Staying ahead of the curve as a gym owner and nutrition coach is not just a choice but a necessity for the growth and success of your nutrition business. As we step into 2024, it’s time to inject a dash of innovation and creativity to keep things spicy with your nutrition business. Gone are the days when nutrition wasn’t prevalent in the fitness space. Nutrition and wellness are a topic on every social media platform out there. There are a plethora of wellness coaches or influencers talking about nutrition. As a gym owner or nutrition coach, if you want to take your nutrition business outside the walls of your gym, then it’s time to get creative and elevate your nutrition program to reach new potential clients!
In this blog post, we’ll explore a few dynamic and unconventional strategies that go beyond the conventional norms, redefining how nutrition businesses can thrive in the upcoming year. Buckle up as we embark on a journey to revolutionize your approach, ensuring that your nutrition business not only adapts but excels in the ever-changing wellness landscape.
How Do We Define A Successful Nutrition Business
At HSN Mentoring, we track a few KPIs monthly with our clients. These stats help our mentoring team determine if the current business plan for the program the gym is currently operating under is working.
A successful program has solid lead flow; the leads are booking free intros, the free intros are converting to clients, the clients are staying 9-12 months, and the nutrition program is generating at a minimum $3000.00 in monthly revenue.
The KPI's we track are:
Leads
Is the gym getting leads from the outside world? The answer should be yes! If there are no leads coming in, it’s time to look at marketing materials and outreach techniques.
Conversion To Free Intro
How many leads that come in through the marketing channels are scheduling a free intro? Ideally we would love to see 70% of the potential clients reaching out for more info actually book a time to come in and sit down with a coach for a free intro.
Conversion To Client
Out of the free intros being performed, how many of them are actually signing up for services? Ideally, 75% are! Many gym owners or coaches are REALLY good at selling the fitness side of things, but when it comes to talking about nutrition, they are not so good. We often see a high conversion from the free intro to fitness but a lower conversion from the free intro to the nutrition program.
If this is you, it’s time to get in touch with the way you or your staff talk about nutrition. HSN Mentoring clients have ample opportunity to speak with their mentors about this and partake in training we have available for them at all times. But, if you are not a client of ours, role play!
Role-playing these conversations is an amazing way to get comfortable talking about something you are not good at. Practice makes perfect as they say! Again, if your marketing strategies are on point, people come into these free intros fully aware that your gym is a nutrition and fitness facility, not JUST fitness.
We have some great free podcasts available to help with this also!
Nutrition Client Retention
If the conversion rate from the free intro to the nutrition program is high, but the nutrition clients are only staying with the program for their initial three months, then there is a problem. Looking at the client experience and the nutrition coach’s coaching skills would be the next step. A length of engagement between 9-12 months is ideal.
Keeping track of retention is a MUST to ensure everything is on track with the coach and client experience.
Nutrition Business Revenue
Most owners and coaches get into this business because they LOVE helping people. That is amazing; however, helping people alone doesn’t pay the bills. Revenue must be made in order for the program to be considered a successful nutrition business. We love to see our HSN Mentoring clients bringing in a minimum of $3000.00 per month from nutrition business initiatives.
Let's Get Creative With Pop Up Events!
Why Pop-Up Events
A pop-up event with another local small business partner is a great way to get your nutrition business and the other business you are partnering with more leads! Sharing marketing strategies and audiences with this other business will double the impact you both have in reaching new potential clients!
Pick a current business partner or make a new relationship! Networking is a proven method to grow any business! Look for businesses that work alongside yours or whose niche is in something related to health and wellness.
Examples of business types to work a pop-up event with:
Chiro or physical therapist
Cafe, brewery, coffee shop or restaurant
Athleisure store
Yoga studio
All the above business types share a common theme: they make people feel better through the services they provide. Collaborating with them to fine-tune fitting nutrition and fitness into the marketing strategies for these events will be fun and exciting. The possibilities are endless!
Pop Up Event Example #1 - Workout At A Brewery
A brewery to promote a nutrition program and a gym you may ask?! The answer is yes! There is no better way to get in front of more people than to collaborate with a business that serves alcohol. The consumption of alcohol in the United States is huge with 107.5 million men ages 18 and older consuming alcohol and 108.1 million women ages 18 and older doing the same!
