You may have the best heart, the best program, or be the best local trainer or health coach, but if you haven’t figured out ways to market your health & coaching business consistently, effectively, then no one knows about you.  

There are dozens of ways for you to market your health coaching business here. Some are direct and others indirect. Indirectly marketing means you’re not just sharing your freebie. That still feels a little like someone you’ve never met stalking you for a date. You have no reason or motivation to get a freebie (let alone, to those of you who are posting on social media your programs and hoping that people register from social media – that strategy unfortunately would go on the “20 ways to kill your organic marketing” list.  

Indirectly marketing your freebie means you’re sharing it but leading with some other generous offer first. Did you know? We no longer require 7 touches before someone will know, like, and trust you – potentially even enough to give you an email, let alone buy from you – it takes about 21 today!

 Yes, 21 times(many say 28) in front of someone. And they are not seeing every post you painstakingly made on social media. People have lives. They don’t wait for your next post, email, or video. So create, yes. Then share, send, and resend when they didn’t open. Be purposeful, have a plan and it’s then that these will get your wheels creative juices going! 

You can return to this over and over! It’s not a checklist suggesting you need them all, but you do need number 1, then you need to give it wheels as many of the additional simple ways to market your health & fitness coaching business will.

Create a Freebie

If you don’t have one you love, that works consistently, focus on this until you do. Where do you post it? Not just hidden on your website. In your blogs, podcasts, interviews, and on social posts in an organic not spammy way. Be sure that you don’t make this mistake: make a freebie, and then leave it. Or this mistake: make a freebie and then make another and another. Stick with your freebie. Promote it, and drive traffic to it (in ways I’ll share below as well as paid traffic depending on your budget).

Watch your conversions every week. How many people actually opt in for it? If you create anything… that no one wants.. you’ve wasted time. So be sure you base what you make on what your customer wants. Keep tweaking until you know that the conversion rate (number of people who land on your freebie thank you page after being presented with your freebie) is high before you go and create another one. 

Not many things on this list will market your health & fitness coaching business the way a freebie will. It’s going to be true for a long time. 

Pop Ups

Add a pop up on your website to the freebie. 

Examples of pop ups include: announcing something special, are you leaving/before you go, and did you forget? I’m including 3 images of pop-ups in the notes here that may give you ideas. And yes, they can be annoying. But they do work. 

Create content that lives forever: 

Start a Blog

Write an Article or post for someone else.

Create a Video 

Start a Podcast. 

Every time you post a new blog (relevant), video, or podcast, insert a ‘native’ CTA for the freebie and then create a slice of that content and share it on at least 5 platforms with a graphic. Haven’t been doing this and have tons of content (a book? Blog or podcast?)? You can go back and do this for every one of them! Continue to share them once created over and over again. This is really an indirect share of your freebie. 

You’ve got gold, now you just need to harvest it! The gold here is that as long as the content is still relevant, you can and should drive traffic to it regularly.

 Examples of These Simple Ways to Market your health & fitness coaching business in Action: 

I have a knee strengthening video on YouTube.  It has millions of views. In it there are 5 or 6 exercises. I can and should share ONE of them in a short video post and tell them that to get the rest of the exercises they can watch the full-length video here…xxxx. 

I can also share a study about omega 3 and inflammation in knees (I have in my arsenal) and suggest if they want other ways to exercise for relief... they watch the video. 

So while I’m sharing a free social post to another free full length video... in order to finally give them an option to “opt in” and subscribe to my email list with another “freebie” – it often takes that kind of chain reaction to prove the trust factor to a new prospect. (85% of consumers make a slower decision than the 15% of us who may jump in)

Got tons of blogs? Create a book using them. Each blog can be a chapter. In every chapter link to or send to the free resources in your freebie. The book itself can be your freebie. Using a free book with shipping or a free pdf version with a small fee.  (Often called a “trip wire” based on the theory that buyers of a small item are usually the best buyers for something more). 

