Done for you marketing

Done-For-You Fitness Marketing: Project 515

Done-For-You Fitness Marketing: Project 515

Published by on November 13, 2012 | Leave a response

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The average adult over 35 in North America is carrying around this extra 20lbs of fat why not help them lose it?

This is a great fitness marketing promotion to run as a “gap stop” at those times between promotions or when you’re not on target for monthly objectives. It follows a consistent email promotion sequence to grab the attention of the impulse buyer, the analytical consumer and the procrastinator.

The final sold out email should be a valuable component of most if not all of your campaigns, if things fall short of plan and it’s not any where near full (doesn’t happen often but can) then don’t send the sold out email otherwise we may as well end on a note of conditioning the consumer to more promptly respond to the next promotion.

I’ve written the emails in a way that I hope most people can use them as is, just a simple cut and paste. It can always help to add more personal relevant details so don’t be afraid to edit those areas as well. Good things to add might be: projected workout session times, make sure they’re during peak times and always try to run the program as small group (like 3-4 participants per session). If you’re a brand new trainer trying to grow quickly flexibility is the key so in that situation I personally would even use it in a one-on-one training environment. You’re not going to make a lot of money in that situation but the end goal is to work toward converting the prospect to a long-term paying client rather than short-term gain.

As I write this it’s November heading into the Christmas season. I find this is the ideal time of year to run a promotion like this, even a little earlier like the week immediately following Halloween. Many people begin to feel guilty about eating candy in and around Halloween. Additionally they’re not yet distracted by Christmas shopping, Christmas bills or Christmas parties but might be thinking about that little black dress that doesn’t fit the way they’d like.

The one thing that is for certain if we push for a long-term commitment at this time of year we’re likely to be met with disinterest. In the back of their mind they’ll be thinking about all the missed appointments and the difficulties of eating well etc. during the holiday season. To the consumer this just feels like a wasted investment.

Instead let’s focus on making it an exciting holiday season by getting them in shape for those holiday events to come so they can enjoy them with peace of mind and guilt free. By really showing them the value of what you offer you will have their trust to make it easy to convert them prior to the holidays for a commitment starting early in the new year when fitness will be at the forefront of their mind.

But that’s just this situation; beta programs like this can be used at a variety of other times throughout the year and can form a great foundation piece for your fitness marketing calendar.

Email 1: Monday AM week prior to start.

Subject: Secret Project 515 (Are you in?)

I’m writing you today to let you in on a little secret. As people we’re all the same we all want the best results in the shortest time and we’re always looking for an easier way still.

As a trainer I’m always learning, and just like you I always want to figure out how I can help you get “there” faster and easier. Recently I stumbled across something that will do just that. In fact I began applying it with a few of my clients immediately, the improvements were immediately clear.

(If you can include names and results of recent clients here could be even more powerful.)

I’m so excited about this I want to give it a real unbiased test (you know very scientific and all) so I need your help. In fact I need the help of a small group of people to help me fully test this idea. Are you in? All you have to do is be excited about losing between 5 and 15 lbs (that’s why it’s Project 515) in the next 28 days, willing to follow my specific instructions and really put this new little training secret to the test.

Can I count on you?

Here’s the deal.

Since this isn’t 100% tested and proven (that’s what you’re gonna help me do) that’s why I need people not within my current training program. Additionally to make it a win-win you won’t pay my regular price, instead it’s only going to cost you a measly $97 bucks! Just like everything I do it’s guaranteed, so if it doesn’t work or your not happy with the result I’ll 100% refund your money.

Now because this is a test project I’m going to keep the group small so you can have my maximum attention. I’m looking for only 9 committed individuals that are serious about losing 5-15lbs in the next 28 days.

  • Training will be 3 days a week.
  • You may be required to complete additional workouts on your own that I’ll provide.
  • You must be super committed.
  • You must not have any specific travel plans that could cause you to miss sessions or make eating consistently really difficult.
  • You must not be a current client.
  • And to be fair to everyone so I can help as many people as possible you must not have taken advantage of any sale promotion in the last 60 days. (Sorry.)

