When you’re out at the bar drinking a Stella Artois beer with your pals, whether you realize it or not, that beer you bought is giving clean water to a woman in need from a part of the developing world.
Did you know that? If you didn’t, I bet you feel much more compelled to continue buying Stella over the other beer options.
And Stella is only one of the leading companies making charity part of their brand.
TOMS helps provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth, and bullying prevention services to people in need around the world.
LSTN Headphones donates its proceeds towards giving hearing aids to children in need so that they can enjoy music for the first time in their lives.
When you compare these brands to their competitors, people see the ones who are involved in charities and be more swayed towards them.
This is what the millennials are bringing to the business world – social justice.
Why You Should Tie Your Fitness Business With a Charity
Social justice is all about how your business gets involved with charities and causes, while growing your business by creating a connection with your clients.
You’re creating a win-win-win for 1) the client, cause you’re making them feel good about their purchase, 2) the charity, who’s benefiting from your donations by helping people, and 3) your personal training gym or boot camp, which will stand out from the competition.
For the past 3 years, I’ve made giving back a part of my brand through charities like Toys for Tots and Shriners.
And I’ve found it’s one of the fastest ways to build my brand while spreading goodwill and stretching my reach to impact even more lives.
Last year, Fit Body Boot Camp went to Target and spent $20,000 on toys for Toys for Tots.
I thought “That’s good, but we can do better.”
I thought, “How can I tie in the Toys for Tots program into what we’re doing at Fit Body Boot Camp?”
So this year we’re stepping it up and raising one million dollars. For every single client we get on board, we’re donating a portion of the proceeds to Toys for Tots.
We upped the price of the 21 Day Web Special offer just a little from $67 to $69. Even though we increased the price by $2, we’re still giving back $3 of every web special we sell to Toys for Tots.
Getting involved in charity does several things for your business.
Today, we live in a socially conscious environment.
Not only is giving back a good thing to do to help out humanity, it’s a good thing to do for your business by tying in a cause that means a lot to you.
When a prospect client has a choice between your boot camp and another boot camp, both parties providing the same kind of service, the tipping point will be which one is donating to charity.
Guaranteed, they will choose your gym over the other if they know you’re giving back to a cause.
How to Give Back Without Looking Fake
When you’re the owner of a business, you’re faced with backlash no matter what you do.
You’ll get clients who badmouth you and your personal training business or boot camp, or they’ll say the other guy down the street has a cheaper program.
What’s really messed up is, people will even come after you for donating to charity.
Crazy right?
Well, I guess you can’t blame them. How many times have you come across a slimy guy with a big cheesy grin publicly announcing their donations to charity every chance they get?
You get enough of those guys going around and they give a bad rep for the personal trainers who have a genuine passion to help those in need.
There is a way to give back without looking like you’re only in it for the publicity.
First, you need to find a charity that is meaningful to you. Once you do that, you need to figure out how you’re gonna get involved with that charity.
And you’re not doing this to inflate your self image. You’re doing it because you genuinely care about the cause you’re donating to.
There’s nothing wrong with putting it out there in your advertisements and social media. You’re basically saying to people, “Hey, I know you have a choice between my gym and the other guy’s gym, but when you sign up with me, a portion of the proceeds go to this charity.”
Make it a way of doing business rather than looking at it as a promotion or limited time involvement.
It’s critical you find a charity you’re passionate about giving back to. Cause when you’re not, people can smell the bullshit.
For me, I’m passionate about Toys for Tots. I’m passionate about Shriners. When Hurricane Harvey hit and affected the lives of our Fit Body Boot Camp owners and members, we campaigned to drive donations to Harvey.
These kinds of contributions aren’t front and center on my websites, but it’s something we talk about in interviews, podcasts, magazine articles, and social media.
When people see how genuinely invested you are in a charity, they’re going to be more swayed towards your brand because you stand for a cause they believe in.
The Number One Reason to Get Involved
Two words: your team.
When you’re pounding the pavement to get those donations in, your team gets pumped up right along with you.
We hear a lot about how millennials want to be part of something bigger or want to do something meaningful.
But when you think about it, doesn’t most of humanity wants to do something meaningful?
It’s not just the millennials. But in this case, my HQ is made up of 85% millennials. And they get so excited when we have a cause that we can support and go above and beyond just “let’s run a business and make money.”
When I decided I wanted to raise one million dollars for Toys for Tots this year, I asked my team what they thought and they were behind it 100%.
When you get your trainers and staff involved in a charity that matters to them too, you’re really building morale in the workplace.
They get so pumped and excited to make an impact in people’s lives beyond just fitness and health.
Right when I told my team my crazy idea, they started connecting with Toys for Tots immediately. They’re creating the sales funnel for nearly 600 Fit Body Boot Camps. They’re pushing the advertisements to get more donations.
They’re leading and taking charge, and I don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.
My team wants to bring that recognition and significance to their lives and create an impact by helping others.
Once your team is on board, they will go out and move mountains for you.
Committed to your success,
Bedros