The idiots have done it again. They send their junk, their spam and they are ruining the entire concept of emailing for business. Email marketing is an unbelievable way for you to get your message to your customers and potential customers. However, it is getting harder and harder everyday. Thanks alot Spammers!

Look, we are all sick of spam and we all have way too many emails in our inbox. So how do we get people to not only read your emails but actually look forward to them.

Here are a couple tips for successful email marketing for personal trainers.

1. Be Honest - If you plan on emailing someone every day or every other day, tell them up front before they fill out the form. Of course you don’t want to say, “hey you don’t know me but im going to email you every day for the rest of your life for no good reason”.. What you can say is, “I would like to send you action packed fitness tips, workout routines, and other great resources, in our daily E-newsletter..

Also, if you say “fill out this form for a Great Free Report”, give them the free report. Don’t leave them hanging wondering what you are going to do with their email address.

2. Provide Real Value - I’m on everyone and their mother’s email list these days cause I like to see what people are up to. Some of them I open and read, the ones that get deleted right away are the ones that never have any real value. Trust me, if people benefit from the content of your email they will keep opening it and keep reading it.

3. Differentiate Yourself - What makes your newsletter so special? It’s probably just like all the other fitness / personal training newsletters out there. Stand out from the crowd.

4. Choose Words Wisely - Not only do you have to be careful which words you choose for the spam filters, but you also need to write subject lines that will make people have to open the email. This can be a challenge, watch out for words that trigger spam filters like free, weight loss, fat, etc.

5. Always offer a chance to unsubscribe - It will really tick people off if they want to unsubscribe and they can’t. You don’t have to make the unsubscribe link big bold and bright red, but it needs to be there.

There is much more to having a very successful email marketing campaign but this should be enough to get you started. If you have any questions, let me know..

Thanks,

Keith

One of the biggest mistakes I see personal trainers make is to dedicate to much precious web space to their certifications. Don’t get me wrong there are vast differences between “weekend warrior” trainer certs and accredited certifications and university degrees. Yes, credibility is important but…

What I ‘m saying is that you can use your credentials to your advantage but that should not be your main selling point. When a plumber comes to fix your toilet, do you ask where he got his plumbers license? Probably not, as long as he is licensed and does a good job..

People want to know first and foremost how you are going to help them. You personal training certifications are a bonus.

To prove my point, look at the many Hollywood starts including one who’s name I wont mention, (who was on Dancing With The Stars, Who was Married to Elvis Presley) have cosmetic surgery done by an unlicensed surgeon. This particular one injected her face with a form of motor oil. She’s not the only one, there are stories like this all the time. My question for her is, does she have to go back for a check up every 3,000 miles

Come on I’m only kidding. But it proves my point. Given the fact that most of your competitors hold descent certs, the potential customers in your market are going to choose a trainer based on results (proof), price, service and presentation.

If you enjoyed this personal trainer marketing tip, leave a comment as I would live to hear from you.

Keith

I don’t think most personal trainers understand the value of split testing. This is such a powerful tool that can sky rocket your personal training income, and it is now easier then ever before.

Think about this, you sit down to meet with a potential client for a free consultation. You give ‘em your best sales pitch but you just can’t close the deal. What if you could say “Wait, let me start all over again” You give them a totally different spiel and they love it and sign up for 36 sessions. Your service was the same, your everything was the same except your delivery. That would be like a “real life” split test. We haven’t progressed that far yet but we can do this very thing online, in our ads, our emails and on our websites.

If you were buying a lemonade and there were 2 stands and one had a sign that said..

Home-ade Lemonade, Fresh Squeezed, Ice Cold and Natural!

the other stand had a sign that says..

Hot and Thirsty? Try Our Lemonade, It’s Fresh Squeezed and Natural!

Which stand would sell more lemonade? Truthfully, I don’t know. The second one makes me sort of thirsty but the first one says Ice Cold… It’s a toss up.

The only way to know is to split test the two signs against each-other. Meaning show 50 people one sing and 50 people the other and see which sign sells more.

Sometimes the difference its remarkable and sometimes the result is insignificant. However, even a small increase can lead to big dollars.

If you are not split testing you are missing the boat, it is an absolute must!

Get on it..

Keith

p.s. there are free split testing tools like Google Website Optimizer

I finally have lightened my workload and I am finally able to start really working on my blog for personal trainer marketing. I have gotten great feedback about the content of the blog and I have been taking requests. One of the latest requests was to talk about advanced blogging techniques.

Im trying to get a feel for what level you all are at when it comes to blogging, I don’t want to throw stuff out there that will go over your head. I also don’t want to under deliver if you are already a pretty savvy blogger.

Please leave a comment below and let me know if you are a beginner blogger, an advanced blogger or somewhere in the middle.

Let’s get blogging!

Keith

Everyday businesses fail, stores close up shop and people are left puzzled. Why is it soo damn hard to grow a business. There are dozens of factors but if you look closely most businesses that fail have these 4 major things in common.

1. Lack of Creativity

Unless you have come up with an outright brilliant idea that has never been discovered before, you will not be the only ________ (fill in the blank) real estate agent, bakery, or dry cleaner in your city. In fact there are 5 dry cleaners with in a 5 minute walk of my home in Chicago… and not one of them has ever done anything or said anything creative enough to get my attention. I don’t know their names, their phone numbers or their prices.

2. Lack of Knowledge

Too many people decide to go into business for themselves without ever taking a hard look at what they really know. The ones that do reflect on what they know, don’t know quite as much as they think.

So are you supposed to sit around and learn everything before you open your business. Of course not that would be ridiculous! But what you should do is write down the things that you are not good at and either start soaking up everything you possibly can or plan to hire someone that does. You may be the best darn personal trainer around but if you do not know internet marketing, or marketing in general, you better find someone who does. (hint, hint):)

Also, just because you majored in business in college does NOT mean you understand business or marketing. I hate to break it to you but most of the stuff you and I learned in business school is just about worthless in today’s ever changing business environment. (I’m speaking from experience, I learned Nothing, ZILCH, Nada about personal trainer marketing in school)

3. Fear

Your first response is probably, “I know I know, people are afraid to fail”, this is true but people are equally as afraid of succeeding. What will happen if this thing actually works? I’m dead serious, think about it.

There are less barriers to entry than ever before, for creating your business. Guess what, there is also more opportunity than ever before to grow a kick butt, highly successful business.

Some other common mistakes small business owners make are:

Penny Pinching - if you have an opportunity to trade one dollar for two dollars, spend as many dollars as you can. Be smart but do not be cheap.

Punished by Pride - if you don’t know something, admit and get help from someone who does. When you do outsource it is important to understand “good is good enough” if you dwell on the little things you will never accomplish the BIG things!

Hiring the Wring People - It is crucial you build a great team around you. This takes time and will involve some trial and error. Keep at it and keep people accountable for what they do, in a polite way of course.

If you are considering opening up a personal training studio or business in general I hope you have found this and the other posts on this blog helpful. If there is anything you would like me to write about please comment on this post.

Best of Luck,

Keith