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Fitness Marketing Special Report
How To Put
“Butts In Seats”
At Your Next Fitness
Workshop, Seminar
Or Presentation
Discover How This Simple, Low-Cost
Marketing Campaign Generated 52
Eager Fitness Seminar Attendees
Includes All The Marketing Tools!
By Eric Ruth
$97
A Special Gift For You
From The NPE Team!
Eric Ruth
Sean Greeley Dick Chilton Camelia Herndon
Copyright Notices
© Copyright 2010 SERG HOLDINGS, LLC
All Rights Reserved
www.FitnessMarketingSystems.com
READ THIS:
This information is protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical or electronic,
including photocopying or recording, or by any information and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the author. However, we do give you the right
to MODEL all the tools in this case study for your own marketing purposes.
Legal Notices: While all attempts have been made to verify information provided
in this publication blah, blah, blah. Use this and prosper. Don’t do stupid illegal
things. Don’t blame us or anyone else if you screw up. We’re not guaranteeing
you anything except that hundreds and hundreds of fitness professionals use
these marketing and sales strategies and tactics to get exceptional, profitexploding results. There’s no reason you can’t also. All that’s required is thoughtful and fast…
ACTION!
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Page 2
How To Put “Butts In Seats” At Your Next Local Health And
Fitness Seminar or Workshop Using This Simple, Easy
And Inexpensive Marketing Campaign That Generated
52 Attendees (Red Hot Leads)…In Just 17 Days
From: Eric Ruth
Dear Fitness Professional,
The simple marketing campaign revealed to you here took 17 days to run and put
52 “butts in seats” at a local health and fitness seminar in my neighborhood. It cost
$940 to do the marketing. That’s an excellent lead cost of $18 ($940/52 = $18). And
those who will take time out of their lives to attend an event like this are the HIGHEST
quality leads.
I want you to really understand that point.
Folks who will make the effort to actually put your event in their calendar and then
show up, sit down and listen to you for 30-90 minutes…
…are some of THE most qualified prospects you will ever get!
Keep in mind that this is the primary marketing
activity Sean used to build his fitness business to
over 650 paying clients in just three years. It
warrants your attention, study, and action.
Had we been interested in converting the
prospects who attended this event back in January
of 2006 to personal training clients, boot campers,
small group training, Pilates, or any service at all,
we would have pulled at least 20% - 30% (10-15
new clients) out of this group with almost no effort.
Our objective at the time, however, was simply
to introduce these folks to our line of nutritional
products, and we did a great job of that.
© NPE, LLC
Sean performing one of the dozens
and dozens of health and fitness
seminars he used as his primary
method for attracting the highest
quality prospects and converting
them to clients.
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Page 3
The club house in my neighborhood where we held the event was packed full,
standing room only, to hear the three “experts” I brought in to speak.
I put “experts” in quotes for an important reason.
As you’ll see, the three speakers for this seminar all have exceptional credentials.
And because of that, when you see this campaign you may be tempted to think, “I can’t
get a PhD nutritionist of Dr. Chaney’s caliber to speak at my event,” or “I don’t know an
all-natural champion bodybuilder.”
That kind of thinking is self-defeating and unimaginative.
Almost anyone can be positioned as a “world class expert” if he or she has
reasonable credentials. All that’s required is a little imagination and creativity in the
way your “expert” is described.
Does that mean being deceptive or untruthful? No. Of course not.
It simply means that you must find the “hook” in your speaker’s credentials that you
can leverage for maximum impact and resonance with your target market. The hook is
always there, it’s your job to uncover it and then articulate it in your copy.
Do you need the same type of experts?
No. Modeling this campaign does not require that you have a nutritionist, a
bodybuilder and a fitness expert/personal trainer.
However, it’s clear that this combination worked very well, and therefore I
recommend it to you, if you are going after a broad demographic within a particular
geographic radius, as I was.
Certainly, we pulled from a variety of “wants” and hit on a range of “hot buttons” with
this particular mix.
The attendees at the event ranged from young “weekend warrior” professionals
(probably more attracted to what Sean and Bobby had to say), to middle aged
professionals, mothers, overweight folks and older couples (possibly most attracted to
Dr. Chaney).
The more targeted your message and speakers, the more targeted the
audience will be. Keep that in mind, it’s an important point of consideration if your
ideal client has very specific demographics (who they are) and psychographics (why
they buy).
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Page 4
How To Model This Successful Campaign…
Step-By-Step
Although it appears very simple and straight forward at first blush, there are many
details, nuances and subtleties to this campaign that can be easily overlooked. And 9
times out of 10, it is this kind of attention to detail that makes or breaks a campaign.