Be a Guest. Every time you’re a guest on someone’s stage, podcast, or summit, share your freebie, with a juicy description. It’s not a pdf, it’s a solution to a big problem your audience has. 

Ask for a Referral current members to give you a paid client. Ask ONE person for one referral. Don’t send some kind of a broadcast to a group of people expecting someone to step up. What happens when you do that in a room? Everyone believes someone else will but feels no obligation or inspiration to do so. 

Tell them how to do it in a specific way and reward them both. 

Share success stories/ testimonials. When you do this, how you get your testimonials matters. It’s not an accident. There are questions you absolutely want to ask and those that you don’t. 

Want help collecting testimonials? 

Sponsor an event. 

Events are always looking for business partners who then get their name on the t-shirt, or the advertisement, or get to talk at the event. Explore how much it would be and the visibility you would have. 

What this looks like: 

I sponsored an event for $12500. I was a keynote speaker, had a vendor booth, and gave a workout one morning before sessions. I paid for my sponsor multiple times over in the revenue from new clients and students that continue to be a part of programs today. So don’t dismiss these paid opportunities to be in front of a dream live audience. They may be a far better investment than paying for Facebook or Google ads to strangers. 

Brand It

Consider putting your own brand name and logo on a t-shirt. Then wear it every time you’re on camera. Strategically you want to make sure placement of the logo is clear and legible and probably higher up than you might ordinarily have it on a t-shirt. I was on with a colleague recently and watched a replay clip of us he shared. In it, he had on his branded shirt, and while I was in brand colors, he was a billboard in his shirt, as well as in the graphics framing the clip that was used for social media. Brilliant! I go to the gym or to run errands regularly wearing a visor. Why wouldn’t I get branded visors made? In fact, I have one. There are dozens of ways you can apply this. 

Be a Vendor

Be a vendor with a booth at a health fair or women’s event/kids’ event (where would your customer be?) There’s a fee but if it’s your specific demographic it’s probably a lot better way to spend that money than spend the same on Facebook ads. 

Host a program for your (or other) church

Present at Women’s Meetings

Contact women’s organizations in the late spring/early summer about doing a program for them next year. This is when many organizations wrap up for the summer, new officers are installed, and t

he new Vice President or Education chair has the task of deciding the programs for the next calendar year before fall. Sometimes organizations -specifically women’s philanthropic organizations – have multiple divisions in the same town/city. In the college town I lived for 30 years there were 20 unique subdivisions and I presented at more than half over the years. 

Market Your Health & Fitness Business with Radio Exposure

Contact the local radio station about a month or day – sleep awareness month, osteoporosis day – and offer to provide tips and do a talk show or be interviewed with their host. When you’re booked, promote promote, promote. After you’re on, get the recording, send it out and promote, promote, promote.

Use that station’s logo on your site in an “as seen on.” 

Be Seen on TV

Contact the local TV station and pitch a newsworthy story. Use statistics, and tie it to their largest audience. You’ll need to do research on the kind of stories they do, the kind of guests they host, as well as know key soundbites that you can give them. They’re busy. Make their job easy by providing the news, why it’s relevant, timely and why you’re the expert. Provide your contact info and 4 questions you can answer. Call, email, and keep asking to talk to the producer until you get an answer. Once you’re booked, do a good job and you’ll be asked back.

Double your Reach

Create a Buddy Pass**. If you already have clients joining your programs, whether your paid or your freebies, give them a buddy pass to share with a friend for 50% off. You’ll want to tie this to some kind of reward for the one who shares it. She wants to save! So… you can do this for a special product right off the bat, a buy 1, get the second 50% off and say instead of each option costing $50 the two can join for $75. 

