Ways to Make Your Facility Newsworthy

As a facility owner, constantly coming up with new marketing ideas for the gym or ways to keep your content fresh can become exhausting. However, staying relevant and newsworthy is critical to organic traffic and a well-stocked sales funnel of leads. Therefore, we will discuss ways to help make your facility newsworthy in four potential categories: local news, national news, member news, and online/social media. But before we jump into the content, it’s valuable to recognize that not all of these options or suggestions may be appropriate or applicable for your fitness business; that said, this content should help you get the ball rolling to get your studio or gym into the news spotlight.

One other point to consider when approaching news outlets or looking to help your information get traction is that it often requires work upfront. Journalists are frequently overworked and understaffed, much like yourself. Therefore, writing up your press releases, drafting newsworthy bullet points, or creating pre-made video content can help drive your success rate in getting the story picked up. Writing your content for a larger audience can also help you avoid using too much jargon or reference materials that confuse outsider readers.

Local News

Local news is a fantastic marketing resource for many brick-and-mortar-based fitness businesses, especially boutique or single-location operations. From general awareness to client acquisition, leveraging local newspapers, channels, blogs, or influencers has many benefits.

The perk about getting into location-specific news outlets is that it allows for more organic opportunities to gain overall awareness of your fitness facility. Along with awareness, it can also invoke the possibility of word-of-mouth marketing or expand the overall audience size further by having others share the story, video, or information. 

Additionally, you can receive local search engine optimization (SEO) benefits from the regional factor of local news. By referencing your business through local (authoritative) news sites, online search engines can better understand that your gym is a local business. Further, backlinks acquired from these stories hosted on news pages, blogs, etc., help build your business’s backlink profile and, therefore, your website’s domain authority.

So, let’s get into some ways to help make your fitness facility more newsworthy on the local level!

Grand Openings/Expansions

The first topic we will discuss follows the chronological timeline for opening a studio or expanding your facility. When starting or expanding, remember to include local journalists, bloggers, or influential people in your area/space in your process.

These events are great opportunities for outsiders to get a look into your business, what makes it different, the community within, and the benefits they could receive from becoming a member. Of course, many of the people you are getting in front of may not be part of your facility’s direct target audience; the hope is to have your facility be memorable so they may pass along the information to friends, family, or acquaintances they know that may find our business appealing.

Community Events

Like a grand opening, community events welcome local individuals into your space to experience the atmosphere, equipment, or even first-hand training. Depending on your niche, the perceived value of the event, and whether you plan to have influential people attend, these can be newsworthy events for local areas. 

The perk of these events is that you can also leverage other marketing aspects into them. Typically, facility owners tend to host these events as community-building opportunities within their member base, but they become a lead acquisition tool by recommending people bring friends or family along with them or opening it up to the public as well.

Unique Programs

The final topic we will touch on from a local news level is being newsworthy by breaking the mold. If your fitness business falls into the more niche or non-mainstream realm, you may be able to highlight it. Being different by having unique programs, equipment, or aesthetics can help capture people’s attention and make your business more spotlight-worthy.

National News

National news outlets may be a viable marketing channel, depending on your facility size. With an extensive reach and audience base, that many eyes can significantly boost your awareness campaign. That said, cracking that nut of a medium can be difficult due to the high level of competition for availability.

To help position your business for success in getting aired on the big networks, consider news options that include innovative tech, celebrity endorsements, or even viral national challenges.

Innovative Technology

Suppose you are a new franchise or larger facility implementing groundbreaking technology, methods, or some other mold-breaking technological implement. In that case, there is a good chance you could catch some attention. Prominent news outlets often love new tech and exciting applications—and fitness fits that bill.

However, the client reception and underlying success story are equally crucial to cutting-edge technology. It becomes monumental to visibly “show” how it works, why it works, and how a large portion of the population can benefit from this technological advancement. It is essential to be able to transform complex and space-age-feeling technology into a consumer-friendly product that is straightforward to use and understand.

Celebrity Endorsements

Logical credibility surrounding the endorsement, or not, many times having a high-caliber celebrity can do wonders for your social credit and your ability to become newsworthy on a large scale.

If you are looking to enter the world of celebrity endorsements, there are many avenues you can take. Celebrity endorsements can come in various forms, from well-known to perfect alignment of values/interests. However, some points to consider are cost, target audience, alignment of values or selling proposition, and finally, return on investment.

