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Understand your positioning for summer
It’s no secret that the summer months can present challenges for boutique fitness studios. Between family holidays, outdoor distractions, and shifting schedules, member attendance can dip along with revenue. But that doesn’t mean summer needs to be a write-off. In fact, with a proactive approach, summer can be a powerful season of activation, experimentation, and retention.
Rather than viewing this period as a slump, see it as an opportunity to re-ignite energy within your studio community. People are more relaxed, the days are longer, and there is energy in the air. Your summer messaging should reflect that. Take a clear stance on what your studio is offering this season. Are you helping clients:
- Stay strong for their summer goals?
- Carve out “me-time” while their kids are out of school?
- Use the long days to get more done — including their workouts?
- Try something new while their usual routines are on pause?
Being intentional about your summer positioning gives your promotions a clear direction. This will set your studio up better to align your promotions and give members a clear idea of what they’re missing by not taking advantage of them.
What are you trying to achieve this summer?
Before you launch anything, define your studio’s primary goal. These may include:
- Attracting new clients who are looking for a short-term commitment.
- Retaining your current members by giving them reasons to stay engaged despite travel plans.
- Testing something new—from pricing strategies to new class formats, summer is an ideal time to try new things out (as long as they are not too high-risk).
Be honest about where your business is, and use summer as a period of strategic experimentation. Your goals will directly influence the kinds of offers and campaigns you put forward.
Let goals drive strategy
Once your goals are set, align your summer promotions accordingly. Define the goals and positioning for your studio and build your promotions around them. For example: If you want to attract new clients, focus on low-commitment, high-value entry points like trial memberships. To retain members, use gamification and rewards to keep them invested. For testing new strategies, introduce a limited-time class type or workshop and gather feedback.
Your offers should always be in service of your broader business objectives—not just picking out a promotion that seems appealing by the sound of it.
Top types of summer offers & promotions
Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, let’s take a look at our best strategies and ideas for the summer offers that will make your studio shine. Choosing and combining several of these types of offers may work best for your studio. Designing compelling summer offers isn’t just about discounts, it’s about meeting your audience where they are—in mindset, schedule, and motivation. That means making things flexible, light-hearted, and rewarding.
Let’s dive in!
Approachable Offers
Create low-barrier entry points to attract new clients or re-engage lapsed ones. These should be easy to purchase, easy to understand, and immediately beneficial. With approachable offers, people will have no reason to say “no”.
Summer Trial Memberships
Offer a 2 or 3 week unlimited trial at a discounted rate. Price it low enough to be a no-brainer, but enough to showcase value (e.g. £49 for 2 weeks unlimited). You can set a limit of one per person and set an auto-expiration so you don’t have to worry about manually checking timelines.
Time-limited class packs
Bundle 5-8 classes at a reduced price, valid only for the summer (say June through end of August). This can be marketed as a “summer burn” class pack that’s only offered during this season. The urgency of a “use it or lose it” pack can boost frequency while maintaining structure.
Drop-in friendly options
Create 1-class or 2-class passes that are slightly discounted but expire quickly. These are ideal for visitors, traveling members, or locals testing the waters. While drop-in classes don’t lead to long-term purchases, they’re perfect for catching people passing through that you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to draw in.
Summer-themed promotions & challenges
Challenges gamify fitness and the summer vibe lends itself perfectly to light competition and community motivation. Use this as an opportunity to come up with challenges that excite and drive members for higher class attendance.
Crush the summer promotions
Run a “Most Classes Attended in July” or “15 Classes in 30 Days” challenge. Use check-in data to track engagement, and offer perks like branded water bottles, 1:1 sessions, or a discount on their next pack. You can even offer branded summer-themed prizes such as beach towels.
Social media challenges
Try a “Tag us in your workout” Instagram story challenge, or “Post a pic at class” with a studio-specific hashtag. This spreads awareness organically and incentivises existing clients to stay engaged. Promoting the challenge on Instagram to alert them about it brings community together while utilising a new channel.
