How much should a gym spend on marketing?
By Andrew Wallis · Published 16 October 2026 · 9 minute read
The short answer
As a rule of thumb, a gym or studio should spend around 5% to 10% of its revenue on marketing: nearer 10% when you're opening or growing, nearer 5% once referrals are flowing. But how you spend matters more than how much.
Spend consistently, not only when members leave, and in the right order: first the foundations (a website that speaks to your audience, a strong Google Business Profile and plenty of reviews), then content that answers the questions your prospects ask, and only then paid ads, once you know your offer and message work.
The straight answer: 5% to 10% of revenue
The rule of thumb I've always given gym and studio owners is to spend 5% to 10% of revenue on marketing. If your gym turns over $200,000 a year, that's $10,000 to $20,000, or roughly $830 to $1,670 a month. The same maths works in any currency.
- Nearer 10% when you're opening, launching a new service, moving premises or trying to grow quickly.
- Nearer 5% when you're established, referrals are steady and members stay a long time.
- It includes everything: software, ads, printing, photography and any help you pay for, not just adverts.
If cash is tight and 5% feels impossible, don't panic. The first stages below cost more time than money.
One check before you set a budget: your margins. If each session barely covers the coach, more members won't fix it, and good marketing can't fix bad margins.
My free margin calculator shows where you stand in a few minutes.
Why most gyms market in panic mode
Most owners are coaches first. When the diary is full, marketing is the first thing to slip, because coaching members feels more urgent.
Then a member or two leaves, revenue dips, and marketing suddenly becomes urgent too. The result is a stop-start cycle: a burst of activity, often a rushed advert or a discount, then silence until the next dip.
Marketing works best when it's steady. If, week after week, you're the most helpful coach or gym owner in your area, answering the questions people have, they come to know and trust you.
Then, when they're finally ready to start, you're the first person they think of.
Spend in the right order
Think of marketing like lighting a fire. You need a solid base, then kindling to get it going, and only then do you add fuel. Pour fuel on before there's a flame and you just waste it.
| Stage | What it covers | What it mostly costs |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundations | A website that speaks to your audience, a complete Google Business Profile, steady reviews | Some money once, then a little time each week |
| 2. Kindling | Articles and short videos that each answer one question your prospects ask | Mostly time |
| 3. Fuel | Paid ads, such as Meta ads, behind an offer and message you've already proved | Money, measured carefully |
Stage 1, foundations: be easy to find and easy to trust
When someone searches "gym near me", "personal trainer near me" or something specific like "triathlon personal trainer near me", you want to appear on Google Maps, with a profile that makes you the obvious choice. Three things matter most:
- A website that speaks to the right people, in their words, about the change they want, with a clear way to get started.
- A complete Google Business Profile: the right category, accurate hours and recent photos. See Local SEO and AI search for gyms.
- Plenty of good reviews. A useful baseline is ten Google reviews for every year you've been in business. People compare you side by side with the gym down the road, and the one with more strong, recent reviews usually gets the first call.
Stage 2, kindling: answer the questions people ask
This is where cash-strapped gyms win. Every question you hear from prospects, about cost, injuries, fitness levels or what a first session is like, is a piece of content waiting to be made.
Answer each one in a short article or, better still, a short video, one question at a time.
It's the approach Marcus Sheridan (opens in a new tab) describes in his book They Ask, You Answer (opens in a new tab), and it costs time rather than money.
AI makes it far quicker. Claude or ChatGPT can turn your rough notes or a voice memo into a first draft in minutes; you then edit it so it sounds like you and add your own examples.
Each piece should end with a clear next step, such as booking a call or a first session, so the content and the website work together.
Over time, this content brings people to your website from search, builds trust and positions you as the expert in your area. There's more on choosing topics in What to write about: answer their questions.
Stage 3, fuel: paid ads, once the fire is lit
Paid ads have their place, but they're the wrong first step. It's easy to waste a lot of money on adverts before you know whether the offer is right or the message lands. Add ads when you can tick these off:
- Your offer is proven: people already take it up from your website, content or referrals.
- Your message works: you know which posts and questions get a response.
- Your follow-up works: every enquiry gets a fast reply and several follow-ups.
- You know your numbers: what a new member is worth, and what you can afford to pay to win one. The free cost to win a member calculator works it out.
Then start small, test one offer at a time and increase the budget only on what brings in members, not just clicks.
Outspend your competitors, the right way
Dan Kennedy (opens in a new tab) is one of the best-known direct-response marketers in the world, and the author of the No B.S. series of marketing books, read by business owners for decades.
His famous rule is that the business that can afford to spend the most to win a customer wins. The key word is afford.
You can afford to spend more than the gym down the road when you know what a member is worth to you and you keep them longer.
Work it out simply: monthly fee × the average number of months a member stays. A member paying $150 a month who stays 14 months is worth $2,100.
Knowing that, spending $300 to win a member isn't a cost, it's a bargain. Keep members longer and the number grows, so you can outspend competitors who are still guessing.
How to tell if it's working
Once the foundations and content are in place, track a few numbers every month, by source:
- Enquiries, and where they came from (ask every new member "How did you hear about us?").
- New members, and how many enquiries it took to get each one.
- Cost per new member: what you spent on a channel divided by the members it brought in.
- How long new members stay, because a cheap member who leaves in a month isn't cheap.
Do more of what brings in members who stay, and stop paying for what doesn't.
Questions owners ask
What percentage of revenue should a gym spend on marketing?
Around 5% to 10% of revenue is a good rule of thumb: nearer 10% when you're opening or growing, nearer 5% when you're established and referrals are steady. It should cover everything you spend on marketing, including software, ads and printing.
Should a new gym run paid ads straight away?
Usually not. Get the foundations right first: a website that speaks to your audience, a complete Google Business Profile and a steady flow of reviews. Then create content that answers prospects' questions. Add ads once you know your offer and message work, so you're not paying to test them.
How many Google reviews does a gym need?
A useful baseline is at least ten Google reviews for every year you've been in business, and more than the gyms you're compared with. Recent reviews matter too, so ask for them steadily rather than in one burst.
What's a good cost per new member?
It depends on what a member is worth to you. Multiply your monthly fee by the average number of months members stay. As long as your cost per new member is comfortably below that, and you can afford to wait for it to pay back, the spend is working.
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I've spent 25 years in the fitness industry: on the gym floor, running my own boot camps and coaching gym and studio owners since 2012, including leading NPE Fitness's UK and European coaching team. I help independent gyms and studios get and keep more members.