Make Gift Giving Easy

Mother’s Day, Christmas, Birthdays… are all perfect opportunities for gift certificates, or special promotions. But… don’t stop there. It’s not really special for you to say, “Spend your gift money here.” Instead sweeten the pot. Include a package they can wrap up: send an actual book (not a pdf), a journal, a set of bands, a t-shirt, sweat towel, small ball, etc. Make it something you’ll incorporate into your workouts or coaching. 

Then include a $10 off or $50 off a next step program for the gift recipient too. So you’re not just getting a new client sale, you’re increasing the chance they’ll make a second purchase and planting that seed for them too. 

**About buddy passes and gift giving ease: These are ways to market your health & fitness business… as long as you talk about them! And if your ideal target market is following you, invite them to share the news with their gift-buyer! Or Be sure you know WHO you’re talking to when you post or email… in the gift case you’d potentially be targeting a partner or daughter or son. You have to give that some thought. 

Attend Training with Other Business Owners

The networking with other business owners that you do alone can be worth the cost of attending. This could be as small as attending your Chamber of Commerce business networking breakfast once a month. But it can today be virtual and if your business is virtual, even better. Yesterday in fact, on day one of a two-day training on business skills (yes, even after marketing fitness for 35 years I still invest in learning and getting coached myself). 

In our small group, we had a chance to hear each other and everyone in my group needed what I have. When you have your radar open to every situation you’re in, there is a potential to meet others who need your services, it can happen organically. Even if not them, their wives, or moms or daughters or a corporate presentation could be waiting for you. 

There you are! All the best in 2023!

Resources for building your business: 

Marketing to Women Copywriting course: https://www.flippingfifty.com/copywriting-course 

Flipping 50 Menopause Specialist: https://www.flippingfifty.com/specialist 

Help Your Clients Sleep: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/sleeper

 

Can you talk to customers the way their friends do? 

If the customers you want to attract want clarity, want to end the confusion, want confidence, they also want to sense it from you. 

Two Common Incongruencies:

Fitness and health coaches who are over the top on social videos, moving in a frenzy, speaking with overzealous enthusiasm … that isn’t a fit for the market they want to attract with money to spend, and the commitment to follow through. 

Fitness coaches forget about the customer they want to attract and the mistakes of making videos on social media – that don’t get any likes, shares, views, comments or saves. 

Don’t forget WHO you are and WHO your ideal prospect is. Reverse engineer from your ideal customer – the one you know has the most success and that you love working with! 

Talk So Customers Listen

How do you talk to customers in a way they’d listen? What tone of voice, what rate of speech, what type of video would appeal to THEM? 

If you’re just trying to compete for eyeballs without caring which eyeballs, your popularity, if you get it may cost you. Wasted time on people who want freebies, or entertainment… and maybe not even that. Because without being authentic, it’s hard to attract anyone.  

Know who you are, and who the customers you want to attract are! Be you and speak to them like a friend not like a speech or performance. You want to talk authentically whether you’re writing, actually speaking, or in a video moving. 

Other 5-Minute Marketing Episodes You May Like: 

How to Promote on Your Timeline Posts: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/timeline-posts/

Post Less, Engage More: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/engage-more/

Resources: 

Health & Fitness Business Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard 

Marketing to Women Copywriting Course: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/copywriting-course

Last chance! If you're seeing this and you work with women in midlife, now is your chance! Join the Flipping 50 Menopause Fitness Specialists already earning and learning more to boost their business this year! 

Timeline posts that are promotional read like ads. Ads push people away. People come to social media for social awareness, laughter, to see what friends are doing, to get to know you, education -as long as it’s entertaining. 

Engagement tells you everything. If you post promotions and no one likes it, comments on it, shares it, or saves it  or fewer than 10 people do any one of those, you are hurting yourself. 

Timeline posts that are promotional, even including paid advertising, ultimately hurt your organic reach. 

Use the evidence that you have as the testimonial for this one. I can think of 2 recent students doing this regularly, and even my own example of doing this a month ago (after having not done so for more than two years as a rule.) The performance of that post was pathetic. And now? It’s sitting there as a sore thumb. Archiving content that doesn’t serve you is a good idea. Get rid of it so no one else scrolls through your timeline if they’re looking at you for the first time. 

