Marketing for gyms

Typical bottlenecks and solutions

1. One location booms, the next stays empty

Why: In franchise systems, advertising is often run centrally, with one budget for all locations. The algorithms send enquiries to wherever they are cheapest, usually big cities with lots of prospects. Smaller locations get hardly any trial sessions, franchisees become dissatisfied and start their own campaigns, which compete with head office for the same audience and drive up prices in the ad account.

Solution (Performance Marketing): We build campaigns per location with their own radius, their own budget and their own landing page, steered centrally and reported locally. Leads go straight into the gym software or CRM with their location assigned, and trial sessions are booked online. We shift budget by cost per membership, not cost per lead, so every location gets its share.

2. Finding new franchise partners takes too long

Why: Anyone opening a franchise location brings in equity, perhaps gives up a secure job and makes the decision over months. Franchise portals and trade fairs deliver lots of non-committal enquiries. The expansion team then phones around and holds conversations with prospects who lack the capital or are looking in regions where no territory is free any more.

Solution (Funnels & landing pages (part of Performance Marketing)): We build a partner funnel with pre-qualification by equity, preferred region, start date and experience. Suitable prospects book an intro call or information session directly, everyone else receives an email sequence with a system presentation, location profile and insights into the daily work of existing partners. We count qualified conversations, not completed forms.

3. Trainers are missing on the gym floor

Why: Without trainers, a gym falls short of its potential: trial sessions are postponed, classes are cancelled, members feel poorly looked after. Good people are usually already employed and don't look at job boards. At the same time, every franchisee recruits separately, with their own ads, without a shared employer presence and often without quick replies to applicants.

Solution (Recruiting campaigns (part of Performance Marketing)): We launch recruiting campaigns on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok that also reach trainers open to a move and career changers with a sports background. A mobile application funnel asks about licences, availability and preferred location, and head office or the location receives pre-qualified applications. We steer on cost per qualified application, for several locations at once if you wish.

Reference: Bodystreet

Bodystreet is one of the franchise systems we have worked for. We do not publish project figures here because we have no approval to do so. In the intro call, we show you how we set up and model location campaigns, partner funnels and recruiting for a system with many locations, using your own membership fees and conversion rates as the basis.

Service mix

• Performance Marketing: Local Meta and Google campaigns per location that make trial sessions bookable online and are steered centrally by cost per membership.
• Recruiting campaigns (part of Performance Marketing): Recruiting campaigns for trainers and gym managers, with a mobile application funnel and pre-qualification per location.
• Email Marketing: Email sequences for trial session reminders, follow-up after missed appointments and franchise prospects who are not yet ready to decide.
• Tracking with Tracyn (partner Atmos): Leads and bookings cleanly assigned to each location, so head office and franchisees work with the same numbers.

What we steer by (KPIs)

• Cost per trial session: The direct yardstick for local campaigns, comparable across all locations.
• Show-up rate: Trial sessions that are booked but not attended cost budget and time on the gym floor.
• Trial session conversion rate: Shows whether appointments actually turn into memberships and which location needs to sharpen up.
• Cost per qualified partner conversation: Steers expansion: what does a conversation with the right capital and a free preferred region cost?

Timing: The start of the year is usually the strongest period for gyms, and a second peak often follows the summer holidays. Campaigns and budgets should therefore be in place from mid-December; we use the quieter summer months for recruiting and partner acquisition.

FAQ

Who steers the campaigns: head office or the location? Both are possible. We recommend that head office sets creatives, tracking and budget rules and that we build the location campaigns on top of them. Franchisees see their own numbers and can contribute local promotions without competing with head office in the ad account.

How much does marketing for a fitness franchise cost? Performance Marketing starts at €1,500 per platform per month, and each additional platform costs €900 more. Recruiting campaigns start at €1,500 per platform, email marketing at €3,000. On top of that comes ad budget, usually from €5,000 for lead campaigns and from €1,500 per month for recruiting. All prices are net, contract term one month.

Does this also work for a single gym? Yes, if the budget matches the goals. For a single gym, we calculate upfront how many trial sessions and memberships are needed for the fee and ad budget to pay off. If the numbers don't add up, we tell you in the intro call, before you spend any money.

How quickly do the first trial sessions come in? As soon as tracking, landing pages and the booking flow are in place, the campaigns go live, and the first bookings usually come in shortly afterwards. We see reliable costs per trial session after a test phase per location. We do not promise fixed membership numbers, but we do promise an open calculation upfront.