Building & Marketing Your (Outdoor Fitness) Business

Written by Linda R. Bedford.

Principles of Building Your Outdoor Fitness Business

Does the outlay on job search, which includes the total cost of resume writing service for each vacant position you’ve been applying for, make you think it would be cheaper to set up your own business? Turning the hobby into making money is not a bad idea, especially if you are a veteran or fond of a healthy lifestyle.

Though fitness fads seem to be short-lived, outdoor fitness boot camps have withstood the test of time. Boot camp class can help lots of people get better at moving in life, keeping clients coming back for more. If you want to build a year-round boot camp, the good news is that as a business model it has good odds to turn into your own empire. Let’s see in what way you can get members and scale your fledgling boot camp business.

What Does a Typical Outdoor Fitness Business Look Like

Outdoor fitness businesses are also known as ‘boot camps, and this term dates back to the Spanish-American War. As US military recruits wore leggings known as “boots,” their training camp became known as a boot camp, and the name stuck. It has been, over the last few decades, been a trendy way for businesses to provide a better workout environment that proves to be climate-proof with minimalist equipment. The purpose of fitness boot camps is to provide individuals with an alternative to the gym with group, social and motivational elements as core alongside the fitness element.

A typical fitness boot camp is a group physical training programme conducted outdoors for 6-8 weeks by a personal trainer. There are many variations of fitness boot camps, with some relying more on bodyweight whilst others utilise special equipment for strength training and fitness, such as dumbbells and resistance bands. During training sandbags (or their modern commercial variants), kettlebells, vehicles tires, and obstacle courses may be used to train different movements and provide variety. A combination of dynamic stretching, running (such interval training, sprints, and middle distance runs), circuit training, and weight/resistance training often look similar to military basic workouts but may also include yoga elements.

You can model the activities and format by yourself, comprising aspects of fitness training used in the military. If you are a former Service person, you can easily renew performing push-ups (press-ups), squats, sprints, burpees, and lunges again. Just set them up in a classic circuit training format with trainees alternating between periods of high-intensity work and rest (or you may wish to deliver an interval-circuit training instead). These simple movements borrowed from military training sessions are great for losing weight and building strength.

All you need to remember is to deliver a ‘slick’ pre- and post-workout sales pitch. With this in mind, how do you actually get clients to attend your sessions in the first place. One business management consideration is marketing.

Developing Marketing for Your Outdoor Fitness Business

Intense competition, tight budgets, as well as variable permissions to obtain (as well as other business start-up considerations) can seem quite daunting for those thinking about setting up their first business. Although barriers to entry are quite low outdoor fitness market, you still require hard work, time management, dedication, and a well-planned marketing strategy in order to witness a financial return on your investment (of both time and money).

Below are five ideas on how to develop your marketing strategy.

1. Build A Referral System

Trustful recommendation from close friends or family members is a key that adds influence to a final purchasing decision. Your task is to encourage current clients to speak about you.
(Gently) push/nudge clients to refer a friend with a reward.
- For example, a free one-week pass, some branded swag, or extra one-to-one personal training can be excellent motivators.
Keep your referral system simple and promote it to your customer base by handing out flyers, through email, and/or on social media channels.

2. Hold a Challenge among Fitness Lovers

If you set a clear goal mixed with a good dose of competition (for your clients), you will greatly boost customer retention and attract new faces.
It may be bicep curls, tricep push-downs, weight loss, healthy eating, or charity challenges, aligned with different seasons or even companies.
It should be an interesting, enjoyable, and rewarding reason to take part.

3. Utilise Social Media

Using social media as a marketing tool for fitness lovers may increase reach, bolster coaching authority, showcase your talent, and bring in leads by default.
Update with tips on healthy lifestyle, morning workout pictures, training hints, commenting, and tagging clients on your social media pages.
These actions make people feel a personal connection to you.
Your boot camp product placement acts like target ads and supercharges the trade.

4. Land a Site for Your Business

You will need an official site available for an online search by local consumers to get taken seriously.
To put your boot camp ahead it should be a simple website that presents in a professional manner basic information, your services, FAQ page, a few quality reviews, and contacts to get in touch with you.
Starting a blog or investing in paid traffic will add serious credibility to the brand.

5. Try a Lead Box for Jumpstart

Using lead boxes is an effective low-cost marketing strategy that results in instant generating clients.
Order branded boxes or reuse the old cardboards with your advertisement and some appealing offers to win a free month of boot camp.
Visit targeted local shops to strike a deal for displaying the boxes on the premises to generate your red-hot leads collection.
Choose one real winner and offer a half discounted price as the consolation prize for the rest of the participants, for example.

The Bottom Line

There is nothing quite as effective as a workout in the great outdoors with excellent (group) exercise. Based on your qualifications and experience, consider including nutrition advice, social support, and elements of competition in your training programmes.

Teamwork and intense explosive routines of boot camps result in not only burning fat and calories effects but also in motivating people to get through their day-to-day activities more effectively. Mental coaching is one more good reason for your clients to come back. And, being equipped with a sound and well-planned marketing strategy will take your business to the top of the industry.

About the Author

Linda R. Bedford

Linda is a Professional Resume Writer and Military to Civilian Transition Specialist. Her expertise range across a large spectrum of industries. She loves coaching with people and helps job-seekers in transitioning to their next and best chapter.