Case Study:

A recent social media Instagram audit revealed that more than 80% of posts were promotional. They were either images of programs or the post copy did nothing more than relay the details of the start and cost. 

Once we reviewed how to share tips included in the program and then tease a free next step, engagement went up and conversions to paid customers began to rise consistently. That is, even though promotions were down to 10-20%, the effectiveness improved dramatically. 

Using a place where people want entertainment, humor and to catch up with friends, to promote will backfire.

Other Episodes You May Like: 

Post Less, Engage More: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/engage-more/

Fitness Marketing Secrets to Recession-Proof: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/the-voice-for-fitness-professionals-podcast/

Resources: 

Health & Fitness Business Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard 

Marketing to Women Copywriting Course: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/copywriting-course

Better social media posts come from 2 things.

A watched post never boils….oh, that’s pot. But the same is true. If you look at a post every 

hour or in 20 hours and think, it didn’t get much engagement I’ve got to post again, you’re missing the boat.

#1 Post less often. 

#2 Keep them more engaged on previous posts.

Too often we’re confusing better social media posts with posting more. Instead, post stories. Why? Because no one can watch just one story anymore than they can watch just one reel. 

How do you watch stories? You land on a story and then you click click click through all of them from the same account. So does your prospect. So they will see the post that you shared, then you immediately shared to your story (you did that right?) and you can post it again to stories after the first disappears in 24 hours. 

Go Big, Then Go Home... and Relax

Try posting something bigger less frequently and then blow it up with stories. 

Better social media posts come from a blend of mindfulness about your customer, and a little luck. I recently had a reel get 14K views in 2 hours with no idea why. I couldn’t distinguish it from others that had far less engagement. So there is a timing, there is music - use good not overused music over reels. Try voiceover reels. Try it all. When the algorithm changes you’ll have to determine again how to create better social media posts. 

But you should never have to determine what your audience wants. When you know them you should always get a consistent connection. Remember that if you pass this off to a VA who is doing it for you, it’s still you that should monitor the posts, and review the insights to be sure: 

• You’re growing
• You do more of what works less of what doesn’t
• They use your voice 
• The engagement you get comes from the customers you want

Here’s to better not more! 

Other Episodes You May Like: 

Post Less Engage More: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/engage-mroe

6 Ways to Boost Your PR Without a PR Company (or Budget): https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/boost-your-pr/

Resources: 

Health & Fitness Business Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard 

Marketing to Women: Copywriting Course: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/copywriting-course

How would you like to engage more people on every social media post? 

Make juicy content and then post stories to bring you TOMA of your account. But stop cannibalizing your own content. I know “they” tell you to post every day, four times a day, but that’s old news and it’s not working. 

This is. 

I post daily and I might get 2000 views on a video and 60 likes. 

I post every 3 or 4 days and I get 5000-6000 views and 2-300 likes and comments.  

As the algorithm changes, so too must you change. 

Posting on social media frequently was truly a thing in 2013 and 2014. In fact, posting 4 times a day on Facebook was a thing and worked. It doesn’t any more. Unless, possibly you are in real estate, selling houses and your audience is looking for a house right now. 

With fitness, you may wear out your welcome posting that much consistently. It might work for a “day in the life” post or an “How I eat in a day” series of posts. And always, if you have a theory about what will work because you know your audience, test it. 

Will your ideal clients follow multiple posts a day? Are you really capturing her or are you throwing things out there trying to capture anyone? Do you want to post many times and get little engagement on any one post, or post once, and reshare it to stories, to your personal feed, several times to boost its appeal? 

Likewise, consider what your posts are doing for you. Are you just throwing up cute memes? Or are you connecting, relating, or driving traffic to more important content? My goal is 99% the latter. I bring eyeballs to my content over and over instead of thinking of new posts that dead end over and over. 

