Gym and studio marketing plan for January.

When to start planning January

If January is your busiest month for new members, start in November. December fills up with holiday hours and staff time off, so get the offer and the page done before then and leave late December for the ads.

To see when people near you start looking, open Google Trends and search a phrase like “gym near me” or “yoga classes”. Set the location to Canada, narrow it to your province, and pick a time range that covers the last few years. If interest rises in the same weeks each year, have your ads running before those weeks.

If you kept records from last January, pull them out now. How many people signed up, and how many were still coming in March, are the two numbers this plan uses most.

1. Pick one offer

Lead January with one offer a beginner understands in a few seconds. One offer is easier to put in an ad, and easier to track when you look back in February.

Offers that suit January

• A trial pass for a set number of days or visits.
• A first-month rate that moves to your regular price.
• For studios, an intro class pack, or a beginner series that starts on a set date in January.
• For gyms with coaching, a starter program with a few coached sessions.

Before you announce it

• Give it an end date, and decide what the price becomes when it ends.
• Write the offer in one sentence, then use that sentence in your ads and on your page.
• Make sure everyone at the front desk explains it the same way.
• If the offer leads into a membership contract, check the terms against your province’s consumer protection rules.

2. Build one landing page for the offer

Send everyone who clicks an ad to one page about the January offer, instead of your home page. Keep everything on that page about the offer and the first visit.

What goes on the page

• The offer and its end date, at the top.
• The price after the offer ends.
• Your January hours or class times.
• What happens on a first visit, including what to bring and where to park.
• Photos of your own space and classes.
• Your address and phone number, with a map.
• A short sign-up form that asks only for what you need to follow up, plus a checkbox asking permission to send emails or texts (see step 5).

Test it on a phone

Open the page on your own phone and sign up as if you were new. Check that the form is easy to fill in with one thumb, that the confirmation arrives, and that someone on your team gets the alert. Fix anything slow or confusing before December.

If your current website makes a page like this hard to add, a separate landing page can sit alongside it.

3. Update your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing people see when they find you on Google Search and Maps. Make it match the January you’re planning.

• Holiday hours. Set special hours for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Google’s help page on how to set special hours covers it, and your regular hours stay as they are.
• January hours. If you’re adding early or late hours for January, update them before the month starts.
• Classes and services. List them, beginner ones included, using the plain names a newcomer would search for.
• An offer post. Post the January offer on your profile as an offer. Google says an offer post “requires a title, dates, and time” (Google’s guide to posts).
• Photos. Add recent photos of your space and your classes.
• Booking link. If your profile has a booking link, point it to the January page.
• Reviews. Ask current members for a Google review in December, and reply to the reviews you get.

4. Set your ad budget and dates

Decide your January ad budget before December starts, along with the date ads go live and the date they step down. Deciding early means nobody is guessing during the busiest weeks.

Work the budget out from your own numbers

Start with the number of new members you want from January. Divide it by the share of trial visitors who usually join, to get the trials you need. Divide that by the share of leads who book a trial, to get the leads you need. Multiply the leads by what a lead has cost you before, and you have a budget for the month.

If you don’t have these numbers yet, track them this January so next year’s plan has them.

Timing

• Start search ads before the new year, using your Google Trends check to pick the date.
• Hold some of the budget back for the middle of January, then move it to the ads that are bringing in sign-ups.
• If nobody can answer the phone at night, use an ad schedule so ads that ask people to call only show during staffed hours.
• Pick the date the offer ads stop. Ads left running after the offer ends send people to a price that’s gone.

Where the ads run

Search ads on Google and Microsoft show when someone nearby searches for a gym or a class. Meta and Instagram ads show to people nearby who aren’t searching yet, which suits an offer with a start date, like a beginner series.

5. Plan the follow-up for the first weeks

January sign-ups pay off when people are still coming in March. Write the messages and set the reminders before January, while you have time.

Before the first visit

• Reply to every new lead the same day, by phone or text.
• Book the first visit while you’re talking, instead of leaving it for later.
• Send a reminder the day before with what to bring and where to park.

The first few weeks

• After the first visit, send a short note the same day and ask them to book the next one.
• Have coaches and instructors learn new members’ names.
• Keep a list of January starters and check it each week. If someone hasn’t been in for a week, reach out.
• Before the offer ends, tell people what happens next and what it costs.

Ask before you email or text

Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL) applies to commercial emails and texts, like offers and promotions. The Government of Canada puts it this way: “Under CASL, individuals and businesses are required to obtain consent from customers before sending them commercial electronic messages, such as emails or texts.” (Getting consent to send email, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.)

Add the consent checkbox to your sign-up form, and put your business name and a way to unsubscribe in every message.

During January

• Look at new leads every morning and make sure each one got a reply.
• Once a week, check which ads brought in sign-ups and move budget toward them.
• Keep your Google profile current if hours or classes change.
• Write down what worked and what didn’t while it’s fresh, for next January’s plan.

Checklist before the holidays

• One January offer, with an end date and the price after it.
• One landing page for the offer, tested on a phone.
• A consent checkbox on the sign-up form.
• Holiday hours set on your Google Business Profile.
• January hours, classes and an offer post on your profile.
• An ad budget, with a start date and a stop date.
• Follow-up messages written for the first visit and the first weeks.