How to Market a Fitness Boot Camp on a Shoe String Budget

how to market a fitness boot campThere are a bunch of reasons why fitness boot camps are a better business model than the traditional one on one training model.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking one on one training… if that’s your thing, do it and do it well.

But of all people, I should know the down falls of one on one training over boot camps considering I operated multiple one on one training studios complete with a staff of 58 trainers and five managers.

But of all the reason that boot camps are far superior, the three that stand out BIG TIME are…

1. The higher profit margins because the model is one on many and not one on one which means payroll (the #1 things that eats away profits) is managed controlled.

2. You can reach more potential clients in your community with your marketing since boot camp are considerably lower in cost than one on one training.

3. You have a LOT more options when you start thinking about how to market a fitness boot camp because you can make group offers to the masses that you simply can’t make when you’re offering one on one personal training.

Like I said, there are a ton of reasons why boot camp are a better business model, but the biggest to me, and the one I want to talk to you about in this post is all the ways you can market a fitness boot camp business.

The biggest mistake I see when trainers first launch a boot camp is they fail to realize that marketing their boot camp starts way before they even open up for business.

It’s kinda like building a house, if your foundation is tilted from the get go then the entire house is off kilter for as long as it stands.

If you’re about to start a boot camp soon and you want to know how to market a fitness boot camp the right way from the start, without spending a ton of money, and while getting a consistent and reliable stream of new leads, prospects, and clients then this might be the most important post you’ll ever read.

Whether you’re going to run your boot camp outdoors or in your own stand alone (by the way the later is a far better model) you’re going to want to start off your first session with a bunch of clients.

It’s kind of like a restaurant… no one wants to eat in an empty restaurant. The same applies for your fitness boot camp, no one wants to workout in an empty boot camp.

Here’s a video where I teach you how to fill up your boot camp with deal of the day site promotions.

The next boot camp marketing system that you’re going to deploy is the old human billboard system that Steve Hochman developed.

The whole idea behind this boot camp marketing idea is to get 30-40 influential or “connected” people into your boot camp for free… or better yet, for a really, really low price like $50/month.

However this does two things for you. First, it gives you instant clients and brings the energy into your boot camp because lots of people working out = good energy.

Secondly, this boot camp marketing strategy has a built in referral generation program because the reason you’re going to give these people free or low cost access to your boot camp is because they must agree to be your “human billboard” and go around telling others about you, giving out your $100 gift cards, and generally being walking talking referral machines for you.

Some of the best places to get human billboards are by going to local businesses and introducing yourself, telling them what you do, how you can help then (referring them clients) and how you want them to come try your program out for free as part of your human billboard project.

In a nutshell, it’s about being a value adder and coming to others with the giving hand.

You can also reach out to former clients who no longer train with you… to people in your circle of influence, and to teachers and staff from local schools.

Getting leads and clients into your boot camp business is a constant thing.

Here’s a video where I teach you how to market a fitness boot camp using deal of the day sites like Group-On.

When Tula Fit Body Boot Camp owner Stephanie Flynn asked me how to market a fitness boot camp when she was just starting out I told her three things…

1. Start off with human billboards, lots of them, and condition them to bring in 4 leads a months

2. Deliver killer results to your clients and make their experience in your boot camp over the top so they’ll talk about you and refer their friends.

3. Build an email list of prospects, people in your community who are interested in fitness, fat loss, and better health.

Hands down, email marketing is one of the best ways to market a fitness boot camp because it gives you the opportunity to have clients and money on tap.marketing a fitness boot camp

When you need more boot camp clients, you just mail out a low barrier offer to your clients – like the 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss program, deliver best possible service that you can, and offer then a program to continue on once the 21 day promotion ends.

But the trick to successful email marketing for fitness trainers is to start building an email list as early as possible in your career.

Like I was saying earlier, when you have an email list of people from your community who have opted in to your list, and who view you as a person of authority and credibility in your niche then you have yourself a formula for boot camp marketing success.

See, number #1 problem that most fitness trainers have when they go to market their fitness boot camp with email marketing is the lack response or list sensitivity. What I mean is the some trainers will do a decent job building an email list of local people who are interested in fitness and fat loss.

B-U-T then they’ll do one of two things…

1. They’ll either be super inconsistent with email communications with their list and thereby causing their list to forget about them.

2. Or, they build their list and then immediately start pitching to their list HARD.

Both of those are really good ways to kill any relationship you could have had with your list.

The trick marketing your fitness boot camp with an email list is to first, build a relationship with your list – get them to know, like, and trust you. You do that by delivering value through great content, client case studies, and being consistent with your emails.

Once you have a good rapport with your email list you can now make them offers from time to time and you’ll see that your list is more responsive (higher open and click through rates).

But getting your clients into your boot camp with promotions isn’t the magic…

…converting them into ongoing paying clients is.

And that’s where you need a consistent and reliable personal training sales script that’s proven to convert prospects into paying clients.

There is one more success strategy from trainers who want the advantage when it comes to how to fitness boot camp marketing, and that’s the experience that you deliver to your clients.

Here’s what I mean…

We all know that referrals are the best source of prospects, right? That’s because when a clients refers their friend to you, their friend is often times pre-qualified and comes ready-to-buy.

But if you don’t deliver the “wow” experience to your clients, then you’re probably not going to get the clients referrals you where hoping for.

The magical clients experience formula is this…

Results + Recognition + Appreciation + Fun = The Ultimate Client Experience.

And when your clients feel like they’re getting the ultimate client experience they’re going to talk about you, tell their friends about you, and become your walking, talking sales force… ie referral generating machines!

Now, the list of ways to market a fitness boot camp is long. But 99% of the time you are better off doing the four things that I lists here and doing them well, rather than spending a lot of time, effort and energy on trying to do many thing in a half ass kinda a way.

Let me know what you think in the comments section below 🙂

B