How many people are out there right now saying, “I want to be in shape?”
Of those people, how many are searching desperately for a solution that is cheap, painless and instantaneous? How many have fallen for scams in the past? And keep falling for them?
As a lifelong fitness professional, I know how frustrating it is to watch people behave and think this way. It is easy to see them as powerless people who should just get over themselves and put in the sweat. But the fact is, those seemingly powerless people are where we have the opportunity to do the most good and earn the most reward. And the bridge between where we stand now and that opportunity is smart fitness marketing.
Speak their language
If you want to get those people -- the people who need you most -- to sign up for your training, you have to start by speaking their language. In other words, you need to market to them with the idea that they’ll be able to get in the shape they desire with zero or minimal changes to their lifestyle. And you need to tell them that the results will come fast.
Now is all of that a lie? Maybe. It depends on how you look at it.
The important thing to realize, though, is that there is a whole army of scammers out there who are going to make the same promises anyway without ever delivering the results. The thing about scammers is that they are extremely unethical, obviously, but the ones who persist are also very smart marketers. So we should steal their techniques and use them to do good.
Empower your clients
If you really want to help those people, you need to be louder and more encouraging than the scammers. You need to market hard and get the people who need you into your business. Once they are under your protection and care as clients, you’ll have the chance to teach them the truth about fitness: that getting fit is an ongoing, empowering lifestyle.
The truth is that if you show up for your clients, fill them with encouragement and make it your personal mission to get them the results they need, then they are not going to care about how you marketed to them. They will just be grateful to finally have their lives back.
Ultimately, that is what smart fitness marketing is: it is our way of turning the powerless into the powerful. So market hard and be proud of your work!
