Ideas to help attract females to a gym that had a meathead culture in the past REPS

[PerFit]

Hey folks,

I'm doing some marketing and management for a large scale gym who is really looking to grow its female base. Back in the day it was a hardcore bb'ing gym with a very very bad stigma attached to it. It had a strong association with obnoxious gear using meatheads and women stayed far away.

These days its much different. While there is still a strong competitive bb'ing culture there, its much more friendly and welcoming. Back in the day the % of members that were female was about 13%. Now it is 36% but we still want to grow it.

Significant features:
- a womens only room as been introduced
- group fitness classes now run (still needs work)
- there are separate areas where there is more 'women friendly' equipment while the 'big boys' stuff is in another area.

Essentially I'm looking for ideas that can help further promote the gym as a women friendly place.

I'm think of having a open day or ladies month to promote things.

I'll rep good ideas on sight. Even far fetched ones are good as other ideas can be spawned from it.

If you want to post something stupid, don't waste your time.

Thanks brahs.

[doughnut91]

Adductor & Abductor machines. Few women will go to the gym if those machines are not there.

Edit: To clarify, I'm not joking. From experience, many, many female members rank those machines high in the list of priorities.

[Sonkei-san]

Adductor & Abductor machines. Few women will go to the gym if those machines are not there.

Truth on this.

[Jenilynn]

Hey folks,

I'm doing some marketing and management for a large scale gym who is really looking to grow its female base. Back in the day it was a hardcore bb'ing gym with a very very bad stigma attached to it. It had a strong association with obnoxious gear using meatheads and women stayed far away.

These days its much different. While there is still a strong competitive bb'ing culture there, its much more friendly and welcoming. Back in the day the % of members that were female was about 13%. Now it is 36% but we still want to grow it.

Significant features:
- a womens only room as been introduced
- group fitness classes now run (still needs work)
- there are separate areas where there is more 'women friendly' equipment while the 'big boys' stuff is in another area.

Essentially I'm looking for ideas that can help further promote the gym as a women friendly place.

I'm think of having a open day or ladies month to promote things.

I'll rep good ideas on sight. Even far fetched ones are good as other ideas can be spawned from it.

If you want to post something stupid, don't waste your time.

Thanks brahs.

Go to business parks/local stores in the area and give away free 3 day passes. On the passes have them state what new amenities the gym has and that classes are now offered

Business flyers put up in grocery stores and community centers?

An open day would be great.

What about doing a boot camp class that is 6 weeks for x amount of money and non-members can sign up. You may get more business after they have been into the club

Do you offer tanning? That is another way to bring in women and get extra business

[WoofieNugget]

What's your staff mix? If it isn't at least even or weighted towards more women, then make that happen. Women (especially older ones) are much more likely to join a gym if they think that people their age are going to be there at the same time.

You could have a women's only yoga class once a week, closing the studio to any males.

Also, if you have good personable women on staff going to a women's only networking event with free passes is a great idea.

[doughnut91]

What's your staff mix? If it isn't at least even or weighted towards more women, then make that happen. Women (especially older ones) are much more likely to join a gym if they think that people their age are going to be there at the same time.

You could have a women's only yoga class once a week, closing the studio to any males.

Also, if you have good personable women on staff going to a women's only networking event with free passes is a great idea.

You hire PTs/gym staff for their abilities and personality, not to make up gender numbers.

[Ragnar13]

A good friend of mine had to leave where we worked together due to her husbands PCS (military move). She got hired immediately at a MMA style facility. Initially she had a hard time getting females to come in since the "image" of this place is a hardcore place. she is primarily a group instructor with R.I.P.P.E.D, Zumba, Flirt, and other classes geared towards woman. However, once word of mouth hit, the facilities female membership has swelled.

She provided a service that women wear looking for in the area. Her personality is loud, fun, and infectious….she can succeed anywhere.

I am not sure how you can go about it other than finding what women want in your area and see if you can find a way to provide it.

[MyronGainez]

People have already said it here but start providing and advertising classes for the female population like yoga, trx bootcamps, zumba, etc.

[Artemis00]

Do you have a step mill?

