When it comes to health and fitness, there are limitless opportunities to connect with members and transform lives. In the fitness industry, you can combine different services that fit naturally with another. When you do this, you can make more money by creating additional revenue streams that drive value to your members.
With the massive rise in at home fitness due to the widespread closure of brick and mortar gyms, customer expectations have changed. By leveraging widely available technology you can deliver an additional online offering to meet these expectations.
As you well know, there are only so many hours in the day. To grow your business you need to create offerings that can target multiple people at the same time. In this article, we talk about the ways you can create additional revenue streams and maximise the opportunities presented by a transformed fitness industry.
Skip ahead to:
- Why Additional Revenue Streams Are So Important
- 11 Ways to Generate Revenue and Grow Your Fitness Business
Why Additional Revenue Streams Are So Important
For a lot of gyms and studios, their main source of revenue is memberships. Because of this, a lot of gyms and studios are missing out on several different revenue streams that are available. It not only benefits your members but your business too. Here are a few key reasons why this strategy is so important.
Enhance Your Core Business
At its core, your studio helps people to live a healthier life. When you begin to look at your revenue streams, start to think about additional services that will not only support your current members but attract new ones. Luckily, there is an umbrella of offerings that fit comfortably under health and fitness. From activewear to supplements and well-being consultation, you can enhance your core business and take growth to a whole new level.
Stand Out From the Competition
What makes you stand out from the competition? What about your brand makes a prospect choose your business? Your gym needs your members to be successful. When you create more ways for this success to happen, you will boost both member retention and word of mouth marketing. If you were to offer personal training alongside nutrition consulting, you could help combat some of the most common obstacles when it comes to members achieving their goals.
Diversify Member Options
By offering both a digital fitness platform and in-person service, you diversify the options available to members. Currently, some members may be apprehensive about stepping foot back in the gym. Therefore, a digital option would be ideal. On the other hand, some members may be itching to get in the gym and need a little motivation to get going after lockdown. A personalized six-week fitness plan with food coaching would be a great option for this kind of person.
Generate More Money
One of the most obvious benefits you get from having multiple income streams is that you can make more money. Even when you have a full class schedule and every gym session is booked, you can continue to make money through your digital services, consultations, and other health and fitness offerings you may have.
Add Value
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to add value to your members. When you add value to your business, it helps to increase member retention and make you stand out from your competitors. Provide members with a reason to stick around and maximize their gym memberships. Consider adding services that will truly help your members and improve their fitness experience.
Mike Arce, the founder of fitness marketing agency, Loud Rumour, joins the Fitness Founders Podcast to discuss this topic further. The episode on why you need to deliver value more than ever right now touches on providing value as your business goes online and key strategies for your business.
10 Ways to Generate Revenue and Grow Your Fitness Business
Developing alternative revenue streams is the natural next step of any growing fitness business. The coronavirus pandemic emphasized the need to be flexible and be able to shift very quickly to a new way of working. This has opened up digital fitness to an unforeseen level and presents a huge opportunity to leverage the home fitness craze to make more money and connect with your members.
1. Create a Digital Fitness Platform
At the beginning of lockdown, some fitness businesses were in a much stronger position to take on the challenges that came with the coronavirus. Fitness brands that had the technology in place to stream and deliver on-demand fitness content definitely had a head start. However, that didn’t stop many fitness businesses shifting to digital fitness in an extremely short amount of time.
Digital fitness not only future proofs your business in the case of a second wave of COVID-19 but creates an additional revenue stream. You can now tap into the home workout crowd, of which there are many potential clients. The restrictions of your local area don’t exist anymore, allowing you to reach people anytime, anywhere.
2. Nutrition Planning and Consulting
Nutrition and fitness go hand in hand. Often, eating habits tend to be a major obstacle in health and fitness. When you can offer nutrition planning and consultations alongside your business, you are giving your members a bigger opportunity to be successful. When members hit their targets, they are more likely to tell their friends and family and remain loyal to your business.
