Our series “Defining Marketing for Personal Trainers” is coming to a close. Through the past couple weeks we have talked about a lot. Last week I said you just need to start. This whole endeavor of marketing can be a scary and overwhelming thing. Get your plan together and make baby steps to implementing it. If I were to give you your first baby step it would be an easy one. Meet people.
By taking this small step, you will create an army of potential marketing allies. Don’t limit your marketing power to just your number of employees. Go out in the street and let every business within a 10-mile radius know you exist. Let them know what you offer and how special you are. Make certain these merchants have some personal benefit in sending customers your way. These business men and women meet multitudes of your prospects every day. Imagine each one of these businesses participating. The power of your marketing campaign would be amazing! These connections can be worth their weight in gold! Don’t waste any opportunities.
One thing to remember about your marketing efforts is that it is a process. And just like any process, it will take time. Don’t expect everything to turn around immediately after implementing your marketing strategy. Some marketing is cumulative and response cannot be measured immediately. Make certain that you continually track sources of walk-ins and new members. See how, where or who they were referred by. This will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
By now you can see there is so much more to marketing then simply running ads. You have an arsenal of marketing power just waiting for you. Don’t waste another minute. Start putting some of these ideas into action. Running your business will become simpler and more exciting then you ever believed it could be.
Ryan Farrell started working with the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFPT) in 2012. As NFPT's Marketing Coordinator, Ryan is responsible for aiding company reputation by building brand awareness and establishing strong working relationships among NFPT, its affiliates and industry partners.
