Why is it that some people are literally TERRIFIED to pick up the telephone and call leads?
I remember back in the day when only yuppies had cell phones and 9 times out of 10 when a prospect actually gave you their contact details you were stuck with a home phone number, which meant having to try and avoid calling them during dinner, or too late or whatever.
There has never been a better time than now to actually get the person that you want on the phone thanks to the fact that 99% of the world now carry cell phones with them; yet many trainers still botch or even avoid calling leads simply because they're unprepared.
After reading this guest post by a good friend of mine and massive supporter of My Business Is Fitness; ex tele-sales gun, turned personal trainer and proud owner of Power Mums, Ellie Burscough; you will have no excuse to not kick some ass, because Ellie has VERY kindly given us her top 10 tips to making quality calls and closing deals.
Over to Ellie:
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
3 FREE Ways To Generate More Leads
The single greatest challenge that most personal trainers face is generating qualified leads.
As I'm sure you know, there are a ton of people out there promising personal trainers proven systems to generate 20-30 new leads every week, but let's be real, there's no secret, it's just about being innovative and doing some work.
Below, you will find 3 simple lead generating techniques that I've used over the years which you can adjust to suit your business or a particular promotion.
How To Ask For And Get Free Prizes And Give-Aways For Your Next Promotion
Ever wonder where your competitors get all of those great prizes to give away to their clients and offer prospects in competitions? They probably asked for them and in this post I'm going to show you how YOU can ask for and get FREE stuff for your next big promotion.
One of the most popular promotions I have ever run was an annual event that we called the "Queen For A Day" promotion.
It was an internal referral promotion whereby every time an existing member referred someone new to our gym, they would get an entry with the chance to win a weekend of indulgence (oh yes; indulgence!).
The prize included:
- A night at a local resort
- Dinner for two
- Spa treatment
- Supplement pack
- Movie tickets
- Personal Training Sessions
- And other bits and pieces
How Can A Virtual Assistant Help My Personal Training Business?
As mentioned earlier this week; based on a question I asked on the My Business Is Fitness Facebook page, I decided to contact Lara Thomas from E - Assistant Services who specializes in helping fitness professionals just like you by taking away a lot of the mundane chores of running a small business so you can focus on things that MAKE YOU MONEY.
Lara has put together an awesome post and included a brief case study of one particular personal training business that she has worked closely with to take it to another level.
How can a Virtual Assistant help my personal training business?
Well let’s start at the beginning. Many of you are probably wondering what a Virtual Assistant is?
A Virtual Assistant is an individual who provides administrative, secretarial, business and marketing support to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Work is carried out 'virtually' from our own office, so it doesn’t matter where you are, we can still help you.
Lara has put together an awesome post and included a brief case study of one particular personal training business that she has worked closely with to take it to another level.
How can a Virtual Assistant help my personal training business?
Well let’s start at the beginning. Many of you are probably wondering what a Virtual Assistant is?
A Virtual Assistant is an individual who provides administrative, secretarial, business and marketing support to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Work is carried out 'virtually' from our own office, so it doesn’t matter where you are, we can still help you.
The Fitness Business And The 'New Rich'
I recently asked a question on the My Business Is Fitness Facebook page:
"If you could have someone handle ALL of your administration duties so you could focus on being an even BETTER Personal Trainer - Would you?"
This question prompted some very interesting discussion and that's what I'd like to talk about today.
Let me explain the reason I asked this question in the first place:
You may have heard of a book by the name of The 4 Hour Work Week
by Timothy Ferris. In this book, Tim talks about and describes exactly how you can systematically automate your life in order to drastically reduce your active working hours to achieve an ideal lifestyle.The reason being so that you have the time to pursue what you really want to be doing; like travelling (for example) while still earning an amazing income.
One of the keys to living this ideal lifestyle is to outsource things in your life that otherwise take up your valuable time, like administration responsibilities.
Tim describes the result of having all this extra time and more disposable income as becoming a member of a 21st century tribe he describes as the New Rich; basically meaning that you use technology and Virtual Assistants to handle mundane responsibilities that otherwise limit your time and the lifestyle that you desire.
This prompted me to contact a Virtual assistant and find out exactly what they could offer me and my business to take over tasks that quite frankly, bore me to tears.
