Think you suck at online marketing: Here’s a dead simple way to get started.

Our team here at MemberTracker deals mostly with fitness owners. That is, people who own and run small gyms, martial arts schools and sports clubs. It’s a diverse crowd, and there’s a whole lot that these hard-working entrepreneurs are really good at, like motivating their clients and athletes toward achieving their fitness goals, training their staff and making the lives of both kids and adults in their communities healthier and more fun.

While most owners get a lot of great word-of-mouth from their members, one of the areas many struggle with is marketing. I’m no different, having learned a great deal through marketing my own CrossFit gym and Taekwondo school through the years.

One piece of the marketing puzzle that a lot of us struggle with is getting the right message to the right audience, but this doesn’t have to be complicated.

I’d like to share a simple strategy, which can be used by almost any fitness owner to identify your message, hone in on the right audience and make sure they hear what you have to say. It’s definitely not rocket science, but it can make a real difference in how, and where, you speak to potential clients in the online space.

Your Message

If you have trouble trying to figure out what to say to make people see the value in what you do, don’t worry. A great way to find the right words is to ask your members for feedback. Ask them what they like best about your gym, your classes, your approach to fitness, etc. Then use their words to craft your message, which will automatically sound more genuine and relatable, having come from those using your services.

On top of that, the feedback you get from your members can be used as testimonials, providing social proof about how great you are on your website!

Spend some time crafting a headline and a few lines of engaging copy, based on the testimonials you’ve collected. Enhance your message with some cool pictures of your members before, during or after their workout. Posts with images are much more engaging, as they immediately draw the eye and tap into that innate, visual part of our brains.

The Audience

Now, you need to find the right audience. Advertising in the paper or on the radio is not as effective as it once was, especially when compared to social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms all offer access to different, highly specific audiences. Try to figure out where your target audience is hanging out and go there.

In the fitness sector, Facebook can be a great place to start. Based on my own experience with MemberTracker and my gyms, it is one of the best platforms for engaging the exact audience you have in mind. It also has some robust advertising tools that anyone can access.

Here’s how to get started with a strong Facebook presence:

a. Create a Facebook Business page. It only takes a couple of minutes and allows people on Facebook to Like your page and see any of your posts in their own feed. When you create the page, take Facebook’s advice and invite your own friends to like your page. This will get you started with a fan base.

b. Start posting. Put up some standout pictures of people at your gym performing the latest workout, or of a recent social event. Facebook will tell you which posts have the most engagement and are being shared.

c. Boost a post. Take a post that new members will find interesting (like a chance to join, a new class time, maybe a member success story or testimonial) and click the Boost Post button below it. For $20 you can get a surprisingly large amount of exposure to your target audience.

When boosting you can target local people who are most likely to use your product. Try targeting users based not only on age or gender but also their interest and proximity to your facility.

Another great option for targeting is People who Like your Page and their Friends (aka Friends of Fans). A great thing about this option is that when someone sees your boosted post they will see that a friend of theirs also likes your facility, which is great social proof.

The Follow Up

Third, leverage your marketing. While the simple steps above will definitely help you to establish your brand, to get a decent return on investment you need to build your fan base and your email subscriber list by getting Likes and gathering email addresses. This, of course, is all in the pursuit of getting people in the door.

In addition to having a Facebook page, you should also have some sort of a landing page on your website, or with a third party provider, where visitors can land once they click on one of your posts. This introduces prospective members to what you are offering and gives them an easy way to get in touch with you. If you don’t have a website, you can quickly create one for free on sites like WordPress.com.

Tell visitors, in a few short sentences, what they’ll receive by signing up using their email address. For instance, at CrossFit 782 we like to offer new members a free Intro Class, prior to Fundaments, during which they can get to know our coaches firsthand and learn a bit about the techniques involved in CrossFit. The nice part is there’s no obligation for them to continue after this initial class, and we’re usually able to make a positive enough impression that they soon sign up for Fundamentals on their own accord.

Conclusion

I hope that my approach proves helpful. Advertising on social media is actually quite manageable once you get the hang of it The main thing is to just get started, see what works and test from there

Here are some additional resources we’ve created that you might find helpful:

[Download] The Fitness Owner’s Guide to Facebook Advertising

[Blog] 8 Pro Tips to Make the Most of Your Gym’s Facebook Business Page

[Blog] Tips for Choosing the Right Audience for Your Facebook Campaign