In the age of social media, it’s not uncommon to think of email marketing as antiquated and outdated. However, that’s not the case at all! In fact, email marketing is still one of the most personal and effective ways to market your fitness studio.
While most brands would be more than happy to double their investment in a marketing campaign, email marketing generates a whopping $42 for every dollar spent on average. That’s a 4,200% return on investment! However, you’ll only see those numbers if you correctly manage your campaign. Here are seven tips to help you run a successful email marketing campaign for your fitness studio.
Understand your target audience
The first step to any great marketing campaign is to understand your audience. Who do you want to reach, and what kind of content appeals to them? The more you understand what drives your audience, the better you can connect with them through emails and the more effective your campaign will be.
It’s also important to think about what stage of the buyer’s journey they’re in. For example, someone who’s new to fitness won’t be interested in buying your extreme protein powder, but someone who has already taken several classes at your gym probably would.
Targeting the right audience members is essential for a successful fitness studio email marketing campaign.
Identify your fitness marketing goals
Once you have your audience nailed down, it’s time to think about your marketing goals. What do you want to accomplish by sending these emails?
An email campaign designed to sell products looks very different from a campaign to simply give fitness tips. Knowing what you want people to do after reading your email will help you focus on what your email says to drive the most success.
Here are a few common email marketing goals for fitness studios:
- Capture leads
- Promote your studio
- Get more people to sign up for classes, diets, programs, etc.
- Provide health or workout tips
- Increase brand awareness
As you write and design your email, think about your goal. Everything you include should gently nudge readers toward taking an action that supports your goal. Don’t forget a strong call to action at the end!
Choose the right email marketing platform
Not all email marketing platforms are the same. They might have different dashboards, levels of user-friendliness, or tools and features. It’s important to choose a platform that best suits your needs.
For example, if your primary email marketing goal is to capture leads, make sure the email marketing platform you choose has a lead capture feature. Or, if your email list contains ten thousand people (which would be awesome!), make sure the platform lets you send enough emails per month.
There are dozens of email platforms available. Do your research, weigh the pros and cons, and choose one that works best for your fitness studio marketing goals.
Build your email list
What good is an email marketing campaign if you don’t have any email addresses to send messages to!? Building a solid email list is the cornerstone of any email campaign.
The best way to get people to sign up is to simply ask. Add an opt-in form to your website’s home or blog page. You can also post fitness posters that promote your emails to your various social media accounts. Just make sure they link back to your website’s opt-in form.
But before you go around asking everyone to sign up for your emails, make sure you have something to offer. Nobody signs up for an email list without a reason. Whether you offer great workout tips, healthy meal recipes, or informative blogs, be sure to offer some sort of value that entices people to subscribe.
Create audience segments
With email marketing, the more personalized you can make the messages, the better. Unfortunately, there’s not one message that works for every reader.
Think about your fitness studio. Some people might be more into lifting weights, while others prefer cycling, and others yet might be more interested in yoga and stretching. Do you think there’s one email you can send that will appeal to all these people? Probably not.
Segmentation in an email marketing campaign is when you split your email list into multiple categories, so you can send more personalized emails to suit each segment’s specific interests.
For example, you can send the weightlifters an email about your new protein powder, while the yoga enthusiasts would get an email about a new stretch or holistic eating habits.
This segmentation helps you ensure your emails are actually interesting for each reader, meaning you get more conversions per email. An interested and engaged reader is more likely to become a customer!
Plan and create fitness email marketing campaigns
With all the background work complete, it’s time to finally design and send your emails. If you’re not sure how to design a professional marketing email, you’re in luck!
There are plenty of websites online that can help you create your email. Just choose a format that suits your business, fill in your information, and you’re ready to send it out into the world!
Track Analytics
A fitness studio email marketing campaign isn’t complete after you hit the send button. The final piece of any great campaign is tracking analytics. After all, how do you know what to improve if you don’t keep track of how well each email performs?
Your email marketing platform should record various analytics you’ll want to track:
- Open rates
- Clickthrough rates
- Bounce rates
- Conversions
- ROI
By watching these metrics every time you send an email, you can figure out what content works to help you reach your marketing goals and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t work. Over time, you’ll be able to create better and better emails to help your business grow.
Build an email marketing campaign to power your fitness studio
Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools in any business’s arsenal, but it’s important to do it right. Before sending a single email, think about your ideal audience and your marketing goals. Then, choose an email marketing platform that has all the features you need, grow your email list, create incredible content and let them fly into the world.
By tracking email analytics over time, you’ll learn how to optimize your emails to make the most of each send. After a while, you could even see the 4,200% return on investment enjoyed by many companies around the world! Now get out there and grow your fitness studio with incredible emails!