In 2022, good content that your audience wants was gold.That’s not going to stop in 2023. Let a post take your ideal prospect to somewhere for a deeper relationship. Hint though: it’s not a sale, a promotion. It’s a cornerstone piece of content or a freebie.  

Post less, engage more by using stories. 

Other Episodes You May Like: 

Best Social Media Fitness Posts Right Now: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/best-social-media/

What to Post on Social Media: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/what-to-post/

Resources: 

Health & Fitness Business Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard 

Chances are if you don’t have deep pockets you need ways to boost your PR without having to spend thousands of dollars on a PR agency.  I’ve got 6 and a list of examples both in the episode and the shown notes here. 

Don’t skip the homework! Taking action is the only way to make the time you spend listening worthwhile! I love to brainstorm and conceptualize as much as any entrepreneur. But it’s in the followthrough that business owners win. 

Collaborate with other fitness & health coaches 

            You do fitness? Find a health coach or functional doctor who is recommending exercise but isn’t an exercise specialist 

            You train women? Find someone who trains men and cross promote you to their audience and them to yours

Call your media stations (on Speed Dial RIGHT NOW) 

Ask whether they host guests. 

Ask what their lead time would be. 

Follow their anchors or segment hosts 

Use Your Media Segments 

It’s never the one time you’re on air for 3 minutes. It’s what you do with them.  

Host a “Show” 

            It could be a podcast but doesn’t have to be. Live on FB, IG, or YT with a guest  

Host Leaders of your industry niche 

            Senior Games hosts of each state, National 

            Menopause Society and NAMS 

            Fitness Associations 

            Fitness Conferences 

Write a book. 

            Self-publish

            Co-author

            Small publisher 

            Traditional (longer timeline)

There you have it, 6 simple ways to boost your PR without it costing an arm and leg. Which did you like best? Which will you do first? 

Other Episodes & Resources You Might Like: 

5 Step Blogs: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/best-blogs/

7 Things Profitable Trainers Know: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/profitable-trainers/

12 Content Ideas for Fitness & Health Coaches: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/content-ideas/

Create an Irresistible Fitness Freebie: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/irresistible-freebie-how-to/

If you're talking, creating video, posting and have the website and emails, but still business is slow? You most likely are not using words that your ideal customers need in order to reach for their credit card and ask how they work with you. Get support now to stop struggling and start attracting. 

This episode of things profitable trainers need to know may not be what you expect. There are other practical components of building funnels, writing emails, and creating copy that makes customers buy I could talk about. But not here. 

There are hundreds and thousands of trainers. Not all of them, not even many of them, are truly profitable. While you might think I’m going to talk about the need for a course, and a course before your course... and we definitely could. That is funnel talk. But there’s more. There’s this sixth sense kind of list that has to be there first.  

Do let me know if this is helpful. I’ll share a way to give yourself a grade on your business too. (check resources below)

This episode of 7 things profitable trainers need to know is based on the foundation for tracking, communicating, and decision-making. 

Look objectively at the right numbers 

-the “books” P & L statement 

-subscribers in and out 

-source of traffic 

-ROAS for ads or marketing effort 

-where do I spend, where do I spend less or stop spending 

Train Holistically – it’s more than movement

-foam rolling isn’t necessarily the best way to support fascia 

-assess and respond to hormone status of individuals 

Create Simple Messages from a Complex Set of Information

-stop the teach & preach and move into raise & praise 

-lower the barrier to entry 

-be inclusive vs exclusive 

-make it step-by-step

Breakdown the What, Why, and How of Information for Prospects

-Share WHY far more than HOW

-you can’t be a step ahead or new prospects won’t join you

-demonstrate you doing… and explain WHY 

Be Willing to be Seen and Heard Imperfectly 

-all marketing is visual today 

-a brick-and-mortar business still needs individual trainers teaching digitally  

Spot Trends and Solve Problems 

-Trends and fads exist for a reason 

-How do you answer uniquely? 

