There are several types of leads to consider before setting up a lead generation campaign. Gym owners have to understand their clients and the reasons why they choose to buy before setting up the campaign. We can categorize gym leads into three different categories:
- Weight loss
- Fitness
- Strength
Each category has several demographics to consider, so it’s always best to conduct a little internal research on your existing clients to calculate their lifetime value in your gym and to help you estimate how much you’re willing to spend on get each new lead.
When discussing leads, we have to consider another classification that happens in the sales process with all the three different categories mentioned. There are hot leads, cold leads and hard buyers. Hot leads are willing to join the gym and would ask for some information prior to making up their mind. Cold leads are semi-interested and need more time to make up their mind. Hard buyers will negotiate for the sake of their amusement and make you regret the moment you opened up a gym.
Running out of gym leads is the biggest fear of a gym owner. Read on to learn how we have transformed 100’s of gyms into a lead generation machine.
It’s always a challenge for fitness businesses to get new gym leads and to keep them coming, so I have summarised 4 of what I found to be the most effective strategies that you can apply today to help sustain your gym lead generation and to continuously bring in more clients.
QUEUE UP YOUR VIDEOS
Create a strategy before filming your video. Remember, research shows that you have five to seven seconds to grab the attention of your viewers. Secondly, you have to design an exciting thumbnail image to get the viewer to click on your video. Thirdly, your video should have an end goal; a landing page to be exact.
Using videos when posting on social media gets way more engagement than images or texts alone. In fact, videos get 1200% more shares than using then images or text COMBINED!
Post fun and engaging videos your audience will want to watch more of. Videos allow you to articulate more about your business: E.g. Group Classes, Facebook Live with a trainer, or a quick Q&A session. This type of content encourages your viewers to leave questions in the comments that you can address in real-time.
There are several types of videos:
- Sales videos: Are videos that serve as a pitch to generate more clients for your gym.
- Informative videos: Are videos that are meant to educate your gym viewers and showcase your credibility as an expert in the field.
- Branding videos: Are videos that show your gym’s leadership in the marketplace.
Also, remember that posting native videos are always better than directing your viewers to an external site such as Vimeo or YouTube. Native videos play automatically on the page and your viewers won’t have to click them.
FIRE UP YOUR LANDING PAGES
Most gyms run ads and take people directly to their website when they click. Unfortunately, your 10+ website pages only act as a distraction to a potential lead. Landing pages increase opt-in and conversion when prospects see your offer and ALL the information they came for in one spot— AND nothing else.
Online software such as ClickFunnels and Leadpages provide templates proven to help you convert more leads to your gym, even if you don’t have any experience in web design. They allow you to create separate landing pages for each offer that you run and gives you information on the conversion rate so you split test which one works best. Yes, you can also create your own funnels using these tools, however this usually requires a lot of split testing on font style, size, button colours to find a good one. I like to have a questionnaire on the first page to personalize the experience of the prospect’s journey. A prospect that’s joining your gym to lose weight shouldn’t be sold like an athletic prospect.
CREATE CUSTOM AUDIENCES
As mentioned in the intro, you have several types of leads to consider. The custom audiences feature on Facebook, Google ads and Twitter allows you to reach this type of audience’s while being very specific. Placing your ads in front of the right audiences will ensure leads coming in. Have you ever heard of custom audiences on Facebook? These lists allow you to segregate your audience into groups and send targeted marketing to each of them. Cool huh! These are usually the people who have already shown some interest in your business by either visiting your website or your landing pages. Creating custom audiences for your gym helps get your ad in front of the right people and maximizes your ad spend. Google helps you across several platforms, such as: Google’s search engine, YouTube, websites and apps that shows AdSense to make money.
AUTOMATE, AUTOMATE, AUTOMATE
Automation makes your gym lead generation faster and allows you and your team to have more time to accomplish other tasks.
For example, if someone opts into your landing page, you can send out an automated SMS and email to follow up with them and have them schedule their first free personal training session. Once you have a solid drip campaign in place, your gym leads will have the impression that they are receiving personal emails. Follow-up is the most important tool in the sales process. Research indicates that 95% of all deals come between the 5th and the 12th follow-up. If you are not automating, then you are losing a lot of benefits, such as: targeting the clients that viewed your page or website and following-up with interested clients, plus, having effective and cheaper options while operating your gym business. Imagine spending five dollars to generate one client, fifty dollars to generate ten clients and five hundred dollars to generate 100 clients. This is like dealing with a generous ATM machine that gives you multiples of what you put in it.