If this sounds like you then hit reply right away because Project 515 is going to start next Monday and I suspect these spots are going to fill pretty quickly!

Always here to help,

(your name)

Email 2: Send Wed morning.

Subject: Project 515 Nearly Full! (wow!)

Wow! Ok I didn’t quite expect that kind of response. Within a few hours Project 515 caused a ruckus. It seems a lot of people love the idea of testing out this new belly-busting secret to lose between 5 and 15lbs in the next 28 days.

I did get a couple of questions though…

Many people are wondering if it requires they have a certain level of fitness to start this program. The answer, no, it’s good for all levels.

Others have been asking what exactly the workout secret is. Honestly, I’m sorry I can’t tell you; it would actually ruin the test. It’s 100% safe no crazy gimmick, not a supplement or anything like that. In fact it’s so simple you may not even realize it’s different at first so you just have to trust me. In 28 days I promise you will both see and feel the difference.

So here’s the skinny, at this point 6 of the 9 available spots for Project 515 are filled. If you missed the last email definitely hit reply right now or call (your number) and let’s get you registered before the last couple spots are gone.

If you did miss the last email here’s the details again:

  • Starts next Monday (insert the date)
  • Runs for 28 days, 3 workouts a week.
  • You may be required to do a few additional things at home, which I’ll detail.
  • You must not be a current client. I need this to be independent of my current training methods to really judge its effect.
  • You won’t pay anywhere near full price, it’s a fraction of the normal cost at $97 and still covered by my full money back guarantee for the whole program. (What on earth do you have to lose?)
  • You must be excited about the idea of losing 5-15lbs in 28 days.
  • You must not have any specific plans that will cause you to miss workouts or make it difficult to eat consistently. (I understand things can change so just no 2 week vacations please.)
  • If you were part of a recent promotion (in the last 60 days) sorry you’re not eligible, I want to help as many people as possible.

So with just 3 spots remaining hit reply or call (your number) and I’ll get you setup right away.

Always here to help,

(Your name)

P.S. (Add a comment about timing, as I write this we’re heading to the Christmas season so my PS might be “Project 515 is the perfect solution for fitting into that little black Christmas party dress, and it’s guaranteed, are you crazy? What are you waiting for? Just kidding, hit reply if you’re ready for change.”)

Email 3: Send Thursday afternoon.

Subject: Last chance (Urgent, attn. required)

There’s just 1 spot left for Project 515 for some dedicated and determined person to lose 5-15lbs in the next 28 days. Is that you?

I need just one more person to add to my special test group for this new workout strategy that I’ve already seen melt fat like crazy in some of my current clients.

Here’s the details of the program from the last email one more time:

  • Starts next Monday (insert the date)
  • Runs for 28 days, 3 workouts a week.
  • You may be required to do a few additional things at home, which I’ll detail.
  • You must not be a current client. I need this to be independent of my current training methods to really judge its effect.
  • You won’t pay anywhere near full price, it’s a fraction of the normal cost at $97 and still covered by my full money back guarantee for the whole program. (What on earth do you have to lose?)
  • You must be excited about the idea of losing 5-15lbs in 28 days.
  • You must not have any specific plans that will cause you to miss workouts or make it difficult to eat consistently. (I understand things can change so just no 2 week vacations please.)
  • If you were part of a recent promotion (in the last 60 days) sorry you’re not eligible, I want to help as many people as possible.

With just one spot remaining this is totally first come first serve, so hit reply immediately, I’ll be looking at the time the email came in to see who gets the spot or you can call me directly at (your number.)

For everyone else already registered I’m pumped to see you on Monday!

Always here to help,

(your name)

 Email 4: Send latish Friday evening

Subject: Project 515 Sold Out!

It’s official Project 515 is totally sold out! Thank you to everyone who has jumped on board, I look forward to seeing you all next week and we’re gonna kick butt!

