There are more fitness professionals, gyms, fitness centers, and exercise options for consumers than ever. There are more social media posts, tweets, and pins and less time than ever to view them. Essentially you’re going to be paying more money for fewer eyeballs on your print persuasion or your radio or TV ads than ever before.
It means you’re going to have to be more effective with every piece that you prepare. Whether you’re talking about a shoestring budget and a grassroots campaign or you’re placing ads and direct mailing regularly you want to make sure you’re getting response. Here’s a tiplist to help.
1. Your ad is targeted at a customer and their situation specically. Gone are the days when you can throw out a special discount on a service or product without attention-grabbing reasons to buy it.
2. There is a call to action. Examples include: call now, click here now, and stop in today before it’s too late. Your customer needs to know exactly what you want them to do next. Tell them.
3. There is urgency. Offer good until midnight on Friday. Scarcity can be a part of urgency by including a limited number of openings. Act now: there are three left.
4. Provide reciprocity. Stop in for your free gift today. First fifty attendees receive a free t-shirt. Click here for your free report now.
5. Headlines that grab attention and pull the customer in. You have about two seconds while a customer decides to open or not open your email or to continue reading the fine print of your flyer. It better be good since its competing with a full inbox, the kids, a dog, dinner and yoga.
6. Clear beats clever. Your reading level should be between 5th and 8th grade. It should be absolutely clear what the offer is describing and why your reader should care or continue to pay attention. The reader is thinking, I’m busy, why should I bother?
7. Eye Flow is effortless. In ads or graphics where there’s no where for your eye to land, the reader gets tired and either frustrated or bored. Make sure that you’re landing spot for the eye is planned and what you want. Ideally you have the placement such that the call to action button is where they land. It helps if it’s a different color.
8. Include images. Make sure, however, that your images are relevant. If you show an image of an attractive thin 22-year-old red-head, yes that may attract the most eyeballs. If your target market is 60 and gray-haired you’ll have lost her before you pitched.
9. Talk the way they talk. If a customer asks for nutrition counseling, by all means advertise using those words. Usually though they talk about fat, weight loss, thunder thighs or bellyfat. If you want them to hear you, speak their language.
10. Test it. Even if you’ve checked off all these components you can get it wrong. The list above is the science. Pulling them together in a way that works is an art. So create two ads, or two newsletters, and test one element. When you decide which has the most response take that and use it or perform yet another test, changing another single element.
If you do this, chances are because the majority of fitness businesses do not unless they’ve hired someone to come in and consult with them, you will set yourself apart. You will naturally attract a better quality customer.