Choose a NICHE, Stay In It 

-collaborate with others who know more about something than you

-it takes a village, make sure you’re building one with collaborative partners 

-if you’re reluctant to interview someone because you think you know more, think about it

-if you “do that too” it doesn’t mean they can’t be a partner 

-if you go deep in health coaching, and clients still need the very specific exercise 

-If you go deep in exercise, and clients still need the nutrition

There you have it! 7 Things profitable trainers need to know! And there’s more of course! The tactile and practical creation of courses is a must for passive revenue.  

Resources Mentioned in this Episode: 

Your Business Scorecard podcast: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/business-scorecard/

Right to the Scorecard: https://www.fitnessmarketingmastery.com/scorecard

Training women in midlife? The Flipping 50 Menopause Fitness Specialist directory is growing with trainers and health coaches who train in person and virtually all over the world. The Advanced Specialist is the only one that is included, and allows lifetime access to the Facebook group as long as you’re an active contributor, and license to use dozens of worksheets customizable with your contact information for two years. After that you can renew with proof of your continuing education and CEU-courses offered via Flipping 50. 

https://www.flippingfifty.com/specialist

Which of the 7 things profitable trainers need to know was the most valuable? 

 

We’ve got fitness marketing secrets for you inside this episode. Every other word is nearly a pearl, a story, or advice for you to recession-proof for this recession/depression that is ahead. 

Though he’s the author of Man Up, and the title may not turn your head, it’s for you too. It's HU-Man, up. There’s never been a better time to be a woman in business. The power and the influence you have and the ripple effect of that extending through each woman you help influencing others can change health care history. 

My Guest: 

Bedros Keuilian is an American Entrepreneur and a believer in the American Dream. He and his family are immigrants who escaped communism and came to the United States to find freedom, opportunity and a better life.

Today Bedros is a serial entrepreneur and investor in over a dozen industry leading brands and businesses. He’s the founder of Fit Body Boot Camp, three times listed in Inc Magazine as well as Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 fastest growing franchise brands in the world. Bedros is the author of the Wall Street Journal Best Selling book Man Up – How To Cut The BS and Dominate In Business and In Life.

Bedros believes in the power of the human spirit and uses the stage, TV, social media, his podcast and his blog to share his Immigrant Edge and American Dream story to help inspire audiences worldwide to get unstuck and reach their fullest potential!

Questions we answer in this episode: 

04:14 You’ve coached trainers on the practical aspects of fitness business. Yet, leadership and personal development are what you seem to be talking about now, what’s behind that? 

What two “Rs” does Bedros recommend we all learn? 

08:16 Since the pandemic happened, how do fitness providers deal with this mom

23:20 How does your ability to make decisions quickly matter? 

27:25 How do you build your decision-making muscle? 

31:32 Who’s a better leader, an introvert or extrovert? 

53:24 How would you start over and be seen and heard? 

There is so much more in this episode you do NOT want to miss. Play it. Play it again. 

You’re going to hear these remarkable “quotables,” or Bedros-isms, to help you recession-proof your business(and your mindset) right now: 

2 Rs to Success

Check Up from the Neck Up

The model of F.I.O.

The subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between a small or big decision.

-Bedros Keuilian 

Connect with Bedros: 

https://www.youTube.com/bedroskeuilian

https://www.Instagram.com/bedroskeuilian

Bedros’ Book is MAN UP on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Up-Bullshit-Kick-Business/dp/1946885037/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1670003450&sr=8-1

My suggestion: get the Audible version: https://www.audible.com/pd/Man-Up-Audiobook/B07KBF2J23?source_code=GPAGBSH0508140001&ipRedirectOverride=true&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maEeFDUoXvbgmPyh7eH9rxFtgSSOtwCE-OUW0eyTlUDuEGXatQvzLJUaAlsTE

ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds