She Means Fitness Business

Free Advertising | How to Get Booked for Interviews

Who doesn’t want free advertising? Interviews and media appearances are an amazing way to create credibility. It’s free advertising opportunity you can create over and over again. If you know what you need to get booked and deliver an interview that get you clients and asked back: gold.

In the last episode I shared how to interview like a pro (and get clients). If you missed it I highly recommend you go back and listen to that one. You have a little homework to do before you grab the free advertising from get booked or create ways to be interviewed on your own- which is what this episode is all about.

I’ll link to it that episode here. 

Get free advertising from media interviews

How do you pitch the media? First, you have to know this: they do not care about YOU. They care about their listener, audience, viewer. And ratings, if this is a TV station or a radio station. They need listenership and viewer numbers. So if you don’t pitch something relevant to their listeners you won’t get booked. Do your research.

If you want to be on a certain show know who watches it. Target that audience and make it clear to the producer or host that you get them and what they are trying to do. Make sure they have a health, fitness segment open to guests.

Most likely they do! There’s a lot of airtime to fill!

A pitch is one sheet of an idea for a segment with:

  • A catchy title – Make it controversial so it peaks interest. Think magazine cover titles.
  • A simple teachable method or system
  • Clear, concise talking points
  • How to contact you
  • Some points of credibility so they know why you’re a credible source of information
  • Something unique and distinct
  • Why this is relevant now, to their audience, and it’s news

It’s not a Press Release.

It’s attention-getting and juicy not dry. 

Free advertising from podcasts, online summits, panelists

Find opportunities in podcasts. If you’re a fitness professional you’re likely in groups and forums. You know the importance of networking. You have something unique. Ask if anyone in your professional network has a podcast or reach out to those you listen to and offer yourself as a guest.

If you’ve got a Go Red for Women’s event near you, at the fundraising luncheons there is often a panel of experts. Offer to attend and be a guest. Make it clear why you. 

Seek out other events happening at your local hospital or national level if that’s where you are, and create them yourself!

Free advertising by hosting free public events

Use any of these ideas to create an event yourself.  

Think about “national days” of the year or weeks or months. Do something for breast cancer awareness or stress awareness.

Think seasonal topics. Offer a workshop on spring training without injuries or winter ski conditioning, or avoiding falls on ice by improving balance.

Send a pitch to local media about this event. If they need someone or something to fill a slot that day and the target is their audience you’ll have a great chance of getting booked and they may even cover the event live. 

Partner with local businesses who target the same group. A grocery store might sponsor by providing snacks. A massage therapist might offer a discount to attendees. A sporting goods store might offer a special rate on a related product. Then they too get exposure as the sponsor and will share the event to increase free advertising for you. It works for you both.

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Direct download: free_advertising.m4a
Category:marketing -- posted at: 4:00am MDT

How to Interview Like A Pro (and Get Clients)

Have you wondered how to interview so you can maximize the opportunity? If you haven’t been asked or asked for an interview, I’ll say this: you will and you should!

Let me define “interview” before we go to far. Anytime someone else is asking questions can be an interview opportunity. And that is, a chance to share expertise, answer questions based on your knowledge or experience – after all, there is a reason you’re being asked to do the presentation or interview – or people showed up to ask you questions.

So whether you:

  • sit on a panel at an event
  • make an appearance at a local media station or the Today Show – think big
  • host an event and have a Q and A afterward
  • guest on a podcast

Any of those, and many more qualify and you want to know how to interview so you get results and you get asked back!

Do you know there are people – lots of people – who appeared on Oprah, the holy grail of interviews and free publicity. Yet they weren’t ready to monetize the traffic that came afterward and no one has ever heard about them again. 

When you know how to interview so you stay on track with your key points and make your host look good (so you have fun and get asked back) you’ll win the audience over and make the station love you. 

How to prepare for your interview

  • Identify your teachable points: a method or step process
  • Know what sets you apart
  • Know what your customers hate
  • Create a pitch that’s news and that lets you feature your product or service

Example: Recently I did a segment about an upcoming event – a workshop for older adult fitness. I pulled the three key reasons I was doing the workshop and one demonstration for each.

I demonstrated how to do an important strength training exercise – that could be done at home – and how to make it effective if an adult wanted to use lighter weight. I cued it in detail pointing out where to feel it, put weight on feet, head position, etc. Then I did two more parts of the workshop.

