13 Gym Event Ideas to Attract New Clients and Boost Your Revenue

Marketing Oct 12, 2020

A familiar problem for gyms and fitness facilities is dwindling client numbers, which directly impacts business revenue.

Most new client sign-ups happen in January, yet many members give up on their New Year fitness resolutions before the end of the month, causing membership numbers to fall, along with revenue.

Often, motivation and desire to attend gym decreases due to the lack of excitement about the product members are offered.

So how can you increase your memberships and entice new clients to sign-up as a year-round strategy?

To attract new clients, you need new creative solutions. You can achieve this by hosting gym events.
60% of business managers believe that events are the most critical marketing channel for achieving business goals, including increasing revenue.
Marketing your gym is crucial for increasing your membership base. By advertising gym events, you will pique customer interest, draw in new clients and ultimately boost sales.

Gym events also create a sense of community. The more social connections a person has at your gym, the more likely they will remain a member, so encouraging client relationships and cultivating a community feel is vital for success.

We have 13 gym event ideas for you to successfully gain new clients and increase your revenue.

Define Your Niche to Set Your Gym Apart

Before you can start hosting any weight loss challenges, you need to decide on what your gym’s niche is.

A niche is a specialised area which will make you and your gym stand out amongst the fitness competition and encourage clients to choose your facilities over anyone else's.

For example:

If you identify that you like to motivate a certain type of person, such as busy office workers who struggle to find time to hit the gym, you can define your gym niche as the “9 to 5 relief” gym. You can offer clients discounted prices for visiting before 9am or after 5pm and host more of those “all-nighter” classes (more on that later on!)

Take some time to consider your values and what you want to deliver at your gym to identify your niche. Once you have a nice, you can then start the fun by creating some challenges.

Create a Referral Program for Anyone Who Attends an Event

Once you have created a niche and have gained clients through challenge events and outdoor workouts, you can start a referral program.

A referral program is an easy way to attract clients without too much expense.

Encourage members to join your gym with some unbeatable referral offers, such as:

A valuable free weight loss nutrition class to complement the weight loss challenges they are following.
A discounted membership fee (perhaps 6 months for the price of 5)
Free entry into other prize-winning competitions

Challenges and Contests

Creating challenges and contests are a great way to rejuvenate motivation in existing members and entice new clients into participating at your gym.

Contests tend to include a prize, whereas with challenges everyone is a winner.

The bottom line is that both challenges and contests create goals and excitement for your members.

Challenge and contest gym events could include:

Running challenges. Members can participate at their own pace for achievable goals, such as running 25 miles a month.
Rowing challenges. You can set a goal for time, distance or speed with a rowing machine.
The most gym visits contest. Choose a time frame for members to check in and give a prize to the winner who clocks in the most during this time.
Most calories burned. Most gym members want to burn calories, so tap into this by creating "The Most Calories Burned" challenge or contest.

When creating a contest, you could charge a fee to put towards your prize. Make sure your prizes are desirable to incentivise existing and new clients to take part, which is vital in boosting your revenue.

Meet and Greet with Offsite Workouts

If you want new clients, sometimes you have to go and find them, and there is no better way to seek out new members than by hosting an outdoor "meet and greet" gym event.

Take your brand to the nearest park and offer free workout sessions for the day and discounted membership sign-up fees to those who attend.

This strategy is bound to encourage new clients to join following this gym event. Watch your revenue increase as inspired new clients sign up to your gym.

Host a "Health & Fitness Foodie Event"

We are told that weight loss is 80% diet dependent but only 20% of our efforts comes from exercise, so why not capitalise on this and educate members with a health and fitness foodie gym event.

Partner with local products to bring value to existing and potential new clients.
Serve delicious treats from your gym cafe or restaurant.
Make it an open event so that potential new clients can attend to see what you offer, then hook them with sign-up offers.
Offering free food and a buzzing event will easily draw in clients.

All you need to do to boost your revenue is to encourage new clients to join your gym to receive even more benefits following your foodie event.

Create Branded Apparel for Established Events

Many gym members will train at your gym for events such as Iron Man, Tough Mudder and Cancer Research's Race for Life. Show your support by designing branded tops and bags which trainees can take to these established events.