I know a few women that were literally searching for a gym that had that piece of equipment. The one gym I go to installed 3 and they are rarely empty. The other gym I am going to is advertising that they will be installing one in the future. Many women will see those and assume it will increase the size of their butt so it appeals to them.

[wannabebigrick]

Create business cards specifically aimed at women, make sure the color scheme of the card makes it stand out to women, maybe a light purple and silver or something like that

Have a slogan on the top that appeals to what women want such as "tone your tum and bum"

List the key features that the women will benefit from such as the women's only gym, classes, the cardio equipment etc

Get a female member of staff to hand them out in high traffic areas such as by shops.

Use social media to promote the gym

[Endevorforever]

Give special attention to bathrooms and locker areas. Women complain the most about these things.

Research tip: Go to Yelp.com and search for popular gyms or semi popular gyms and read the complaints from women. I am sure you will have all the info you need.

[WoofieNugget]

You hire PTs/gym staff for their abilities and personality, not to make up gender numbers.

I agree, but he's asking for ways to attract more women specifically. If he's got a 240 lb. bodybuilder behind the front desk, another guy selling memberships and mostly a male training staff odds are women are going to be intimidated as soon as they walk in the door. One of our best membership salespeople didn't know a thing about fitness but was a really personable and fit 45 year old woman who made other women feel super welcome right away. Our female trainers (even the terrible ones) were also always booked.

[KyleAaron]

You need to hire personable women trainers. No need for a separate women's room, just ensure your trainers on the gym floor treat everyone the same regardless of what's in their pants or their training level. Make sure you've toned down all the macho sht, screamo music and the like.

You don't need yoga and pilates and zumba, that's patronising. Offer them serious training. Crossfit does it and they can rarely coach people well and usually injure them, since you're a better trainer than that you can do even better with them.

And yes, clean up the bathrooms. New tiles or whatever if necessary. Put it this way: would you put a picture of your bathroom up on your website to advertise it? I know nobody does this, but the point is: would be ashamed of it? If so, then sort it out, it's money well-spent. There's a reason that when our gym was refurbished they spent $45,000 on the women's changerooms and $0 on the men's.

When discussing the gym with potential members - whatever their gender - talk up the achievements of your women members, and put them up on your website. Message is, you're proud of them. And not just pics of the lean superfit ones in booty shorts, the 45yo office worker who just squatted 60kg for work sets for the first time, or the 24yo student who ran her first marathon, whatever. People like it when you're proud of them, and women being praised for something other than how h4wt they are is a novelty which will be noticed.

It's "women". Not "females", that sounds like animals, they hate that. Not "girls", while most don't mind it, they will notice if you never use "girls" and instead refer to them as women. Respect is a novelty.

[IanGeda1]

Hip Ad/Ab machines
A womens only fitness area. Preferably with tinted windows.
Women trainers. Gives them a sense of security.
Butt blaster machine "The Holy Grail of "Booty" workouts" apparently -_-
Smith Machine Squats
A Booty Building or "Tone Up" class geared towards women..I hate the word tone

[mtbkr]

The idea of womens only areas and offering pilates and yoga classes actually turns me off if I was looking to join a new gym. It may appeal to some, but to me I want to be treated just the same as anyone else at the gym. I want to be taken seriously just as anyone else does, and not be stereotyped into the 'cardio bunny/I don't want to exert myself too much' kind of person. Definitely nice changing rooms, toilets/showers are a bonus, but the reason I go to my gym is mainly for the atmosphere/friendliness of staff/great trainer, and good range of equipment, just like most guys that go there.....

[foodandfitness]

Here's a group exercise class platform that I created that's been very effective at attracting women to my training studio http://foodandfitnessonline.com/nutr...y-fat-furnace/

Offer a low commitment, low cost, fun program with a 2-4 week deal and promote that. I'm sure if you are being hired for marketing management you know that you should offer some sort of extension deal at the end, have a referral program attached to this, over deliver on the program, etc.

[morninglory81]

Child care!!!!

Many women need a way to work out, but have no one to watch the kids. There are many gyms that are available to me, and only 3 that offer child care. I picked the one that had rules about the child to adult ratio, and they also offered the largest space for my kids to play in. I do pay for a monthly child care pass which gets me the best deal, but they also offer per visit payment for those who don't go as often or don't always have their kids with them.