If you own a gym or fitness studio and can never seem to get enough clients, your personal training marketing methods may be to blame. Marketing a business may seem like a lot of work or something that’s too expensive for your limited budget, but it’s well worth the trouble when it’s done right. It doesn’t cost nearly as much as you might think it does, but the truth is that it can be incredibly costly to try to get by without it. Personal training marketing can be done very effectively and inexpensively, if you use these four very important strategies.

1. Build an email list - If you’ve lasted this long without building up an email list of all your current and potential clients… then props to you because the “list is king”- and without one it’s hard to keep any kind of business afloat. An email list is hands-down the most cost effective way to market your fitness studio because it allows you to connect with your clients in a more personal way than is possible with social media.

Sure you still need to have your social media marketing in place, but collecting the emails of your past, current, and potential clients is the number one best way to build loyalty with current clients, reconnect with former ones and earn the trust and the business of potential ne clients, all at the same time and all with the same dollar. Any time you can accomplish more than one goal at a time, you multiply your potential earnings and free up time and money that can be used elsewhere.

To build your email contact list, start by creating some type of free offer, something of real, tangible value, in exchange for their contact information. Use your personal expertise and that of your colleagues to write up a quick fat loss report, some healthy recipes, or an easy-to-follow workout video in an effort to get people to opt into your mailing list. Always think about the needs of the people you’re targeting, and tailor your free offer to meet one of those needs.

2. Get them to know, like and trust you - Once you have people opting into your mailing list, you need to make the absolute most of those contacts. You have essentially been given a golden opportunity with each email address. In order to maximize the income potential of these contacts, you need to focus on getting them to know, like and trust you.

Now, here’s where it gets time consuming- in order for your personal training marketing campaign to work, you’ve got to mail out twice (if not three) times per week. And when you mail out to your list, it’s got to be something that will help meet their needs and get them to their goals. This is your opportunity to let them know that you can be a valuable and even invaluable part of their fitness dream.

One important thing to keep in mind when you’re creating your emails is that your subject line needs to be informative and compelling. It needs to tell them exactly what your email contains and it needs to be something that they can see is valuable and usable right away. Your goal is to get them to open that email. No matter how good your email is, it won’t help you get more business if it never gets opened. Try to use titles like “The Top 3 Best and Worst Drinks to Get at Starbucks” or “4 Incredible Tips to Burn 500 Extra Calories Per Day” and then deliver on the promises in your subject lines.

Another extremely important thing to remember about personal training marketing campaigns is that you can’t overdo the selling in your emails. If people know that every email is going to be a sales pitch, they’ll automatically delete them and may even unsubscribe. Now you’ve lost not just them but every referral you might have earned from them. Don’t punish subscribers by pushing your promotions at them. You have to earn that through your awesome content. Use the rule of 4:1 - for every 4 pieces of great content you mail out, you’ve earned 1 promotional mail out. Following this rule will not only build your likability - it will also build your credibility.

3. Make them offers – offers that they can’t refuse. You do this by having a “low barrier offer,” meaning that you’re giving them a heavy discount to essentially come in and try your facility risk- free. You might try something like a 14-Day Rapid Fat Loss program for $50 or so. Then follow through on your promise. Get them looking and feeling great in those 14 days so you can have the chance to sell them on your real offer, which might be a 6 or 12 month contract.

4. Become the assistant buyer - This tip is for when you’re having a consultation with a prospect, generally someone from your email list that has taken you up on your high-value, low-barrier offer.

Instead of trying to sell to them, become the “assistant buyer” and find out just what it is they are there to do. Lose weight? Tone up? Build muscle? Every single thing the potential client tells you is a clue to the best way to close the deal, so ask questions and listen to the answers. Don’t give them 200 reasons why they should sign up with you. Use what they tell you to show them how you are the answer to meeting their goals.

By using just these four tips, you can make your personal training marketing incredibly effective and extremely profitable with minimal time and expense.

This entry was posted on May 27, 2014 at 9:02 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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