As summer comes to an end and fall quickly approaches, it’s the perfect time to start preparing your studio for the cooler months and busy holiday season ahead. You should use the fall months as an opportunity to start planning your holiday marketing efforts early to ensure your business is well-prepared and profitable throughout the rest of the year.
This season is also a time where the weather drives more of your clients to take their workouts from outside to indoors, meaning more people coming into your studio. You can use these cooler months as a time to get creative and festive with your fitness promotions, marketing, fitness challenges and class themes to motivate your clients and reduce the winter season burnout.
Here are five steps to prepare your studio for the cooler months.
Build with the seasons
October is the perfect month to start creating and marketing your themed holiday events, class packages and seasonal promotions. Your studio’s end of year marketing efforts are really important because this is the time where you can hit your annual revenue goals. Additionally, many people are already shopping around for the fitness studios and gym memberships they want to commit to for the new year. The holidays are a great time to run package discounts and create holiday bundles to acquire new customers.
You can also start planning your studio’s holiday events. Get customers excited and engage employees to interact with your fitness community in new fun ways. You can host a Halloween open house where you invite clients and their friends to join you for a costume-themed workout followed by pumpkin carving, healthy sweets and warm apple cider. You should use these festive events to promote your holiday and seasonal class bundles and packages.
Try incorporating unique holiday-themed classes into your class schedule. Some ideas include a gratitude workout session in honor of Thanksgiving or an ugly sweater workout where clients can jam out to a seasonal playlist. It’s time to crank up the holiday music and get ready for winter workout fun. Don’t forget to promote these seasonal events and promotions on your website, social media pages and in your fitness studio
Host challenges to keep clients motivated
Outside of themed events, consider organizing seasonal challenges to inspire more participation, boost winter-time attendance and kick things into high gear. Many of your clients have spent the summer outdoors hiking, joining beach yoga and going on long runs outside. However, as the cooler months approach many of your customers will have to take their workouts indoors because of the inclement weather, which can quickly lead to boredom and burnout.
To reduce those winter burnout blues, get creative with fitness challenges that will keep your clients motivated and encourage friendly competition. A challenge can be anything from completing a certain number of classes each month to setting personal records. You can even run a monthly referral challenge and offer a prize to those clients who refer the most people to your studio.
Make your studio space festive, warm and welcoming
As you create and promote your seasonal events, there is no better time of year to get really festive with your studio decor. Bring in those scented candles, colorful wall art and hang some decorations around the common areas. Consider including non-denominational decorations, to make sure your clientele feel the spirit no matter what they celebrate.
Stay on top of scheduling during this busy time of year
Your clients will be going on holiday vacations, and so will your employees. Make sure you solidify your employee’s schedules well ahead of time so you can keep your studio calendar as updated as possible online and in-studio. While setting up your class and staff schedules for the holiday season, start blocking off the days your studio will be closed for special occasions, and tell your customers far in advance through email, social and in person.
Weather-proof your studio
Once sweater weather arrives, your clients will be arriving at your studio with more layers, jackets and boots to keep them warm and dry from the rain and snow. Ensure you have a designated and organized space to hang jackets and an area where your clients can store their boots and winter gear. During these cooler months, it's also important to set up proper heating throughout the studio and warm water for showers. With all the rain and snow that can get tracked in, you’ll want to keep your studio clean and floors dry.
Your staff should take extra time to lead a thorough class warm-up because your clients have been out in cold weather — causing muscles to lose more heat and tighten up. A thorough warm-up will get your customers warmer faster while also reducing risk of injuries.
The cooler weather seasons are a great time to align your studio events and marketing with the spirit of the holidays, while also taking advantage of the time of year to hit your annual revenue goals. Don’t forget to promote all of your festivities and events on your website, social media, blogs and at community events.
