Actually I started as a project manager. I found myself traveling all the time. I had always been into fitness and I didn’t have the time to do the exercise I wanted. I was tired and cranky and started looking for exercise videos I could do in my hotel room. I found a few but not many and I burned through what was out there quickly and was back to the drawing board. That was then I started doing my own workouts on paper and took a plan with me before I left on trips. It just grew from there. I got certified as a personal trainer and started the business.
That is a fair statement. I am trying to up my game on social media. In particular, recently I have really been increasing my presence on Pinterest because I have heard from a lot of people that that is a focus for people who are interested in fitness. But, it has not been a focus until perhaps this past month.
In general, I have been starting small. In the past I have found that I will get very into social media for a bit and then I will go through a period where I won’t touch it. So more recently I have been trying to do just a bit but not burn out. What I have been trying recently is spending ten minutes a day on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. For each channel I spend the first five minutes putting out my own original content and the second five minutes commenting on other people’s content. I haven’t been so consistent with Pinterest but that has really been working on Facebook and Twitter. I am getting some real quality interaction. On Twitter, I have been focusing my attention on media people and fitness bloggers who might be willing to give me some press some day. On Facebook, I have been interacting with people who have similar markets and with potential clients or current customers. I am doing a lot with scheduling tools on social media to spread out my messages. One thing I have heard from customers is they love to see random messages from me during the day telling them to take a break and stretch or do some jumping jacks. I don’t need to be sitting at my computer to send that out.
Absolutely! That has worked really well for me. I would say that the offer on my site has actually been my biggest source of new opt ins for my list and eventually paying customers. When someone first signs up to for the offer, first they get a full length workout video. Then over the next ten days they get four additional emails that will give them extra tips on staying in shape while traveling and will give them some shorter videos that focus on different parts of the body. After the 10 days, they go on my standard email list and get my weekly newsletter.
The website opt in is definitely the largest driver. In addition, on Facebook I have an opt in on my company page so people can sign up that way.
I have played with Google AdWords but haven’t had much luck. Honestly, I don’t think I set it up well. In the last few weeks I have been playing with a new App I got called Market Samuri. You type your likely key words into the app and it tells you other websites that use those keywords and so who your likely competition is. The results have been really interesting. The only problem is that it can really suck you in when you start to play with it. I go in to check something out and realize I have been there for hours.I have also done Facebook ads. They have worked really well for me. Promoted posts didn’t do much for me but the actual Facebook ads that appear on the right side of the interface and take people to my website have worked well. I do get a lot of opt ins from those.
I have done some on Linked In but they are really expensive! It was about $5 a click to advertise with them.
I have done some posting on groups. It has been mixed. Sometimes it is worth it, other times not so much. It is really time consuming though. You just have to pick where you want to spend your time.
I usually do a lot of follow up. So, if I meet someone off line, I follow up with an email and send them a link to one of my videos so they can see what I offer. That seems to help.
It has been a good source of people for me. You have to be careful. Not all networking events are created equally. Here in DC I have found that you can spend your whole life networking and not all events are good. If I am careful and find my right audience, then networking can be very beneficial.
The email list is the biggest thing. Almost no one will buy the first time that they come to your website, and they may never come back unless you remind them of who you are. If you don’t have their email address, you have lost them for good. I think having a good website is really important. That wasn’t something that I thought in the beginning but I have found from clients that I talk to that they really put a lot of value on my having a professional attractive website. Don’t cheap out on the website. When you go to a website and it looks like it is cobbled together, are you really going to hand over your credit card? Are you really going to want to be a customer?