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Most fitness entrepreneurs and independent fitness professionals know that the best way to communicate with their clients and reach more people is through email. If you have not yet stepped into the world of email marketing to grow your business, build trust with your current clients and future clients and differentiate from your competition, there is no better time to start than now!

Here is a quick 5-step formula that will help you systematize and demystify email marketing, especially if you're new to it.

1. Sign up for an email marketing platform and familiarize yourself with the options available
There are several platforms out there that offer very reasonable monthly subscriptions for all budgets; many with free trials and no contracts. www.fitpronewsletter.com, www.aweber.com and www.constantcontact.com are just a few of the options out there to compare and see what is the best fit for your needs.

2. Build your list of email subscribers
There are a few laws and regulations to be aware of when it comes to email marketing, but the most important to know is that you must receive permission to add someone's email address to your distribution list. The easiest way to get blocked by spam filters (and make lots of enemies) is to add email addresses to your list without permission. Each of the platforms mentioned above have easy ways to increase your list and with the power of Facebook and other social media, you can very quickly grow your list of loyal followers.

3. Consistency is the key!
You can have great information to offer your subscribers, but if you're not consistent, your emails will be dead to the delete button. Your subscribers need to learn to trust you, so consistency is key. Pick a day of the week each week or every other week that you will send your email. Or try the 1st and 15th of each month, for example. Whatever your schedule, you must be consistent to be effective.

4. Design your topics based on your business calendar
This is a huge time-saver. Take some time to sit down and layout your email marketing calendar -- holidays are perfect times to send emails with recipes or workouts, special events that you are hosting, surveys, free reports, checklists, etc. Your email themes will come a lot easier when you have the structure of your business calendar.

5. Find your "voice"
Writing does not come naturally to everyone, but don't let that keep you from email marketing. As you become more consistent with your writing you will "find your voice" and it will come more easily to you ... just give yourself some time, the rewards will pay off multifold. Follow other leaders who are successful email marketers both in and out of the fitness industry. What are they writing about? Pay attention to their writing style, content and marketing schedule. It goes without saying that plagiarism is absolutely off-limits, but following successful email marketers will keep you on top of your email marketing game and differentiate you as an extraordinary professional.