More than just showing you a successful fitness marketing campaign you can
model, my objective here is to…
...teach you how to THINK like a marketer.
Understanding the marketing synergy I’ve created here is critically important. And
this is what separates an average marketer from one who gets results like I produced
here. Anyone can whip together some tools that look good, but it’s the integration of
Market, Message and Media that creates a killer campaign like this.
So let’s review this exceptionally successful seminar marketing campaign case
study, starting with a look at the tools…
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4.25” X 6” Black Ink on Goldenrod Cardstock
Postcard #1 (front):
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Page 6
4.25” X 6” Black Ink on Goldenrod Cardstock
Postcard #1 (back):
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Page 7
Black Ink on Goldenrod 8.5” X 11” Paper Flyer:
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Page 8
4.25” X 6” Black Ink on Light Blue Cardstock
Postcard #2 (front):
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Page 9
4.25” X 6” Black Ink on Light Blue Cardstock
Postcard #2 (back):
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Page 10
Web Site Landing Page:
You can see the entire landing page at
www.LongLakeEvents.com
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Page 11
Where’s The “Magic”?
Okay. Now I’ve pulled back the curtain and shown you the marketing tools. Nothing
outrageously impressive to look at, eh? Where’s the magic in these?
Aha! See, now we’re going to get you to start thinking like a marketer.
There’s so much “meat” here, so many points that need to be covered, I’m just
going to list them out one by one.
Ready?
Let’s go.
MARKET
It all starts with determining WHO your market is.
In this case, I live in an upscale housing development surrounding a lake with
approximately 800 homes. There are large 3800 - 4500 square foot homes right on
the lake like mine, and there are 1800 - 2600 executive style townhomes off the lake.
The people who live in Long Lake are all excellent prospects for a range of services
from bootcamp to small group coaching to one-on-one personal training to nutrition
customers.
We know they meet the financial requirements, but we do not know what their level
of desire is for these kind of solutions.
One thing we know for certain they have in common...is where they live. They have
an “affinity” - and that is a connection with Long Lake.
And as you’ll see, I leveraged that affinity in a big way in order to create the right
“positioning” for this offer.
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MESSAGE
Here’s where the “magic” occurs.
As I mentioned, we know these folks have an affinity for Long Lake, so that
becomes the obvious point of leverage we want to capitalize on.
And it all begins with the “business name” I gave this campaign. I didn’t say this
was coming from “Fitness Marketing Systems.” I said it was coming from “Long Lake
Events.”
What does this do in the mind of the prospect? What kind of positioning does this
create?
Remember, “positioning” is how you are perceived by your target market.
In this case, I wanted to be perceived as having an affinity (a connection) with our
development, Long Lake. So I chose the name, “Long Lake Events.” What does that
entail? Did I have to register a business name, form a LLC, get permission from the
Homeowners Association?
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No. I didn’t have to do any of that.
All I had to do was register the domain name www.LongLakeEvents.com.
And then this campaign INSTANTLY has a certain “credibility” I couldn’t have
otherwise. The prospect believes this is some kind of community-sanctioned event
sponsored by Long Lake.
Is that deceptive? Not at all. It’s just smart marketing.
I went on to tell people how “one of our very own Long Lake residents…” is making
this event possible. What should you do if you don’t live in the community to which you
are marketing?
Well, how about saying, “one of our very own Long Lake neighbors…” or “one of
our friends of Long Lake…”
All you have to do is be imaginative and creative to properly position yourself as
being ONE OF THEM. When you do this right, you are given a level of credibility and
trust you cannot get otherwise.
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The HEADLINE:
This is a potent headline that’s tested and proven. I suggest you model it. Notice
how it tells almost the ENTIRE story in one sentence, incorporating a big benefit and
wrapping it in a FREE offer.
Pictures:
Pictures are important. People want to see who the experts are.
Who This Is For:
They already know this is for Long Lake residents (and neighbors - I included this
so people would feel comfortable inviting their neighbors, regardless of whether or not
they live in Long Lake, or in case the marketing tools were passed on to someone who
does not live in Long Lake).
But in addition to where they live, I want to also “call out” who will benefit from this
information. Keep in mind that folks are always asking themselves, “Is this right for
me?”
If I had more space, I would have gone into greater detail on who this is for, and the
converse as well, who it is NOT for.
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Page 15
The more specific you can be with this part of your lead generation, the more targeted
your prospecting becomes. All I had room for was “for men and women of all ages.”
And that will have to (and did) suffice.
For our purposes, we weren’t ruling anyone out, because we knew that all the Long
Lake residents at least met our demographic requirements.
Urgency & Scarcity:
Your marketing is NOT direct response unless it includes some element of either
urgency or scarcity. Urgency is usually a timed deadline. Scarcity it limited availability.
