Marketing - JP Fitness Forums

Paul Yost · 10-10-2007, 11:41 PM

Hello everyone,

I'm having a hard time reaching clientele. I have a website that's generating some traffic, use local classified ads, am registered in local searches and most recently have started an ad with google adwords. My business has been up a running for about a month and I have recieved very little response. Anyone have ideas? This has been a bit surprising to me because I've worked here a while and know quite a few people. Thanks.

Craig · 10-12-2007, 04:10 PM

Hi Paul,

What do you mean "little response"? Do you mean very few people have contacted you through your site?

If that is what you mean, then here are some problems.

1) way too many menu options on the side - a confused mind says no, and hits the backspace button.

2) who are you trying to date? what type of client do you want...do you expect...

that would dictate putting some niche specific info on your site

3) There's no reason to contact you. Okay, i found your site, it doesn't tell me much, i don't know who its for...etc.

You need to talk about why someone should contact you regarding this...

"also offer personal training service to the local Houston, Texas area at One 2 One Training Center."

Get rid of everything else on the site.

Basically, figure out who is looking for you...and who would find you...and what they are thinking while they are looking for you...and then when they get to your site you should have a little letter written specifically to them...welcoming them, showing a picture of you, telling them what you can do for them.

Offer a free report to get them on your contact list, and then you can develop a relationship with them via email.

craig

Jean-Paul · 10-12-2007, 04:52 PM

Paul, I don't know if you have had time to browse around my base site www.jpfitness.com, but I have had pretty good success with my "lead generator"... On every page of my site you can sign up for a 7 day free trial. When you click that, it asks you many questions that pre-qualify you as a potential client/member, then gets your phone/email and even the best time to be contacted.

Do you have any success stories behind you yet? You can put together a little press kit and send it off to every local publication, letting them know that you are a local authority available for interviews if they ever need an expert, or if they ever need to feature someone who has made a huge transformation.

Write a letter to local businesses, introducing yourself as their "business neighbor," informing them of what services you provide. Offer group fitness to go programs where you come to them three days a week and train them on site, or they can come to you. Get groups of 3-8 people to get together, council them on nutrition, keep a workout log, and limit them to 8 weeks. If someone doesn't think they're making an open-ended commitment they will be much more likely to try it.

Set up one of your classes outside in a park where you can stash a huge friggin' tractor tire. Yeah, some housewife probably doesn't really have a need to flip a tire or swing a KB, or do band-resisted shuffle drills, but it's not TYPICAL so it's not boring. It's FUN. Develop a reputation for your groups having a blast being a bunch of overgrown kids! Gyms can be a real bore.

When you start it up, invite the media. Go to a press office that can send one fax to every media outlet in your area. You may have to pay a small fee (I never have), but it would be worth it.

Get a camera crew out there. Take your own photos and put pictures of your clients have the time of their life while getting in shape on your website. Make sure they are people that your target clientele can relate too. Not some 19-year-old with no bodyfat and a sport bra in other words

Are you a member of your local Chamber of Commerce? Are you involved in any community activities? They have "leads" meetings at the Chamber, where people get with a group of their business neighbors and chat up what they do, exchange cards and such. It's a good way to start building some relationships.

Start volunteering your time with your state governor's council on fitness, or coaching Special Olympics kids. It's rewarding because you are doing something for altruistic reasons (assuming you are), and it doesn't hurt that the media loves that stuff.

Get your name and face out there. Hand out your card and have your website on everything you hand out. Put your website on your rear window with something that will get people's attention.

Grassroots efforts are ususally much more effective on local promotions than buying key words on search engines. That works if you are trying to buy national/international traffic. You can't get to your clientele by leaving breadcrumbs out there and expecting them to figure it out. You have to be in their face.

Bottom line is that you have to take some aggressive action to get your community talking about you. Generate some buzz. Don't sit around waiting for it... Go out and get it.

Jean-Paul · 10-13-2007, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Get rid of everything else on the site.

I pretty much agree with Craig here. Don't overwhelm the few people you can get to visit your site. They're skittish anyway.

