An Email Marketing for Personal Trainers Blog Post by Bedros Keuilian
If I asked you what most of your potential clients have in common you’d probably scratch your head before coming up with an answer. You might say they’re overweight, they’re in need of a trainer, they eat too much, they lead sedentary lifestyles etc. etc.
Each of these answers is correct of course, but the overall answer is that every one of them has a problem that you can solve, if only they recognized you as the local fitness and fat loss expert.
And this is where email marketing for personal trainers can bring awesome results for you and your clients if you get a few simple things dialed in.
One of the biggest mistakes that many small businesses make – and not just personal trainers – is that they don’t build an e-mail marketing list. I think a lot of it may be caused by fear of the unknown and if you’re avoiding doing it you’re missing out on one of the most cost-effective ways of building relationships with both current and potential clients.
Setting up your fitness email lists
If you’ve built an attractive and effective website for your business then it’s a piece of cake setting up e-mail lists. As far as I’m concerned if you have a website and you don’t have an opt-in on it then you’re giving your competitor the keys to your fitness business.
I say lists (plural) because if you’re using a service such as FitPro Newsletter is that you’ll have the capability of organizing lists into different categories. You won’t want to send the same e-mail to a current client as you would a potential client. If you run a bootcamp you may want to keep those people separate too.
The more specific your lists become, the more targeted and personalized you can make your fitness e-mail campaigns. It all sounds very complicated but it isn’t. In fact FitPro Newsletter has one of the most comprehensive tutorial systems and helpful customer service that you’ll find online.
Setting up your lists properly from the get-go will save you a lot of time and energy. But even before setting up your many lists, make sure that your personal training email marketing starts off with a very compelling offer (an opt-in) on the upper right hand side of your webpage or blog.
A really good example of that is the free ebooks offer on the upper right hand side of this blog.
But How do I Get People to Sign Up To My Email Marketing List?
The most effective way of building an e-mail list targeting potential clients is by offering something of value in exchange for their email address. Very often this will be in the form of an e-book or an exclusive report that gives great information and positions you as the top fitness expert in your area.
If you’re good at writing then write your own e-book on staying fit, burning fat or nutrition – write about something nobody else has written about, or do it better. The other alternative is to pay a writer to compile an e-book for you, that way you’ll have a professionally written, unique and correctly formatted piece of work to offer – and something that nobody else has.
The key is when someone signs up they’re offering you something of potentially great value – their e-mail address – and you should reciprocate by giving them something equally valuable. That way they will recommend your site to others, that will increase your traffic and the better your ranking will be.
Although it’s not recommended that you ask too many questions in your opt-in box at some point you’re going to have to find out exactly what each person wants. You may have to add an additional field if you’re offering a number of different services, they can then put in bootcamp, weight loss, strength training – whatever, and that information will help you to better tailor your e-mail campaigns to each specific audience.
Email Marketing for Personal Trainers and Your Current Clients
Don’t neglect your current clients – they‘re putting food on your table! E-mail marketing for personal trainers when done right can turn a one-month sign up into a client for life. Treat them well and offer them information via email that you know they will be interested in.
You could send out a weekly recipe, or tips about using nutritional supplements for example. Don’t make every email a sales pitch for something – people will soon get tired of that. Most people read emails during work time, midweek so send them something educational and somewhat entertaining that they’ll look forward to each week.
Here’s an email that I sent out to my email list of fitness professionals where I taught them some in-depth personal trainer email marketing.
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The #1 Email Marketing For Personal Trainers
About a year ago I was invited to guest speak and teach
at a mastermind group for small business owners.
During one of the “hot seat” sessions one guy stood up
and commenced to draw out a very intricate lead generation
funnel.
I don’t remember the details exactly, but it involved buying
mass media (like news paper ads, radio spots, ect..) then
putting them through a perpetual marketing campaign to get
them to come into his place of business
…and if they bought anything during the perpetual marketing
campaign then they’d go on one list…
and if they didn’t buy something they’d be invited to a free
webinar where they’d be pitched this other thing since
(in his words) “they were unqualified to come into his
business anyway.”
Keep in mind, this is a local business owner, very much
like you.
Frankly, the whole thing was a mess of an idea, and I
couldn’t wait to tell him so.
It’s not that his marketing funnel wouldn’t work…
…it’s just that it was equivalent to killing an ant with a
bazooka when your thumb will do.
Plus, I know for a FACT that many people who were plenty
qualified to come into his business would end up slipping
through the cracks becuase his marketing plan was way to
complicated.
Finally, the guy who was running the mastermind turned to me
and asked; “What are your thoughts on his lead generation funnel,
Bedros?”
I said: Complexity in business is a recipe for disaster.
That’s not what our small business owner friend wanted to hear.
Then I asked…
Have you sucked out all the leads and prospects from Facebook,
Google, Bing, and Yahoo by attracting leads from those sites
onto your email list?
He said: nope.
I asked…
Have you taken the time to make sure that your website,
video, free report or the ebook you’re using to capture leads
is converting at it’s best?
He said: nope.
I asked…
Do you keep in touch with your email list that you already have
at least two or three times per week?
He said: nope.
I said… (and I couldn’t resist saying it this way) Do you like doing
things the hard way and leaving tons money on the table?
He said nothing.
I had made my point.
Listen, email communication is still the #1 way to get more clients
into your personal training or boot camp business.
Scott Skinner, one of my 7 Figure Formula mastermind members from
Arizona told the group how he generated $9,000 from ONE email
campaign that I crafted for him.
Dan Ritchie, another 7 Figure mastermind member told us how he
generated over $7,000 using the same email campaign.
The email campaign I’m referring to is the new “6 week transformation
program” that you have in your FitPro Newsletter account in the
(done-for-you email campaigns section)
Look, getting leads and prospects is a easier than you think.
