Recently I asked some of my friends, cohorts, esteemed colleagues, co-defendants, coaching clients and fellow fitness marketers to spill the beans for you on their favorite fitness marketing tips.

After a few emails and a little convincing that I wouldn’t steal their ideas and claim them my own I was able to get some pretty damn good tips back. Some of these guys are guru’s, other are hardcore marketers and still others are just dudes who own extremely successful fitness businesses. But all of them gave some pretty killer tips.

After you read the post, be sure to leave a comment letting me know…

1. Which was your favorite tip

2. Add any tips of your own we didn’t cover here that are working in your business today

Don’t be bonehead and just read the post, be sure to take part by leaving a comment. Successful people are the ones who get involved, and they make up less then 5% of the population, but it’s the same 5% who leave blog post comments, so take action and leave a comment. (=

Be in the small percent of people who are kickin’ ass in life

And if you haven’t done so already, before digging into this post be sure to opt-in for my free fitness marketing updates…

Here are the tips, in no particular order… pretty much I just popped em’ up as the emails came in… and Justin was the first one to get back to me…

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Justin “Young Gun” Goff

1. Make connections with bloggers in your industry

Become good enough friends with the bloggers in your industry so that when you have a GOOD post they won’t think twice about linking to the post.

2. Write killer content and feature it in your navigation bar

Good content that gets featured in your nav bar gives new people to your site a place to look at right away. If they find great content on their first trip, they’ll be more likely to come back

3. Know EXACTLY what your customer wants

Don’t guess when it comes to this, find out through asking them or surveying them. If you are marketing to them with the wrong appeal, you missed out on a TON of money by not understanding what they really want. EVERYTHING becomes easy when you truly know what your customer wants and why they want it.

Justin has a fitness marketing blog at JustinGoff.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Kaiser “F*ck The Gym” Serrajudin

Ha!  Flattered Chris would include me in this thing!  Until very recently I was waiting for the “internet fad” to die out – looks like it’s not going anywhere so I decided to get on board.  So as you can imagine, my best marketing tactics are really “anti-tactics”.

Here we go…

1. Build yourself up in the real world

In my mind the web is just an extension of the real world.  It’s not the place to create a fantasy reality.  So if you work on building yourself up in the real world, it translates really well online.  It makes everything you do and talk about 10x more powerful.

2. It’s all about people

The people you know is power.  And the web has made knowing people easier than ever. We (or maybe just me) are only beginning to figure this part out.  Embrace it. Make 20 new friends a day. It’s impossible to maintain, but try it for a while and see how wide your reality is blown open.

3.  Always speak to root, real world desires

At the end of the day, we all want more importance, more social value, more self-esteem, more influence over others.  I relate anything I talk about back to these root desires.  I think it helps the value and application of what I’m talking about come through that much stronger.

So as you can see, all my biggest tactics are just about content – no marketing voodoo here.  But I’ve got some of the most active and ravenous readership on any blog I’ve seen on the web, fitness or otherwise.  So I think I just might be onto something …

Kaiser has personal trainer marketing blog at Super-Trainer.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Bedros “The Crusher” Keuilian

Three of my favorite fitness marketing tactics are also the easiest to do and most cost effective because they require no postage, so printing, no ads – nothing.

1. Dial for dollars

I recommend this to my 12 month mentorship clients when they need a surge in their business. You probably have active and inactive clients as well as prospects that you were unable to close in the past. And you probably have all their phone number, right?

If you can muster up 20-30 numbers and craft three call scripts (referrals request, reactivation, and consultation offer) you can easily pull 4-8 new clients without spending a dime within a couple days.

2. Belly to belly

Most trainers get freaked out by this but it’s one of the best and most cost effective marketing strategies. Think off all the places you go throughout the day and all the potential clients you pass by…

Get in front of people. Talk face to face. Ask open ended questions and lead them to wanting more. Then get their number, set an appointment and make the sale.

