A Fitness Marketing Guest Post by Dustin Maher

Hi, my name is Dustin Maher… and I’m honored to be doing this guest blog post for you on the world famous KickBackLife.com

If I could describe to you what my life has been the past 2.5 years, I would say, “WOW.” Despite what the “experts” are calling the worst economic period in modern history, or at least since the Great Depression, I have started and run a very thriving business that should reach 7 figures within the next 12 months.

But it wasn’t always like that…

Back up a few years and at 19 years old I was still living with my family in a trailer house and driving cars that were brand new… two decades ago that was. After leaving the home and starting off on my own I made all the mistakes trainers could make and was only bringing in a couple thousand dollars each month. I loved what I was doing, but always worrying about money isn’t a great thing.

Then something life-changing happened to me, I realized that if I could become a local fitness celebrity and be the absolute no brainer go to guy in my town, I would never again have to worry about getting clients.

At first I struggled mightily and thought I would never get my first TV appearance, but after learning some tricks and trying very hard I got my first. That first turned into an avalanche of media exposure, 87 times on NBC, ABC, and CBS, over 17 times on public radio (45 minute shows), and many newspaper and magazine articles.

Where am I at today?

I have 11 bootcamp locations, 14 different times it is offered, 300 bootcampers on contracts, with another 300 wanting to get who are on one month contracts, a multiple six figure informational business with workout DVDS, and some small group training clients that I train because I WANT to.

“Dustin how did you do it?”

That is the question I get emailed to me from trainers all over the world. While explaining the whole thing would take a very long time, I would like to share one big component to it.

Before I get into it, I wanted to let you know this is why I created the Fitness Media Dominator, to break down all of the steps it takes to dominate your local TV, radio, and print.

Finding your hook.

Today I am going to briefly share with you one of the most important things you can do… and that’s finding the “hook” you are going to use to pitch the station, or print publication.

Here are 10 ideas for creating a hook that will get your story covered…

1. Make it shocking

2. Make it controversial

3. Debunk a myth

4. Share an inspiring story

5. Share something entertaining

6. Make it unique

7. Make it fit a small niche

8. Make it calendar appropriate, stories that fit the time of the year that we are in.

9. Make it specific to a hot topic in the media

10. Have it involve a charity

The biggest mistake I see trainers making when writing press releases and pitching story ideas, is that they think just because they have a new bootcamp, the media cares.

They don’t really, you need to make it something that really sticks out and gets their viewers, readers, or listeners talking around the water cooler. The ten tips mentioned above will help you create powerful hooks.

Here are three story idea hooks that have worked well for me…

1. Offer a free bootcamp on Saturday with food donations.

Hook: Local fitness program is not only getting residents in awesome shape for FREE, but they are also helping stock the local food pantries.

2. Take the client who has lost the most weight and asks if they would be ok going on TV.

Hook: Local resident loses 84 lbs and 8 dress sizes without ever doing more than 45 seconds of cardio any given time. (this is assuming you do mostly weights and HIIT)

3. Analyze the food that kids are getting fed at school… this is great for this time of the year.

Hook: Are the local schools poisoning our kids with chemicals?

Can you see how these hooks will grab the attention of the media?

This is much more powerful than a hook that says, “New bootcamp program opening up that helps people burn fat and tone muscle.” I almost fell asleep just writing that.

I’d love to hear your comments below

I go much more in depth on hooks and provide you with over 30 videos of my fitness segments and a cheat sheet of 40 hooks that will get the media to stop and take notice. If you want to learn more about my brand new  Fitness Media Dominator coaching program, click here.

Click Here To Learn About the BRAND NEW Fitness Media Dominator Coaching Program