All-Star How Do We Advertise Our New Cheer Gym?

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Apr 13, 2012
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Hello Fierceboarders!
:help:​
Basically, a woman I am close to just opened a new gym. I am working closely with her to get things going. We just opened the gym a month ago. She wanted to focus on summer camp, which currently only has five kids enrolled. She wanted at least 30 kids. She recently told me she's going to stop focusing so much on camp, and more on tumbling. Good idea, but how do we find kids who want tumbling classes?

In the fall, we plan on having All Star Prep teams. We want to bring in new kids, and start out at lower levels. It just seems like no one is interested!

She has a full spring floor, tumble track and crash mat, parents viewing room and all. It really is a great facility but the location is apparently horrible. It is in a low-income neighborhood. The owner knows a few parents who said they would enroll their children if it weren't 25 minutes away. Ridiculous.

We have a great team. The owner is all about fitness and cheer. She has been doing it for a long time. She also has three (including me) coaches who are pretty much volunteering with things right now because we want this to succeed so bad. We are all knowledgeable and passionate about the sport.
She is paying the gyms rent money out of her own pocket right now. She does have the few camp kids, about 5 kids doing private a week, a couple kids in tumbling, and a few kids paying for open gym a week. It still isn't enough money. I really want this gym to do well, so please guys. Give me some ideas on how to get people to KNOW about our gym!
 
I heard of the small gym I used to go to from one of my friends, so maybe tell the parents of the kids to spread the word? You could put up flyers in places, make a website (you probably already have that though), or have some kind of referral contest; for example:
Kid X referred 2 others to tumble at your gym, so Kid X gets $10 off their gym tuition (just as an example.)
Kid Y refers 7 kids to come tumble, so they get a free private or something.
 
Maybe offer some free intro to cheer clinics? She can do tumbling, stunting, etc.

Out of curiosity, how is the parking for the facility? Even if the location is not ideal, if people know there is parking available that might help when you advertise.
 
I don't know how much Living Social costs. But I know a local gym has done a half off week through living social around here and it looks like summer camp is booming.

Also, any way to advertise open gym on Friday nights, all welcome, come by and check it out. See if the pop warner team needs a place to practice occasionally, the middle school or high school. Is it an area with not a lot of saturation?
 
First I would say, get a facebook page. And be active with it. I don't like going to a gym's page and seeing that it hasn't been updated since April. You should be actively posting, but not repetitively. A pic of the facility, a shout out to a new skill, an announcement, etc but don't repeatedly post "come to our gym blah blah" every other day so it pops up on people's news feeds. But make sure you're active, and engage with questions, and get parents to spread the word and get their family/friends to like the page, even if they aren't going to cheer there (..yet...). That way more and more people see you and when someone likes it, other people see it, so it'll spread quickly if you're maintaining the page!
Also, make up a simple flyer and bring it to schools and see if they'll hand it out in friday folders (or however they communicate with parents) or even just set it in the office. My mom works at a private school and we had her give little half-sheet flyers just talking about the gym, and lots of the kids joined! I see kids there all the time who are her students. For info, I'd put your gym name, phone number, website, "check us out on facebook!", and maybe something like "free trial class!". Make it fun and incorporate the gym's colors. It may catch people's attention and they'll look you up on facebook/ check out your website. So that's why you should keep websites and facebook pages up to date!
 
Social networking is probably the biggest way at the moment. Put things out on twitter, Facebook, etc. Maybe @ cheerUPDATES and ask them to spread the word. Radio commercials would be good, handouts, word of mouth, etc. Maybe a billboard? That might be too expensive though. Put ads in the newspaper. I know my city has a magazine that goes out that has "what to do" stuff in there, so you could check that out. Also, try teaming up with local companies to see if they would sponsor or advertise your gym there. Of course, make sure it's a business that has lots of customers.
Last but not least, make everything attractive and appealing to people. If something looks corny, it could result in a corny first impression. Make people WANT to come to check out the gym. Of course, since it seems you don't want to pay too much, don't try to go all out just yet! Once again, social networks are free AND are sure to be seen so take full advantage of their freeness while they still are haha!


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I think to answer this question it's important to know - are people are already familiar with Allstar Cheerleading in the area where you have opened the gym? Are there a lot of existing gyms?

Your approach can and probably should be completely different when you are selling your gym in an area where people already know what your product (AS Cheer) is and you are just selling them on your gym, as opposed to selling both the product and the gym at the same time.