3. Professional referrals

How many businesses are there in your area who serve you potential clientele? What are you doing to get a constant flow of referrals from them? Consider bartering training for lead generation or referrals or endorsed mailings.

Return the favor. Target three businesses and send them leads and then and condition them to do the same for you.

Learn more about Bedros at 100newclients.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Zach “Killin’ It Bruddha” Even-Esh

1. Videos

This is an awesome way to connect with your fans, and allows you to express and show who you are to a much greater degree than e mails / words alone

2. REAL Life

The hand shake still rules, and with technology so huge, having live events and gatherings where you can elevate the human experience way beyond what can be done simply through the web is a HUGE advantage

3. Showing you genuinely care!

Not enough dudes on the internet give a sh*t…

If you truly care and truly want your fans to succeed by following you and investing in your products you will make BIG gains in business. I had a dude come to my $1,200 Underground Strength Coach Certification because he said “Out of all the big name strength coaches I e mailed, you’re the only one who ever replied and took the time to show you care.”

Zach has a blog at ZachEven-Esh.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Sean “Beast from the East” Khang

Here’s my top three Marketing Tactics…

1. Article Marketing

Amazing what you can do with 1 piece of really good content and spin it to various different article directories, web 2.0 sites and create rss feeds and have them all point back to your site for extra page rank love from google. This is a killer strategy to get lots of traffic fast!

2. Video Marketing

This is the age of Youtube folks. Youtube is the #2 search engine behind Google in terms of sheer traffic and searches.

With one video you can get thousands a people to your site,within 24 hrs. This is how you create thousands of $$$ overnight!

3. Giving away free stuff and build your list!

Face it, tactics come and go, as do sales, or commissions, BUT if you have a list of loyal subscribers who you build a relationship with, you will never go hungry.

Frank Kern built a multi-million dollar business with a list of 8,000 people. Jason Moffatt makes a high 6 figures (closer to 7) with a list of 6,000 people. Build a list, give them good stuff, and sell them better stuff and you’ll have all the money you need.

Cheers,

Sean has a site at InternetSurvivorman.com he keeps his real sites on the down low ( he’s one of my close friends who isn’t in our industry but happens to be an internet marketing whiz)

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Jim “Who Loves Ya?” Labadie

1. Public speaking

I don’t think anything out there is more productive. Why sell to one person when you can sell to 20,30, 50, 100 or more at one time?

It instantly positions you as an expert. And because there are so many groups, clubs and organizations looking for speakers there’s no better cost-efficient method for bringing in clients or campers fast.

2. Networking

Get out and meet people. Become known in your community as THE fitness expert. Going to networking meetings is probably the very best method for finding speaking engagements.

3. Hustle

Now this isn’t an exact marketing tactic. But nothing gets done without hustle. The fitness pros that I’ve worked with that are successful get after it in a BIG way.

Talk is cheap. It’s a cliché, but it’s true… Actions speak louder than words.

Jim has a fitness business building blog with Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry at PatNickandJim.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

AJ “I Squat a F*ckin’ Thousand Pounds” Roberts

I’m not a big fan of paying for marketing and being that most people use the internet to find what they are looking for so my focus would always be to dominate the Google search rankings.

With that in mind here are my 3 biggest tips to achieve this…

1. Build a content rich site

You need to load your site with content. 1 or 2 keyword rich articles will just not cut it. You need 1000′s! If you don’t have the time to sit and write these then outsource this.

The more you have the better you’ll rank.

2. Create videos

Google recently brought Youtube and so now you see lots of videos popping up on the search pages that rank really well for the related terms. So if your video isn’t showing up then someone else’s will be. Make sure to brand the video with you url as well as including it in your description so that people know where to find you.

3. Submit Online Press Releases

Google loves up to date news and online press releases for one reason or another always rank well. I reccomend trying to a press release at least once a week.