Of course, I feel the same way about long letter web pages too. Craig, you have some experience with them... Do they really work that well? All I hear is negative feedback on them.

I guess it really gets back to "who you are trying to reach," right? If I were to try to market a new product, I probably would not use that method with my forum members as they are "immune" to that kind of marketing (borrowed that phrase from Lou).

Paul, it would be a small boost, but put your homepage in your sig line. At least that way with multiple links to your site you would get a mild increase in page rank. If you are a prolific poster that can really help.

Also, don't purchase a classified. Nobody sees those. If you can spring for it, purchase a regular ad (minimum of 6) in one of your local tabloid-format papers (one that matches the demo you are after, like a business journal or something), and arrange with your acct rep to place it in the same place in the publication every time. Those people are hungry for sales, so you can spell out what you're looking for really specifically... My conditions on buying ads is that it needs to be in the first 8 pages, upper right corner, or at the very least on the right half. And I refuse to pay extra for preferred placement. If they want the sale, they will write up your contract to say anything you want.

When you do make your ad, don't overwhelm your reader with info... Keep it really simple. Don't forget that sex sells. An image that gets people's attention is good, and a catchy phrase, then a nice logo, phone number, web address, done! If you like, I will dig through my old archives to see if I have some examples of things that really worked for me.

One I can remember was of the sexy naked back of a woman who was apparently hugging herself (with a nice soft lense). My tag was, "Learn to love your body... JP Fitness." The phone rang all week! People don't care about your cert, they don't care about your equipment. They care about location, but if you trigger their emotions, even that won't matter.

One last thing then I have to go get some sleep! Are you at least closing the people who walk through the door?

PowerManDL · 10-13-2007, 03:54 AM

about a month?

That's your problem.

kingkop182 · 10-13-2007, 05:00 AM

JP, those two posts really encapsulate what it is like to be a small to medium size business owner and offer some great strategies for 'getting yourself out there'.

Thank You for those pearls of wisdom

Deserve · 10-14-2007, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean-Paul

One I can remember was of the sexy naked back of a woman who was apparently hugging herself (with a nice soft lense). My tag was, "Learn to love your body... JP Fitness." The phone rang all week! People don't care about your cert, they don't care about your equipment. They care about location, but if you trigger their emotions, even that won't matter.

Why wouldn't something like that work as an alternative to the long letter web page?

Jean-Paul · 10-14-2007, 09:51 AM

I think that the long letter format is supposed to work on the emotions by telling the story from "someone who was once right where you are" before they used xyz product and became rich and famous overnight. People who are struggling are easy prey. They see someone claiming they just bought a BMW with cash with one week's revenue and they get dollar signs in their eyes.

I have no doubt that some of the big names that have used this method are successful, but I can tell you that this industry is full of people who inflate their financial success. If you do ever get to hear the "real" story on some of the trainers out there you find out that they either have a secondary source of income, have one really generous client/benefactor, or just flat out lie about what kind of hell they are really in.

When personally asked, I make sure that people understand that the only reason I consider myself successful is because I have survived. It is not an easy industry to make a living.

People see my glitzy gym and nice house and think that I am just floating around on the cloud of the American dream every day, using wads of $20's as firewood. I have had a really good year this year, but it is a constant struggle. One thing that gives me an advantage over others in this industry is that I am willing to live well within my means.

The glitz can be real deceiving. The public doesn't see how hard I have to work to scrap together enough to pay my rent, pay my insurance, pay my employees, pay for equipment, pay for repairs, pay all my taxes.... It's not sexy! It's a lot more sexy to picture a guy who floats in to work for about 2-3 hours a day, makes sure that things are going well and then goes out to play golf or spend money.

Deserve · 10-14-2007, 02:06 PM

Success is a relative term. Were you to take a poll, I'd be willing to bet that everyone has a different definition.

Paul Yost · 10-14-2007, 08:17 PM

Thanks for your responses. So you think I should basically get rid of all the content on the site? The gym is set up kind of like a training studio. Members get charged more for not having a trainer and most come over with one. Walk-ins are cycled through the trainers unless they specifically ask for a male/female. I haven't had a walk-in yet because I'm one of the newest trainers renting from them.