Know Which Marketing Actually Brings You Students
For every dollar you spend on advertising, you need to get more than a dollar back. Arnold shows you which ads, posts and flyers bring people through the door — and which ones are wasting your money.
- Included on every plan
- Ads, social, flyers, website
- Built into your member records
Why tracking your marketing matters
Business coach Brad Sugars calls it buying customers: every dollar you spend on marketing should bring back that dollar and then some. The catch is that you can only know if it does when you measure it.
Without tracking you are guessing. A big social media campaign can rack up likes and comments while a small search ad quietly brings in the actual sign-ups. Once you can see which one paid for itself, you can move your budget to what works — and drop what doesn't, before it eats next month's rent.
Markets change too. An ad that worked in summer can go flat in winter. Watching the numbers lets you react quickly instead of finding out at tax time.
Three ways Arnold tracks your marketing
1. Where every member came from
Every new account records a marketing source in three levels you define — for example Online › Facebook › Spring Kids Ad. The online sign-up page asks new students too, so you don't have to.
2. Who referred them
Link a new member to the existing member who brought them in. The referrals report shows your best ambassadors — the people worth thanking (or rewarding).
3. Power Marketing links
Create a tracking code (a GUID) for each ad, post, flyer or QR code. Arnold counts every visit that comes through it and charts it over time, so you can see exactly which campaign is pulling its weight.
Then the Account Source report brings it together: where your members came from over any date range, and how many each source produced.
Setting up Power Marketing
Find your Business GUID. Every gym on Arnold has its own. You'll find it under Settings › General Info.
Create a tracking code for each campaign. Go to Settings › Marketing and click Power Marketing. Add a code for each ad, flyer or post — or let Arnold generate one for you — and group them by type.
Add it to the link. Put the code on the end of the link you share, for example
yourgym.com.au/?refid=…. On your website, a few lines of code (below) record each visit in Arnold.Watch the results. The Power Marketing screen shows every code's total clicks and most recent visit. Click any row to see a chart of its reach over time.
Tip: create a new code for every piece of marketing — even two versions of the same ad — so you can compare them.
For your web developer
Post the visit to Arnold when someone arrives with a tracking code:
// On your website: record a visit for this marketing source
const businessGuid = 'YOUR-BUSINESS-GUID'; // from Arnold: Settings > General Info
const marketingGuid = new URLSearchParams(location.search).get('refid'); // e.g. ?refid=... on your ad link
if (marketingGuid) {
fetch('https://portal.gymdatabase.co/API/SessionSave?businessguid=' + businessGuid
+ '&sourceguid=' + marketingGuid, { method: 'POST' });
}Arnold replies with a small confirmation message when the visit is saved. Need a hand? Contact us.
Questions
Do I need a website to use Power Marketing?
No. The simplest way is to put a tracking code on the links you share — Facebook and Instagram ads, Google ads, flyers with a QR code, emails. Arnold records every visit that comes through each one. A website just gives you more places to use it.
Is it included on the free plan?
Yes. Marketing sources, referral tracking and Power Marketing are included on every plan, including the free Starter plan.
Can you set it up for us?
Yes. If you would like help adding Power Marketing to your website or ads, get in touch and we will walk you through it.
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