If you have a website, it’s probably getting some sort of traffic already.
Use pop ups or any one of the “list builder” free reports and ebooks
from your FitPro Newsletter account to capture the traffic that’s coming
to your site.
(BTW, if you don’t have FitPro Newsletter, you can get a 30 day
account for $1 from the bottom of this page)
Even if you have an email list of fifty or a hundred people, be sure
to add them to your FitPro Newsletter account so they can get the killer
weekly email newsletters we send out on your behalf.
And if you want to send out something cool to your list to get them
to know, like and trust you…
…people buy from you when they know, like, and trust you…
…then send out at least one “client case study” email per week.
Here’s how a “case study” email broadcast works:
Showcase one of your client’s success stories.
Tell your email list about all the ways your client struggled while
trying to lose weight on her own.
…then tell them how much weight she’s lost, and how much better
she feels today after working out with you.
SIDE NOTE: Make sure it’s okay with your client before sharing her
story with your email list.
The formula for these “client case study emails” are…
Star, Story, Solution.
Your client is the STAR
Her story is… well, her story.
And YOU and your fitness programs are the solution.
You can probably see how a case study email could get folks
off your list to contact you, specially if they resonate with your “star”.
But sending an email and getting it opened and read are two
different things.
Your email subject lines make a world of difference, so lets talk
about that for a moment.
Bonnie Murphy, another one of my 7 Figure Formula mastermind
members from Alaska was having a hard time getting a decent
response from her email list.
The problem was NOT the email body, the content, or the offer.
The problem was that her emails weren’t getting opened.
We fixed that pesky little problem easily and she got a 74% open
rate on her next email promotion – THAT IS HUGE!
Her studio gained 15 new clients because of that one tweak to the
subject line.
Here’s the formula for really good subject lines…
1. Make it compelling and curiosity provoking.
2. And when you make a promise, keep it promise.
In other words, if your subject line is “The #1 Fat Loss Tip”
GIVE them the number one fat loss tip in the email.
That’s stupidly simple, but I still see way too many people firing off
big promise subject lines and then not delivering.
Like I said, email marketing is STILL the #1 way to get more clients
in your personal training or boot camp business.
It’s not complicated. It’s very low cost. And its totally “under the radar”
marketing becuase your educating your list the whole time.
You just build an email list.
Be cool to them.
Get them to know, like, and trust you.
And then periodically send them offers to get into your fitness
programs.
And all of the offers that you’ll need to send are pre-crafted for you and
ready to use in your FitPro Newsletter account.
Easy, low cost, reliable.
Makes a whole lot of sense to me 😉
Committed to your success,
Bedros Keuilian
PS. Listen, if you’re struggling to get more clients, leads, and referrals
by using dead end marketing tactics that just don’t work – then try out
what thousands of fitness pros trust worldwide… FitPro Newsletter
(Now only $1 for your first 30 days)
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Let your client list know that you appreciate their business and send words of encouragement. This is especially important for regular clients who you suspect may be on the verge of giving up. Personalized text messages to these folks are also an excellent idea.
NEVER, ever send mass text messages to your clients unless you’re ready to lose your clients for ever.
Potential Clients
With folks who have expressed an interest in joining your boot camp or employing your personal training services but have not yet joined up, with effective email marketing for personal trainers you can make special offers and move folks from your email list to your facility. The key is to limit the amount of time they have to respond. A special offer that runs 24/7 is not a special offer, and if every time you e-mail them you make the same offer, they’ll keep putting signing up off. Procrastination is a human behavior that you as a fitness marketer must deal with.
From time to time make them really good offers. The ones that convert best are the low barrier high value ones like my 14 Day Fat Furnace, and 28 Day Flat Belly Program
Monthly Newsletters
Monthly newsletters are a great way of telling all your clients about what’s going on with your business. You can incorporate industry news, your most successful clients and again offer dietary information and tips. Don’t incorporate any sales pitches into your monthly newsletter simply demonstrate your expertise and your enthusiasm for your business and make recommendations.
And always be contact-able. It may seem like a hassle replying to e-mails but remember if they are potential clients the more helpful you can be the more personable you become and this way e-mail marketing for personal trainers can build trust.
Constructing & Planning Your Fitness Email Marketing Broadcast
Most ordinary people may get around 50 emails a day, and they’re certainly not going to open every one! Make sure your e-mail titles are eye-catching and intriguing enough that the recipient will open it and don’t disappoint when she opens it! Don’t title your e-mail “7 Ways to Lose Belly Fat” and then tell her only 3 ways! Deliver what you promise.
If you’re going to send out a monthly newsletter to all your clients, then you may as well here this from me… monthly newsletter don’t work, so you may as well do what does which is weekly fitness e-newsletters. Design and format is important, and by planning well ahead you won’t get into a last minute panic! Of course if you have FitPro Newsletter then all that in included and done for you as well. All of the good email programs will allow you to pre-load your emails and newsletters. Spend a few hours planning and writing your e-mails, then all you have to do is load them up and the system will deliver them on pre-specified times and dates. Test each one on yourself for spelling and grammar.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you use FitPro Newsletter then you’ll save yourself at least six to ten hours each month because FitPro Newsletter sends out a killer content rich email broadcast to your clients on your behalf without you having to write a single word 🙂
Keep an eye on industry news by getting Google Alerts and keep an eye on what your competitors are doing and you’ll find that you’re have no problem coming up with great content for email marketing for personal trainers and boot camp experts.
Find out what each individual’s problem is and address it with your emails – you have what they need – and that’s the solution – its just a matter of getting them to know, like and trust you and no other marketing platform does that as well as fitness email marketing.