National Challenges

National challenges are probably the most affordable in terms of average investment, making them appealing entry methods for many large-scale fitness facility owners. Unfortunately, this type also has a high probability of not becoming newsworthy unless it goes viral.

If you plan on running a national challenge to get it onto the news, building in factors that may help drive a viral nature will be essential. Although there is no guaranteed playbook on how to get a campaign to go viral, there are some steps you can take to help influence its overall success rate for adoption and increase its audience reach. Things like building in do-ability (with ease) for the majority of people, social aspects, eye/attention-catching, memorable, and hiring strategic influencers can all help support the virality of your project.

News to Members

Often confused with just a newsletter, news for your membership base can be an effective channel to develop. While the benefits might not be as lead-focused as those of other news outlets, making your fitness facility newsworthy to your current customer base can help improve your retention rates. 

From better transparency within the business to more substantial community levels, approaching projects, information, and updates from a “newsworthy” lens can help you cultivate a strong marketing-focused narrative around your business's inner workings.

Member Success Stories

While some may call it a “member spotlight” and others the “client of the month,” sharing member-based success stories can be a solid addition to your community development-enhancing initiatives. Many times, especially in the news, people like to see people—especially ones they know.

Giving members a chance to learn a little more about each other adds social fuel to your community development engine. It can help set the stage for more natural interactions among your members or clients. Additionally, it can help show your members that you appreciate, see, and value them—especially the ones receiving the spotlight.

Exclusive Member Events

Running events is a common lead acquisition tactic implemented by facilities of various sizes. However, running specific events that are not open to the public can also be a newsworthy event for your members. Often, the exclusivity aspect tends to draw a little more attention and potential interest.

Further, these events still have monetary value for you as an owner. By keeping attendance closed to members only, you help set conditions for mingling, discussion, and, ultimately, relationship building within your client base. The stronger these relationships become, the better the opportunity you have to cultivate a fruitful community that yields a healthy retention rate (or lifetime value).

Loyalty Programs

Similar to other business models, building loyalty and referral programs into your fitness business is another newsworthy event. Whether rolling out the program and defining the details or showcasing results, these can be a fantastic way to promote engagement within your business and highlight successful adoptions.

Like many other points in this category, these programs can help promote retention rates due to the additional value members can receive. Further, due to higher engagement, they can become a significant driver of business growth, or you can leverage them as a lead acquisition tool.

Social Media

The final category to discuss regarding news and your facility is social media. Owners often need to remember that these platforms can be a great way to distribute news. While many use social media channels to primarily draw in targeted leads or engage and cultivate a community, they can also be a great source for growing your overall awareness (including those outside of your target audience type).

Social Challenges

Similar to the point on national challenges, you should plan these out as best as you can to give them the best potential to go viral. That said, “viral” might look different for different facilities. For smaller studios and boutique-style facilities, getting the attention of locals, regional news, or even just impressions outside your network can be a sign of success. Running programs that draw members and leads from your targeted areas can also be a sign of success for more prominent gyms or multi-location facilities.

Influencer Collaborations

Much like working with celebrity endorsements, social media influencers can be an option for growing the distribution prospect of your business’s information. The biggest hurdle with working with influencers is getting the newsworthy message content and delivery to come across as organically as possible. In the modern digital media and news landscape, misaligned content and authenticity can become money wasted from the business side of things. Additionally, supporting these efforts on the backend with easy-to-find, read, and engage with content is vital for feeding your sales funnel with leads and profiting from these efforts.

Some quick examples of areas where influencers can help from a news-focused lens include gym tours, live classes, or even tutorials on your facility’s programming, system, or unique equipment.

Behind-the-Scenes Content

The final topic we will discuss is treating your business as a high-profile business and giving “behind-the-scenes” news-style pieces. From upgrades and expansions to employee interviews and cleaning schedules, these peaks behind the curtain can help give your members and prospects a better understanding of the inner workings of your business that can help drive comfort and interest.

Additionally, these can be made into fun and lighthearted pieces of content that can be used to drive engagement for other marketing campaigns as well.

Wrap Up

It’s not breaking news that having your business’s information broadcasted to the general public can be a helpful driver of business. However, making your business newsworthy is a critical element to getting your facility into that spotlight. By changing your perspective on your business, events, or initiatives and taking the steps to remove the friction to your story getting picked up, you may just find yourself expanding your awareness over the mainstream feed.