Fitness studios and gyms can make great revenue before the end of the year by taking advantage of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Consumers are primed to buy on these days and business owners will miss out on these sales if they do not take advantage of the opportunities presented by these pre-holiday shopping days.
At TeamUp, our mission is to help fitness studios and gyms run and grow with ease. One of the ways we do this is by providing business owners with easy-to-use features like discounts and gift cards that they can utilize to find and retain customers.
To help you prepare for the upcoming rush of the holiday season, we’ve outlined tactics you can add to your Black Friday marketing strategy and included valuable information about the benefits of offering discounts, gift cards, and more.
How to prepare for Black Friday
Nowadays, Black Friday is more than just one day. Consumers expect Black Friday to encompass the whole weekend after Thanksgiving, which includes Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. While consumers might be primed and ready to spend money Black Friday weekend, they are also expecting great deals.
“Great deals” might make you think that you need to slash your prices and offer your classes or memberships at an unreasonably low price. However, that is not necessarily the case. If you have the means to offer discounts, we definitely recommend them. But, if you are running a small business, you can still create incredible offers that make your customers feel like they are getting a lot of value for less money.
Black Friday offers for fitness studios and gyms
Gift cards
Timing-wise, Black Friday is the lead-in to the holiday season so offering gift cards as part of your Black Friday marketing strategy is a great way to encourage customers to make a purchase. And gift cards are extremely beneficial for your business for a number of reasons.
Research done in 2025 shows that 61% of consumers spend more than a gift card’s value when redeeming, which means that adding gift cards to your studio or gym’s repertoire can lead to more revenue than the price of the actual gift card. Plus, when people give gift cards to others, it introduces your business to new customers.
And with TeamUp, you can now offer gift cards easily in the product! Learn more about gift cards in our guide.
Membership deals
Since people are primed to buy during Black Friday weekend, it’s a great time to offer a discount on an item of great value like a 12-month membership. For example, “Get one month free when you sign up for a year”. This gives you upfront cash flow and new high-intent members, while your customers can feel good about getting a deal.
Discounts and waived fees
Discounts and waived fees are great ways to encourage signups for prospective customers who might not be sure about signing up otherwise. These customers just need that little extra push to make that buying decision. Then, it’s up to you to nurture those first-time customers and turn them into loyal members.
We also recommend offering tiered offers, instead of just a flat discount. For example, a $49 trial month, which is a low barrier to entry, a 10-pack with bonus class (medium level), and annual unlimited membership with free merch and a free month (high level). Your customers don’t all want the same thing, so provide options so you can increase the likelihood of making a sale.
Black Friday marketing tactics
Once you have determined what you are offering for Black Friday, it is important to shout it from the rooftops! Marketing around these Black Friday deals is essential to success. Use these tips and tactics to get your message across to customers both new and old.
Automated and one-off email marketing
Email is a great marketing channel to announce your Black Friday deals to existing customers and prospects that are already in your sales funnels. Email marketing should be simple and to the point. Write an enticing subject line to encourage customers to open the email and then jump right into the deal. Highlight the urgency and get them excited!
TeamUp integrates seamlessly with popular email marketing tools like Mailchimp and Constant Contact, which makes it easier to segment leads and automate email campaigns based on where they are in their sales journey. Likewise, you can create sequences for lapsed customers to bring them back into the fold with Black Friday deals and push add-ons to active customers as well.
Urgent, time-sensitive messaging
One of the reasons why Black Friday deals are so successful is the urgency created. When you announce your offers, make sure that you remind your consumers that these deals will not last past Cyber Monday. You can even create a “super deal” for the first 10, 25, 50, or 100 customers to encourage early purchases and make the offers feel even more scarce.
With TeamUp, you can even set codes to expire in 24 or 72 hours. Then, trigger auto-reminder emails that encourage customers to book with subject lines like “6 hours left” and “Last call!” These short windows increase perceived value and lean on the “fear of missing out” or FOMO.
Upsell and cross-sell
The fitness industry lends itself well to upselling and cross-selling. Upselling refers to offering a customer a more expensive or upgraded version of a product or service they are already planning to purchase, with the goal of increasing the average order value and revenue. On the other hand, cross-selling is a technique where a customer is offered a related product and service when they are already making a purchase.
During Black Friday, you can take advantage of these common practices to increase your revenue. You can upsell or cross-sell by adding nutrition coaching, 1-on-1 training sessions, on-demand content, or branded swag when customers make a purchase on Black Friday.
Referrals
Black Friday is a great time to lean on your current customer base and ask for referrals. By increasing your referral bonus or offering an additional element to your referral program like a discounted class or a piece of swag, you can increase your customer base during an important time for your business.
These tips and strategies should help you prepare to make the most out of Black Friday for your fitness studio and gym. And with TeamUp, we can help you every step of the way. Our features and tools have everything you need to find new customers, increase your revenue, and so much more.
Ready to take the next step? Book a demo and learn how TeamUp can help you and your members achieve goals.