The question is how can we teach people to consume alcohol in a “healthier way” and incorporate fitness into their lifestyle, too?
Plan a workout in the parking lot of the brewery
Come up with 2-3 “healthier” cocktails for the event putting them on “special” for the event.
Obviously, many people drink alcohol. Stopping it will be next to impossible, but providing alternatives to reduce sugar and processed add-ins will definitely help people.
Coming up with a workout that all skill levels can do will also encourage people to consider adding fitness to their daily habits.
Pop Up Event #2 - Nutrition Talk At A Coffee Shop
Again, getting out into the community and partnering with other local businesses is a lucrative marketing strategy! A coffee shop partnership is so great because a ton of people inside your gym drink coffee, so you know that a lot of their friends drink coffee too!
Both parties benefit from this relationship!
Here are a few ways the coffee shop can promote your business:
Come up with a couple of ‘healthier’ alternatives to items currently on their menu, or even a new item like a protein smoothie
Allow you to add your logo to their hot coffee sleeves
Promote your smoothie or coffee drink at their location on the counter, drive-through windows, and table topper.
You can promote the coffee shop by:
Spreading their name all over the gym
Offering a free gift card to their location anytime a new person signs up for the nutrition program
Announce your pop-up event with them in class and on social media
Include them and their healthier menu items in your newsletters, put a flyer with the menu items on the nutrition board, and showcase their business monthly social media.
Coming up with a healthy latte recipe, or even a protein smoothie recipe the coffee shop can promote in conjunction with your nutrition talk, is a great way for them to make money and for your program to get in front of more people.
The nutrition talk will take place at the coffee shop on the day/time planned by both parties. The coffee shop can serve samples of the custom recipes during the talk to help promote the new product line.
Pop-Up Event #3 - Do A Private Event With An Athleisure, Yoga Business, Or Other Type Of Wellness Center
Collaborating with an athleisure business, yoga business, physical therapist, or other type of wellness center is a great way to get leads and create relationships with like-minded people. Offering a nutrition talk, then a private showing of a business after or before hours makes people feel special.
A great example of this is an event my gym and a local athleisure shop held this summer. We offered a free yoga session taught by the owner of the athleisure shop in the parking lot. After the yoga sessions, all parties entered the store for a nutrition talk and a private shopping event before-hours.
Our gym did a drawing for a free Inbody and nutrition consultation, and the owner of the shop offered a 15% discount during the private shopping. A local coffee shop offered free coffee for the event, and a local healthy baker brought in protein balls. Our gym and the athleisure store owner gained warm leads from this event.
This is just one example of how partnering with a like-minded business can be done. There are many other cool events that can be planned if both parties are willing to be creative.
Making Things Happen
In most situations, local businesses won’t ever think of partnering with a gym or nutrition business for an event. Especially if they are a brewery! But, because you are reading this article and now thinking outside the box, you can make things happen! When approaching these unexpecting businesses, you can highlight the opportunity for both parties and show you are both after the same target market.
From here it’s important to make a plan of action.
Choose who to partner with
Survey your members! Do a Google Form to find out where they go to coffee, where they go out, who is their favorite gym clothes boutique, and do they have a wellness business they love… From there begin reaching out to these businesses to pitch your plan.
Come up with a marketing plan
After deciding on your pop-up partner and event, get together and come up with a to-do list for marketing.
Pro Tips
The goal is to get leads! Require people to sign up for the event via a Google form or free registration platform. This guarantees you get names and emails.
Remember, a waiver needs to be signed if people are working out!
Collaborating on marketing this event is going to be fun! Set up meetings to discuss the tasks associated with making this event awesome for both parties and the community too.
Wrap Up
Working on health goals and eating habits can be fun! Nutrition and fitness may feel overwhelming for many people, but as nutrition professionals, you can show ideal clients the gym meets people where they are at. Also showing that community relationships are important builds integrity. The businesses that were part of the events will look for collaboration and networking opportunities with you in the future, and you can both share referrals.
