The fitness market is growing in the U.K. In 2024, there are now 5,278 fitness centres in the country, dramatically up from 1,642 gyms in 2012.
Gym managers need creativity to stand out in this crowded market. One strategy is to come up with unique fitness workshop ideas to drive awareness about your club. You can provide an educational fitness service and collect valuable prospect information to increase your gym membership sales.
Fitness workshops are one-time events that help develop and educate potential members about essential fitness skills. They’re also a fantastic opportunity for you to showcase the expertise on offer at your club and introduce potential clients to the idea of being a member.
Even better, they allow potential members to experience your club in a low-pressure environment, meaning that you can provide useful instruction to attendees while showing the potential value that a membership might offer them.
There are many additional benefits of hosting fitness workshops. But first, you’ll want to explore the steps to identify your target audience and attract them to your workshop. Then, we’ll provide you with some workshop ideas that will deliver value and convert more memberships.
Once you see how workshops can spotlight your gym, you’ll want to use our steps to create your first fitness workshop right away
Benefits of Hosting Fitness Workshops
Fitness workshops allow you to interact with potential clients organically. Since the workshop isn’t a high-pressure sales environment, attendees are more at ease. You also provide added value by giving fitness or health-related instruction that they can easily implement in their exercise routines.
It’s a great way for them to experience your facility and expertise in a relaxed and positive way to build up a killer first impression, which will drive more return visits and increase membership sales.
Here are some of the benefits of hosting fitness workshops at your gym:
They Generate Leads.
Fitness workshops help you cultivate sales leads. Attendees get to sample the services you provide to members. Then, you can base your next interactions on this initial workshop experience.
For instance, you can offer special promotions for those who attended workshops. On a practical level, you can collect their contact details and use them for future marketing.
Even better, depending on the type of workshop event you host, they also give you a great indication of your prospects’ fitness goals and the types of classes they might be interested in attending. This helps you build a better idea of how to convert them into members. Workshops enable you to target marketing efforts to specific groups of prospects.
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They Showcase Your Facility.
Your workshop events can also serve as an interactive tour of your exercise spaces and equipment, alongside demonstrating your trainers’ instructional skills.
You might consider offering tours to help single out potential leads if attendees are actively interested in signing up for a membership. That way, you’ll have the option to close deals for anyone further into their purchasing journey without forcing people into making a commitment if they’re not quite ready yet.
They Foster a Sense of Community.
You don’t have to limit workshops to just courting prospects. Consider opening up your workshops to current members, too. These events can be a chance for non-members to socialise with members.
Current members can offer an added perspective on the best points of your gym without a sales angle, which is the type of candid social proof that can act like rocket fuel for your conversion rates.
Why? Because 70% of consumers trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know personally.
You can also promote your club as a place to meet and learn in your neighbourhood. A strong sense of community is a key factor to help with member retention.
Workshops can cast your gym in a positive light. You can use the event to build engagement with people in your area, leading to more members, a good standing in the community and increased referrals from local businesses.
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Identifying Your Audience
You need to identify your target market before thinking of fitness workshop ideas. You’ll want to focus on people who are most likely to become members of your gym. When you understand your audience, you’ll be able to better plan an event that fits their interests. You want to provide truly valuable insights and instruction. Ideally, you will show attendees advantages they would not find online or at rival gyms. The following three tips can help you plan your event for your target audience: 1. Identify attendees’ fitness levels.You want your workshop to be accessible. If you want to appeal to different fitness levels within the same event, consider offering advanced (or beginner) modifications that will leave nobody feeling excluded.
2. Market to your audience.
Where does your target audience “hang out?” Targeted marketing is effective when you advertise in places where your target audience is most likely to see it. An example could be a prenatal yoga workshop. In this case, you would want to market the workshop somewhere your target market is likely to see it, like on social media pages for expectant mothers or your local paediatrician’s office.
3. Tie the event into gym services
Make sure the target audience you’re trying to attract can be catered to by your gym services, classes and equipment. This will not only increase the number of potential leads you can get but also make it easier to convert them into paying members.
These steps ensure your audience gets value from the workshop. Plus, it will help you get useful leads for your business.
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10 Fitness Workshop Ideas to Attract New Leads
After defining your target audience, the next step is to design your workshop. These 10 fitness workshop ideas cover a lot of ground and can help you attract new clientele.
1. Bodyweight Exercises Workshop
This workshop will appeal to people who are intimidated by complex weight-training equipment or less interested in traditional weightlifting. For example, you might teach calisthenics exercises to attract this target audience and demonstrate that your gym has a place for those who want to train hard without having to suffer the squat rack.
2. Nutrition for Fitness Workshop
This workshop will focus on proper diet for energy and muscle gain. You could also delve into diets for weight loss or the best plant-based sources of protein. You might even partner with a local nutritionist or dietician as a guest speaker to draw a larger audience.
This type of course can also be a fantastic value-add for your current members. It provides a service they might not otherwise experience at your gym and offers upsell opportunities for personalised nutrition coaching if you offer this service as part of your PT programmes.