If you missed out on Project 515 I am so sorry (I had a few additional emails after that were sent after the final spot was filled) but don’t worry I’ll be in touch.

I always want to help everyone if I can and though this program is completely full I might be able to squeeze a few more people into my other programs. I’ll be in touch with something special for you or if you thinking now you’d really like to get started just hit reply and I can fill you in on the details.

Thanks everyone, you’re awesome!

(your name)

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Remember It’s About the Numbers

Published by on August 23, 2011 | Leave a response

%image_alt%So last week I ran an email referral contest to generate new names and leads for my mailing list. I’d avoided this contest for months because I didn’t like the greyness of it in association to privacy (something I take very seriously.)

Now ultimately I opted to run this contest because of the success of colleagues in other areas, some have gained thousands of emails in just a week. It is a given that a number of the emails received won’t be viable customers but even if 10% are, it’s often a very winning venture.

I do and have tracked just about everything in any way I possibly can. A number of things I’ve overcomplicated because of my hunger for understanding and information (and have now eliminated once I’ve gained that understanding.) At one point I could tell exactly how much it cost on average to generate an email address from a radio, newspaper, online classified or a Facebook PPC ad in my area. Without a doubt I can tell you that the results typically achieved with the email referral campaign would be the equivalent of spending thousands of dollars in these other mediums.

Anyways…

I’ve felt August to be an especially great time to run an email referral campaign, often sales are a little better than July but still not up to par with the school months where everyone has regular schedules. Leading into September it only makes sense to expand your list in an effort to have a wider audience to educate in the fall and hopefully if enough value is provided turn them into paying customers.

Now additionally a few of my coaching clients have been running this same contest at the same time. You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, I always find it interesting when I have a heavy week of emailing, or a campaign that some people don’t like the reaction you sometimes get. You know what I mean the….

STOP %$^KING EMAILING ME

When all they had to do was click the unsubscribe link at the bottom. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t enjoy negative feedback from my audience, for more than seven years I’ve written countless articles for newspapers, websites, blogs, etc trying to educate people to lead a longer, healthier happier life. I receive many great comments like…

“Cabel You continue to selflessly provide some of the best info to your clients and friends. Once again, Thankyou for your e-mails.”

Yet still just like you the occasional hatemail seems to make me doubt it all. Mid way through the contest, I think after my 3rd broadcast for the week (low by internet marketing standards) I’d received about three such hatemails, it honestly made me apprehensive about sending the fourth, I felt bad.

I’ve had coaching clients that shut down promos because one person on a list of a thousand replied with something negatively, or others contact me in worry and question their current marketing objective because of the reaction of a couple of people out of hundreds.

Remember it’s about the numbers, negative constructive feedback is very valuable but negative general feedback is just a distraction don’t let it weaken you. Marketing is about behaviours, we can never really predict them so all we can do is quantify them, if you are ever doubting your initiative check your math to see if your doubts are simply an emotional reaction, if so get over it as quickly as possible and move on.

NOTE: I’m not an expert on privacy laws so I’m not sure where this falls in relation, but I truly believe in being very transparent so if you run a similar contest it’s critical to utilize good practice and send all the emails a welcome email explaining how you received their information and giving them a fair opportunity to opt-out immediately. Additionally bring real value to people, if you are asking for referrals you must truly believe in what you are providing. Recently I offered advice to someone that potentially saved them from a serious health concern, so much so their doctor made a point to thank me, these are the reasons you should be wanting these referrals so you can bring real value to the people that are referred to enrich their life whether they ever buy from you or not.

Below are the exact emails I sent, feel free to use them if you’d like to run a similar contest.

EMAIL #1: Mon

Subject line: hey…

Title: Win an IPAD2 this Friday!

