Marketing & Sales
Blog to Connect
Activating a profile on the IDEA FitnessConnect directory is one way to generate client leads and enhance business marketing. However, your “overview” page is only a first impression; to differentiate yourself from other fitness professionals listed in your area, you can do more. An active blog creates another opportunity for (future) clients to learn about your skills and services.
The Language of Job Postings
If the world as we know it were coming to an end and it was your job to find skilled individuals to rebuild society, how would you pick the “right” people? If you chose wisely, they all would flourish; if you chose unwisely, everyone would flounder. When you’re hiring for your organization, use the same careful consideration.
Do you have a blog for your business? If so, what does it include? If not, why not?
We started our blog in December of 2008. We’ve done a total of 102 posts so we are averaging 5 posts per month. Our goal with our blog was twofold. First, we wanted to create a better connection with our clients by providing them great information on exercise, diet and nutrition as well as activities and fun events we would be offering. Second, we wanted to increase our search engine optimization to drive additional traffic to our website and to our business.
Social Media Power
I read Lance Breger’s article “Social Circles: Marketing Your Department” (using social media) in IDEA Fitness Manager [July–August 2010] and loved it! Having written social media–related articles myself, I completely enjoy when another fitness professional provides his/her fresh perspective. This article adds to the body of knowledge that already exists about social media marketing, but also takes it to the next level by providing practical applications that are both innovative and “doable” for all fitness pros.
The Client Newsletter, Your Way!
Digital newsletters (or e-newsletters) can be an integral part of a marketing strategy, keeping fitness professionals in contact with clients and prospects via e-mail. In the 2009 Advertising Effectiveness Survey by Forbes, marketers identified e-newsletters as the second most effective online marketing tool for generating conversions (first was search engine optimization).
Anatomy of a Profile
The IDEA FitnessConnect directory is now available to more than 16 million fitness- and health-oriented consumers through sites like www.ideafit.com, FitnessMagazine.com, SparkPeople.com, Active.com, and ihrsa.com
Marketing Advice: How to Go Guerrilla
Marketing: one of the most crucial aspects to the long-term success of your fitness facility. But where do you start? There’s direct marketing, consumer marketing, B2B (business-to-business) marketing, online marketing and more. However, one essential form of marketing that is commonly overlooked is guerrilla marketing, unconventional marketing that relies more on creativity than a big budget.
Selling Personal Training Services With Flow
Do you love personal training but dislike selling your services? To help people, you need to train them, and in order to train them you need to sell your services. You know you can’t be a wallflower, but you don’t want to be pushy, either. The good news is that you can learn “Buy-Chi,” the art of selling personal training with flow.
IDEA FitnessConnect
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that fitness trainers and aerobics instructors will be among the 30 fastest-growing jobs by 2018 (Boston Globe 2010). The estimated 29.4% increase in these fields could multiply the industry’s efforts in targeting the world’s health issues, but could also heighten the need for greater regulation and stronger alliances across all fitness and wellness professions.
Create and Market a Client Brag Book
In the world of marketing, many devices and activities fall under the broad category of “promotions,” and not all are created equal. Samples, coupons, cash refund offers (rebates), price packs, loss leaders, patronage awards, free trials, POP (point of purchase) promotions and demonstrations are all promotional activities.
Social Circles: Market Your Department
Many fitness facilities have built a social media marketing presence, and some are doing a good job of keeping their “real estate” current and dynamic. But not many facilities can claim a multilevel, departmental approach. Why not establish a separate page on your website for the personal training department?
Making Partnerships Happen
Few things in the world are more valuable for the fitness entrepreneur than a network of high-quality business partners. The saying “It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know” is especially true in today’s business world. Furthermore, the depth of your network’s network may be the most valuable asset of all.
Using Talk Radio as a Marketing Tool
What if you could talk your way to new customers, enhance your credibility and add value for your current clients—all for less money? Hello, talk radio. If you have the gift of gab and can hone it to the talk radio market, you may have found a niche that will set your business on fire.
Partnering With Equipment Retailers
How can personal trainers cultivate Baby Boomers and make them a lasting part of their business plans?
Creating an Adwords Campaign to Build Your Practice
In this article you’ll learn how to use Google’s Sponsored Link advertising to build your personal training practice.
Sponsored Links are advertisements that appear when you do a Google search. The ads contain content that
is pertinent to the keywords used in
the Google search. Figure 1 shows the Sponsored Link ads that appeared when I searched the keywords personal trainer troy mi.
Podcast Yourself
6 Inspirational
Power Points
Let Failure Guide
You to Success
9 Training for Growth
Seasonal Change:
Winter Doldrums
12 Internet Marketing
Creating an Adwords® Campaign to Build
Your PracticePersonal trainers acquire a wealth of information and fitness experiences over their careers. Most are willing to share their expertise if they know it might help enlighten a colleague or motivate a gym member.
What types of social networking do you use, and why?
We choose social networking vehicles based on what is popular with our mainstream target market. Right now this includes Facebook, a little bit of Twitter (but we are not big fans) and LinkedIn®. We think MySpace is dead, so we just do not use that site anymore.
We use online social networking to create awareness of our presence as professionals in our community, as well as to educate clients and potential clients about our philosophy and the benefits of what we call the “continuous modification of functional exercise.”
Top 10 Ways to Drive Revenue in a Downtrodden Economy
Man, times sure are great, aren’t they? You’re doing what you love working in a thriving industry of infinite opportunity, getting paid tons of money and also making a real difference in people’s health and fitness.
Identifying and Managing Risk Among Trainers
9 Business Basics:
Pricing Your Services
13 Technology:
From Mobile to Mobility
17 Training for Growth:
The Struggle for Significance
21 Best Practices:
Build Your Team
By nature, personal trainers are passionate, driven, organized and excellent at communicating, or so we would like to believe. In reality, within any team there are radical differences in terms of trainer competencies.
Pricing Your Services
Pricing your services is a complex subject and, as a result, few organizations price as accurately as they should. Determining a good and fair price for your services requires consideration of a number of different items, including your costs, the value perceived by your customers, alternatives available to customers, your regional cost of living and the effects of any competition.