Owning a gym means making one decision after another, especially at the beginning.
And one of the first you must answer is: Do you want to pursue a fitness niche or try to be a general facility for all kinds of people and their goals?
If you’re trying to carve a path in the fitness world, then let’s explore tips for finding untapped markets, gym concept ideas, and marketing strategies to build a thriving community.
As the old saying goes, “The riches are in the niches.”
If you’re trying to be everything to everybody, you might find it hard to satisfy anyone.
And once you decide on boundaries for your business, you can find so much freedom within them.
Why Choose a Fitness Niche?
Often, a prospective gym owner will say he wants to be the gym for everybody – that he wants to help all kinds of people.
That might be a generous outlook. But it also reveals a lack of focus and clarity. You don’t actually want to help all kinds of people. You’re confusing it with being a general-population gym, which can be a fine approach.
But if you can’t immediately identify which types of clients you would like to have the most, then pause for a moment and consider the opposite. Whom do you NOT want to build a business around?
Maybe you don’t want to create a gym around:
· Children
· Handicapped people
· The elderly
· People who don’t speak English
· High-paying executives who expect you to be on call 24/7 and train them anywhere
· Elite athletes who demand you help them gain microscopic improvements in performance
Now, here’s the really interesting twist. Each of these groups could make a fabulous fitness niche!
There’s nothing wrong with any of them.
You just have to decide whom you want to help – and looking at it a little differently can help you see that you probably don’t want to be in business for “everyone.”
Consider this other reason why you might want to reconsider the “everyone” idea: Planet Fitness has the market locked, and at a price you can’t beat.
Think more.
Here are a few of the many positive aspects of choosing a fitness niche.
· Targeted Audience: By focusing on a specific niche, such as yoga, CrossFit, or functional training, you can tailor your offerings to a dedicated audience passionate about that discipline.
· Differentiation: Fitness niche businesses stand out in a crowded market, attracting people who want a specialized experience.
· Community Building: Niche gyms foster strong community bonds among members who share common goals and interests.
· Lower Competition: Certain niches may have less competition compared to generalist gyms, offering a clearer path to establishing your brand.
You’ll need to do your research first to learn:
· Which fitness niche might be of interest to you – and to your community.
· Which is merely a passing fad – and which are meant to last.
· What kind of training or expertise you’ll need.
An Abundance of Choices
It used to be so simple to open a gym.
1. Find a big room.
2. Put some weights and benches inside it.
3. Charge people to come in.
But as more people got into fitness, and as technology and equipment improved, the opportunity to specialize in a fitness niche has grown exponentially.
Coincidentally, Xponential Fitness is a company that’s a leading example of this. It’s the parent company of a range of boutique fitness franchises. Some of the names show you just how broad the opportunities can be.
· Club Pilates
· Cyclebar
· StretchLab
· YogaSix
· Row House
“In its most recent earnings report for the full year 2023, the company posted impressive financial results, underscoring its ability to capitalize on the growing demand for specialized fitness, health, and wellness experiences,” Xponential says.
Alloy Personal Training is focused on providing high-end small-group training for people over 40.
The Functional Aging Institute helps individual owners serve the over-55 market.
Many big cities have gyms focusing on the LGBTQ market.
Broadway performer Mark Fisher opened a gym to help other theater professionals, shaping everything around it for his “unicorns” and their unique tastes and schedules. (Read more about this approach in “Beyond Barbells: Building a Unique Gym Brand.”)
CrossFit is a fitness niche.
And providing high-end service to high-powered executives? Yep, it’s a fitness niche, too. You can train them in their homes, on the road, or in a gym.
The list goes on and on.
Three More Examples
Kelly Howard’s Fit Is Freedom leads women into fitness by making it fun and adventuresome. She takes groups on retreats, hiking and kayaking trips – all kinds of things to get women moving outdoors and start living a healthier, happier life.
She promotes “Fitness consistency with a touch of adventure. Together we’re unstoppable. Fit is our superpower.”
The Parisi Speed School helps young athletes, with programs for people from 4 to 22.
“Sports performance training is a relatively new term,” Parisi says, focusing on training a young athlete to be his or her best in a chosen sport. “The training includes the foundations of any good athlete: speed, agility, strength and self-confidence. And, an added benefit of good sports performance training is a reduction of sports related injuries.”
Rock Steady Boxing shows people living with Parkinson’s Disease that the elements of non-contact boxing can help mitigate their symptoms. This ties into the growing interest in brain health, as well, and how fitness can help stave off dementia and other chronic illnesses often associated with aging.
New ideas keep coming, too – like programming around new weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, and using artificial intelligence and other high-tech tools.
And let’s not forget that there’s nothing wrong with being a general-audience gym. You can appeal to different types of people during different hours – retirees in the middle of the day, kids after school, and working people after 5 p.m., for example.
It all depends on your interests, resources, and community desires. A fitness niche without a hungry audience probably won’t do you much good.
Choosing one can be a strategic decision for gym owners trying to differentiate themselves from the competition, to grow deep ties to a certain segment, and to build a thriving community.
Identify untapped fitness niche markets by following industry trend reports and news. Know your community. Follow your own interests.
The choice of a fitness niche must align with your passion, expertise, and business goals. After all, you’re going to be making a lot of decisions about it for a long time to come. Choose wisely!
To learn more about making the right business decisions, enroll in Naamly Online University today.