(Consider adding pic of iPad at store with clerk, caption win an iPad this Friday all the details in this email)

Hey, this is Cabel at One-to-1 Fitness, your local fitness expert

You’re getting this because you subscribed to my newsletter that I send out twice a month so you are either a client or a local resident. What I am looking to do is help more local residents get in the best
shape of their life. I realized my One-to1 Fitness Newsletter does that because of the feedback I’ve received from you.

So what I would like to do is help more Red Deer residents have access to my healthy articles, fitness tips and tasty recipes. So I’ve decided to hold a contest; what I want you to do is send me the email addresses of all your local friends, family and co-workers so that I can add them to my newsletter. Twice a month they can get awesome tips to looking and feeling great via their email. Oh, and don’t worry, I don’t ever share anyone’s email addresse, promote bs stuff or fill up their inboxes with junk. This is the same content rich newsletter that you get twice a month. As always, they can unsubscribe with a single click at any time.

Now to make this contest more interesting, I set the end date for this coming Friday, (Insert date) and I’m giving away 2 prizes – to the first and second place winners.

Prize one is an Ipad2 to the person that sends me the most email addresses.

Prize two is 3 months of free group personal training and if you are an existing client we are going to add 3 months to your current Group PT program.

So here’s what I want you to do now. Go to your email contacts, hit reply to this email and send those emails on over to me and I’ll be keeping track to let you know if you win by this Friday.

Thank you so much,
Cabel

Email #2: (Wed)

subject line: Urgent Update!! (Notice the two exclamation marks 🙂

(Consider photo of Ipad again, top caption, Win an iPad this Friday, bottom details in this email, and the top 5 worst Starbucks drinks to order!)

Hey it’s Cabel again,

Wow! It’s been an overwhelming response & a very tight race with about 30 people contributing. Who’s it gonna be? Contest Ends: Friday @ Midnight!

Just wanted to let you know I spent a few minutes on the Starbucks website and I found the top five drinks that have the highest calories and here’s what they are.

1.Peppermint White Hot Chocolate 720 Cal

2.Iced Peppermint White Mocha 700 Cal

3. Mint Chocolatly Chip Frappucino 680 Cal

4.Tazoa Green Tea Frappucino 650 Cal

5. Eggnog Latte 630Cal

And because it should never be all bad news here are the 5 drinks with the lowest number of calories. J

1. Skinny Caramel Macchiato 140 Calories

2. Skinny Latte 130 Calories

3. Caffè Misto 110Cal

4. Frappuccino Light Blended Beverages 110 Cal

5. Unsweetened Brewed Coffee or Tazo Tea 0-5 Cal

If you go to Starbucks (like I know many of you do) you probably want to know if the drinks you choose are in the top fatty ones or the top low calorie ones.

And oh by the way…… Remember I am running that contest for referral emails because I want to help more Red Deer residents. Seriously we get so many positive comments about our free fitness newsletter and our new fitness magazine we know it helps people, please help us reach as many people as possible.

“Keep those emails coming, the best information I’ve seen anywhere and it all makes sense.” -Bob Fournier

So far it’s been overwhelming; a lot of people are sending me emails…the race for the IPad and the 3 months of Group PT is a tight race with about 30 people participating and I bet you are one of them. So if you want to be sure you win the first place iPad, just keep replying to this email and send me the email addresses of local friends, family and co-workers.

Remember to do before midnight on Friday. That’s when I turn into a pumpkin…err I mean is the deadline. I’m keeping score and will let you know who won the IPad and who won the 3 months of boot camp.

Have a great day everyone!

Yours in health,

Cabel McElderry

Director, One-to-1 Fitness

2009 Finalist for Small Business of the Year

Email #3  Thurs

subject line – I screwed up…(but am making good, time sensitive.)

Hey this is Cabel again,

I screwed up and I failed to let you know that I decided to make it 4 months of free Group PT for second place in the referral contest and not three. I made that decision on Wednesday due to the overwhelming response (we just really wanted to say thank you) when I emailed you but I failed to tell you. I raised the stakes from 3 months to 4 months for the second place prize. (We really want to help a lot of Red Deerians (is that even a word?) get access to newsletter for fitness
tips, recipes etc)

Remember they can unsubscribe anytime they want to and the more local residents you can help me reach, the more local residents will get in the best shape of their lives…and by the way it may ensure Red Deer stays of the Men’s Health Magazine’s list of top 10 fattest cities.