Now, when I asked that question on facebook, I didn't prompt or mention anything about VA's or automation, I simply wanted some feedback from fitness professionals and here are some of the responses:
Would you hand over admin duties?
"I would like to say yes, but handing over control of that stuff is easier said than done." - Simon
"Hell Yes!" - Rob
"Yes, I hate admin" - Ellie
"My friend, this is exactly what I do! She runs my books, bookings, marketing! She does an outstanding job! So I focus on the "work" in the trenches!" - Kaia
There were quite a few other responses, but you get the point and it seems most of you guys feel like me - we need more time to focus on what's really important and that's earning money, not pushing paper.
The thing that concerns me and evidently you guys about handing over these sorts of responsibilities is a trust issue and whether these VA's will do as good a job as we can.
Let me tell you, a VA, if chosen properly will more than likely be BETTER at handling these mundane tasks than we are anyway!
I have a guest post coming this week from the Virtual Assistant that I spoke to the other day who actually specialises in working with personal trainers and fitness professionals.
I've asked her to put it together as a kind of case study for you guys on how she has helped one personal trainer take his business about 5 more levels than he could have done on his own and that is no reflection on how awesome a trainer he is, more to do with how terrible at administration he was.
So yes, this is a kind of a launch post for that article, because I don't want you guys to miss it!
Stay Tuned!
How Trainers Can Use Podcasts To Boost Their Authority And Fitness Business
I've never really written about personal trainers using audio on their websites and blogs to boost their fitness authority and business but it is something that I have been involved with for other sites and seen some great results.
That's one of the main reasons I asked Kyra Williams from The Get In Shape Girl to write a brief guest post on the topic of using audio files and to add a bit of background on her own fitness industry journey to get some real feedback, from a real trainer using tele-seminars in her business and making things happen.
That's one of the main reasons I asked Kyra Williams from The Get In Shape Girl to write a brief guest post on the topic of using audio files and to add a bit of background on her own fitness industry journey to get some real feedback, from a real trainer using tele-seminars in her business and making things happen.
How Your Own Online Product Can Super-Charge Your Fitness Business
There are only so many hours in the day and only so many personal training sessions someone can physically manage in a week; so diversifying your income streams by incorporating products into your fitness business makes perfect and progressive financial sense.
Which brings us to today's article:
I'm very happy to have a guest post by one of my good friends, who happens to be an EXPERT on producing and monetizing online products; Mr Rick Watson from a very awesome blog called PT Business In A Box to give you some great advice on why and how to go about getting started and getting PAID what you're worth.
How Your Own Online Product Can Super-Charge Your Fitness Business
When I spoke to Ben the other day and he asked me to write a guest post for his blog, the first thing that popped into my head was de-mystifying the world of online products in your fitness business.
I know there always seems to be a lot of crazy marketing hype about online products but today I really just want to push all that aside and demonstrate the positive impact your own online product can have on your fitness business.
But before we get into all of that, I think it is probably important to let you know what I consider an "online product".
Which brings us to today's article:
I'm very happy to have a guest post by one of my good friends, who happens to be an EXPERT on producing and monetizing online products; Mr Rick Watson from a very awesome blog called PT Business In A Box to give you some great advice on why and how to go about getting started and getting PAID what you're worth.
How Your Own Online Product Can Super-Charge Your Fitness Business
When I spoke to Ben the other day and he asked me to write a guest post for his blog, the first thing that popped into my head was de-mystifying the world of online products in your fitness business.
I know there always seems to be a lot of crazy marketing hype about online products but today I really just want to push all that aside and demonstrate the positive impact your own online product can have on your fitness business.
But before we get into all of that, I think it is probably important to let you know what I consider an "online product".
MBIF Top 12 Clever Fitness Advertisements
I'm calling it a top 12, but really; these funny and clever fitness advertisements are in no particular order, as that would be unfair to the creative GENIUSES who came up with them...Enjoy!
12. Slim Fast Too Skinny For The Grate
12. Slim Fast Too Skinny For The Grate
How The Hangover 2 Can Make You A Better Marketer
 |
| Image Courtesy Screen Crave |
The original Hangover film was made with a modest budget of $35 million and ended up netting around $467 million at the box office; which ultimately ranked it in the top 10 grossing films of 2009. Very impressive stuff, but the crazy thing is that the film became EVEN MORE popular when it went to DVD and a cult following developed.