AJ is one of the brains behind PersonalTrainerU.com, as well as one of those crazy mofo’s who’s idea of a good time is pickin’ up really heavy sh*t

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Pat “Good Ole’ Boy” Rigsby

Pat’s 3 Favorite Marketing Tactics…

1. Reactivating Former Clients and Old Prospects

These people already know you and have shown an interest in what you offer. Heck, some of them have even worked with you.  Go back to them with a special offer and turn them (back) into clients.

As a bonus... there is no better time than the first of the year to do this while everyone is giving some thought to getting in shape.

2. Public Speaking / Networking

I put these two together mainly so I could squeeze in four marketing strategies, but they are related.  There is nothing better than face to face marketing.  There is no postcard, e-mail or newspaper ad that can compare to talking to someone in person.

Make a point of meeting several new people each day and adding them to your personal network. If you want to put this strategy on steroids, make sure you’re doing at least two public speaking engagements each month.  Not only will you be meeting significantly more people – but you’ll instantly be positioned as the resident fitness expert in your area.

3. UpSells and Backend Sales

There is NO ONE better to sell to than your current clients.  If someone is purchasing a training program from you, make them an offer at the point of sale and upgrade them to a nutritional coaching program, a bigger training program or a dietary supplement package that will compliment what they’ve already purchased.

If they’ve been with you for a while, you should know what products and services you can provide that would benefit them – so sell those products and services to them.  If it’s not something you currently offer – create new programs and packages to sell to your current clients.

Pat Rigsby has a fitness business building blog with Jim Labadie and Nick Berry at PatNickandJim.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Scott “Fit Bastard” Tousignant

It’s no surprise that my 3 favorite fitness marketing tips all involve social media. Use these resources and watch your business skyrocket…

1. YouTube Annotations

Youtube is so much more than a tool to upload videos. You’ve got to think of it as your own television station. When you incorporate YouTube Annotations in your videos you will keep your viewers on your channel longer which allows you to build and enhance your relationship and trust with them. Plus it keeps them away from your competitors channels.

2. Ustream Broadcasts

Ustream is the most effective way to communicate with your customers and potential customers. It incorporates both the power of live video and live chat. You can use Ustream to educate your viewers, soft sell your own products, or soft sell an affiliate product that you are promoting. The most effective way to use Ustream would be to have a regular broadcast schedule.

3. Twitter Hashtags

Think of Twitter hashtags (#) as a huge conversation on a trending topic. You can either participate in other trending topics that your customers or joint venture partners are participating in or create your own trending topic.

For example… immediately after you run a fitness bootcamp you could have all your clients log onto Twitter and share what exercise they liked the best, what their goals are from your bootcamp, or what areas they need help with the most.

It’s important that you tell them the hashtag to use such as #bootcamp and to include it in EVERY tweet regarding your bootcamp. If you have 25 to 50 people using your hashtag in the same hour, you could become a trending topic, especially if hey are tweeting more than once. Becoming a trending topic on Twitter will catch the attention of tens of thousands of people and have them wondering what your bootcamp is all about.

You can learn more about Scott at SocialMediaProfitCoach.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Sam “I Make Seven Figures in My SLEEP” Bakhtiar

1. You have to have a Kick ass website. A kick ass website should have all of these

• Should be optimized for the words personal trainer, personal training, bootcamp, Boot Camps, weight loss, fitness trainer, fitness training AND any word that pertains to your business for the city or cities that you want to draw clients from. (Refer to Market Annihilator)
• Should have a killer copy. If writing is not one of your strong points then I suggest hiring a professional copy writer.
• The best system to follow for a copy is PROBLEM, AGITATION, SOLUTION, and SOCIAL PROOF. (to read more about this refer to the art of selling fitness)
• Social proof, Social proof, Social proof. need I say more. The more testimonials you have the better. Can’t have too many testimonials.(I especially love video testimonials)
• Risk Reversal. You have to assure them that you stand behind your work and they have nothing to lose by trying it. You can use 100% money back guarantee or some version of that. I know a friend of mine offers get in shape or we will train you for free until you do. His boot camp is BOOMING.
• Generate leads by offering them something of value (report, audio program, etc…) in exchange for their email information.
• Make sure all the leads go systematically to an autoresponder. This way they you following up with them consistently without lifting a finger.

