. To this end, you need to ensure your landing page is properly optimized, to generate maximum leads.
For instance, it should be clear of anything that may distract the visitor from converting. Also, it needs to have a clear and visible call-to-action button, which will direct the visitors accordingly.
4. Wrapping It Up
When done right, content marketing will help to considerably boost your brand’s awareness, set yourself apart from the crowds, generate more leads, and grow your client base. However, fitness content marketing takes a great deal of work and time, before you can see results. But by following the strategies we’ve shared here, you will soon see the benefits of what it can offer.