TWO Important Caveats:

Let’s get the first thing out of the way: some of the old-school fitness marketing, popularized by Joe Weider, York Barbell, and many other legends, was pretty AMAZING! We could all stand to learn a thing or three from many of these classic award-winning fitness marketing campaigns. However, making a decision to learn from the best of the past vs getting unintentionally stuck in the past are two very different things.

Secondly, these types of guides are always difficult to write, because what fitness entrepreneur doesn’t have things they do well and things they do… ummm… let’s just say, not so well. Some people are great on social media while others are great at email marketing. Some can whip up a Facebook retargeting campaign in less time than it takes to do a set of 20-rep squats (see, we’re familiar with old-school workout methods too) while others would be totally lost just adding text on top of an image in Facebook (Sidenote: how do you do that exactly? Asking for a friend…)

Well, we started the Exercise.com software platform to help fitness professionals launch their own custom-branded fitness apps, train clients online, deliver workout programming at scale, and ultimately grow and scale their businesses. That’s what we’re good at: giving you a polished and professional world-class workout delivery software platform so that you can grow your fitness business, whether your goal is to work with 10 clients or 10,000 clients.

So read on to pick up some cutting-edge fitness marketing techniques while still learning from the best of the past.

OUTDATED STRATEGY #1 –
Failing to connect to clients online

Look, all of your clients are online in some way, right? We all know it, but quick test: if you own a gym or have some type of in-person relationship with a client, does the relationship end the moment they walk out the door? In other words, the 99% (or even 100%) of their time that they spend NOT training with you, they are likely digesting fitness information from someone, somewhere. An “Instagram-Famous” fitness celebrity, or a workout app they downloaded, or a “fitness expert” on YouTube, or any number of other places online.

But what if you could continue that relationship throughout the entire week?

Okay, okay, I know. You’re drained, you’re tired after a long day training clients, and the last thing you want to do is answer more questions about why they call a Pallof Press a Pallof Press (Answer: it was invented by the physical therapist John Pallof, but you already knew that, right?). Well, we like to say: start small. Go ahead and think big, but just start small, and start now. Let us give you your own custom-branded workout logging app and now, even while you’re at home, or working with another client, then all of your clients can access your workout programming and log workouts in the gym even without you there in-person. Before you know it, this type of scalable fitness marketing strategy could mean that you never have to train clients in-person, unless you want to.

TAKEAWAY: Use tools to continue the client relationship beyond just face-to-face.

OUTDATED STRATEGY #2 –
Doing everything yourself

You remember how we said that some people are great at some things and well, not so great, at others? When you’re first starting your business, you might find yourself doing everything, but unless you build the systems and processes you need and hire good people to work them and use best-in-class tools then there will always be a ceiling to your success.

Stop torturing your clients by emailing them massive Excel sheets at 5:00AM; their workouts are painful enough in the gym without adding the extra psychotrauma of having to try and print out one of those Excel sheets to bring to the gym. Let us do what we do best—get your own custom-branded online workout delivery and workout logging web + iOS & Android apps platform so you can do what you do best: train clients, not create Excel sheets (okay, they are pretty impressive, I’m sure, but come on…).

OUTDATED STRATEGY #3 –
“I’ll try that later”

It’s easy to talk about fitness marketing strategies, but it’s even easier to come up with reasons to “try them later”.

“Oh, that would be great to have my own custom-branded iPhone and Android fitness apps. Selling workout plans and group training memberships online? Absolutely, I need that to grow my business. Definitely. A must-have.“

But then you know it’s coming…

“BUT, can you reach back out to me once: I land this celebrity client / my thumb heals from a rock-climbing accident so I can type out new workout plans faster / I launch my new website / I become famous on Instagram / ________________“

Remind you of anyone else?

“Oh, I know I need to start working out and eating better. BUT, can we start working together maybe after I _____________“

The reasons don’t really matter, do they?

Are you ready to take your business to the next level?

Start small, but start now!