To ensure that your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park is used regularly, you need to focus on effective outreach to target markets, delivering participants the results they want, while generating referral business, maximizing your return on investment, and ensuring that the program is properly scheduled and marketed.
Targeting Users
If using targeted marketing messages to promote your fitness park and/or classes, there are several questions you will want to address before designing your marketing campaign:
- Who is the target audience and who is likely to enjoy the program?
- How many people that meet this description live or work within driving distance to the Outdoor Adult Fitness Park?
- What time of day will best accommodate this group?
- What is the best way to reach them to ensure participation?
- What message will appeal to this group to encourage participation?
As an example, a basic “Introduction to Fitness” class may have a broad user appeal. If your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park is located in an urban area, you may wish to market your class to business professionals, a large urban target market that likely engages in exercise. Due to their work schedules, the best time of day is probably early morning or after 5:00 pm. Marketing to local human resource departments can be a very efficient way to reach a large number of business professionals, and may help you receive endorsements. By designing your marketing tools to promote increased energy at work, getting outdoors after a day inside sitting at a desk, and the fact that exercise relieves stress while potentially reducing health care costs, you will be appealing to both the company representatives and the individual employee.
Conversely, if marketing the same program to stay-at-home parents, offering classes midday to avoid school pick up and drop off times would be more beneficial. Distributing your ad materials to parent groups like PTA/PTO to at local day care facilities would help you reach potential participants. Offering daycare for young children would help draw parents with children too young for school. Promoting fresh air, a mom/dad day out, the chance to participate with other parents, and improving fitness to help keep up with the kids would be a beneficial message to use.
Also, consider the questions listed above when marketing to senior citizens, users with special needs, non-English speakers, and other groups that may benefit from targeted campaigns.
Spreading the Word
There are many tools that you can use to promote your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park and its classes, no matter who you are targeting. For any business, maintaining website support is an important tool in overall marketing plans. Potential users will use the Internet to search for local fitness options, and to learn more about your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park and its programs. Maximizing your online presence is a valuable way to attract users, communicate class schedules, and provide other information. If your classes are fee based, you can set up the website to handle transactions. You can use it as a tool for users to share their successes and provide testimonials. You can include descriptions of your instructors and their qualifications. The website can act as the central hub for all of the information you want to share about your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park.
Besides your website, you can utilize social media sites to promote your space, gathering advocates along the way. Social media provides an avenue for two-way communication, so your participants can share stories and advocate for you. It is also a fun way to share photos, motivational tips, and other great information. If you choose to set up a social media site, be sure you maintain it and add content regularly.
Don’t forget the power of local media. Be sure to create press releases to promote your grand opening, new class offerings, success stories, and other newsworthy information, and then share the news with local newspapers, radio, and TV stations. If your viewing area has a local morning show, contact them to schedule an interview so that you can provide information about the Outdoor Adult Fitness Park. Ask if you can bring a video to air during the segment, so viewers can see people actively using the space during the interview. Ensure that the show will list your website and contact information at the end of the segment so that people know how to contact you to learn more. You may even want to offer a special “press only” event at the Outdoor Adult Fitness Park to orient the media to the kind of workout they can get and promote usage through advocacy.
Advocates are one of the best ways to create excitement about your Outdoor Adult Fitness Park. There is nothing more motivating than seeing the success story of a person who has made the decision to improve their health. Besides the valuable word of mouth that advocates provide, you can profile their success (with their permission) on your website, social media outlets, and through the media. You might even convince them to share before and after photos on your marketing materials.
Developing an active referral network is a key component to success. Providing incentives to current participants to help you get new participants: a healthy cookbook, personal one-on-one training, or a DVD of motivating workout music are just some of the ideas you can use. If you offer classes, be sure to have brochures or other marketing materials at each class so that interested passersby can get information on your class offering and schedule.
Non-Class Time
Don’t forget to let potential users know when the Outdoor Adult Fitness Park is open to non-class participants. While classes are an active method to encourage use and participation, some users may prefer to participate on their own. In all of your marketing materials, be sure to list open use days or times when the space is available to anyone for use.
Your marketing plan holds the key to the success of your space. Be sure it engages diverse users, conveys benefits of participation, utilizes a robust communication network, and shares success along the way!
