Boot Camp Marketing - Personal Trainer And Fitness Marketing

Marketing a Fitness Boot Camp

Posted by Steve Hochman on Wed. Oct. 16th, 2013

If you’ve already started a fitness boot camp, you may only have a few people attending and obviously, getting more people to join will increase how much you earn.

There are dozens of ways of marketing a fitness boot camp business as you probably know, but the best way to get a good response is to offer something free. Free is the most effective word in advertising, because it works.

Whether you want to run print ads, use your FaceBook Business page to attract leads, or use lead boxes, you can attract a lot of business by offering prizes and free sessions to get people in through the door.

As a bonus, by using any or all of these methods you can also grow your email list, so even if people aren’t ready to sign up today, you can keep reminding them of what they’re missing. Just make sure your limited time offers are what they say they are - limited. If people know they’re always going to get $100 off their first month’s boot camp membership, there’s no incentive - you have to create a sense of urgency.

Lead Boxes

Lead boxes are a quick and easy way to grow your client list; you’ve probably noticed them on local retailers’ counters. They’re simply little boxes that can advertise a business’s special offers. They have a slot in the top where you drop in a card, just like a ballot box. It could be a business card, but the best idea is to have a short tear-off questionnaire, that asks for a name, phone number and email address.

No savvy business owner is going to clutter up his sales counter with lead boxes if he doesn’t get something out of it. Make him an offer of a free personal training session, a free month’s boot camp, or a coupon – something valuable that benefits him.

The great thing about lead boxes is they’re extremely easy to monitor, because obviously you have to go back an empty them. For promoting a fitness boot camp, you have to figure out where the best places will be to leave your lead box, and that will be hair salons, barbershops, spas, health food stores, and yoghurt shops etc. It may take some trial an error to find the best locations, but lead boxes can be an incredibly good source of leads.

You have an awesome business, so think hard about the design of your lead box. It should be attractive, and tell people exactly and concisely what to expect if they do fill in a card.

A good graphic designer will help you create just the right lead box, one the business owner doesn’t hide under the counter as soon as you leave. The cost for a lead box can be just $20 each and in a high-traffic location, you may get 50 leads a week, with a conversion rate of maybe 1-5 sign ups, and of course, you get 50 email addresses that you can work on. The more compelling and valuable your offer, the more interest there will be.

If you only have 10 lead boxes, you can always drop in once every few days and buy a joghurt, shoot the breeze with the owner or get your hair trimmed and collect the cards. More than that and you’ll probably have to hire someone to do it for you.

FaceBook

FaceBook has changed a lot; it’s no longer just a social media site, it’s a great place to promote a business. You can run an ad on FaceBook offering free sessions or reduced rates to your exact target audience only, so if your bootcamps are popular with 25- to 35-year old businesswomen, only they will be see your ad.

To keep your costs down, don’t redirect prospects to your blog or website, send them to your FaceBook business page, and offer a free audio program or report in exchange it for their email address, because FaceBook prefers if you don’t redirect traffic away from their site.

Using Other Business Owner’s Email Lists

Building a rapport with other business owners is important because eventually you may be able to ask to use their email list. What you’ll do is send out a series of emails to their clients, containg a special offer. You can sweeten the pot by giving the business owner some gift cards, that he can use himself or give away, and you could reciprocate by offering to send a special offer for his business to your email list.

Build a Website or Blog

If you’re serious about marketing a fitness boot camp and cultivating a good following, but haven’t already built a blog or website it’s time to do so.

Learn about keywords, which are the words people use to search for relevant websites. Those words are how the search engines find your website too. Make your blog or website interesting, post regularly and link to information on other sites your visitors may find interesting and useful. Pay attention to comments and respond as quickly as possible, which easy these days thanks to smart phones. Read the rest of Marketing a Fitness Boot Camp

Fitness Business Tip

Posted by Steve Hochman on Tue. Oct. 8th, 2013

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Occasionally people ask me if I can offer an effective business tip that will help them run their fitness businesses more effectively. I think the most important tip is to maintain a close relationship with every client, whether you do one-on-one personal training, or you run a series of boot camps.

Honestly though, there isn’t just one tip I can offer unless I know you and your business really well. I’ve seen a lot of people make mistakes from which they’ve been able to recover, and others who made a similar business blunder that has led to bankruptcy. It’s all down to your attitude, and the goals you’ve set for your fitness business plan.

