4 Promotional Acts to Follow

If you want to get a little attention—and attract some more clients—you may have to think a bit outside the box.

Offering special prices on class packages might get sales up with current clients, but producing a buzz-worthy stunt is an effective marketing strategy for drumming up new business.

Below are four inspirational PR stunts executed by other fitness brands:

1. DAZZLE WITH DATA.
Magazine, newspapers and bloggers love stats and data. Take, for example, Sonic Yoga founder Jonathan Fields, who back in 2002 teamed up with Adelphi University to run one of the first-ever studies on determining how many calories you can burn practicing yoga. Fields emailed editors at all the top fitness publications, offering the results exclusively to the first publication that agreed to do a story on the study.  The results? Fields and Sonic were subsequently featured in Self magazine and received national attention.

What kind of proprietary information can you provide?  Maybe you can pull together unique and interesting information about fitness trends in your neighborhood or city. Reach out to a nearby college or university to find out what types of wellness or fitness research they are conducting and ask how you can get involved.

2. GO CORPORATE.
Last month, FitBit gave the retailer Target 335,000 trackers to give to their employees. But why?

FitBit is putting significant marketing muscle behind its corporate wellness program, and it’s become one of its fastest growing business units. The Target stunt garnered the program national media attention.

How can you make this strategy effective on a local level? Host a neighborhood corporate challenge. Reach out to some of the employers in your area and help them organize teams for a run or ride. Along with a trophy and bragging rights, give the winning business team members a free class package or gift card.

3. GET PROVOCATIVE.
Last year, Equinox gyms launched their #EquinoxMadeMeDoIt campaign, which used a series of provocative ads to encourage members to post images of themselves making bold moves. The theory behind the campaign is that once a member gains some confidence from his or her new, fit body, he or she might go skydiving or leave an unfulfilling job. The clubs then ran contests that dared members to do otherwise unthinkable physical acts in exchange for free or discounted memberships.

Create your own dare for your clients. This could be anything from encouraging them to post picture of themselves committing acts of fitness in public places or walking to work every day for a month.

4. HIT THE STREETS.
Last year, Reebok took to the streets with a one-day courier campaign in New York City. To promote their ZJet sneakers, online shoppers who tweeted @Reebok with #ReeboxHDS were personally delivered a pair to try on.

A campaign like this gets people talking. While a delivery service may not be relevant for a fitness studio, you could create a campaign that would flood your local streets with people wearing branded apparel for a day or even a week. For example, partner with a local charity to support an awareness day activity. Donate and distribute t-shirts or hats in a distinct color, then encourage your clients, neighbors and other business owners in the community to wear the apparel on a specific day. Not only are you raising your studio’s profile, but you can raise awareness for people in need, too.