During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen facilities in the fitness industry being forced to think on their feet to sustain their businesses and relationships with their members. 

The only way to stay connected has been to get innovative and offer digital content online. Some facilities were lucky enough to already have a system in place for members to access their services virtually, which made the switch to 100% virtual quick and (somewhat) painless. Others were left scrambling to figure out the best way to stay engaged with their members through digital offerings. 

No matter where you fall on this spectrum, we gathered some tips and tricks on how to promote your facility’s virtual offerings.

Create different membership options

Some members are ready to get back into your facility (if it’s open) while others are still wary and prefer virtual. Creating different membership options gives your clients the best variety and experience. Think digital-only membership, in-person only membership, and an all access membership (to create a hybrid option for those wanting both). 

Promote promote promote

Social media, email newsletters, and personalized emails based on class/membership usage. These are all great ways to promote your virtual offerings to your existing clientele. Creating mixed social media content to incorporate both your virtual and in-person options will ensure your clients are able to see your full offerings. Do a social media challenge! Have your clients take a certain amount of virtual classes within one month to be entered in a drawing to win something awesome. 

Look at your active client list from January and February, see who hasn’t been working out since then, and send targeted emails to them to invite them to try your virtual options (try offering a free or discounted first class). 

Create class options

Virtual means you can open up your class time options. More offerings and more class variety means more options for your clients to be able to book. A lot of people are working from home now and might have odd breaks during the day that might work better for them. Consider that a lot of children are doing virtual school now and this could change around parents’ schedules. Nothing is normal right now so the more options and variety, the more likely the class or time will work for someone! 

Make virtual fun

Theme your classes, just like you would for your in-person classes. Biceps and Beyonce? 70’s HIIT class? Halloween costume themed yoga class? Get creative and make sure to have fun. While looking at a screen isn’t as invigorating as a 50-person class with disco lights, your clients can still feel the instructor’s energy. Blast the music, smile, call out clients, and challenge them to turn on their video. 

While states slowly start to reopen, we think virtual is here to stay. Find ways to keep virtual fitness interesting for your clients and keep your pricing competitive. Virtual allows you to expand your offerings while still being able to run your regular in-person schedule.