Planning and Goal Setting

Insufficient planning can cause enormous problems. If you boil down to its basics, then it looks pretty simple: you get clients and they pay for your services. But how do you get those clients? How much do you charge? How much do you need to earn to have a decent lifestyle? Where do you want your business to be in five years time? Do you want to do personal or group training, or would you like to maximize your earnings by running regular boot camps?

You have to know the answers to all these questions before you can even get started. Goal setting is also very important because without goals your business will stagnate.

Give People What They Want

Say you’ve decided that you want to run boot camps. What kind of people are you aiming to attract? Now we get into marketing and if you’re in the early stages of planning a series of boot camps you’re going to have to know exactly where you’ll find your clients. That means advertising, marketing, and promotion and knowing exactly where your potential clients hang out.

I’ll give you a good tip about marketing - you definitely don’t get what you pay for, and in fact on of the most effective way to get referrals is by doing things for free. That includes networking with other local business owners, working with local youth groups for example. and offering to talk at events - in other words, getting your face and services known around town by building an excellent reputation. It will take an investment of time, but will give you a much better return than taking out an expensive full-page ad in an obscure glossy magazine.

You have to build personal relationships to be successful in the fitness industry and give people what they want, and you may have to diversify to be able to do that. People think they want the latest “easy” way to lose weight and you’re well aware that many of these fads go out of style fast, so you can’t base your business on the latest trend.

People want to lose weight and stay fit, so you’re ultimately going to give them what they want but using your own techniques. This is why building trust is so important. You should never tell anybody that’s’s 200 pounds overweight it’s going to be easy to slim down, unless you recommend gastric bypass surgery. Therefore, you always have to be honest. People will respect you for that, although many won’t want to face the truth.

Success Means Hard Work

Ask any successful small business owner what it takes, and I guarantee every one will tell you, hard work. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling fitness or fruit the basics are the same. Find the right location, come up with an effective marketing plan, and roll up your sleeves.

One unique aspect of owning any fitness business is that you’re a walking billboard, so you have to stay in shape. The guy who owns the fruit shop doesn’t have to be seen walking around eating oranges all day!

One of the first and most important things you must include in your business plan is time for yourself and your family. You have to stay healthy physically and mentally because you must always have to have a positive attitude towards your work.

Marketing Tips

Getting your first clients through the door is going to be a challenge and I’m not talking about the ones that followed you from another facility, I mean brand new faces. Finding the best places to market your business is going to be difficult. You can waste hours on FaceBook and get thousands of friends, but if none of them live in your area then it’s pretty much a waste of time. Flyers are generally ineffective, and newspaper ads are equally ineffective and expensive. So what to do? Read the rest of Fitness Business Tip

Posted in Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

Marketing a Personal Training Business for Maximum ROI

Posted by Steve Hochman on Thu. Oct. 3rd, 2013

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You’ve worked hard, you look great and you know your biz. If you have a facility you may have even got yourself into some deep financial obligations to get the place full of the latest state-of –the-art equipment, but without knowing the best way of marketing a personal training business you’ll probably be DOA.

Marketing is essential for any business whether it’s newly established or has been around for a long time. Look at Coca-Cola. Just about everyone on this planet has heard of it, but the company still spends millions on advertising. Why? Because of competition. You have to keep reminding people that you’re there – and that you’re the best, or they may be tempted to try someone else’s services.

Marketing a Personal Training Business Doesn’t have to Cost a Boatload of Money

If you’re new to marketing then don’t panic, some of the best ways of marketing a fitness business don’t have to break the bank, in fact the best ways only take time, careful planning and/or a small financial investment.

Social Media - FaceBook

If you haven’t set up a FaceBook Page for your business, then it’s time you did. Don’t be tempted to mix your personal and business personas by adding your business to your personal FaceBook profile. Your aim is to look professional, and mixing personal training information with comments and pictures of your best buddy’s stag night probably won’t impress a potential client!

The whole idea of marketing is to get as many people talking about your personal training business as possible, so aim to be a bit controversial, engage people and get a buzz going. Make sure you answer questions and interact with your fans regularly, get discussions going and run polls and competitions. FaceBook is a great place to interact with people to find out what they need.

When you get some healthy discussions going, FaceBook is also a great source of ideas that you can use when you build your email marketing list. Get people’s permission to use their names and questions, and incorporate those into topics for your website or email blasts. People love to see their own names and pix on the internet. They’ll Tweet and contact all their Friends to show off, thereby increasing your list of fans.

Social Media – YouTube

If you know your way around a camera, do this. Check out Google’s free Keyword Tool and investigate what people are searching for in relation to losing weight and personal training.

