When you first start out as a fitness trainer, the chances are you’re only going to start out with a couple of clients. Obviously the best way to build your client base is to get referrals. Word of mouth is the cheapest and most effective marketing you can ever hope for but it’s probably not going to build your business fast enough to give you a decent income for the first few months.
Time to start marketing your fitness boot camp, so what are the most effective and cheapest ways to do that?
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This is a guest post by Fit Body Boot Camp co-founder Bedros Keuilian.
Enter Bedros...
I’ve been coaching and offering consultation to fitness professionals for well over a decade and I wanted to share an abbreviated version of an email I recently sent out to my subscribers titled the Official Annual State of the Industry Report which could also be called a Fit Body Boot Camp Franchise Review.
I didn’t expect the enormous response I got but it was good to know so many people in this industry are eager to understand which way the business is headed. My Report is all based on careful research and facts, and anybody who knows me personally will tell you I put my best efforts into everything I do.
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Okay you’re fitness PRO, not some marketing whizz. The truth is that most fitness professionals have little or no clue about how to go about how to market a fitness business. They think that having their credentials on the wall with a photo of them doing a smiling oily pose is going to entice everyone to sign up with them. Wrong. You have to get prospects in the door first, and secondly they don’t care too much about what you look like, it’s what they hope to look like after they’ve used your services!
It’s all about the prospect.
As everyone in this industry knows, the best (and cheapest) leads are referrals, those prospects who lift the phone because their friend, co-worker, colleague – whatever - has gone from being a blob to a babe. See where we’re going here? People want proof.
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Continuing on my previous post, I decided to give a more in depth analysis on how to actually accomplish what I suggested previously on each topic starting with Fitness Business Retention.
One of the most time-consuming and expensive aspects of running any kind of business is finding new leads. Indeed many owners of fitness training facilities concentrate most of their efforts on finding new clients instead of retaining the ones they already have!
So how do you do that?
How are your Customer Service Skills?
Why are people leaving? In order to find out why the majority of your clients are not renewing the most efficient way is to send them an e-mail containing a questionnaire, with plenty of room to add their own comments. Calling them is not so effective because many people will tell you what they think you want to hear and they won’t be quite so honest!
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In fitness training your name is often your brand. Online, the leading fitness experts are searched for by name rather than by any company name they may own.
So how can you keep your name at the forefront of your clients’ and prospects’ minds? The key is to stay in touch with your list regularly, and a solid personal trainer marketing plan including fitness newsletters are a great way to gain and build brand recognition.
If you have a website or a blog and you don’t have a lead capture page or opt-in box you’re missing out on the most effective ways to capture qualified leads. If you do have an opt-in box but don’t offer your visitors and clients a reason to stay subscribed, then it’s a pointless exercise.
Being a fitness trainer probably means you’re busy from dawn to dusk. Maybe the thought of writing scares you to death, or perhaps you have no clue what to say in a regular newsletter or most likely, you simply don’t have the time to do it. What then?
One of the best personal training marketing strategies is sending out regular fitness newsletters. It’s highly cost-effective and will bring a great return on investment, whether you do it yourself or you sign up for a service such as FitPro newsletter.
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There are only two legitimate reasons why a personal trainer would work for someone else instead of starting a fitness business of their own: to learn the ropes, or because he’s affraid of the responsibility and commitment required to start his own business. I know it’s not because he’s lazy!
However much you like the person you work for, he’s making money from the sweat of your brow. Chances are you’re not too happy with what you earn, but hey, he has all the headaches of paying bills, rent, salaries and advertising expenses and going through the process of attracting and retaining clients.
But some of the clients only see you. They ask for your services personally. They’ve hardly ever seen your boss. He spends a lot of time developing other business ideas or playing golf, and he’s often away with his family taking trips to places you can only dream of visiting.
You run two of his weekly Boot Camps. A total of 75 people paying how much each? And you get paid what for doing that? Now that simple calculation has quite possibly stimulated some of your entrepreneurial spirit. (more…)
You could be the best fitness trainer on the planet, but if nobody knows you’re there, you’ll end up with an unprofitable business or doing another job you have absolutely no passion for or working for somebody else. That’s why learning about effective marketing for personal trainers is so important.
The problem is that the whole subject of marketing can be daunting. You may find it easy to talk to people about health and fitness, but when it comes to talking about money and getting them to sign up for your services, you morph into a quivering jellyfish.
You might find marketing online a total breeze because it can appear so impersonal, but when it comes to approaching a business owner about offering your services to his entire staff, you quake in your Nikes.. You can’t even cold call one potential client because your brain turns to mush.
Marketing for Personal Trainers is Simple…
… if you understand how it works, and that will involve knowing some psychology and perhaps stepping outside of your own comfort zone. If you don’t master the art of marketing all the way through to closing, you may as well get a telemarketing job. Well maybe not, because that involves a certain amount of persuasion too. (more…)
Marketing is a confusing world especially if you’re specifically trying to promote your fitness business online. Perhaps you decide to go for article marketing because you’re a good writer. Maybe you’re great at making videos, and if you like spending hours on social media sites you can also do well promoting your services via Twitter, FaceBook or the myriad of other similar sites. Marketing your fitness center sounds easy doesn’t it? It can be if you have hours to spare, but remember you’re not making any money while you’re experimenting!
Let’s take writing articles first. If nutrition and losing weight are a major part of your business, then article writing can work. But who do you submit your article to? There’s ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, helium.com, Suite101.com, Articlesbase.com, Hubpages.com, Squidoo.com, Ehow.com and dozens of others.
For your videos, again you can submit them to any or all of the many video marketing sites – not just YouTube. There’s Vimeo, Metacafe, Ustream.tv, Viddler and a bunch of others that will all bring thousands of hits to your videos from all over the world.
But yours is a Local Business!
It’s great to see you’ve had thousands of hits and views of course, but if the time you’re investing isn’t bringing you clients and referrals, the few dollars you may make from advertising on your site isn’t going to cover the bills.
Local businesses must look at the smaller picture where the internet is concerned regarding fitness marketing strategies, or risk wasting time and energy that doesn’t bring results. The following are three of the best ways to get your business found online, that will bring positive results:
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First and foremost, you need a tool to be able to start, grow and deliver to your list. While there are many services that do these basic things online if you are in the fitness business, signing up for Fit Pro Newsletter fitness newsletter is pretty much a no-brainer. As it does all the most basic things but it also sends your list professionally written newsletters with amazing content for you and much more - see below.
Growing a List
If you want to build a thriving fitness business you have to build a list. There’s no way around it. With most types of online business and those who have to rely heavily on an online presence to get new business and referrals (who doesn’t these days) the business owner will have to do it alone and that can be a pain in the butt.
First you have to build some kind of list without offering anything to get those email addresses. You have to decide how often you’re going to send out your emails and newsletters and then you have to research what your target audience wants or needs, because providing low quality or irrelevant stuff will mean they either don’t read your newsletter or they unsubscribe and that will be a big waste of time.
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