03. THINK LOCAL: GUERRILLA MARKETING

There is no substitute for word-of-mouth, and nothing drives buzz like active, local engagement. Consistent and visible promotion within your community builds familiarity, trust, and urgency—directly fuelling the growth of your VIP database and, ultimately, your sales. The more effort invested before opening, the stronger your launch momentum will be.

Your pre-opening success relies on both Guerrilla Marketing and key activation events designed to connect with your local audience. These activations may include Run Clubs, local markets and pop-up stalls, VIP nights, preview sessions, and “Meet the Trainers” events. Our team will support you end-to-end by providing all branded guerrilla marketing templates, guidelines, and activation/event assets.

    • Overview the Guerrilla Marketing Brand Guidelines in the Portal & linked here.

    • Understand recommended usage, placement, and execution.

    • Download your chosen Guerrilla Marketing templates for printing.

    • Templates are located in:
      Creative Hub → Branded Standards & Assets → Guerrilla Marketing
      (e.g. coffee cups, flyers, window signage, branded logos).

    • Identify all required sizes, measurements, and specifications for each design (e.g. window signage dimensions).

    • Choose a local printer/supplier for production of all designs.

    • Confirm their file requirements and lead times.

    • Submit artwork early to avoid delays.

    • Ensure all print files include your QR code, downloaded from your CRM once setup is complete.

    • Implement guerrilla marketing activities regularly in the lead-up to opening.

    • Maintain visibility across local hotspots, partner businesses, and community hubs.

Why It Matters

Localised exposure through Guerrilla Marketing is essential for driving awareness in the lead-up to opening. It allows you to connect with on-the-ground prospects who are most likely to convert into members and positions your studio as the exciting new fitness destination in your area. Examples include posters and flyers with QR codes distributed across your local community.

Franchisee Responsibilities (Once Lease Is Signed)

The more groundwork and local exposure you generate, the stronger your sales and conversion outcomes will be.

Your Pre-Sale Success Benchmarks

VIP Leads: Aim to generate 300–500+ VIP leads within your local area.

Conversion Rate: The network average for success is 30–40% conversion of VIP leads into members.

Touch-Points: Research shows it takes up to seven interactions before someone remembers your brand and takes action. The more Guerrilla Marketing, the stronger the result.

This level of success cannot be achieved through paid advertising alone. To ensure maximum conversion, you must drive all pillars of your campaign:

  • Organic social media content and regular chat-to-camera from franchisees

  • Local area marketing and Guerrilla Marketing tactics

  • Referrals generated through sales conversations

  • Community engagement and local connection

03. THINK LOCAL:
PRE-OPEN ACTIVATIONS

Pre-Open Activations: Building Community and Driving Sales

Pre-open activations are strongly suggested events, experiences, or campaigns that franchisees run before their studio officially opens.

All supporting assets for these activations are located in your Google Drive, including templates, marketing materials, and step-by-step guides.

Why They Matter

Franchisee Responsibility:

  • Map out what Pre-Open Activation events you will execute wihtin your Launch campaign.

  • Choose and schedule your chosen Pre-Open Activation events into Mindbody - speak on these during your sales calls from Day 1.

  • Allocate specific and intentional time into this concept to drive maximum success and return.

  • Capture this Guerrilla Marketing content and post to your stories (within social media branded guidelines).

By completing these activities and maintaining consistent local exposure, you will set your studio up for a successful Open Day, and strong, sustained growth beyond launch.

    • VIP Nights – Invite founding members, local leads, or influencers to experience the studio and meet the team. You have the ability to choose who you wish to invite. Best practise is opening this up to exclusively VIP members only, closer to your open date. The night could include champagne, ribbon cuttings, goodie bags, or catered food.

    • Run Clubs or Community Workouts – Free or low-cost sessions to engage the local community. These can be targeted towards anyone/everyone and generally includes a 15 minute run out, 15 minute run back to ensure it caters to all training levels. Coffee is generally paid for by the franchisee afterwards however this is your choice. 