Did you know that statistically as many as 3 of 10 people in Alberta are considered obese and Alberta’s obesity rate is almost 20% higher than the national average?

So, here’s what you want to do, hit reply to this email and start helping your local friends and family stay in the 7 of 10 rather than the obese 3 of 10 in our population our totally free newsletter is a great place to start, that and the 100s of articles we publish and send out are really making a difference for some people.

Don’t worry we’ll send them a welcome email and they can unsubscribe with a single click anytime they choose, you have until tomorrow at midnight to do this to win the iPad and Group PT. Help us help Red Deer.

Yours in health,

Cabel McElderry

One-to-1 Fitness

Email #4. (Friday early)
subject line: Holy cow…

Do you love Booster Juice as much as I do? Unfortunately their smoothies can still be loaded with sugar, here are my top 4 personal rules when ordering a smoothie @booster juice below:

1. Ask for No Sorbet
2. Ask for No Fruit Juice
3. Ask for No regular yogurt
4. DO ask for extra berries, water, ice, milk, and maybe an extra
boost (i.e extra protein/energy)

Hope this helps:

100% Committed to your success!

Hey, I also just wanted to give you a heads up, tonight at midnight, Friday, the contest ends. There are over 10 people in the running for first place to win the IPad2 and about 8 people in the second place running to win the 4 months free Group PT. I want to help more Red Deer residents get in the best shape of their life. I want to add your friends, family and co-workers that are local to my fitness newsletter. So please send those email addresses to me and I will let you know this weekend once I do the math (it’s crazy hard when I run out of fingers…and toes…and toothpicks, to count that high 😛 You know personal trainers don’t count so well right?) who won the IPad2 and who won the 4 weeks of Group PT.

Yours in health

Cabel

PS. 1st and 4th place are only separated by 50 emails.

Friday #2)

re. Hey…a welcome email to your referrals

Hey, I had just a couple people raise concerns about sharing their friends emails with us, and you know i understand the way the world is today, so I wanted to send this to you so you know just how polite we are about people’s privacy.

Here’s what your friends and family will receive.

Subject line: Welcome (action required)

Hey, I’m Cabel McElderry from One-to-1 Fitness, Red Deer’s Top Fitness Expert.

You are getting this email because your friend, family or co-worker is either a client or a subscriber of our free fitness newsletter and magazine and cared enough that they suggested we send it to you also. Our newsletter and magazine is bi-monthly and is packed with healthy recipes, fitness tips, and cool fitness articles.

Now we totally respect your privacy which is why I’m sending this welcome email. For whatever reason you decide you don’t want to get this newsletter at the very bottom of this email, and all the emails I send
to you, is an unsubscribe button, just click it and you will never get this email from me again.

Otherwise, enjoy the emails that I send you, I think you’ll find the content very valuable in fact right below,
here is the first one.

Hope this helps you and many others in Red Deer look and feel amazing!

Cabel McElderry

Director, One-to-1 Fitness

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Read, Set, Grow! Done-For-You Personal Trainer Marketing

Read, Set, Grow! Done-For-You Personal Trainer Marketing

Published by on August 9, 2011 | 3 Responses

Ok we’re now into August, that means that September is a hop, skip and a jump away and we all know what that means. Kids back to school, parents in regular routines, time to act on those fitness goals, it’s the beginning of the peak season for the fitness industry. Today I have a gift for you, I’m going to share with you a tried, true, totally effective personal trainer marketing campaign that has been used by myself and my coaching clients in multiple markets.

This promotion uses the following proven marketing strategies, I’m going to share with you exactly what I did AND tell you blankly what I would do next time to make it even better.