Marketing a personal training business via YouTube is incredibly easy and effective. There are one and a half million searches punched into Google every month relating to personal fitness training and many of these are localized searches.

Use this keyword information to title articles for your website and use these keywords in the titles and descriptions of the videos you make. You can re-use your videos many times over; on your website and on all the other video sharing sites. Pick your keywords wisely and incorporate the name of your town and build a seriously popular channel of helpful videos that will be shared, Liked and Tweeted. Concentrate on content, video quality and sound quality – the latter is often overlooked, but is extremely important if you want to look professional. Aim to get your videos on the first page of the search engine results pages. With a few minutes’ research you’ll discover under-utilized keywords and you will cash in.

Email Marketing

If you haven’t got a list, you’re missing one of the cheapest ways of marketing your fitness business. Placing an opt-in form on a WordPress site is a piece of cake, and getting people to sign up isn’t rocket science. Read the rest of Marketing a Personal Training Business for Maximum ROI

Posted in Blog, Boot Camp Business, Fitness Marketing by Steve Hochman | No Comments

9 Reasons to Open a Personal Training Studio

Posted by Steve Hochman on Wed. Sep. 25th, 2013

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What are your reasons for wanting to open your own fitness studio? The first answer will probably be to make more money, but if you know the ins and outs of leasing a property, paying staff, taxes, insurance etc., you may be wondering if you could actually make more money. Would it be worth the effort?

The second reason may be so you could do what you want to do - maybe by appealing to a specific market that you enjoy working with. Well, here are nine very good reasons why you should open your own fitness center. The two reasons mentioned above are in there too of course.

You Can Get Other People to do the Work

There’s an old saying – people are too busy working to make any money. Employing a dozen staff, each making you, say, $10 clear profit every hour they work beats the hell out of trying to make $120 an hour all on your own. If you set up your personal training studio right, that’s exactly what you could be doing – even while you’re relaxing with your family on a tropical beach!

But does the thought of dealing with a dozen staff give you a massive headache? Then look at starting your own fitness boot camps! One-on-one training is ridiculously inefficient. You can set up boot camps, have trained members of staff run them for you, and add group training sessions – all with just a few staff – and still reap big financial rewards

You’re the Boss

By offering large group sessions and boot camps you won’t be a slave to your business. You won’t have to supervise everything that goes on either. With someone else running them you’ll be able to do it from the comfort of your home, or from a smart phone anywhere in the world.

Work the Hours you Want

If you want to get involved you can – training only the people you choose to train – and charging them accordingly. No more getting up at dawn and watching the sun go down in someone else’s studio. Do what you want – and reap the rewards!

You Run Your Business

One of the biggest problems with running your own business is that you can end up with that business running you. That’s not the reason why you wanted to start your own fitness studio is it? If you run indoor boot camps, you’ll only need a fraction of the expensive equipment needed to stock a 24 hour gym. Make each square foot of your personal training studio works for you by offering many boot camp sessions each day. Have someone else run them for you and you’ll be in no danger of being overwhelmed by your business. Read the rest of 9 Reasons to Open a Personal Training Studio

Posted in Blog, Boot Camp Business, Personal Training Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

Starting a Fitness Bootcamp Business

Posted by Steve Hochman on Tue. Sep. 17th, 2013

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Fitness bootcamps are becoming enormously popular for a number of reasons. People can train with a friend or friends, at a time that’s convenient for them and they can even make new friends. Being part of a group also helps keep attendance rates high, and of course a well-run boot camp is fun and very effective in delivering fast results.

If you’ve been in the personal training industry for any length of time, you’re probably not earning what you want to earn just with a handful of one-on-one clients. If you’ve heard what many boot camp owners are making for the hours they work, no wonder you’re looking into starting a series of boot camps of your own. I didn’t even mention you can kiss your boss goodbye!

You can earn more, and spend the rest of the day doing what you want to do.

Location

Typically, most people think of boot camps as being held outdoors. There are a few advantages, specifically you don’t have to pay rent and you have no overheads. That’s great, until it snows or rains and your 6am class has to work out in the dark. There’s always the possibility the local authority that runs the park may changes its rules.

The alternative is to lease or sub-lease space. Sub-leasing can be the most advantageous choice for those starting their first boot camps. Why? Because you don’t have to invest a lot of money.

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Posted in Boot Camp Business, Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, Fitness Marketing, How To Start a Fitness Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

Fitness Boot Camp Business

Posted by Steve Hochman on Mon. Aug. 26th, 2013

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One of the main reasons why people decide to start their own fitness boot camp business is to make lots of money. It works, but only if it’s done right. The difference between personal training, small group training, and a bootcamp with, say, 30 participants is simply the amount of people who turn up. More people, more money right?