I can't help answer your question because I am absolutely worthless at marketing. But I think the experts here can probably help you more if they know this. There are owners experienced and successful in selling to all types of markets here.
 
One thing that my gym does is parades. It is a great way for the community to see what the kids actually do and most of the time the kids enjoy participating in it! Also, you could try contacting local high school cheer teams and offering to teach their tumbling classes or stunting clinics. Remember to always keep social media clean, powerful, and positive. I have seen too many gyms use social media in the wrong way, but if used correctly, could really help promote your gym. Hope this helps, I am a marketing major and love doing this kind of stuff!
 
I heard about our current gym from a radio ad about them doing an open house on a Saturday.
 
It doesn't hurt to advertise here also! There are a lot if fierce boarders from all over the world - you never know who knows someone to help advertise!

Good Luck!


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Hello Fierceboarders!
:help:​
Basically, a woman I am close to just opened a new gym. I am working closely with her to get things going. We just opened the gym a month ago. She wanted to focus on summer camp, which currently only has five kids enrolled. She wanted at least 30 kids. She recently told me she's going to stop focusing so much on camp, and more on tumbling. Good idea, but how do we find kids who want tumbling classes?

In the fall, we plan on having All Star Prep teams. We want to bring in new kids, and start out at lower levels. It just seems like no one is interested!

She has a full spring floor, tumble track and crash mat, parents viewing room and all. It really is a great facility but the location is apparently horrible. It is in a low-income neighborhood. The owner knows a few parents who said they would enroll their children if it weren't 25 minutes away. Ridiculous.

We have a great team. The owner is all about fitness and cheer. She has been doing it for a long time. She also has three (including me) coaches who are pretty much volunteering with things right now because we want this to succeed so bad. We are all knowledgeable and passionate about the sport.
She is paying the gyms rent money out of her own pocket right now. She does have the few camp kids, about 5 kids doing private a week, a couple kids in tumbling, and a few kids paying for open gym a week. It still isn't enough money. I really want this gym to do well, so please guys. Give me some ideas on how to get people to KNOW about our gym!


You have missed the prime advertising season, which was the spring. Most experienced parents plan summer camps in Jan-April. If your town has free kid booklets (the type that is found in kids doctor and dentist offices) or neighborhood newspapers, that is a good way to advertise. If your local mall or town has events/fairs that any business can enter set up a tumble demonstration (with kids or video) and hand out flyers to your gym. There are tons of ways to advertise, but timing can be everything.
 
@stingrayallstarsbri - Thanks for the suggestion. We do have a website. I'll talk to the owner about referral contests!

@CheerBank - That's a good idea! Definitely going to suggest a free beginners class to the owner. And we do have lots of parking!

@notyourcheermom - I've never heard of Living Social. Is it kind of like Groupon? I bet it's a great investment. We have open gym every Friday night. I have [not so great looking] flyers for it, but I have no idea where to put them. I like the idea of having school teams practice in our facility, but would they pay for it or would we just offer it to get the word out?

@cheernerd5678 - I helped the owner set up a FB page before our Grand Opening. Unfortunately, I don't have access to it, only she does. She updates a lot, but I'm going to talk to her about posting more pictures. We have over 100 likes but it's mostly ALL the owners friends, who don't go the gym. Are there any other ways to get more likes? She has told people to share and all that.
We got approved to send home flyers at like 10 schools, two months ago. I know for a fact they actually got sent home with the kids, but unfortunately that attempt failed. Also, she has someone else doing her website. I have no control over it. :( I am going to talk to her about the free trial class. Thanks :)

@sphocott - Thanks. We have a FB page, and the owner updates it. We're just not getting many likes! I told her about Billboards, Radio Ads, and Newspapers. She said it isn't in the budget.

@TheUltimateFan - We are definitely selling the product and the gym. There is one gym in the next city over. We are near the city, and the population is very large. We are definitely targeting children who have never cheered before and want to start. We don't want to seem like we're soliciting kids from the gym near us.

@wificheer11 - I love the ideas of parades! Once we get a good amount of kids, that is definitely something we will do. I have previously discussed clinics with the owner. She's all for it, but it's summer and lots of schools aren't allowed to practice. She's still looking into it though, thanks!

@angelndscz - I think we're pretty much done trying to get kids to come to camp. We really want to grow in the fall. I always put down flyers when I go to the dentist/doctor! But I'm going to look up more events in the area.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Wish us luck!
 
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