News flash:
Not to be depressing, but the days of sending an advertisement straight to a great deal to get new clients are GONE.

So how is it that Brandon Morrison from Fort Smith, Arkansas had more than 100 people ready and waiting to start at his gym this past September on a Saturday weekend?
brandon-screen-shot
While this kind of success doesn’t come all at once, you can use his very same strategy to create an incredible gush of customers in a matter of weeks.If you’re like me, when I first started out, I thought the hardest part of making it in the industry was going to be getting the lease and equipment in place.

Then, the people were going to start flooding in. Did this happen for you? I’m guessing, no!

While using Facebook advertising can sound like a pain, believe me IT IS WELL WORTH IT. Just like anything else in your personal training career. When you first started out, if you were to start coaching with no training, it would be a bit like fumbling in the dark.

Same thing with posting advertising on Facebook.

Actually, the thing is, it’s not figuring out how the actual ads work that is the hardest part.

It’s having a strategy and knowing what you want to accomplish with the platform that is the most important. But fear not, this can be learned. Facebook is changing constantly, so we’re going to outline the plan that is working for gyms right now.

WHAT TO FEATURE

The first video to post to a cold audience should be an introduction to your place and what you do in some form. Let’s talk about what you are NOT going to do in this ad:

 

  • Sell them a training package
  • Ask them to come in for a consultation
  • Get their phone, mother’s maiden name or email address
Basically, you are giving this person pure content with no strings attached – they don’t know you, so this is your first impression.You may use the ‘Learn More’ button tool on the ad to show them that they can go to your website for more information (if you don’t yet have a website, you are in good company with many trainers) – but generally you could simply shoot a home-made video of yourself telling them what you do, giving them some nutrition advice or demonstrating a quick at-home bodyweight workout.

Do NOT worry about the fact that they might be working out at home, without you. This is about showing your goodwill and that you genuinely want to help this person, not about making money in your business.

 
 

WHAT TO PAY

Video views ads have a few great features for you to take advantage of. Especially when you are in the beginning of your advertising process. Keep in mind, you do not want to lose money on this advertising. The goal is to start amping up your audience.

Your whole funnel should be multiplying your ad spend money, and if one section of your process isn’t producing, it’s time to cut it and re-evaluate (try one of the other tactics mentioned; get friends’ feedback on your ads as well).

Advantages of this ad:
– You can track who has watched the video in Facebook and “re-target” this same list of people later
– It is the cheapest by far; we pay about 2 cents per video view. Compare that with the money they might be paying!
– As with all Facebook ads, you can limit the people who see this ad, control your budget and go day-by-day

We’d start out with $15/day. Again, make sure your video is interesting and engaging! If you do not yet have a website to send them to, use a 1-time use web page to get started. You can find these at leadpages.net or clickfunnels.com. If this scares you, check out Morrison’s return on investment he noted to us! You MUST spend money to make money.

For more information, contact us at info@fitranx.com

STEP-BY-STEP: How We Got To 130 NEW Sign-Ups

The Formula

Here’s the actual plan we used with some of our closest FitRanX-running gyms:
 
  • First off you should have run your video views ad the FIRST WEEK of this month (see blog post)
  • SECOND WEEK you should have retarget all those video views and sent then to your free PDF page so they could download it for free
  • THIRD WEEK you should retarget everyone that went to your free PDF page and offered a bigger download like the FitRanX “4 Week Home Fat Loss” this time for an opt-in to your email list …. about 2 weeks-plus out from your Challenge, making sure to start that ad on high traffic Saturday
  • FOURTH WEEK, film a video of you talking about your 6 Week Challenge. Focus on the pain points of why people finally say, “YES, it’s time for me to get off my butt and train,’ then talk about how you will cure their pain points. Mix in some testimonial videos from your previous promotions.


Once you have filmed that video, essentially you are going to go back to the very lucrative Video Views Ad as you are closing in on Challengers and continuing to be in front of this public you have built over the past month, and run 1 ad to the following custom audiences:

  • Anyone that has been to your website
  • All video view audiences
  • Your potential email list that you have uploaded into FB


Make sure the “Learn More” button on this phase of the Challenge marketing takes them to your landing page. Run this ad for $5 per day.

Then you are going to run the same video one last Video Views ad with the same video material to a cold audience (try to profile the type of people that currently train with you on location, age and gender – only use the Facebook News Feed/Mobile News Feed for any of these) for $15 to $20 a day, if it fits in your budget.

Note: If you find that you are just not comfortable even after seeking some training with Facebook advertisements, it is in your best interest to NOT let this stop you and get it done however you can. If you don’t, your competitors will.
 
Small actions lead to big results. If you absolutely won’t touch it, get someone to do it for you. But first, try your first Facebook video views ad and go from there. You will have to make adjustments, and it is going to be trial and error to see what ads are approved and what gets the most results for your area.
 
As with anything, if you practice this again and again and keep your priorities straight – you WILL be successful.

What Is FitRanX®?

FitRanX® is a standardized and progressive ranking system used for gauging your clients’ individual fitness levels