Top 10 Fitness Industry Blogs of 2015

To help say goodbye to 2015, we decided to recollect on this past year by compiling a list of our top blog posts over the past 12 months. This is the second year in a row that we’ve compiled this list, and decided to expand it from our top five posts to 10. We had a great time recapping this content, and hope you have fun reading through our hottest articles. Enjoy!

10). CrossFit Programming Tips & Principles

Zen Planner’s very own CrossFit Level-1 coach, Derek McLaughlin, shares his top programming tips and principles. By definition, CrossFit is “constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity.” Derek describes how this core principle drives his programming to help ensure athletes make great progress, while avoiding injuries.

9). Buyer Personas: Determining the Target Market for Your Fitness Business

Do you have a target market for your fitness business? If so, have you developed personas based on this target market? One of the most important steps you can take when developing a marketing strategy for your business is to build out personas that your messaging will aim to reach. This blog post provides an in-depth overview on the importance of personas, as well as how to create them.

8). Key Considerations for Social Media

74% of internet users are using social media sites, making it the most common activity on the internet. Since the majority of internet users have gone “social,” it’s important that your business has too. Our Search Engine Marketing Specialist, Tiffany Houkom, provides key points you should take into consideration before creating social profiles for your gym, school or studio.

7). What is My Gym Worth?

As a gym owner, it’s important to know the value of what you have created. Our good friends at Muscle Up Startup share tips on how you can value this important asset. They also provide actionable advice to help you create strong value for your brand in the competitive fitness industry landscape.

6). Getting Equipment for Your Affiliate Gym

Opening an affiliate gym can be an exciting and sometimes scary process. Fear is usually brought on once you start adding up the costs of opening a box. Leasing a space, affiliation fees, insurance and equipment; the costs add up fast. Get tips on how to reduce some of the costs, and more importantly stress, of opening a box by being strategic when purchasing equipment.

5). Improve Member Retention by Considering 2015 Fitness Trends

One of our favorites things about the fitness industry is that it’s ever evolving. Each year brings with it new trends, both in the form of hot workouts and technology, to keep things fresh for fitness fanatics. This fun post examines three of the hottest fitness trends in 2015, and provides tips on how fitness business owners can take them into consideration to keep members coming back to their gym.

4). Zen Planner Staff App: More Flexibility for Your Fitness Business

2015 was an exciting year for Zen Planner, as we realized several new product enhancements. One of the biggest releases was the Staff App, a gym management app that brings ease to manual tasks like member check-ins, retail purchases, memberships and document signatures.

3). How to Sell Gym Memberships: Stop Pitching, Start Listening

If you truly want to become successful selling your services, you need to start listening and stop selling. By listening to and asking questions of your prospects, you will get the personal aspects of their fitness goals. Our Director of Sales, Phil Stern, provides his best advice for how to “sell without selling”.

Tip: be sure to check out his awesome webinar on this topic. There’s a link to listen to it for free at the end of the blog post.

2). 2015 Fitness Industry Trend Report

At the beginning of 2015, we put together our yearly Fitness Industry Trend Report, highlighting which workouts, technology and training would be popular this year. Stay tuned to our blog, as we’ll be releasing our 2016 report very soon!

1). Establishing SMART Goals to Set Your Clients Up for Success

As the owner of a fitness business, we have a strong hunch that weight loss is probably the most common reason many people seek out a membership at your facility. How do you turn the customers request of simply “losing weight” to a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based goal? Get tips for setting SMART goals and discover solid alternative goals to just losing weight.

We hope you have fun reading through our top content from this past year! We also hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year.

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Looking to improve your fitness business? Discover what other studios are doing to create success for themselves in our Boutique Fitness Benchmark Report.