For example, Tough Mudder has a great range of training kit items, branded with the event logo and designed to help customers train whilst advertising the event with great branding.

You can offer tailored programs for training for these events, and participants receive a free branded t-shirt for their efforts.

Although this isn't necessarily a gym event held in your premises, you are spreading awareness of your brand and promoting it to new clients which will, in turn, generate more revenue for your business.

Promote Specialist Courses and Workshops

A great way to attract new clients and boost your revenue is by running specialist courses or workshops which customers can attend for a set period and gain invaluable knowledge in a niche area.

These specialist gym events could include:

Pre- and post-natal fitness courses
Weight loss groups
Age-specific events and classes

By running specialist gym events, you will establish your brand as a specialist in the industry, creating trust and boosting revenue through new clients and member retention.

Have Launch Events for New Partnerships

Partnering with local businesses is guaranteed to increase your revenue and excite existing members as well as drawing in new clients with exclusive offers.

A great example of this is Anytime Fitness, which presents its members with a huge range of partnership discounts, from nutritional supplements to high-street fashion stores.
By offering even a small range of partnership discounts, your clients will receive added value to their membership package, and new clients will be motivated to sign-up for these perks.
Why not host a launch for each new partnership you make? This gym event will help promote the offer to customers and generate interest in your membership packages.

Hosting digital gym events is a great way to boost revenue, especially in today's society where we are all attached to social media.

Launching digital campaigns have been shown to increase new fans by 34%, with a third of competition entrants signing up for email updates - another great marketing tool for your gym.

Ways you can create online competitions to recruit new clients:

Run a giveaway competition on Instagram. Use a visually pleasing image of the product or service you are offering to maximise customer attention.
Offer exclusive and time-limited discounts for a local product (this could be for a new partnership you created after reading number 6). This can be done on any platform.
Offer a month's free membership. Participants can sign up to your email list, subscribe to your Youtube channel, like and follow on Instagram, or share your post on their social media.

By encouraging people to like, subscribe and share your content, you will boost your online presence as well as engage with more potential new clients.

Charity Events

Show new clients that your brand cares for others with a charity gym event.

A charity gym event could include:

Hosting a running event where participants donate money for each mile they complete.
Conducting a wellbeing seminar, where the attendance fee charged is donated to charity.
Dedicated training sessions held for those wanting to participate in an established charity run for the first time (such as Cancer Research's "Race for Life" events).

Although the proceeds of these events will go to charity, you will build trust with your clients and ultimately boost revenue through customer retention.

Pull an All-Nighter

Stand out from the crowd by hosting a late-night gym event for your hardcore gym fans.

Classes could include Zumba, spin cycling, or aerobics.
Ensure your members are nourished with snacks and kept hydrated throughout the night.
Offering night sessions is also ideal for members who may have a busy work schedule and cannot attend the gym during usual opening hours.

The excitement created for this type of event will encourage new clients who are looking for something unique on offer at a gym.

Weight-Lifting Competition

Weight training has recently become one of the most popular forms of exercise, thanks to the idea that weight training is more effective than cardio for fat loss.

Tap into this shared knowledge by creating a weight-lifting competition gym event.

Consider having a panel of judges on the date of your gym event to give it an official competition feel.
Charge a small entry fee so that you can offer a cash prize to encourage participants.
Advertise your event via posters, social media and emails.
Create a landing page on your website for easy sign-ups, and have a form at your gym for attendees to join.

A weight-lifting competition is a fantastic way for both existing and potential new clients to show off their abilities, but it's also a powerful marketing tool for your gym.

If your first competition is successful, think about hosting regular gym events to consistently increase sales and revenue.

The Takeaway...

With your new list of gym event ideas to boost your revenue, you need to create interest by marketing them to your target audience.

Promote your gym events via social media and email newsletters. Create a landing page on your website so it's the first thing visitors see.

The key to increasing revenue and attracting new clients is providing value to everyone. Delivering a service that is seamless in supporting members whilst offering incentives will only aid in loyalty and positive feedback. Show each member they are valued and give them reasons to keep returning to your gym.