2. Ask your existing clients for referrals

Give your clients incentives to refer you their family and friends.

What’s a client is worth to you? $1500, $3000?

Then do something generous for the person that referred you.

I offer my clients a month of free personal training for bringing their friends and family. It’s a total win/win. So many trainers overlook this easy and simple way to get clients.

Look, if you have crappy service and you don’t take care of your clients obviously this is not for you. But if you have excellent service and you are dedicated to your clients then why wouldn’t they refer you their family and friends.

Each and everyone of your clients have a sphere of influence and a network of friends and family. It is your DUTY to systematically remind them and incentivize them for referring to you.

I also give my clients gift card for two to a local restaurant or to the movies. You will be amazed on how something as little as that can get them to refer you more and more clients.

Best of all it is the cheapest way that I know to get a new client.

Remember your house list (list of people that you have at one time or another done business with) is the most responsive.

I ask for referrals in my autoresponders (I use Icontact), in my post cards(I use sendoutcards, see personal trainer university), in my gym via posted signs.

3. Stop being cheap and invest in your business by hiring a coach

Look here, I don’t get paid a shiny red cent for referring people to anyone but I will tell you this. I was the most successful trainer in the area before I decided to hire coaches and mentors to help me with my business.

Why did I hire business coaches when I was already successful?

It’s the same reason that you workout 3-6 days a week even though you are already in shape. As far as I am concerned you are either getting better or worse. There is no staying the same.

I think it’s funny how the most successful trainer in the area was also the first trainer in the area to ask for help. Coincidence I DON’T THINK SO.

A few years ago I was making a very good living working 14 hours a day. Today with the help of my mentors (both Bedros Keuilian and Chris McCombs) and self education I make twice that while working 2-3 hours a day.

4. Ok I know Chris asked me to post three BUT I have to put this in otherwise I can’t go to sleep and I feel like I cheated everyone

EFT, EFT, EFT, EFT. OK let me spell it out… electronic funds transfer.

You must absolutely build your EFT base so that you have some peace of mind. It feels good to know that you only have to sell a client once.

Gone are the days that every month you have to resell the client over and over again. It’s brutal.  I used to have NIGHTMARES about approaching clients to re-up.

Nowadays I know that if for some reason (like November this year when the economy everywhere suddenly stopped) if I don’t have any new sign ups then I still have plenty of money coming in. Hey companies like 24 hour fitness and L.A. fitness build their empires based on this. Why not model success?

Sam owns a gym in Chino Hills Ca that makes a KILLING, here’s the website for the gym FitConcepts.com

Sams site is totally pimp by the way

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Zach “Murder Rap” Hunt

Here’s My Top 3 Big-Gun Fitness Marketing and Business Building Tactics…

1. Have a Back Story

Just like with the example of Claude Hopkins promoting Schlitz Beer to #1, having a back story or reason why you exist can be uber powerful.

It’s all about presenting your service or experience in a way that bonds your reader to what you offer and locks them in.

9 out of 10 of my clients say what really made them respond was seeing my story on my website and how I had been through it all. If you weren’t “overweight” before, tell about how you fell over and hit your head one day and now see the world differently.

2. Membership To System / NOT Sessions

Without a doubt one of the best moves I made was when switching from blocks, sessions or packages to monthly “memberships” / transformation programs.

I sell all my programs as more than just sessions each month. They are everything needed to get to the body you want. Training, nutrition, coaching, unlimited calls / emails (although hardly anyone does), sold on a monthly basis with up to 1, 2, 3 or 4 sessions weekly. Meaning the monthly fees are the same for their program, no matter how many times they show that month.

3. Automation

It can truly transform your business. If I had to collect 81 checks from clients each month, I’d go shoot another snow plow driver right away (“Murder Rap” Zach – to be explained soon, stay tuned).