How To Turn Text Message Marketing Into Referrals
I came across an interesting article the other day about an awesome text message service that sends expecting mothers three text messages a week providing health, nutrition and other prenatal guidance that increases the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy.
This got me thinking about several personal trainers I know that specifically target mothers with young children, but also how this very simple and very clever service could be used by all trainers to build rapport, educate, increase client retention and lead to MORE qualified referrals.
Awesome FREE Marketing Publicity Stunt - Straight Out Of 1987
Let me paint you a pretty picture:
Here I am driving and singing along to George Harrison's 1987 smash hit Got My Mind Set On You (and doing an awesome job according to the Japanese family in the maroon Camry beside me that had it's indicator on for 15 minutes) when half way through the chorus, out of the corner of my right eye, I see two people peddling stationary/spin bikes on the sidewalk!
10 Tips To Producing Promotional Videos That People WILL Watch
It's a fact; video plays and has played a HUGE part of business marketing strategies via television for decades and with the DOMINATION of online video hosting sites like YouTube, video should now play a massive role in every personal trainer and fitness professionals as well.
Television revolutionised the advertising medium by giving businesses the opportunity to demonstrate and introduce themselves in a far more personable way than print and still images alone can ever achieve.
The problem with television advertising is that it costs a FORTUNE, even more if you want it aired when your target market is actually watching TV.
Television revolutionised the advertising medium by giving businesses the opportunity to demonstrate and introduce themselves in a far more personable way than print and still images alone can ever achieve.
The problem with television advertising is that it costs a FORTUNE, even more if you want it aired when your target market is actually watching TV.
How To DOMINATE Your Next Fitness Expo Or Trade Show
When you think of fitness trade shows and expos what's the first thing that comes to mind? Free samples, $12.00 sandwiches, a spray tan?
A REAL fitness professional thinks about business and personal development opportunities.
Most personal trainers I know plan their trade show trips months in advance and for a variety reasons:
A REAL fitness professional thinks about business and personal development opportunities.
Most personal trainers I know plan their trade show trips months in advance and for a variety reasons:
- Continued Education Courses
- Reuniting with friends that you only see at trade shows
- Industry information
- Free stuff
- Try new things
- Wear workout clothes and not workout
- Networking
How To Make A Facebook Page
Facebook pages are BIG business! As the power of social media steam rolls it's way into the marketing budgets of the world's largest corporations, it should for you as well.
I was speaking with a brand manager today from of a totally unrelated industry and asked him what the one thing that he's learnt in all his years of marketing and he said with a quip "word of mouth is the most powerful motivator of consumer purchases".
I'm sure you all know about the power of word of mouth; it's basically a referral from a satisfied customer, but the problem remains of how many people will your satisfied customer actually sing your praises to...2 maybe 3 people at best?
Facebook is the most powerful 'word of mouth' device imaginable.
Every time one of your clients writes something on your wall like "awesome workout, you are the best personal trainer in the world!" all of your friends see that. All of a sudden, that one referral is being read by potentially hundreds if not thousands of people.
I was speaking with a brand manager today from of a totally unrelated industry and asked him what the one thing that he's learnt in all his years of marketing and he said with a quip "word of mouth is the most powerful motivator of consumer purchases".
I'm sure you all know about the power of word of mouth; it's basically a referral from a satisfied customer, but the problem remains of how many people will your satisfied customer actually sing your praises to...2 maybe 3 people at best?
Facebook is the most powerful 'word of mouth' device imaginable.
Every time one of your clients writes something on your wall like "awesome workout, you are the best personal trainer in the world!" all of your friends see that. All of a sudden, that one referral is being read by potentially hundreds if not thousands of people.
What Does Your Website Say About Your Fitness Business?
Branding and social media are two of my favorite things to talk about both on My Business Is Fitness and in everyday life (I know, what a boring guy).
I love reading about new things, trying new things and checking out what everyone else is doing. This means I spend quite a bit of time online checking out other personal trainers social media accounts and websites.
Most of the time (well, 99% of the time) I don't personally know the people who's sites I'm looking at so this actually works in my favor to make an unbiased assessment of what's going on.
What I'm doing today is show you a few personal trainers websites and give my opinion on them. These sites will be completely random, in fact I'm going to search for them as I write each one and try and find some variety.
