We have entered an interesting time in marketing of your fitness business and the services you offer. Groupon, Deal Find, Swarm Jam and many other deal sites make grandiose promises of marketing to your customers and that they offer the true value on your advertising investment. But is this actually the case? Do these offers work in the fitness industry?

It is true that everyone is trying it and that you only pay when people sign up or in some case all you do is offer your service in the hopes of gaining new clients or members. However it is also true that the people that register to these sites often belong to more than one site and deal surf from business to business never registering for you services because the next deal will be cheaper or even free.

Photo by @joefoodie

The pitfalls to this new online marketing are that may never know the true cost or the success of the deal you offer. To know if this is right for your fitness business you will need to look at what you are offering and the cost to provide that service. Next have some key metrics in place to measure the success of this type of advertisement. Look at conversion rates, number of people that come and how many times use your services. Next have every person fill in a form that will have some key demograph information this will let you see if you are attracting your target market and it help you in with future marketing plans.

If you are on the fence about trying Groupon or one of the other social coupon advertisements my gut advice is to skip it as you may find that it is hard to upsell the deal surfers into the price that you normally charge. That said if you are already on board then get those key metrics in place so you can evaluate and benefit from your hard work.

Remember the best way to grow any fitness business is by offering exceptional service and to treat the people that currently use your services like gold. It cost you way less to market to an existing customer then to try and get a stranger through the door.

Have you have tried any of the social coupon companies please share your experiences and let us know if it worked for you.