I covered the three big areas I was going to discuss at the workshop – strength, balance, and interval training. I pulled one juicy tip from each to get the point across how important it was. I didn’t gloss over it I backed it up with research, how it would prevent falls (fear) and enhance aging (desire). I focused on mistakes most adults make (no one wants to be wasting time).

That kind of thinking should go into any presentation and you can make it fit yours no matter what it is.

How to plan for different length interviews

  • Go through all the homework mentioned earlier
  • Create an outline that includes the bullet points, a demonstration, and an expanded explanation or story
  • Ask in advance how long the segment is (a 3 minute segment live segment, a 15 minute summit interview, a 30 minute podcast)
  • Rehearse and time it!

Example:In the example I gave you earlier, I’ve delivered that content in a 90-minute workshop, on a 30-minute podcast, a 9-minute news segment, and the hardest by far a 2-minute segment. So be ready. Rehearse for shortest segments the most. You have to make every word and second count. 

When you have a workshop (or a book for that matter) there’s a reason you created it. Those reasons are likely your bullet points. Hopefully, you created it based on demand not because you wanted to but because your customers tell you that’s why they come to you and that’s what they want most. The other things they’d tried and hate are a part of your talking about it. The outcomes they want are a part of talking about it.

If you know how to interview, you also know how to create marketing copy, and vice versa. 

As painful as it might be, record your rehearsal. Whether its’ audio or it’s video, record and play it back. Do you have energy? Are you fun? The interviewer is going to be lively, strong and fun. Can you match that energy? If you’ve got passion about what you’re doing you can but in front of a microphone or camera if feels different so you’ve got to practice! 

How to interview when you’re asked a question you aren’t prepared for

            Always come right back to your notes, why this is so important, why you’re doing what you’re doing (event, service, product, workshop)

How to interview so you make your host look good

When you get booked sometimes you’re going to be working with a producer or an assistant. Sometimes that’s one and the same. You want to make THEM look good too. Their job is to make the host or anchor or reporter look good so that is also what you want to do. I’ve been asked back to do segments on the same show several times. That only happens if you are easy to work with and everyone loves you. 

Give her/him all the details in advance – are you going to do exercise demos? Will she be in a dress and heels? Bring models if necessary.

            Give her/him all the questions. You can list questions on your pitch or list the answers on the pitch. Often you’ll be asked to provide 3-5 questions you’d like to be asked. Make these good. Specifically, they should set you up to respond with your key talking points.

Just Because You Get the Interview Doesn’t Mean You’re Good

I’ve interviewed hundreds of people in the last 6 years for two podcasts. Some have been amazing and some have not in fact they’ve been uncomfortable. The guest didn’t have key points and didn’t have a strong opinion. They rambled with answers.

Don’t let that be you. You won’t get asked back. Unless it’s a live segment, you may not get published even after the recording. No one is going to release what they feel is a weak interview.

The Getting the Biggest Benefit

A big part of doing a killer interview – even if it’s two minutes long – is knowing what you want to happen afterwards. That involves two parts:

First, what you do with the opportunity matters.

            Use that video clip from the news. Share the segment from a podcast interview while you tag your host. Take a selfie of yourself in the front of the room with the audience behind you to share on social and email. But above all have a call to action while you’re in the interview. Because you will always, always be asked where someone can learn more about you.

Second, knowing what action you want the viewer or listener or reader to take is key if you want to get clients or customers.

And you do… even if you don’t yet know what you’re going to sell them yet to support them. You want to start a conversation with them so when you do have a product or service you’ve got an audience just waiting for it.

You need to have a very clear next step for them to take when they go to your website. Are you giving away a free book or a cheat sheet with the exercises you’ve just demonstrated? Is there an invitation to your free event? 

Are you really ready?

Do an audit of your website before you ever have an appearance. If you’re in front of a group of older women does your website look like some advertising for Monster energy drinks? If it’s black and neon with white font on a dark background… or has images of a sixpack of abs … that’s not going to build your business. Decide who you serve and dedicate time and energy to making sure your image clearly relays that.

Know that someone who gets to your website is interested enough to spend maybe a little more than 7 seconds that’s the typical attention span. But not much. Tell her exactly what to do when she gets there. Is there an immediate ask for her email address in exchange for a juicy freebie that she can’t say no to?