I love reading about new things, trying new things and checking out what everyone else is doing. This means I spend quite a bit of time online checking out other personal trainers social media accounts and websites.
Most of the time (well, 99% of the time) I don't personally know the people who's sites I'm looking at so this actually works in my favor to make an unbiased assessment of what's going on.
What I'm doing today is show you a few personal trainers websites and give my opinion on them. These sites will be completely random, in fact I'm going to search for them as I write each one and try and find some variety.
3 Marketing Principles We Can Learn From MTVs Jersey Shore
Like it or hate it; MTV's "Jersey Shore" is INSANELY popular (the last episode reached 8.9 million viewers in the U.S) and I have to admit that I'm guilty of being a pretty big fan. I don't care for many TV programs, least of all reality shows, but this one is straight up AWESOME!
If you haven't already seen or heard of it; the show candidly follows 8 twenty-something 'Guidos', who live, work, party and frequently try to kill each other in various cities around the U.S.
If you haven't already seen or heard of it; the show candidly follows 8 twenty-something 'Guidos', who live, work, party and frequently try to kill each other in various cities around the U.S.
Why You Should Survey Your Clients And How To Do It Most Effectively
Quick Survey: Do you know what your clients think of you and your fitness business? Do you know why they train with you specifically? Can you tell if half of your personal training clients are about to fire you?
Hopefully you were able to answer yes to at least one of those questions, but the truth is, most trainers know nothing about their clients besides their BMI's and what they did on the weekend.
Getting honest answers to those kinds of questions can be very difficult. I suppose you could just walk up to your clients and ask them if they like you or the way you train them, but who's to say they're going to tell you the truth?
Hopefully you were able to answer yes to at least one of those questions, but the truth is, most trainers know nothing about their clients besides their BMI's and what they did on the weekend.
Getting honest answers to those kinds of questions can be very difficult. I suppose you could just walk up to your clients and ask them if they like you or the way you train them, but who's to say they're going to tell you the truth?
How To Make A Facebook Ad
Facebook advertising is 'pretty good'...if you have an awesome offer. I've had some promotions that were resounding successes; but 10 times more of them flopped...but that's businesses.
I'm putting this post together as a step by step introduction to facebook advertising mainly for those of you who have thought about it, but never tried, but also for those of you who have run some promotions on facebook, there might be some ideas for you as well.
Lets begin at the beginning:
Anyone with a facebook account can create facebook ads. However, you can not promote personal facebook profiles only facebook pages. So if you're still running your business from a personal account, you should look to create a 'page'...but that's another post.
To Begin:
Click "Promote With An Ad" on the upper right hand side of your page. This will take you to the facebook advertising page.
Starting at the top; from here you can choose to advertise your facebook page (when you click on the arrow it will show you all of the pages you are an admin of) and it will also give you the option to select an 'external URL', maybe your website or blog.
The advertising procedure is the same whether you choose a facebook page or an external link, the choice is yours.
If you choose 'external URL' it will ask you where you want facebook to send your audience by entering your URL.
Once you've made your decision, make sure that 'facebook ads' is selected, not 'sponsored stories'. Sponsored stories is a new feature that facebook have recently added and we're not worrying about them today.
Destination Tab:
If you chose to advertise your facebook page then you will be asked where you want facebook to send people when they click your ad. Never send people to your 'wall', create a 'welcome' page or an 'opt in' page, depending on your offer and send them there.
Title:
If it's your page, it will be automatically generated, if it's an external URL, then simply enter the name of your site.
Body:
The body is the text for your ad. You have 135 characters to dazzle the pants of people and get them clicking, so get straight to the point! Use some of the 25 'power words' I gave you last week and create some energy!
25 Powerful Words That Guarantee Increased Sales
Image:
You can put almost any image you like in there (copyright rules apply). I've tried a few different styles, by having pictures of people by themselves, couples, people doing stuff...but the most successful campaigns that I've run have all been with my logo.
Next comes the fun stuff - Targeting.
First thing you do is select your country or countries if you want to run a huge campaign, but for the sake of this exercise let's just pick one.
You can then choose to have your ad show up all around the country, or by state or even city. For a personal training program, lets just go by city, so just begin typing it in and then select the best one from what facebook provides.
