5 Need-to-know Fitness Marketing Trends for 2024
Want to know what trends will shape the fitness landscape in 2024 and how to adapt your business accordingly? Here at Telomere, we’re constantly staying on top of what marketing strategies are trending and why—and we’d love to share our insights with you! As owners, it's crucial to keep up with changing consumer preferences and new technologies that could impact your studio. We've done our research and gathered predictions from experts in the field to bring you valuable information about what's on the horizon for fitness studios:
1) Email is King
Email marketing has come a long way since the days of generic newsletters and mass spamming. These days, studios are putting in more effort, time and money into email marketing because they understand that building a personal and meaningful relationship with the client is more important than ever before. With frequent newsletters, promotions and exclusive content, email marketing has become a form of community-lead growth, fostering long-term return-on-investment for businesses and brands alike. As a studio owner, investing in email marketing can help you not only boost your sales but also build a loyal community of brand advocates.
One way to implement emails this week: draft a newsletter for your clients that has these three key elements: a concise personal message from you (the studio owner), a few upcoming events that should be on their radar and at least one graphic/visual element to break up the words.Crafting effective subject lines that grab attention is another important email trend. Primarily, the email subject serves as the first point of contact for your clients. With less time and a reduced span of attention from the audience, it is necessary to create exciting and captivating headlines that will hook the recipient's interest right away. We recommend having a level of intrigue to encourage engagement and a higher open rate.
2) Out-of-the-box storytelling
As a studio owner, one of your biggest challenges is getting people to buy into your mission. But don't worry, your business is people-focused, which means you have a wealth of resources at your disposal. What better way to communicate your brand than by creating a face for your studio? This could be you, your teachers, your students or all of the above. By incorporating your community into your branding, you'll allow your audience to see the real people behind the business. This will create a more personal connection, and ultimately make them more likely to become a member. So let your community shine, and watch as your audience falls in love with the story behind your studio.
One way to implement creative storytelling this week: Post an Instagram reel where one of your instructors tells their story of how they got into fitness, and ultimately instructing. Include clips of them teaching, talking and maybe even add in a few fun bits of what they like to do outside of the studio.
3) Fill-in-the-blank strategies
As email and social media marketing continue to dominate the digital marketing landscape, creating templates for your content is crucial for efficiency. With a fill-in-the-blank approach, it's easier than ever to put out consistent and high-quality content. Having go-to graphic elements such as headers for email and Instagram templates allows you to quickly and easily insert your captions and pictures, saving you time and ensuring consistency across all platforms. By streamlining your content creation process, you can focus on other aspects of your business while still maintaining a strong online presence.
Making sure your branding is consistent across all of your channels is super important—with so many studios utilizing online tools for marketing, uniformity in your content will help protect your brand identity and make you more memorable.
One thing you can do for efficiency this week: Create a free account on a graphic design platform like Canva, and upload your core branding: logos, a few photos, brand colors and fonts. Now, next time you need to create a graphic, all of your elements will be right at your fingertips. If you’ve been looking to get into AI, this is also a great opportunity to download a content generator and play around with it to see how it can help you optimize your content creation.
4) Record once—post again and again
As social media platforms continue to evolve, we're seeing a shift towards bite-sized video content. Instagram reels and TikTok are leading the charge, capturing our attention with short, snappy clips that demand our immediate engagement. But with so many platforms to keep up with, how can brands and creators maximize their exposure without burning out? Enter mass video repurposing. By creating a single, high-quality video and tailoring it to fit multiple platforms, you can save time while expanding your reach.
While pushing offerings like new memberships and class packs, this approach is a surefire way to stay on top of the latest social media trends and reach your audience in an impactful way.
One thing you can do to repurpose video content this week: Make an Instagram Reel and post it. Later in the week, upload it as a story. Then, in your next newsletter, make a small note of whatever you talked about in the video, and link it to redirect clients to your Instagram where they can watch the video.
5) Personalization to the max
Personalization has become the cornerstone of successful marketing. It's not a new trend, but certainly a persistent one. Without it, any effort you put in for wider reach or higher engagement will fall flat. So, before strategizing your next move, consider your audience. An easy way to ensure personalization is through segmentation.
Think of segmentation as grouping clients into different pools, each with its own purpose and goals. With email segmentation, you can send emails that are hyper-relevant to the groups who will actually respond to your message.
For example, if you’re sending out an email about an upcoming members-only workshop, you should only be sending that email to members. That way people you’re trying to reach get the message and sign up for your event, and the people who can’t attend won’t feel like they’re getting spammed. This will also result in a higher percentage of “clicks” per email because you’ll only be sending them to people who can and would sign up for the event you’re promoting.
One way to get personal this week: Think of an upcoming event or service you’d like to promote that’s really for one specific group of clients. Create a list using your marketing platform, or download the segment from where your studio data is tracked. Create an email and send it to the clients on that list!
Telomere Consulting provides business consulting and marketing services to studio owners in the boutique fitness and yoga space. The Telomere team helps you navigate business strategy from conception to implementation. We provide end-to-end marketing support and would love to hear from you. Click here to book your free intro call. We want you to treat your business the way you treat your body – making the right choices now to optimize its potential for a long and healthy life. Visit us here to learn more.