Be ready to capture emails and deliver that gift. Make it simple and clear. Don’t send them to a page on a website with 5 choices and 20 pages of rabbit holes they can fall down. Send them to a very specific page where there’s one action to take. That’s called a landing page to do the ONE relevant thing that is a logical next step for them.

P.S.

If you don’t have or know what a landing page is, get your marketing team up to speed on why this is crucial, get a new marketing coach who can help you. Building a landing page takes less than five minutes if you do it right and you’re in charge of your own website. It’s not time consuming and it’s not expensive. But it will cost you if you don’t have it.

This is such a big part of learning how to interview so that you get clients and customers (or maybe interns and employees) from your public appearances – all of them!

All these steps are steps I’ve talked about many times in podcasts and blogs here at fitnessmarketingmastery.com. But if you want help with specific steps you need to take and the accountability to get them done you’ve got two options:

1.) Request a consultation about private business coaching

2.) If you serve women in midlife and becoming a Flipping 50 specialist is also a good fit for you, you can get that AND 4 months of a mastermind group for LESS than the cost of private coaching. You’ll save over $500 on the combination.

how to interview

Don’t Miss the Next Episode

Next episode as I teased earlier I’m going to talk about how to get booked for interviews. I did this how to interview episode first because you’ve got to be ready. You actually don’t want to get stuck in an interview and give a weak interview – you’ve got a message and you want to deliver it strong! (You also don’t want to wait until it’s perfect or you’d never do anything!)

But once you really do the homework and know how to interview you want to start getting those opportunities for free advertising.

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Direct download: how_to_interview_.m4a
Category:marketing -- posted at: 7:46am MDT

Ever question your client relationships? Or see an employee or colleague that makes you wonder about how best to handle client relationships and boundaries?

If you want to support your client’s strong foundation to make self care changes but stay within scope of practice, tune in.

Eighteen year-old Stanley Padgett married his seventeen-year-old high school sweetheart in what easily could have been another divorce statistic. Another couple who naively wed too young and couldn't make it work.

While they enjoyed each other, they were tested early and often. They raised their first child while working their way through college. Their second wasn't any easier as Stan was attending Duke Law School at the time.

He graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1982 and has been a business trial lawyer in Tampa since then.

His book, “UnVeiled: Secrets of a Marriage that Lasts Forever” and his course “The Diamond Relationship Formula” are the result of a lifetime of work and research.

Unlike most "relationship experts," what Stan teaches does not come from a book or from a classroom. It comes from a life well lived and a marriage that endured and improved through good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Their marriage has been cut and polished into a Diamond Marriage.

How important is a stable relationship in anchoring a foundation for self care in health and fitness? 

How can a trainer support positive client relationships for his/her clients in order to gain greater compliance and improve client outcomes?

Boundaries and scope of practice are a challenge due to the nature of personal training. Do you have suggestions for curbing conversations that could come back to bite a trainer?

It can be heady, or flattering, to be treated as a confidante – how to be aware of that?

Starting early, going late, potentially struggling with finances – can weight heavy on relationships, how can you as a trainer take care of your own relationship foundation?

Learn More: www.relationshipmagicacademy.com

Connect with Stan:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/relationshipmagicacademy/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RelationshipMagicAcademy/?ref=bookmarks

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/relationshipmagicacademy/

RMA Website - http://www.relationshipmagicacademy.com/

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE70toYDYQ0

Direct download: Fit_Pros_Stan_-_Edited_-_3.mp3
Category:coaching clients -- posted at: 3:30am MDT

Social Media for Fitness Professionals: More Results Less Time

Social media for fitness professionals is unique. For any service oriented professional who IS the business, or thinking they are the business, as well as the marketing director, the salesperson, the customer service rep, and the programming director, there’s too much to do and limited time to do it in.

That’s not news. What is good news is this: if you’re big or small it doesn’t matter. In fact, if you’re a fitness pro who can pivot quickly and change your message, post what you approve of, as a small business owner you have an advantage over big corporations that need approval or have to limit posts to small sets of parameters.

Before I dive into social media for fitness professionals in this episode I have a secret! I recorded this from my sauna. Using one? Whether for relaxation, or for detoxing naturally, here’s mine. It fits in small spaces – you can pick it up and move it easily.