Demographics:
Next, select the age range that you want your ad to appear in front of by considering your target market. You should already have a pretty good idea who you want to see your ad and you can choose an exact age, but put some leeway either side. If you're target market is 40 year old people, perhaps select 37-43.
Then of course you can choose male or female or 'all'.
Likes And Interests:
This is the part that can make or break your promotion. Now that you know where and who your target market is, it's time to really narrow them down.
Facebook gets the the information for this section form what people have in there profile and their 'Likes'. For example, if you 'Like' the TV show 'The Biggest Loser', facebook knows this and will use it against you...so to speak.
If you're targeting 40 year old over weight women, you have to think like an over weight 40 year old woman. What do they like, besides iced coffees and banana bread?
For me, I'd be inclined to think that a 40 year old woman that is likely to want to hire a personal trainer, is probably already working out to some capacity or "likes' some kind of health and fitness magazine.
I was just fooling around with the ad I'm creating as we're going along and put in 'Oxygen Magazine', 'Gym', 'Working out', 'personal training' and narrowed down my audience considerably.
Facebook gives you a running tally on the side what your potential audience will be for your ad based on the information you're giving them and in this situation...less is more.
You want to know that every one of the people that you've narrowed your ad down to is a potential client. Don't skimp on this section, this is what defines a successful facebook advertising campaign from a flop.
Connections on Facebook:
If you're advertising a 'Page', just tick the box that says "Only people who are NOT fans of ...."
Advanced Demographics:
Here you can target people by their birthday, sexual preference, language they speak and even their relationship status.
Education And Work:
You could assume that the people who can afford your services are college grads if you want to and select those or you can go by where they work. You might target a large bank for example or department store...it' up to you, but remember that these people will have had of put that information into facebook and not too many people ad their place of employment.
Campaigns, Pricing and Scheduling:
Name your campaign: Call it whatever you like as long as if your doing several campaigns at the same time you know which is which.
Budget:
Now we get to the nitty gritty. I've run campaigns on as little as $5 a day to test my advertising material. This is completely up to you and your accountant, but I would run a small test trial first to tweak your ad before you go throwing all of your marketing budget into Zuckerberg's pockets.
Schedule Your Campaign.
Run it when people are awake, or at work, or more likely to click, or more importantly, click and BUY. Also by time...run your first promotion for 48 hours. Set the date and time on the little calender and double check it. If you screw it up and your ad runs for 48 days, facebook won't say anything until they debit your credit card and you're broke!
Pricing:
CPM Or CPC...That is the question:
CPM is Cost Per Thousand Impressions
CPC is Cost Per Click
CPM might sound like the way to go, but trust me, facebook can pound out some CPM! I once ran an ad that I'd narrowed down to 2000 people and I thought, "I could make a killing on CPM with this one"...Nope! Facebook managed to destroy my trial daily budget of $5 in about 3 hours...that was about 17 thousand page views in 3 hours to 2000 people and not one sale! Astounding.
CPC means you only pay when people click your ad. CPC will appear to be more expensive, but 9 times out of 10, a click is someone who is interested and your landing page is now in play. Facebook works hard to get your ad clicked on, so it will still get a lot of impressions. If it's not getting clicks though, it will lose favor and or the price will go up. This simply means your ads no good, time to rework.
Facebook will calculate how much this is going to cost you, either CPM or CPC. Again, don't be fooled by the apparent cheaper alternative to CPM; trial your ad with both for at least 48 hours each and monitor the response. The analytics that facebook provides you are very thorough and you can easily see which is giving you the better ROI (Return On Investment).
Go with the bids that facebook suggest. You can bid higher if you're confident that your landing page will convert the prospects; if you bid lower, there is less chance that your ad will be displayed as you'll be outbid by competitors.
This facebook page has some great ideas: Facebook Ads
Have you ever run facebook ads? Do you have an incredible success or disastrous story to share? Any more hints and tips? Love to read your comments below and as always, please whack the icons at the top to share on facebook and twitter!
PS. In case you're wondering, the word facebook appears 31 times in this article...too much?
Ben
Additional Reading:
How To Make A Facebook Page
How To Add A Facebook Like Button To Your Blogger Blog
102 Fitness And Personal Training Blog Post Ideas
I'm putting this post together as a step by step introduction to facebook advertising mainly for those of you who have thought about it, but never tried, but also for those of you who have run some promotions on facebook, there might be some ideas for you as well.
