7 ways to increase your membership base

One of the top goals of yoga, Pilates and fitness studios around the world is to increase their membership base. It doesn’t matter if your business is just starting out or bursting at the seams, there are always ways to increase your membership and increase your revenue even more.

Counting down from seven to one, here are our top ways for increasing your client membership base.

#7. Start advertising

Advertising is a great way to get your brand in front of a lot of people. These days there are so many choices that it can be a little daunting to even know where to start.

So before you start, here are some things to think about:

• what is your advertising objective? (e.g. do you want general brand exposure or promote a specific offer)
• what is your target demographic? (e.g. age, gender, social-economic group etc)
• what is your geographic demographic? (e.g. do they travel, do they in your area, etc)
• what and how are your competitors advertising?
• how much do you want to spend?

The answers to these questions should then guide your creative to produce ads which truly resonate with your target audience, and stand out from the crowd.

Once you have created your ad, it can then be re-run and tweaked as many times as you want.

Popular channels for paid advertising include local papers or wellness magazines, Instagram, Facebook and Google. Each have their pros and cons so do you research to understand which will be best for you.

Also, advertising doesn’t have to mean paid either. Sending out email campaigns, producing blog posts or uploading Instagram content using hashtags is a cost-free way to start reaching new audiences.

Pros:

• Set and forget campaigns
• Potential to reach a large audience for little cost
• Creative content can be re-used  

Cons:

• Can require time and cost (e.g. learning curve on Instagram or paying an ad agency)
• Your ads will be seen next to your competitors
• Can require trial and error before seeing results

#6. Grow your team

Team work can make the dream work. Every new team member you bring on will know a host of people who they can tell about your studio. Given the right tools, environment and encouragement, a team of instructors can be a powerful way of building your client base.

Pros:

• It can be more enjoyable to grow your business with others
• More team members can bring in more clients
• Team members can bring in new ideas to help increase your client base

Cons:

• Can require extra time and money to manage
• Hiring staff adds additional risk

 

#5. Offer online classes

One of the easiest ways to increase your client base is to open your classes up to virtual attendees. After all, a studio without walls or borders has no limits! 

When it comes to virtual classes, there are a few options to explore. These include running live streamed only classes, running hybrid (e.g. classes which live stream your in-studio classes), and post-recorded or downloadable content.

Pros:

• Open up classes to people around the world
• Great for people who are wary of, or unable to join in-person classes
• Clients can join from the comfort of their own home

Cons:

• Zoom / technology fatigue is real 
• Not everyone is cut out to be an online Zoom instructor sensation
• May require purchasing video and audio equipment

 

#4. Move venues

If your studio is bursting at the seams, or in a location that makes finding new clients hard, why not investigate moving into a different area or to a larger premise. Moving can be a great way to generate a real buzz and attract new clients in the area.

But make no mistake, moving venues is a time consuming and costly exercise. So before you start, make a list of all the reasons to stay, versus the reasons to move. If the reasons to move outweigh staying then start looking at the cost of venues in other areas and working on your income estimates.

With the right planning and execution, moving studio can be one way to greatly increase your membership base, making it worth all the hard work!

Pros:

• A larger space means more class spaces and income
• Increased visibility means more walk-in members (e.g. a location on a prominent High St)

Cons:

• Potential increased overheads 
• Re-branding costs (e.g. new address on printed material etc)

#3. Build partnerships

Exploring options to partner with other local businesses can be a great way to increase your membership base. For example, if you run a Hot Yoga studio which is close to a popular frozen yogurt shop, why not offer them a 10% discount on yoga classes for every frozen yogurt purchased?

Or if you run a Pilates studio close by to an active-wear store, why not see if there’s an opportunity to offer a limited time discount on classes for every piece of active-wear sold, or a discount on active-wear for every class attended? 

Partnerships can be an exciting way to meet other business owners and explore avenues to share and increase memberships.

Pros:

• Mutually beneficial for both partners 
• Deals can quickly spread via word of mouth 

Cons:

• Requires a trusting relationship between partners
• Entering into an a partnership agreement may require legal advice

#2. Introduce new services

Introducing new class types or services is a great way to reach a new audience and increase your membership base.

If you run Pilates classes for older people, why not try introducing a Tai Chi class to see if it draws in new members? Or if you run HIIT classes, why not loan or buy some mini rebounding trampolines to see if rebounding classes take off!

Pros:

• Can be a great way to cross-sell between class types
• Can introduce fusion classes 
• If wildly successful can be spun off as an entirely new studio

Cons:

• May require training / new expertise or hiring new instructors
• May conflict with your existing brand / service offering

#1. Nurture your existing membership base

Finally, our number one way to grow your client base, and something that every successful business does, is to nurture your existing client base. Research shows that customers who come through referrals have a 37% higher retention rates than those who don’t.

Your client base are your sales agents and your brand champions! If they love your service, they will tell their friends, colleagues and family members opening up a wealth of opportunity to grow your membership base.

How do you nurture your existing client base? Easy! Start by asking your clients for advise on how you can improve your services, offer loyalty rewards or birthday discounts and make it easy for them to bring their friends and family members.

Pros:

• Cost effective
• Increases member retention
• Can lead to exponential growth

Cons:

• Absolutely none!

Conclusion

So there you have it! Our top 7 ways to grow your yoga, Pilates or fitness studio membership base. And remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. But step by step, and with integrity and persistence, you will begin to see measurable results.

In addition to providing hot business growth tips, we also provide the best software to help you make it happen. Bookamat studio management software is more than a booking system. It’s an exciting studio growth platform that harnesses the power of organic community growth to build your business.

Included out-of-the-box are tools to help you advertise via email marketing, promote services through social media, offer bookings for online classes, add unlimited locations, build partnerships and increase your membership base.

It’s all included with our simple pay-as-you-grow pricing that is designed to make your business thrive.