The “Studio Passport” challenge
Give members a “passport” with tasks like “Try a new instructor,” “Attend a 7am class,” or “Bring a friend.” Completed passports can enter a prize draw. It’s fun, flexible, and encourages new types of participation.
Summer exclusive rewards
Create a reward tier system: 5 classes = towel; 10 classes = free smoothie; 20 classes = £20 studio credit. A rewards system is an easy system to set up that’s scalable and boosts frequency.
Encouraging guests
Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful growth tools for boutique studios. Summer is the perfect time to activate it.
“Bring a friend” Perks
Launch a “Bring a Friend” promo where members get a class credit for every new guest they bring. Structure it so that if the guest signs up, the member gets an extra bonus (ex. 1 free credit). You can limit number of guests, or even charge guests a low entry amount to maintain revenue while still giving visibility of your studio to potential new members. Tracking referrals and rewarding behaviour instantly is a great motivator for members to bring in new guests.
Thinking outside the studio box
When the sun is shining, don’t be afraid to break the routine by hosting special events that your studio might not normally do.
Special workshops or classes
Offer one-off summer-themed events: “Sunset Flow & Wine,” “Saturday Sweat + Sorbet,” or “Parent & Child Movement.” These bring in extra revenue and deepen community ties. Incorporating kids into the studio can be a great idea when they are out of school for summer.
Off-site activities
Could you host an outdoor bootcamp in the park, a rooftop HIIT class, or a beachside yoga session? Doing something outside of the studio as a special, one-time event adds depth and excitement to your brand. Don’t forget to show it off on Instagram after!
Follow through with smart marketing
An amazing summer offer means nothing if no one sees it. Now’s the time to get smart about your marketing cadence and channels.
Use the right channels
Remember, people are traveling, busy, and often less online. That means multi-channel communication is key. You might want to think about activating push notifications and SMS more ofter as a result of people being busy and needing quicker information.
- Email: Send consistent, value-driven updates. Highlight benefits, not just price.
- SMS/Push: For urgent or time-sensitive offers, texts cut through the noise.
- Social Media: Instagram Stories and Reels are your best bet for reach. Social media is your secret weapon in summer for hosting and marketing your challenges.
Perfect your timing
Experiment with sending campaigns at different times of day and different days of the week. Review your analytics to understand when members open, click, and book.
With bsport’s automated marketing tools, you can A/B test timing, segment by engagement level, and tailor offers based on behavior (like a 3-class pack for those who’ve attended only once in the last 30 days).
Turn summer clients into loyal fall members
Every summer promotion should be designed with conversion in mind. How can you upsell a trial client into a full-time member? This is where your marketing needs to follow up and do the heavy lifting. While you need your marketing suite to be the magic launching your summer offers, you’ll need it even more come end of summer to make all the promotions worth it.
Send a “How was your summer?” email with a special conversion offer to kickstart a client’s transition into fall. Reward early commitment for the fall with offers such as “sign up before Sept 1 for 10% off a 3-month pack”. The trick is to carry the summer offers straight into the fall so you don’t miss a beat.
bsport’s retention workflows to auto-send re-engagement emails offer a perfect way to alert anyone whose summer pack is expiring. Based on customer behaviour in the summer, you can evaluate next steps for how to best target members by looking at dashboard analytics and taking actions that meet there where they’re at.
Summer as a Strategic Growth Period
Summer doesn’t have to mean slow. With the right mindset, strategy, and marketing, it can be one of your studio’s most innovative and energising seasons. By clearly defining your goals, crafting relevant and engaging offers, and using strategic marketing to support your campaigns, you can turn typical seasonal slowdowns into meaningful engagement opportunities. Whether you're welcoming new faces with approachable trials, reigniting your community through themed challenges, or taking your classes outdoors, summer is your studio’s chance to stand out.
And with the right tools like bsport’s marketing automations and retention workflows—you’re not just launching short-term promotions, you’re setting the stage for stronger retention and long-term growth. Make summer work for you, and carry that energy straight into a successful fall.
Are you not yet using the management platform where the sun is always shining? Book a demo with us today to see how you can be on relax mode this summer and let bsport do the work!