It’s quite a bit more relaxing to just see 81 charges to checking and credit card accounts come through to my email.

While billing is one area, this applies to marketing, client management, retention, training, and website. Automation may means, email campaigns to new clients, referral stimulation, website domination – link building, content generation, and so on.

Organize, systematize and automate or delegate.

Check out Zachs site that kills it in terms of search engines and conversions SpokaneFitnessCoach.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Steve “Pick-Up Artist” Hochman

Chris asked me for my three top fitness marketing tips, but just like I do in my training I decided to OVER-DELIVER…

Here’s 7 Ways To Skyrocket Your PT Profits Without Spending A Fu**ing Dime!

When I used to suck at Internet marketing, I had to come up with unconventional ways to make a 250k a year as a personal trainer.

And here’s my top 7

1. Brainwash Your Clients For Referrals

When your client first meets you, a new neural connection is made in their brain.

So what you say and do on the first day will be forever burned into their noggin.

On day one, here’s what you say…

“Mrs Jones,90% of my clients come form personal referrals. Make this agreement with me. As I help you achieve your goals, can I count on you to refer me two or three of your friends so that I can achieve my goals?”

BAM! Mrs. Jones is now programmed to be a human referral machine!

2. Human Billboards

Want to ad $46,800 a year to your income in 30 day? Do This…

Grab 20 people and tell them you’ll train em for $15 per session 3x per week (On auto debit) if they swear to try to refer you people… (It is so easy to find people to train for just $15 per session!!!)

Let’s do the math…

$15 per session x 3 = 45
45x 52 weeks in a year = $2340
$2340 per year x 20 clients = 46,800 (or 3900 per month) BAM!!! Instant pay raise.

(And the best part is if you do group training, then you don’t even increase the amount of hours you work!)

3. Give Away $257 Of Other Peoples Money As Sign-up Incentive

In your local area find a chiropractor, message therapist, hair stylist, tanning salon, and esthetician.

Ask these people if it cool for you to send them clients.  After they say yes, tell them that you are going to give all you new prospect a gift cert for a service from them… If they like the service, they will earn a new client. (also ask if they can do the same for you with their clients)

Now you can entice your new leads to try your free workout because they also get $257 in free gifts just for trying.  And it doesn’t cost you a dime.

4. Blast Text Your Clients

Every Sunday you blast all your clients a message that this week is gonna kick ass and your totally exited to see them.

Every Wednesday Blast text them how proud you are of so-and-so for losing “X” amount of pounds and inches.

This will keep them feeling ultra connected to you, which increases referrals and retention.

Here’s a quick tip…

Put a 1 in front of the names of all your clients in your phone.  When you go to send a mass text, all your clients will be grouped together and easy to find….

5. Close All Clients In Six Words Or Less

You already know the most common sales killers…

• I have to check my schedule
• I have to talk to my spouse
• I can’t afford it
• I have to think about it

This can all be dealt with over the phone with a prequalification call script.

During the initial phone consult, ask the following questions…

• Can you fit 2-3 workouts per weeks in your schedule?
• Is this 100% your decision or do you have to discuss this with somebody?
• If you feel this program is right for you can you afford ($?$?$?) per session/month?
• If after the workout you feel this is right for you, are you willing to start right away?

After the workout here is the six word close technique… “How did you like the workout?”

6. Call Your Clients At Work

At least once a week call your clients at work and really pour on the praise…

You will get the most referrals form their work.

When your client is feeling pumped up and emotional from your incredible phone call… He/She will quickly start spreading the word about your service.

7. Raise Your Energy!!!

What ever it takes… Music, caffeine… Just raise your f*ckin’ energy!

Energy and enthusiasm are contagious... It creates buzz big time.

Just look at any fitness pro with a huge following… Jillian Michaels, Billy Blanks… They all bring the energy, and the best part is it doesn’t cost a f*cking dime.