Well in theory that’s true, but it’s very difficult to give as much personal attention and guidance to 30 people as you could with one-on-one training. If you ignore the needs and abilities of anyone who attends your classes, you’re going to run into trouble. You’ll spend more time recruiting and dealing with bad publicity than actually training anyone.

There are far too many people with the wrong ideas about boot camps anyway. The U.S. Army always comes to mind first, and that’s a scary prospect for an overweight mother of three. The word “small” in small group training may be more attractive, but it still won’t help if your sessions are not planned properly and are not tailored specifically to each of you client’s needs.

When you train someone in a one-on-one situation, you get to know him or her. You quickly learn what they can and can’t do, what they’re good at, and what they’re physically not up to. You also get to know their personality and, very importantly, their medical history. If someone gets hurt in any situation, it’s probably your fault - not the client’s!

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Posted in Boot Camp Business, Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, How To Start a Fitness Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

The Ideal Fitness Business Model

Posted by Steve Hochman on Mon. Jul. 29th, 2013

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So you want to start your own fitness business. Congratulations on making a wise decision that means you’ll be doing something you love, for as long as you want to do it, with the potential to make a lot of money.

Now, where do you begin?

Find the Right Property

The first thing you’ll probably want to consider is a property. Depending on where you are, you may have already seen a suitable property that’s in good condition and doesn’t need a ton of money spending on it.

Hopefully the property will be owned by a decent landlord, with lease terms that won’t keep you awake every night worrying about the air conditioning or the roof caving in.

Hire a real estate attorney who can look over the terms of any lease before you sign on the dotted line, after you’ve decided how long a lease you’ll be comfortable with.

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Posted in Boot Camp Business, Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, Fitness Marketing, How To Start a Fitness Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

A Solid Fitness Boot Camp Business Plan

Posted by Steve Hochman on Wed. Jul. 10th, 2013

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It doesn’t matter if you’re starting a personal training business or a fitness boot camp, you’ll need a solid business plan that includes an effective marketing plan if you want to get on the fast track to success.

Learn everything you can about marketing. Find out what works for you and concentrate on putting your plan into place so everybody - you, your staff and your clients, will always know what to expect.

Set Goals for Your Business

Your business plan must include goals. Where do you want your business to be in 12 months, three years and in 5 years?

Only you know how much time and effort you want to dedicate to your business. Many small-business owners end up working seven days a week without a break and that isn’t good. Hence planning well ahead means you can take much needed time off without feeling guilty and you should also be able to take a vacation.

How much money do you want to be earning in five years time? If you can set a realistic goal and work towards that financial goal, you’ll find that instigating an effective business plan will help spur you on.

Finding and utilizing a number of effective marketing techniques will be key to your success. By planning, you can experiment. By setting goals, you’ll be able to drop those marketing techniques that are not working and concentrate on those that are. Therefore, you must always be aware of where your referrals are coming from and which convert the best.

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Posted in Boot Camp Business, Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, Fitness Marketing, How To Start a Fitness Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments

Tips On Starting Your Own Fitness Boot Camp Business

Posted by Steve Hochman on Mon. Jun. 17th, 2013

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There are many hard working, talented, and dedicated trainers who are quite happy clocking in and working for someone else every day of their lives. I’m sure a large number of them have at one time or another considered starting a fitness boot camp business. For the majority the biggest problem is raising the capital, but one of the biggest advantages of starting a Boot Camp Business is you don’t need an enormous amount of money to get started.

You can treat the fitness industry like a normal J.O.B., or secure your financial future by looking beyond the one-on-one training sessions by starting your own boot camp business in just a matter of weeks. No more working long hours, six days a week and taking only a small percentage of the profits – you can have it all!

Be honest and ask yourself what are your goals are in life. Some will say they just want to be able to pay their bills each month. Fine - there are plenty of jobs in the fitness industry for those people, but if you’re ambitious, have the tenacity and will to succeed, and want to pay off your mortgage in five years rather than dragging it out for 30, then starting your own Boot Camp Business will be the ideal solution.

Working six days a week also means you have very little time for your family and/or loved ones. I don’t know too many spouses/lovers/girlfriends that will put up without ever seeing you in daylight, or those who wouldn’t love some weekends away and at least one good vacation each year. Living with someone who falls asleep exhausted as soon as their buns touch the couch is another reason why relationships fall apart. You’ll be starting your own Boot Camp Business for those you love as much as you, so get them involved.

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