In this case, we have a hard event date that creates authentic urgency. And the
Club House where we were holding the event only holds a certain number of people
(max capacity is 60, we packed in 52 folks). So my only job regarding scarcity is to
diligently and repeatedly remind them of the fact that there is “limited space”.
People must be compelled to take action NOW. Not later...NOW. Otherwise, you
run the risk of the offer appealing to them, but being set aside for decision-making at a
later date.
And that’s the kiss of death!
Additional Benefits & Freebies:
Remember the Ginsu knife commercial…”but wait, there’s more!” Whenever
possible (and it’s almost never impossible), you want to PILE ON more benefits and
goodies/freebies for the prospects. Let’s look at how I did that...
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Certainly, a big benefit of attending an event with experts is the ability to ask them
specific, personalized questions about YOUR needs. So I made it a point to highlight
the fact that they would have this opportunity.
This kind of personal touch can make all the difference. In fact, this one sentence
alone could be responsible for doubling the attendance we might otherwise have
gotten.
Then, I piled on another freebie with the offer of a free CD.
Involvement & Segmentation:
Whenever you can incorporate an “involvement device” into your marketing, you are
adding more firepower. Why does Publisher’s Clearing House send you all those little
stamps featuring magazine covers that you have to separate, lick and stick onto the
sweepstakes form, and then take the automobile or cash option stickers and affix them
to indicate whether you want the car or the cash if you win?
Involvement. Involvement. They want you to get “into” the marketing piece. Get
involved with it. Get caught up in the emotion of the event.
And that’s one of the reasons I offered the CHOICE of multiple different audio CD’s.
I wanted folks to get involved in deciding which CD they wanted. (NOTE: 43 of the 52
attendees either selected the CD on the website landing page or brought in this flyer
with their selection indicated - they were very interested in getting their CD’s!)
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Page 17
But another benefit of this bonus offer is segmentation. We wanted to know which
“hot buttons” were most prominent among the attendees, and by offering these CD’s
with different titles, we could determine what wants and needs our prospects had. We
could “segment” them into different categories and make HIGHLY TARGETED (best
market to message match) offers to them AFTER THE EVENT.
This is a vital point.
The event itself is just the starting point. All the leads are then followed up with and
marketed to based on what we learned about them from their response to this bonus
offer, and any other additional info gleaned from meeting and speaking with them at
the event.
Response Device:
Frankly, I got a little lazy with this. We were so busy running our primary business
at the time, I did not want to have my assistant fielding too many phone calls, so the
only response device I included in the external tools was the website.
If folks wanted to register, they had to go to www.LongLakeEvents.com to do so.
I do not recommend you follow this model.
You should ALWAYS include a phone number (or two).
1. Primary number going right to your office, answered “live” to handle questions and
get folks registered. We probably could have had another dozen or so attendees if
I’d offered this option (although the phone number was provided at the bottom of
the landing page - and we did receive a few phone calls).
2. 24-Hour Free Recorded Message Hotline for folks to call and register via the
phone without having to speak with anyone (they would just hear a small
promotional recording talking about benefits of attending, then told to leave their
contact info and choice of CD on the voicemail).
The more options for response you provide, the better. Certainly, you always want
to include a phone and landing page.
Congruency:
Note that all the marketing pieces had a very similar look and feel. They all
acknowledged this is specific to Long Lake and they all (including the landing page)
had the same headline (with only slight variation on the flyer and landing page).
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Page 18
It’s so very important that there be congruency in your marketing pieces, particularly
between the postcard/flyer and landing page.
People need to instantly recognize they are in the right place.
They read the postcard or flyer, the offer appeals to them, they go to the website,
and then they MUST see a similar message. They must know, instantly, that they’re in
the right place.
Finally, let’s discuss the choice of…
MEDIA
I got the entire mailing list for my community free of charge simply by calling the
property management company for Long Lake, telling them I’m a resident and that I
want the list to invite my neighbors to an event.
If you’re marketing to your community (which is very smart, if you live in a
community with the right demographics), then I suggest you try to do the same.
But what if you are marketing to a community in which you do not live?
Then simply call a local list broker and tell him or her what you want. They’ll be
able to get you current homeowner lists for pennies per name.
Obviously, I didn’t have email addresses (those lists are much harder to get and
much less comprehensive, you might only get 10-15% of the total homeowners, and
the lists are not accurate, email addresses change regularly, so don’t even consider
this), so I had to mail and use flyers.
That’s fine, and it’s much more productive anyway.
I had a mailshop do the postcard mailings for $0.40 per household. At 800 homes,
this came to $320 per mailing.