3. Family Fitness Workshop
Teach workouts families can do together. This workshop can attract families in the community to promote childhood fitness. You can also show parents that your club is uniquely family-friendly and that they don’t have to leave their kids at home when working out.
4. Senior Fitness Workshop
The need for fitness doesn’t stop as people age. In fact, fitness can help to dramatically improve balance and mobility in older adults, preventing falls and improving their quality of life considerably.
Create a workshop that teaches functional fitness to elderly people. Focus on exercises that help attendees do daily activities and maintain independence.
5. Beginners Yoga Workshop
Some people may want to learn yoga but find the prospect of joining a formal class intimidating. This workshop can increase their comfort level with basic poses. Be sure to highlight the beginners’ yoga classes you offer to members.
You can hold different workshops for different demographics. This diversity ensures you connect with people of different ages and fitness levels.
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6. Recovery Workshop
Effective recovery is an essential component of any fitness regimen. Consider educating your prospects and members about the techniques and practices around maximising performance and preventing injury.
For example, you might want to offer guidance around foam rolling, stretching and mobility exercises. Work in essential off-day practices to reduce muscle soreness, fatigue, and improve their recovery times.
Not only will this lead to better results from training, but also reduce the likelihood of gym membership cancellations due to illness and over-training. That’s sure to boost your bottom line.
7. Mental Health Workshop
Your gym isn’t limited to educating prospects and members about the physical benefits of exercise. Hosting a workshop centered around mental health can be a great way to attract prospects who are more interested in a holistic vision of health. It could attract those who find more value in exploring strategies around stress management and improving their mood than in how much they can deadlift.
Provide a safe and supportive environment that allows your attendees to thrive both inside and outside of your gym. It can be a winning formula for helping them achieve a fulfilling and balanced lifestyle.
Highlight the fact that mental and physical health are deeply interconnected and that both are accommodated by membership at your club.
8. Well-being Workshop
Although the “well-being” or “wellness” trend is not new to the fitness industry, it has positively exploded in the last several years. It’s now common for fitness enthusiasts to search for a more balanced and holistic understanding of their health, beyond mere physical fitness.
To put things in perspective, the wellness industry is projected to grow to $8.7 trillion by 2027, which is twice as large as the GDP of the entire country of Germany.
Hop on one of the fitness industry’s fastest-growing sectors by offering a workshop centered around personal care, achieving quality sleep or practising mindfulness.
You might also want to consider showcasing the equipment or facilities you offer, like saunas, body composition analysis, and one-on-one coaching, which provide insights into your attendees’ overall health and fitness.
9. Dance Workshop
Offering a dance workshop can be a great way to help your prospects and members boogie away their blues without the need for complicated or intimidating equipment to achieve their fitness goals. Dance is not only a fantastic form of exercise, it’s a fun and engaging way to stay fit and increase coordination, confidence and mental health.
Whether it’s Zumba, hip-hop, or salsa, offering a variety of dance styles ensures there’s something for everyone, regardless of age or fitness level.
10. Personal Training Education Workshop
Personal training education workshops offer a dynamic opportunity to upskill your coaching staff and provide education for prospects and members looking to pursue a career in fitness.
For your staff, this type of workshop provides ongoing education to keep them up-to-date with the latest fitness technology, trends and techniques. You’ll ensure they continue to deliver the highest standard of instruction to your members and cut costs associated with off-site training.
For your members and prospects, you’ll be providing a vital community service that gives them a window into what it takes to kickstart their fitness careers. You may also attract aspiring trainers into your talent pool for future employment opportunities.
How You Can Start Creating Fitness Workshops Right Now
Remember, your goal is to get leads from the workshop. All your workshop ideas should help you to gather prospect information and connect to the services you offer to members of your gym. Make sure to follow up with attendees to provide them with useful information about your club which is relevant and personalised to them. Consider creating promotions to offer to your workshop attendees as an easy next step in their journey to becoming a member. These offers should promise to help them build on what they learned in the class and present a clear roadmap that solves their pain points.
If you provide real value in the workshops, you should be able to get the attention of potential members. Ultimately, promotions encourage them to return.
You don’t need an elaborate plan and a marketing budget to create fitness workshops. Here are four tips to get started with the process right now:
1. Interact with the community
Reach out to people in your area. Find out what fitness classes would interest them. Then, you can come up with workshop ideas that address their interests.
2. Brainstorm with your staff
Insights from staff members can be invaluable, particularly as they’re the ones interacting with your current members on a daily basis. You can also ensure that you have trainers with the knowledge to lead your workshops. It also helps to keep your staff engaged and creative, and allows them career progression and leadership opportunities centered around what they’re most passionate about.
3. Test your ideas.
You can recruit current members to attend a test workshop. Or you can fine-tune your class with staff members standing in for the audience. This helps you to understand the best workshop structure and solve any problems before your prospects walk through the door.
4. Use guerilla marketing.
Use unconventional marketing techniques to advertise workshops. With creativity, you can market without an enormous marketing budget. For instance, you can partner with a local business. Get a neighbourhood health-food shop or cafe to advertise your workshop and offer a discount to their business in return. You’ll be one step closer to entrenching yourself in the local community and building up a powerful referral network within your local area.