Steve Hochman is boot camp and group training unconventional marketer, you can learn about him at SteveHochman.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Josh “You GOTTA Watch Dexter” Carter

When Chris first asked me to write out 3 tips I thought that will be easy – I’ll talk about my blog, direct mail and email campaigns. But then I thought, that’s weak- everyone already knows those.

Sure they can be exceptionally successful, and are probably the most successful ones a trainer can use. Those can be your staple programs.

But you can think of those as cake. We need to put a little icing on that cake…

So here was what I thought… I’m going to show you how to market doing sh*t you do anyway. You’ll see what I mean. As an added bonus these will not require any heavy financial investment.

1. Your Car

Got a car? Do you drive in the area where you train?

Then put your logo, website & phone number on the side. Most sign places will do it for a few hundred bucks. It does not have to be a fancy full car wrap. It just needs to say where to get more info.

I cannot tell you how often I see people peer down and read my info off the side of my car when I am stopped at a light. If nothing else it builds front of mind awareness. When people are thinking of getting fit they will automatically think about your car with your logo. I get calls all the time saying they saw my car on the road.

There is a downside… you can’t cut people off as they will know where to find you, and you can no longer pull into the drive through of McDonalds.

2. Your Body

Got a body? Do you wear clothes?

Me too! Where a shirt with your logo, website on it whenever you are around town. I assume you look like you work out – you are your best advertisement.

I wear my shirts to all my kids school events, every time I am at the store everywhere there is a potential client I wear my shirt.

True Story... I was at Jiffy Lube yesterday and another guy was waiting for his car to be ready. He saw my shirt, saw me and then started up a conversation. He is coming in today for a consult.

Side Note: He also said that while he was waiting he called up my website on his Blackberry. That is why it is important to have your website on all your promotional items. People literally have web browsers in their pockets, and they will be more likely to visit your site then call you.

Get your website on everything.

3. Your Clients

Got clients? Do they wear clothes?

Then give them a shirt with your info on it. I made the mistake of charging for shirts at first. Rookie mistake. These people work hard, and they will actually be honored to wear your logo around town.

Here’s how you do it…

Tell an established client something like -”Mr. Jones you are looking great! Hey if I gave you one of my shirts would you wear it around town? I need people to see how awesome we are and you are the perfect example.”

Tell new clients “Ms. Jones you are just what I have been looking for. I can already tell with your determination you are going to be my next before and after rock star. I don’t do this for everyone but if I gave you one of my shirts would you wear it around town? “

You are telling them you believe in them and that goes a long way.

Use this coupled with some of Steve Hochmans referral techniques and you’ll have clients coming out your butt.

Check out Josh at CarterFitness.com

Top Three Fitness Marketing Tips from

Chris “It’ll Only Hurt For A Minute” McCombs

Alright, now here’s my tips…

1. Get other people to do all the work for you, here’s one way…

Get a bunch of other dudes to each email you three tips, then combine it into a blog post (little do they know they wrote the whole damn blog post for you!!!)

I got a million of those

2. Combine shrooms, affirmations and visualizations

Take 1/2 oz. psychedelic mushrooms and chant “I am a multi-millionaire fitness marketing God and I own the world chico, and everything in it.” 300 times

To really ramp it up, do this everyday for 90 days. It’s a MEGA POWERFUL technique… NOT for everyone though… this ones ONLY for doers

3. Get busted and come to a strange conclusion

Traffic large amount of marijuana for many years, get busted, go broke, and have an epiphany that internet marketing is the next obvious choice in life (=

Alright guys, there ya go

Now… be sure to leave a comment letting me know…

1. Which was favorite tip AND…

2. Add any tips of your own we didn’t cover here that are working in your business today

It’s important to do this so I know what you ( my reader) likes AND to show all these guys support and thank them for giving of their time and energy to put this KILLER blog post together for you guys

And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to opt-in for my free Kick Back Life Personal Trainer Marketing updates… I’ll also send you a link to a secret video that shows how you can make a lot more money and work a lot less hours from using little known underground Internet marketing tactics.

Let me know what you think and what your favorite tip is…