Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Fitness facilities turn to low-cost guerrilla marketing techniques to attract new prospects.

New Yorkers gathered at the windows of a high-rise building, and tourists snapped photos like the paparazzi after six models dropped their pants and skirts in front of Grand Central Terminal revealing underwear emblazoned with the words “Booty Call.” The attention-grabbing stunt was part of New York Health and Racquet Club's (NYHRC) strategic campaign to create buzz about its new butt-building class.

“The fitness industry is still talking about it, and it's four years later,” says J. Travis, brand manager and PR director of NYHRC, which owns 10 clubs in Manhattan.

Although Travis expected tourists to snap photos with their camera phones, he wasn't expecting the kind of visibility that the campaign created.

“The return on investment was huge,” says Travis, who says the company's advertising firm, Night Agency, didn't charge NYHRC anything for the publicity stunt because it wanted to prove it could work. “It was on Web sites from China to Zimbabwe to Alaska. If we had to pay per hit on Web sites, it would have cost millions of dollars, and as a small New York club, we don't have that kind of budget.”

NYHRC's stunt was a form of guerrilla marketing, which Casey Conrad, president of Communications Consultants, Wakefield, RI, describes as a put-on-your-sneakers, low-cost, grassroots marketing approach that can reach a variety of people and carries less risk than traditional campaigns.

Ten years ago, health club owners could sit around and wait for walk-ins. As the economy continues in a downward spiral, however, health club owners must come up with creative, low-cost, grassroots marketing efforts, or they'll go out of business, she says.

“Every single club out there is saying tours are down, and they have to work harder to get people in the door,” she says.

Different Moves

Although health club owners have heard about guerrilla marketing strategies for years, few actually do this kind of marketing, Conrad says. Instead, they're relying on the old standbys, such as radio and newspaper advertising.

“The competition is at an all-time high, and traditional marketing isn't getting the response rate that it used to,” she says. “People aren't reading the newspaper or looking at junk mail, and that's a huge percentage of where clubs got their business.”

Florence Auld, president and owner of The Women's Club in Chantilly, VA, knows this all too well. She spent many years advertising in newspapers and mailing promotional postcards with no return on investment.

“If you spend money on advertising, all you know is that you're spending money on advertising,” says Auld, who owns a 15,000-square-foot club with 1,300 members, more than 52 classes, an indoor cycling program, personal training, a day spa and a nutrition program. “There are no guaranteed results — that's for sure.”

Auld is part of a roundtable of club owners who meet four times a year. She says all of the roundtable participants face the same problem — a plummeting response rate to direct mail, decreasing circulations at newspapers and increasing postage prices. For that reason, Auld and other club owners have shifted away from traditional forms of marketing and more toward grassroots marketing efforts.

“We had to get quite creative because I found that nothing was working for me,” says Auld, whose club is in a metropolitan suburb of Washington, DC, and is bombarded by competition.

Taking Action

Rather than sit back and continue to watch the number of tours dwindle, Auld began inviting nonmembers to all-day women's health symposiums and guest lectures at her club. She also started exhibiting at corporate health fairs. Using a tip from Conrad, she engaged the attendees in a game of “Wheel of Fortune.” To play the game, the fair attendees had to write down their name and contact information. To redeem a prize, such as a free massage, they had to come into the club.

This strategy has also worked well for Andrea Metcalf, the owner of MBC Fitness Essentials in Westmont, IL, who has organized free food tastings and other events inside her facility.

“I think if you're not doing some form of guerrilla marketing, you're living under a rock,” says Metcalf, who has 26 trainers, 150 members and 300 personal training clients. “In the last six years, this has been a big part of how I've grown my business, and I think everyone should be doing something at this level.”

Jane Packer, associate director of marketing and communications for the YMCA of San Francisco, agrees. In the last year, the Y has created a page on Facebook, participated in another site called Yelp and tied print advertising promotions to personalized Web sites. During the Y's most recent community outreach program, the branches handed out guest passes, taught yoga classes and led bike skills training during a free open-air fitness festival called Sunday Streets.

“Thousands of people were there, and it was a great way for all of our Y branches to show off what they do best,” she says.

Even some university rec facilities are getting in on the guerrilla marketing efforts. Temple University condensed 20 pieces of literature into a calendar, which is published twice a year and is distributed to residence halls and buildings across campus. Rather than using photos of models, the recreation center shot edgy, black-and-white photos of patrons, faculty and employees.

“Every other dorm room has one of the calendars hanging on the wall, and many students have asked how they can be a part of a photo shoot,” says Steve Young, director of campus recreation.

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