Marketing is one of two key priorities in business. Without it you don’t have any business. It’s not something you should ever give up complete control of in your own business. You want and need to be in touch with your customers and their wants, fears, and goals as well as the way they want to get information from you. For that reason you can’t depend on just one source of connection. This article includes the must-haves for fitness client attraction.
What you need to remember about each of these marketing venues is that they have multiple ways of helping you. The richer the content that you have the more powerful they will be. You will attract customers who are searching for what you have, providing you use titles wisely. You will also improve your search engine optimization if you play nicely.
- YouTube video can help you attract clients searching for a solution to a problem or a specific service you offer. They’ll find you based on your title matching their search. This is where you need to think like your clients think. It’s important to think about the objective of every video and plan it from shoot to edit.
- Facebook business pages can help you connect and gain referrals from your current customers and their friends. That is, if you do it right. You’re going to need to create a reach to your customers beyond your services and sharing your own promotions. Posting to your fans is not the same as advertising. Don’t think of it as a bulleting board in your club listing specials. Think of it as conversation with the goal of eventual conversion.
- Twitter posts are more instant gratification. Your customer wants them to be newsy, edgy and the more current the better. If it makes them look witty or improves their status by liking or sharing you’ve won the Twitter game.
- Blogging is a way to improve your SEO. Do it consistently and use images and video within it. You’re essentially multiplying your reach when you embed a YouTube video inside your blog on your website. Share the link on Facebook or Tweet it out. One activity and multiple arms.
- Article writing in online sources. Write for someone else’s blog. Provide an ezine. That gets you spotted organically again and extends your reach in ways you can’t achieve on your own.
- Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and other social media are coming rushing in and just as the ones mentioned above will be or are important. If you do join, be active. Putting up a Facebook Pro page and then posting every couple months or even as little as a couple times a day will not help you. Commit to doing it and stick with it if you want to see results. When you slow or stop posting, you also stop your posts from being seen again when you decide you’re in the mood. Facebook will decide your not relevant since no one is interacting and even the number of fans you believe you’re reaching aren’t being shown your posts. Other networks may follow suit.
One thing not included above is reciprocity. You also need to interact with others. You can’t just throw constant information out there. You need to comment, like, and share others information openly and generously if you hope for reciprocity to flow back to you.
If these aren’t skills you have now or want to undertake, be careful about who you do hire, how you get them trained, and don’t completely let it go without monitoring. The biggest error most fitness owners are currently making is not knowing how to fully use media to their advantage. Doing it, and doing it right, are two different things. It can be your best friend if you make the effort to get some coaching on how to manage it. It is very trackable, almost immediate in response, and can show you a return on your time and energy with little investment.