Lets begin at the beginning:
Anyone with a facebook account can create facebook ads. However, you can not promote personal facebook profiles only facebook pages. So if you're still running your business from a personal account, you should look to create a 'page'...but that's another post.
To Begin:
Click "Promote With An Ad" on the upper right hand side of your page. This will take you to the facebook advertising page.
Starting at the top; from here you can choose to advertise your facebook page (when you click on the arrow it will show you all of the pages you are an admin of) and it will also give you the option to select an 'external URL', maybe your website or blog.
The advertising procedure is the same whether you choose a facebook page or an external link, the choice is yours.
If you choose 'external URL' it will ask you where you want facebook to send your audience by entering your URL.
Once you've made your decision, make sure that 'facebook ads' is selected, not 'sponsored stories'. Sponsored stories is a new feature that facebook have recently added and we're not worrying about them today.
Destination Tab:
If you chose to advertise your facebook page then you will be asked where you want facebook to send people when they click your ad. Never send people to your 'wall', create a 'welcome' page or an 'opt in' page, depending on your offer and send them there.
Title:
If it's your page, it will be automatically generated, if it's an external URL, then simply enter the name of your site.
Body:
The body is the text for your ad. You have 135 characters to dazzle the pants of people and get them clicking, so get straight to the point! Use some of the 25 'power words' I gave you last week and create some energy!
25 Powerful Words That Guarantee Increased Sales
Image:
You can put almost any image you like in there (copyright rules apply). I've tried a few different styles, by having pictures of people by themselves, couples, people doing stuff...but the most successful campaigns that I've run have all been with my logo.
Next comes the fun stuff - Targeting.
First thing you do is select your country or countries if you want to run a huge campaign, but for the sake of this exercise let's just pick one.
You can then choose to have your ad show up all around the country, or by state or even city. For a personal training program, lets just go by city, so just begin typing it in and then select the best one from what facebook provides.
Demographics:
Next, select the age range that you want your ad to appear in front of by considering your target market. You should already have a pretty good idea who you want to see your ad and you can choose an exact age, but put some leeway either side. If you're target market is 40 year old people, perhaps select 37-43.
Then of course you can choose male or female or 'all'.
Likes And Interests:
This is the part that can make or break your promotion. Now that you know where and who your target market is, it's time to really narrow them down.
Facebook gets the the information for this section form what people have in there profile and their 'Likes'. For example, if you 'Like' the TV show 'The Biggest Loser', facebook knows this and will use it against you...so to speak.
If you're targeting 40 year old over weight women, you have to think like an over weight 40 year old woman. What do they like, besides iced coffees and banana bread?
For me, I'd be inclined to think that a 40 year old woman that is likely to want to hire a personal trainer, is probably already working out to some capacity or "likes' some kind of health and fitness magazine.
I was just fooling around with the ad I'm creating as we're going along and put in 'Oxygen Magazine', 'Gym', 'Working out', 'personal training' and narrowed down my audience considerably.
Facebook gives you a running tally on the side what your potential audience will be for your ad based on the information you're giving them and in this situation...less is more.
You want to know that every one of the people that you've narrowed your ad down to is a potential client. Don't skimp on this section, this is what defines a successful facebook advertising campaign from a flop.
Connections on Facebook:
If you're advertising a 'Page', just tick the box that says "Only people who are NOT fans of ...."
Advanced Demographics:
Here you can target people by their birthday, sexual preference, language they speak and even their relationship status.
Education And Work:
You could assume that the people who can afford your services are college grads if you want to and select those or you can go by where they work. You might target a large bank for example or department store...it' up to you, but remember that these people will have had of put that information into facebook and not too many people ad their place of employment.
Campaigns, Pricing and Scheduling:
Name your campaign: Call it whatever you like as long as if your doing several campaigns at the same time you know which is which.
Budget:
Now we get to the nitty gritty. I've run campaigns on as little as $5 a day to test my advertising material. This is completely up to you and your accountant, but I would run a small test trial first to tweak your ad before you go throwing all of your marketing budget into Zuckerberg's pockets.
Schedule Your Campaign.
Run it when people are awake, or at work, or more likely to click, or more importantly, click and BUY. Also by time...run your first promotion for 48 hours. Set the date and time on the little calender and double check it. If you screw it up and your ad runs for 48 days, facebook won't say anything until they debit your credit card and you're broke!
