Personal training can be a tough business. Most trainers need to be on their toes and market themselves to maximize their client base. Marketing can be expensive, and utilizing email is an affordable way to spread the word about your business.
When using email as marketing, the first thing a trainer must do is to develop an email list. Get all of the contacts that you possibly can. Current clients, past clients and potential clients. As many names as you can! It could be beneficial to sign up with an email program, such as Exact Target or Constant Contact.
These programs allow you store contact information and categorize your clients into different groups. Then you can send different types of emails to different types of groups, depending on your needs and the client goals. These programs also enable you to create professional looking designs and have pre-made templates.
Another great feature they offer is for you to track all of your emails. You can see how many were received and how many were opened. This is a great way to see who is truly listening. After seeing who is actually listening to your content, you can create an email campaign specifically for them! Fees do exist for these programs and are usually based on the number of subscribers that you have.
Similar to social media tools, email marketing can be used to give your subscribers updates or even promotions. Giving your clients free education material can also be a great use of email campaigns. Emailing them useful, practical information can show them that you care about them and their fitness goals. Give them encouragement or even an exercise of the week for them to try outside of your appointments.
Plan ahead and decide how many emails you want to send per month and what the content should be. You don’t want to overdo it or people will treat your emails as spam. Another way to make certain people read your emails is to have an attention grabbing subject line.
It is important to note that there are email “laws” that need to be upheld. People must be able to opt out of future emails. Be sure to respect this option and honor their requests promptly. Remember also not to use deceptive subject lines or false and misleading information. This does nothing but bad things for you in the long run. You don’t want that sort of thing attached to your name or brand.
Grow your business with emails. It is inexpensive and you can do it on your own without much of a time commitment or effort.
Denise Groothuis MS, RD and CPT has a BS from Cornell University and an MS in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Columbia University. She is certified by the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFPT) and licensed by the Commission on Dietetic Registration through the Academy of Nutrition of Dietetics. She is a personal trainer and RD with her own nutritional practice, Worth Your Weight Nutrition Experts.