Nutrition Services can be as simple or complex as you want. You may want to bring a nutritionist into your team. There’s the option to provide generalized eating plans and healthy cooking lessons as well as more specific personalized food coaching and planning.
3. Fitness and Activewear Products
Another way to make money in fitness is by selling fitness and activewear products. You can do this in two ways. One way is to sell another brand’s products in your gym or online. For example, a good option for a yoga studio is to sell yoga leggings and mats.
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Discover more The other option is to sell your own products. Your decision depends on your budget and the time you have available to get your product line up and running. Social media channels like Instagram are a great place to sell products as it acts as an e-commerce platform. This gives you the ability to sell products online and offline.
4. Sell Digital and Downloadable Content
If you have a tried and tested workout program that delivers proven results then package it up into a downloadable workout plan. Maybe your gym members want your workout plan but can’t afford a one-to-one personal trainer. Or perhaps your online audience wants to gain access to your workout.
Downloadable workout plans and digital content are perfect for people who are self-motivated and ready to put the work in but need a little guidance. What’s good about selling digital content is that you create a standard program that multiple people can pay to download. If customers want to get further insight from you, they can then pay for your other services or membership.
5. Run Specialized Sessions
Specialized training sessions, workshops and bootcamps position you as a fitness expert as well as helping your customers to achieve certain fitness goals. Host workshops on a variety of topics from healthy eating and stress management to exercise-specific workshops.
Workshops give you the opportunity to connect with potential members as well as make money from each session. You can help a large number of people at the same time, rather than being restricted to say one-on-one sessions.
6. Offer Group Training
If you don’t already offer group training, it’s definitely something you should consider. Group classes offer variety and motivation to members. Sometimes keeping members motivated can be one of the toughest parts of running a gym.
When running group training classes, you have the option to charge per class, per set of classes, or include classes in a membership. Group fitness classes create a level of accountability and encourage a sense of community, adding value for your members.
7. Host Health and Fitness Retreats
Hosting. retreats bring a lot of added value to your business and can really set you apart from your local competition. You can host a retreat focusing on the same workout style you offer in your gym or go for something completely different, providing you have the resources and expertise to deliver a great experience.
For example, if you own a HIIT studio you could host a yoga retreat, focusing on relaxation and recovery from a normally high-intensity weekly program. To learn more about hosting a fitness retreat, take a read of this guide we have written.
8. Become an Affiliate Partner
When you become an affiliate partner, you promote, share and encourage people to buy a certain brand or product. You get a small commission when a person buys the product. If you have a good fitness blog and have been building a decent flow of high-quality content, affiliate marketing is an easy way to generate additional income.
Affiliate marketing can be a viable source of income but it isn’t going to generate a life-changing amount of money. But it’s a good way to supplement income for your business. You should always think carefully about affiliate partnerships and only recommend fitness products that you actually believe in.
9. Health and Well-Being Coaching
Health and well-being coaching goes beyond fitness and takes a more holistic approach. As wellness and fitness continue to merge together, well-being coaching takes into account physical and mental states to improve overall wellness.
Well-being coaching presents another opportunity to make money and connect with your clients. It gives you the chance to provide a full solution rather than just one piece of the puzzle. When you can provide a solution to your members’ problems, you can charge a premium price.
10. Franchise Your Fast-Growing Fitness Brand
If you feel like you are in a strong position and your business is growing fast, you have the option to franchise your brand. Getting franchise ready is a journey but with the right steps and research, you can franchise your business. If you have a playbook that delivers results, franchising your brand could be the start of future success.
Listen to our interview with Steve Pirt, CEO of Friction Free Fitness and a former director of operations at UFC Gym. Here Steve goes through everything you need to know about communicating with your franchisees – and essential part of making a large franchise successful.
In Summary
Although membership revenues are important for your business, you can create additional streams of income that not only drive value but make more money. There are plenty of opportunities to generate income in a way that compliments your current services and helps your members. Whether you plan on launching a digital fitness platform or are looking to get your downloadable workout content moving, always do your research first so that you can offer your audience something they will truly value and is worth their money.