Pricing:
CPM Or CPC...That is the question:
CPM is Cost Per Thousand Impressions
CPC is Cost Per Click
CPM might sound like the way to go, but trust me, facebook can pound out some CPM! I once ran an ad that I'd narrowed down to 2000 people and I thought, "I could make a killing on CPM with this one"...Nope! Facebook managed to destroy my trial daily budget of $5 in about 3 hours...that was about 17 thousand page views in 3 hours to 2000 people and not one sale! Astounding.
CPC means you only pay when people click your ad. CPC will appear to be more expensive, but 9 times out of 10, a click is someone who is interested and your landing page is now in play. Facebook works hard to get your ad clicked on, so it will still get a lot of impressions. If it's not getting clicks though, it will lose favor and or the price will go up. This simply means your ads no good, time to rework.
Facebook will calculate how much this is going to cost you, either CPM or CPC. Again, don't be fooled by the apparent cheaper alternative to CPM; trial your ad with both for at least 48 hours each and monitor the response. The analytics that facebook provides you are very thorough and you can easily see which is giving you the better ROI (Return On Investment).
Go with the bids that facebook suggest. You can bid higher if you're confident that your landing page will convert the prospects; if you bid lower, there is less chance that your ad will be displayed as you'll be outbid by competitors.
This facebook page has some great ideas: Facebook Ads
Have you ever run facebook ads? Do you have an incredible success or disastrous story to share? Any more hints and tips? Love to read your comments below and as always, please whack the icons at the top to share on facebook and twitter!
PS. In case you're wondering, the word facebook appears 31 times in this article...too much?
Ben
Additional Reading:
How To Make A Facebook Page
How To Add A Facebook Like Button To Your Blogger Blog
102 Fitness And Personal Training Blog Post Ideas
If Bono Was A Personal Trainer, This Is What He'd Do.
Have you ever been watching the television or scanning through a newspaper and come across a 'hard luck' story? The media and consumers love a hard luck story. They love it when the 'little guy' takes on a corporation or a conman is caught in the act ripping off a regular family, so why not make the victim your client and cash in on some free publicity?
Almost every day someone somewhere needs help. Recently in Australia, we've experienced some devastating weather which has effected thousands of people in a variety of ways.
Via social media, I noticed a LOT of personal trainers organizing events to raise money for the flood victims, which is fantastic and much needed, but it got me thinking how we could do EVEN MORE.
Using this situation as an example, what if a personal trainer got their clients together and actually went to the aid of these people physically. Helping with the clean up, helping in the distribution of supplies etc.
I'm not suggesting that you help in these tragic situations strictly for the publicity, but it will come. Call it karma or whatever you like, but good things happen to active, good people.
There are some television shows that thrive on hard luck type stories. Victims of fraud, utility bills, banks, peers, you name it and these people need personal trainers.
Last year I wrote about a woman that was kicked out of her gym for being TOO FAT. She was too 'heavy' for the cardio equipment in the gym and asked her to get off.
While I agree with the gym...they do have to adhere to the recommendations of the equipment for insurance and warranty reasons; the smarter thing would have been to offer her training and show her a variety of other options to work out.
Regardless, a savvy personal trainer named Steve Clausen caught wind of this and rushed to her aid! Steve got himself national media coverage for not only taking on the client for free, but the media covered the progress of his client...gold.
Read the article here.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take a look through the newspaper and find someone that you can help. Then contact the newspaper to explain what you're going to do and they may just put you in contact with that person.
Speaking of people who need help...who's Charlie Sheen's personal trainer?
I'd love to hear your opinion and or stories about free publicity in the comments section below and while we're on the topic of charity, why don't you go ahead and click the facebook and twitter icons at the top!
Keepin it real!
Ben
Almost every day someone somewhere needs help. Recently in Australia, we've experienced some devastating weather which has effected thousands of people in a variety of ways.
Via social media, I noticed a LOT of personal trainers organizing events to raise money for the flood victims, which is fantastic and much needed, but it got me thinking how we could do EVEN MORE.
Using this situation as an example, what if a personal trainer got their clients together and actually went to the aid of these people physically. Helping with the clean up, helping in the distribution of supplies etc.