  • A visual direct mail advertising piece.
  • An opt-in to ensure you are growing your mailing list.
  • A hot button questionnaire to qualify your prospect.
  • A placement fee (deposit) conditioning the prospect to feel comfortable spending money with you.
  • Scarcity in volume and deadline.
  • Risk reversal with a money back guarantee and the deposit being refundable, increasing the “know, like, trust” factor with the prospect.

Ok the following is a sample of the exact ad I ran in a local coupon book. We selected the coupon book because it is well known here, inexpensive and could be completed easily on short notice, next time I would use a standalone piece now that I have evaluated the results.

personal-trainer-marketing-coupon

Though this coupon was effective it could be improved, see below for details.

Even though this coupon was effective it could be greatly improved as a stand alone piece. Because at the time it was untested we wanted to ensure we received enough value from this ad to cover it’s cost, which is why we opted for the very low barrier “Win an iPad” offer to grow our list.

Your version of the 3 week promotion should include an emotional, questioning headline, something like “Can you believe this? or Does this sound like you?”

You should then use social proof to wow the prospect with a strong before and after photo and a compelling one sentence testimonial outlining their results.

Free or not to be free, depending on the response you are looking for you may opt not to advertise it as a free program. Free generally will produce more people to the next step, but then these people are less qualified and can at times be more problematic. If you do list a price point ensure that it translates to a heck of a deal that is justified with scarcity in terms of limited availability and a deadline. In this case this ad is a poor example, as “Limited spots” is not sufficient enough, define the number, and the deadline was missed altogether. (This was my bad as I was in a rush to get this to approval and realized after i had missed the expiry date.)

Now the offer was compelling enough to lead people to check out our website, which is all the offline ad was really supposed to do. Our website (www.PersonalTrainingRedDeer.com) as you can see represents high value to the visitor, with lot’s of social proof and valuable information immediately available, this ensures that most people will stay a few minutes or return when they have time to look around. Having a big website is not the suggestion here, having rich, valuable, compelling content is.

Where the consult form now resides the following web form was positioned for the duration of the promo.

Done for you personal trainer marketing promotionThis form served as an opt-in for anyone interested in the promotion, they could not find out any further details about the program unless they entered their email or called us directly. You could argue this would turn some people away but honestly, they’ll never be your customer if you don’t get to contact them at some point in the process, so it becomes your first filter. Once they complete the form you have a number of ways to convert them. Either they:

a) continue the process and buy into the promotion.

b) Navigate away in which case you can have an autoresponder that sends itself within 24-48 hours indicating perhaps there was a website error and make them the same or slightly different offer in a effort to convert them.

c) continue to indoctrinate them with regular valuable content such as that from your newsletter eventually leading them to contact you about your services.

Once they clicked through the opt-in they were met with the real magic behind this promotion, the emotional hot button qualifier that helped them decide to move forward. You can see this final element below:

Done for you personal trainer marketing campaign, final step

Click to view full size image.

You can see in this final step the line of questioning is to serve one purpose, to validate with the reader why they have went this far, confirm that this is the solution for what they have been thinking and direct them to buy risk and worry free.

Now depending where you are in the world you may or may not want them to purchase online, we sometimes find in our community that people still disconnect at the point of actually making an online purchase, so you may want the submission to simply be a step where they give you their phone number so you can contact them and handle it directly (this generally works better for us) but if people in your community are conditioned to buy online then you can fully automated this process making it inexpensive, easy, repeatable and easy to evaluate. It could work with direct mail, addressed mail, email marketing, or PPC such as Facebook advertising, all viable options.

As a final note, we never execute a promotion without pre-determined conversion offers to long term programs which I’ve details in my “3 Point Conversion” post. I can tell you that a high percentage of our long term conversion occurs on day one, most people know at that time they will need something longer to reach their goals, with enough value and solid risk reversal many people will make that step on the very first day, this is good for you and good for them.

Now take this strategy and apply it in your own business, I’d love to hear about your experiences and results.

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