    • Open House / Studio Tours – Showcase the facility while collecting leads. This concept can be scheduled 1-3 weeks prior to your opening when the build is near completion. Best practise is opening up your chosen time-slot/s, scheduling it into Mindbody and advertising the event every 1-2 days on your socials via chat-to-camera content and approved graphics. Ribbon cuttings, champagne and nibbles are encouraged for this concept and goodie bags with approved pieces if you choose. 

    • Social Media Campaigns or Local Partnerships – Capture attention and build brand awareness by remaining connected with local businesses and driving ongoing relationships with them. E.g. cafes, hair salons, sporting teams etc.

    • Engage potential members early and help them feel part of your community before opening.

    • Early engagement builds belonging, increasing likelihood of membership sign-ups.

    • Leads generated through pre-open activations convert at higher rates than cold leads.

    • Events provide direct opportunities to sell memberships and highlight the value of programs.

    • Trainers and FOH staff can practice processes, member interactions, and sales conversations in a real-world environment.

    • Staff confidence improves, driving better trial-to-member conversion rates.

    • Early engagement positions your studio as a hub for fitness and community.

    • Word-of-mouth and social media buzz amplify your opening marketing campaigns.

Let’s make your opening campaign your most impactful yet, please refer to the examples below on how you can drive maximum awareness within your Pre-Open campaign. 

  • Being seen is important. Signage is a key component of your marketing strategy during the pre-open phase. It generates excitement and anticipation for your location while also establishing a visual presence in your local area.

    Choose your approved branded templates from the Portal, then assign your location-specific QR code from your CRM and provide this to your supplier for production.

  • Putting posters around your area, guerilla-style, pushes your footprint beyond your site makes you feel “grounded” there. It inserts the brand into where people already are.

  • Flyers give your audience something to take with them, and can be a great asset to distribute through partnerships (e.g. in goodie bags) or to display in other local businesses.

    Handed out in person, flyers also provide the important opportunity to have a conversation with your community members- local sporting games can provide a great opportunity for this. 

    We suggest you utilise these flyers in local hair salons, barbers, small businesses, nail salons, and sporting locations to name a fews.

  • Seeing the brand out and about is a great way to spread awareness and make TYG feel on the ground in your location. It’s also a great conversation starter!

    Purchase all apparel through the Franchisee portal using your unique location access code to purchase at wholesale price.

  • Offer to partner with the local coffee shop that attracts the ‘right’ crowd- you’ll provide the cups if they are okay with some TYG branding.

    This is a great way to get in front of a larger audience and align yourself with local brands during your Pre-Open campaign to begin building your local & loyal community.

  • If you can get a head start on building your community through outdoor sessions, Swim Club or Run Club, it will undoubtedly put you in a better position to open.

    There’s nothing like a group of people sweating together in public to get people talking about TYG! This is a suggested weekly event for the duration of your campaign to then build out the organic reach of your VIP database.

  • Walk throughs, VIP nights - meet the team and coaches, facility tours, preview workout sessions are also a suggestion to hold closer to your opening.

    Franchisees choose the day and time of this event, to offer VIP members who have purchased a membership to see the space before anyone else. This solidifies their founding member status and can be complemented by a ribbon cutting, goody bags, and approved collaborations of your choice.

    We suggest you set this up in Mindbody as a standard class (allowing only members to book) and use the Supporting Assets within your Launch folder to advertise and hype this on your stories and in branded EDM’s to your database.

  • Community-first, always. Consider sponsoring a local sports team or community event to get your gym in front of a larger audience and show your support for the local area.

  • Influencers can be a powerful way to attract interest in your new location, and not just the type that first comes to mind. Hairdressers, skin therapists, nail artists and brow specialists often talk to a LOT of people and their opinions can be very influential locally.

    We recommend opening with 10-15 people on influencer memberships.