I'm not suggesting that you help in these tragic situations strictly for the publicity, but it will come. Call it karma or whatever you like, but good things happen to active, good people.
There are some television shows that thrive on hard luck type stories. Victims of fraud, utility bills, banks, peers, you name it and these people need personal trainers.
Last year I wrote about a woman that was kicked out of her gym for being TOO FAT. She was too 'heavy' for the cardio equipment in the gym and asked her to get off.
While I agree with the gym...they do have to adhere to the recommendations of the equipment for insurance and warranty reasons; the smarter thing would have been to offer her training and show her a variety of other options to work out.
Regardless, a savvy personal trainer named Steve Clausen caught wind of this and rushed to her aid! Steve got himself national media coverage for not only taking on the client for free, but the media covered the progress of his client...gold.
Read the article here.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take a look through the newspaper and find someone that you can help. Then contact the newspaper to explain what you're going to do and they may just put you in contact with that person.
Speaking of people who need help...who's Charlie Sheen's personal trainer?
I'd love to hear your opinion and or stories about free publicity in the comments section below and while we're on the topic of charity, why don't you go ahead and click the facebook and twitter icons at the top!
Keepin it real!
Ben
Original Fitness Marketing And Promotional Idea: Attempt A World Record!
How AWESOME would it look on your personal training marketing material to have these 3 magic words: "World Record Holder"?
Sound daunting? I bet it does, but have you seen how many bizarre world records are in the Guinness Book Of Records? (I'm going to stop saying world record now; OK, one more)
The beauty of the world record is that it's a promotional dream come true. There's of course the 'attempt' which can create a massive promotional buzz and then achieving the record, again...money in the bank!
"People trust people who hold world records"
Now that I've convinced you to attempt a world record, what will you do? The trick to getting into the book (and ultimately international media exposure) is to come up with something interesting and original.
The beauty of the fitness industry is that there are literally thousands of things begging to be done more times than someone else.
For example:
I found those gems by searching the database on the Guinness World Records website and I'll be honest, the treadmill hopping feat sounds EASY...!
The procedure to apply for a record attempt isn't all that difficult either. They receive about 50,000 applications per year so all they ask is that if you want to attempt a record that you spend some time going through the application process thoroughly; then they get back to you in about 3 days.
The other great thing about world record attempts is that they're generally FREE!
Is being a world record holder on your bucket list? Can you see the marketing potential of a well promoted attempt? Can you see yourself on morning television in your business branded t-shirt talking to overly made up hosts who are laughing frantically at your attempt footage?
If you answered yes to any of the above, write down what you're good at, head over to the Guinness site and apply! I want to see facebook updates with new world record holders from you guys!
If you enjoyed this article, help me achieve the world record for most tweets and facebook likes by slapping the icons at the top of the post!
Have a great day!
Ben
Sound daunting? I bet it does, but have you seen how many bizarre world records are in the Guinness Book Of Records? (I'm going to stop saying world record now; OK, one more)
The beauty of the world record is that it's a promotional dream come true. There's of course the 'attempt' which can create a massive promotional buzz and then achieving the record, again...money in the bank!
"People trust people who hold world records"
Now that I've convinced you to attempt a world record, what will you do? The trick to getting into the book (and ultimately international media exposure) is to come up with something interesting and original.
The beauty of the fitness industry is that there are literally thousands of things begging to be done more times than someone else.
For example:
- The most push-ups with claps performed in one minute is 73.
- The most star jumps in one minute is 61.
- The longest time to hop on one leg on a treadmill at a constant speed of 6.5 km/h (4.04 mph) is 4 minutes 2.6 seconds.
I found those gems by searching the database on the Guinness World Records website and I'll be honest, the treadmill hopping feat sounds EASY...!
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| Cathie Jung’s compact waist measures just recently 15in (38cm) |
The other great thing about world record attempts is that they're generally FREE!
Is being a world record holder on your bucket list? Can you see the marketing potential of a well promoted attempt? Can you see yourself on morning television in your business branded t-shirt talking to overly made up hosts who are laughing frantically at your attempt footage?
If you answered yes to any of the above, write down what you're good at, head over to the Guinness site and apply! I want to see facebook updates with new world record holders from you guys!
If you enjoyed this article, help me achieve the world record for most tweets and facebook likes by slapping the icons at the top of the post!
Have a great day!
Ben
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