We all see giveaways while we're scrolling through our newsfeed, but have you ever stopped and thought about if a giveaway could work for your gym? As Tony Robbins says, “If you want to achieve success, all you need to do is find a way to model those who have already succeeded.” Giveaways work for thousands of companies and can work for you too. By hosting a giveaway, you have a built-in way of getting more members to walk through your door.
In this article I'll dive deep into how to set up your giveaway, how to promote it, and how to turn giveaway entrants into members.
Giveaway Details
The first thing you'll need to do when starting a giveaway is decide the following details:
1) Date Range
I would recommend you set the giveaway to last somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks. You want it to be long enough for people to have time to find out about it, but not too long where the giveaway loses momentum.
2) The Prize
You'll need an alluring prize that local fitness enthusiasts will jump at. The one I like best is offering a free year membership at your gym. This prize seems amazing in the eye of the entrant and isn't too difficult for you to execute on. It's a win-win!
3) How to Enter
You'll want the giveaway to be as easy as possible to enter, so I recommend making email address submission the only mandatory requirement. Their email is the most important thing to you because then you can follow up with them later. More to come on that point later in this post.
You should, however, offer them the opportunity to receive bonus entries for taking certain actions on social media. For example, you could ask them to tweet about the contest with a link back to the entry page so that other people can find out about the giveaway. You could also have them like your page on Facebook and follow you on Instagram to help boost your follower numbers. I typically recommend optional sharing entries for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, but if having them subscribe to your newsletter or pin your giveaway on Pinterest is more important to you, you can play around with adding those options instead.
4) A Shareable Image
No giveaway is complete without a good-looking image. If you don't have a graphic designer on hand, try using the free tool Canva to create a beautiful giveaway image quickly. Make sure to find a horizontal design (the "Facebook App" size will work in Canva), include the name of your giveaway, and the club's logo and colors so that it is consistent with your other collateral. Canva offers many pre-made layouts that you can easily tweak to make your own.
Giveaway Creation
I love using Promosimple for creating giveaways, but there are other great options as well like Rafflecopter, PunchTab and more.
Promosimple is free and very easy to use. Just sign up, click on "Create a Campaign" and follow the steps.
Be sure to enter a clear headline like "Win a Free Year of [Club Name] Membership!" and a detailed description under "Add/edit prize details." An example for what you might write there could be:
"How to Enter to Win a Free Membership:
1) Enter your email address (mandatory)
2) Tweet the designated language (optional)
3) Follow us on Instagram (optional)
4) Like us on Facebook (optional)
The giveaway ends on [XXXX] date. Good luck!"
Make sure to select the number of winners as "1" right below the "Add/edit prize details" section.
On the next page, you'll add what you would like each entrant to do. This tool will automatically make the email address required, but you'll also see options to add additional actions for entrants. This area is where you'll add "bonus" entries like tweeting about the contest, liking your page on Facebook and following you on Instagram.
Once you click "Next," you'll be taken to a page where you can add your giveaway image. When you upload the image, it will appear on the right side of the screen to check to see if it looks good.
After that is complete, review everything to make sure it looks good and publish it. The tool will then take you to a page with both a link to the giveaway on the Promosimple website and code to add to your own site. If possible, I suggest adding the giveaway to your own site to make it look a bit more professional.
Promoting Your Giveaway
1) Send an Email
First, send an email to your members. I know this might seem counter-intuitive because the reason you're doing the giveaway is to get new members, but the more people who know about it and enter, the better! People who already love your gym are likely to forward on the giveaway email to their friends so that they can benefit from it.
After sending the email to your members, send another one to your list of leads and past members. These emails can be very basic and straight to the point. The most important details to include are telling them what your giveaway is and giving them the link to enter.
2) Promote it on Social Media
Share your giveaway on all of your social media accounts and ask your staff to share it too. Most team members will be happy to share this with their friends because it is a free offering and provides value to their friends.
By promoting your giveaway on social media, you are adding in the possibility of your giveaway having a viral effect. Social media promotion can make friends of friends and friends of members not only learn that your club exists, but also learn about and enter the giveaway, which they would never have heard about otherwise.
Bonus: Consider running a Facebook ad about the giveaway. The easiest way to start is by publishing a normal Facebook post and then clicking the "boost" button on that post to make it into an ad. Make sure to target by location (the closer to your gym, the better) and interests in the health and fitness niche. Of course, everyone has a different budget, but I recommend putting at least $100 to boost your Facebook post. Be sure to monitor social media comments about the giveaway and answer any questions that might come up.
Choosing a Winner
Once the campaign is complete, it's time to choose a winner! There are two ways to do this: You can either go into Promosimple and click on "Pick Winner" or download the list of entrants, go to random.org, put in the number of entries and have it randomly choose a winner that way.
Once you have your winner, notify him or her with a congratulations email including details about how to claim the free year of membership.
Following up With a Deal
Now that the giveaway is over, you have:
1) Attracted local attention centered around your gym
2) Created a fun way to engage your audience via emails and social media
3) Received many new email addresses of people who are interested in your health club
If you stopped there, that would be the sign of a great giveaway! But you haven't even heard the best part yet.
Once the giveaway is complete, send a follow up email to everyone who entered but didn't win. In the email, tell them while they didn't win, you want to offer them a new member discount for entering. Make sure to exclude your current members from this list and make the coupon code only available to new members. While I would definitely suggest a discount to become a member, if you aren't able to do that, at least offer a free week at your gym to try it out. These people are warm leads and you don't want to lose them.
There you have it! Giveaways are a great way to get new leads and an amazing excuse to give them a discount in an effort to make them into your newest members. Try it out and let me know how it goes!
For more articles featuring marketing ideas to boost membership sales, click here.