Listen, there’s no two ways about it.
You’re in business to make money.
Yes, you’re a personal trainer because it’s your passion. It’s your calling. It’s what you live and love to do.
You love to help people realize their fitness and fat loss goals.
But you’re also in business to make money. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money and admitting that you’re in business to make money.
If you have a hang up with idea of wanting to make money then odds are you suffer from one (or both) of these things…
1. You have a bad relationship with money. Maybe you were raised that way, like I was. Maybe you become that way because others around you had money and you didn’t. Who knows?
2. You don’t realize that money is simply one thing, a vehicle to freedom. That’s it. I think it was Gary Halbert who said; Money can’t solve everything, but it sure can solve the problem of not having money.
Now, this post has nothing to do with how you feel about money or my position on money.
That’s a whole different post for another day.
However, in order for you to get the most from THIS post you’ve got to realize that you are in business to make money.
That’s thing #1
Thing #2 is that you will never make the money you want if you don’t provide value to the people you serve and if you don’t exceed their expectations.
The irrefutable fact is that before anyone is willing to part with their hard earned money, they first want to know, like, and trust you.
AND THAT’S WHERE 99% OF ALL FITNESS TRAINERS ROYALLY SCREW UP.
But don’t worry, I’ve made the same mistake, and I’ll tell you what I did to fix the BIG problem that I had…
… I’m guessing you’re experiencing that very same problem now.
So now that you know that the “money” formula is to get people to know, like, and trust you so they’ll ultimately buy from you.
Then it stands to reason that you’ve got to add a lot of value to their lives, position yourself as the local fitness and fat loss expert, and establish a ton of credibility.
And the fastest, easiest, and most economical way to get folks to trust you is through email marketing.
There’s nothing else as powerful, personal, or potent than a well crafted email.
Direct mail (while I love dearly) can get costly if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Mass texting is annoying, impersonal, and down right, well, annoying. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to be perceived as is an annoying pest when marketing.
And when I get a mass marketing text message right to my iphone while I’m surfing the web or reading an email. I get pretty damn annoyed!
An email however is personal, none intrusive, gives you plenty of room to write compelling and engaging copy that ultimately buildings deeper and more meaningful relationships.
Done right, and people will perceive you as a welcomed guest in their email inbox.
But like I said, that’s where most personal trainers get it all wrong.
So I’m going to give you a detailed rundown on proper personal trainer email marketing strategies and the things you should be doing EVEN IF they seem a little counter intuitive to you.
#1. Build an email list. On your email list you should have prospects, active clients, and former clients. And if you can have these three lists segregated then you’ll do that much better.
#2. In THIS CASE you’d rather have quality versus size 😉
If you think that going to Facebook and scraping email addresses and adding them to your list is going to help you cultivate a deep relationship with that person then you’re clearly high on something.
Build an email list of high qualified prospects who have actually opted into your email list.
#3. Email often – several times per week. And be sure that each email is content rich, fun to read, none sterile, informative, educational and positions you as the expert.
I know, I know: “but what if they get upset with me and unsubscribe?” GOOD! Then you don’t want those people on your list anyway.
#4. That leads me to my next thing… POLARIZE YOUR LIST. I’d rather have 100 raving fans on my email list then 300 lukewarm individuals.
#5. Don’t be afraid to make offers to your list. In fact, the whole idea of having an email list is to make offers and to sell your services. I don’t know anyone who’s into the hobby of simply collecting email addresses.
(HOWEVER, if you’re not doing #3 then you haven’t won the right to do #5)
#6. Use a reputable and reliable email marketing platform like Aweber, Get Response, or FitPro Newsletter which is what I, and thousands of other successful fitness pros use.
#7. Lead generate to build your email list. Offer ebooks, reports, and recipe books on your website, blog and squeeze pages in exchange for the visitor to give you her email address.
Use direct mail postcards, print ads, lead boxes, and joint venture opportunities to offer ethical bribes in exchange for emails.
#8. Be a better communicator. Study direct response, copywriting, and become a better writer of emails.
#9. Craft compelling subject lines for your emails. A subject line on an email serves the same function as a headline does on your website, postcard, or sales letter… to get the person to want to read further. If your email never gets opened, then it never gets read.
#10. If you’re going to pitch or sell something on a website then remember that the message in your email is NOT to sell the product or service, but to sell the “click” so people can get to your sales page where the REAL selling happens.
Listen, I’m not saying that email marketing is the end all be all marketing solution for your personal training business. But it is one of the core marketing poles (if not THE core marketing pole) for you business.
After all, I don’t know of any other program, promotion, or platform where you can take 20 minutes to write an email copy, send it out to your list, and see results almost instantly.