SCW and Club Industry

I mentioned SCW events on this episode. They are a great source of content for business, for practical workout ideas to expand your programming. Partnering with Club Industry Sara Kooperman has been able to offer a special track for business development – and the networking- that happens during those events that reduces the isolation you may feel when you’re in the trenches.

If you’re marketing to women in midlife you’re going to want a social media marketing system that reaches them specifically with a relationship that doesn’t take you all day.

If you need social media for fitness professionals that gets results without taking all day … especially if you serve women in midlife, you’ll love this.

Take $100 off the Advanced Specialist certification today with code: cert10 

Then get 4 months of mastermind inside a private Facebook group.

How do you do social media without it taking your life? Let’s get real first. Every business at this point needs a marketing person. Someone dedicated to marketing across all platforms, planning the strategy to keep the leads coming in so you can follow up, nurture and sell those customers so you can help them!

If that marketing person is YOU, then you do have to make time. You can’t bury your head in the sand. Without constant marketing a business dies. Get leads. Get clients. Keep clients. Get referrals. Repeat on constant once you create a system that works. You’ll need to continually update your system. The consumer gets smarter. She can and will Google anything. Right or not she can find it.

Your marketing message to start your funnel has to be answering those questions she’s asking better than anyone else. They have to be easy to find with key words, with video. Then you have to have a clear next step. 

Given 9/10 fitness businesses do in fact die still today – 30 years after the fitness “boom” began, you have to be proactive. Regularly getting clients in and taking great care of them will lead to “full” consistently and referrals from happy customers.

Create systems that work. Just like you have with your fitness clients. You test them, assess them, educate them, and you progressively advance their programs. 

You will do that too with a formula for social media for fitness professionals. 

For more on this topic, join me at FitnessFest in Mesa Arizona later this month!

Or for a book you can hold in your hands, check out the Social Media Book for Health Coaches and Personal Trainers (Healthy Learning).

 

Direct download: Deer_Trail_Cir_-_Edited_-_1.mp3
Category:marketing -- posted at: 11:35am MDT

Are you great or desire to be? Do you have a conventional education or not? Questions we answer with our book review today.

My cohost Tom Durkin

Owner operator Ames Fitness and Fitness World Ankeny in Midwest, CEO of Health & Fitness Management, 40 years in fitness industry sales and management. He has over 2000 books in his personal library. He manages over 315 employees daily at multiple facilities. 

Questions we answer in todays episode: 

  • What book (or books) are we talking about today and who are the authors?

Great by Choice Jim Collins

Dark Horse-Todd Rose

  • How influenced are you - or should others be - on "best seller lists" ? If they're simply popularity contests based on the best marketing and promotion campaigns, there are likely some bombs on those lists and some "sleepers" out there that no one else knows about until a review like this.
  • What's been the best and most reliable source of what-to-read-next for you? 
  • How much does the author's background, credentials, and experience matter to you in your selection of what to read next? 
  • What made these books review-worthy?
  • What are the biggest take-aways from Great by Choice?

Are you living up to your potential?

Who are you competing against? Are you great compared to them?

Are you fulfilled and full according to your goal?

Am I taking the steps to do it? 

  • What steps can you take to be great by choice?
  1. Talk to people to create rapport, offer a session, use a script, ask for a sale
  2. Have a list of leads
  3. Book speeches, presentations, creating podcasts articles
  4. Be prepared, planned for the customers you have
  5. Measure how many times you’ve done each of these steps regularly (daily, weekly)

“People who are great by choice have clear performance markers.”

- Tom Durkin, 40-year fitness industry owner & manager 

  • What are three take-aways from Dark Horse? 

Everybody has talent. There are many pathways to success and fulfillment. A non-traditional approach doesn’t necessarily put you at a disadvantage. 

  • Could a non-traditional approach be an asset? In fitness, not having a degree or starting late in life, for example might be an asset.
  • What do you think of the statement “Being Different, is Better than Being Better”?

Another book this is reminiscent of - Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell. (not on our review list right now)

If you had to recommend a top 10 books to read on habits of successful people... would either or both make the cut? 

No to Great By Choice

No to Dark Horse

Up next in our book club review:

Mindset– by Carol Dweck

Have you read Great by Choice or Dark Horse?

Direct download: Tom_Book_Club__2_-_Edited.mp3
Category:Personal development -- posted at: 3:00am MDT

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