5 Trends You Need to Know in Fitness Marketing

In today’s digital world, audiences are searching for content across more devices than ever before, requiring content across a whole range of platforms. But how do you keep your audience engaged? Here are five trends in fitness marketing that you need to know.

In comparison with other sectors, fitness marketing has the potential to push marketing messages on a global level uniting audiences through the same passion and interests. Coupled with the ‘live’ feature on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, fitness brands are finding themselves turning to live video content.

Live content is increasingly becoming the first place fans are going to witness the action and can be easily seen by audiences across the world. This is also a great way of presenting workout ideas. Rather than only using video for your website or Youtube. Your users can be notified of the latest sports and fitness tips at any time, anywhere.

Instead of focusing on offerings from gyms or retailers, fitness brands are increasingly connecting well-being with lifestyles. Weight Watchers, Fitbit and Mindbodygreen are all great examples of combining fitness with lifestyle online.

Other examples include TechnoGym, who received praise for their ‘Let’s Move For a Better World’ campaign, which emphasises how adults who stay physically active not only enjoy a better quality of life but also encourage future generations to avoid obesity.

Following a recent survey from 1000 people, FitRated found that 51% of respondents have skipped working out due to a fear of judgement, with women accounting for 64.9% of that number. As a result, fitness brands are finding themselves turning to ultra-inclusive campaigns, which address this concern and encourage people to believe in their bodies.

Most notably, the ‘Everybody Happy’ campaign from Blink Fitness stood out for recruiting its members of all different shapes and sizes. The campaign addressed self-confidence and how going to the gym can make people feel better than they otherwise thought.

Another example from PureGym focused on using low-tech gym equipment to get fit and make physical activity an ongoing part of people’s lives. However, in order to achieve this, PureGym used a wide selection of people and ran their campaign during the holiday season.

By reaching out to people of all different shapes and sizes, the target audience can relate to the people they see in fitness advertisements, which makes them feel encouraged to prioritise their bodies, even if they haven’t used a gym in years.

Health and fitness are all about motivation and many fitness brands are focusing on authentic social media stories, with Weight Watchers paving the way.

By presenting stories from customers who have used their programme, Weight Watchers not only encourages customers to follow them, but they are also able to inspire consumers to lead a healthier lifestyle. One way of achieving this is by using Instagram stories, which we’ll discuss in the next point.

With IGTV also being released, many businesses are turning to Instagram as a way of inspiring their customers, and what a better way to do this than by using Instagram stories?

Since being introduced in 2016, Instagram stories have changed a lot. You can now add text, record live footage, add music and even interact with your audience by asking questions. Once more, Instagram TV allows users to record up to ten minutes of footage. Previously, this was limited to just sixty seconds long.Video content is now extremely prominent in social media and Instagram stories can be used as a great way of advertising, by trimming a video clip to only the parts you need.

Flourish are a founding Imagineer International member and a digital-first design consultancy agency. www.flourish.agency