I hired a local company who disseminates flyers to walk the neighborhood and put a
flyer on every mailbox (NOTE: It is illegal to have anyone other than the postman put
something IN the mailbox, but you can put stuff ON the mailbox, or on the door,
without any problems). This cost me $300.
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Page 19
So, for a total of $940, I touched every household in Long Lake three times. We
had 86 people register for the event and 52 who showed up.
Now, we didn’t rely on just the fact that they registered to ensure they would
actually show. Once they registered, each person received a few emails from us (set
up on autoresponder) to “keep them warm” and excited about the event.
It’s absolutely vital that you have this “keep warm” sequence in place to ensure
maximum attendance.
A Complete Campaign
As you can see, this is a complete campaign. Certainly, some things could be
improved upon, but nonetheless, in 17 days from start to finish, we touched 800 homes
three times and generated 52 HOT leads who attended this seminar.
Our lead cost was $18, which is very good, and we converted a very healthy
percentage to paying nutrition customers. Had we wanted to convert to service sales
of personal training or bootcamp or small group or pilates or whatever, we would have
been able to do that just as easily. But considering I don’t train clients (and neither
does Sean anymore), it was not our objective to do this.
However, I should mention to you that events like this can be even more productive,
generating even more interest, leveraging publicity and charitable “hooks” and building
an even larger, more responsive list, by following a grander scale health and fitness
seminar marketing model called GOLD RUSH™.
We have perfected the GOLD RUSH™ system, and had hundreds of fitness
professionals run their own GOLD RUSH™ events over the past few years with
outstanding success.
Talk about a COMPLETE campaign...well, it just doesn’t get more complete than
GOLD RUSH™. Everything is done for you, all the tools are included and there are
many, many more points of leverage than in this simple Long Lake campaign I’ve just
shown you.
If you’d like to learn more about the GOLD RUSH™ Health and Fitness Seminar
Marketing System, just click this link:
http://www.fitnessmarketingsystems.com/grsales.html
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Page 20
How To Capitalize On The
New Year’s Fitness &
Weight Loss GOLD RUSH!
In A New Town, With NO Contacts
or Existing Relationships, And
Practically NO Money For
Marketing…
“I used the Gold Rush strategy and campaign
to launch my new personal training studio in a
new town, without any contacts or
relationships and landed local radio and
newspaper publicity (which led to a monthly
column I now write) four great strategic
alliances, got 154 local people to register, 94
attended my event, I converted 22 into paying
clients and did $80,443 my very first month in business.
I’m off to a pretty amazing start and my wife and I are really
excited. I struggled a couple years ago with the first studio I
opened, did a lot of things wrong. Just goes to show you what
a difference really great marketing and publicity makes.”
Ed Downes, Owner, Renu Body Sutton, Massachusetts
“This Sutton, MA Fitness Business Owner Got 94 Pre-Qualified Local
Residents To Pack Into A Ballroom Eager To Hear Him Talk About How
They Can Re-Claim Their Bodies, Lose Weight And Get Fit...And When It
Was All Said And Done…He’d Landed 22 New Personal Training Clients
Immediately (With More Trickling In Every Day Thereafter)
Worth $80,443 In Revenue For His Brand New Studio”
Results like this, from Ed Downes of Sutton, Massachusetts, are not
difficult at all when you have the GOLD RUSH™ marketing system for
capitalizing on the New Year’s opportunity. And on the upcoming GOLD
RUSH™ webinar, we are going to teach you the strategy and show you
the easy-to-follow multi-media marketing campaign responsible for
“PACKING THE HOUSE” with 75, 90, 100 (or more) local prospects in
YOUR town...eager to buy YOUR services. And we’re going to teach
you everything, and show you everything absolutely…FREE!
You already know that weight loss/fitness is the #1 New Year’s
Resolution for over 70% of the population. You already know there is
NO other time of the year when more sales can be made faster, when
more money can be made easier than in January.
You already know that. So the only question is…
What Are YOU Going To Do To Capitalize On This Unique,
One-of-a-Kind New Year’s Gold Rush Opportunity???
Look, every fitness and weight loss company in your area (and ALL
the national corporations) will be advertising their services and products
like crazy in January. You already know that, too. So it’s absolutely
VITAL that you do something DIFFERENT if you want to be heard
through all the marketing NOISE. A lame discount or 2-for-1 special or
free trial offer…AIN’T GONNA CUT IT!
That’s what everyone else will be doing - and you don’t have the deep
pockets to
compete with those shrill, overused and tired marketing tactics. To really
be different, to really attract the BEST prospects (and get them to invest
in your services)…
You Must Be POSITIONED As The Best...As Different...As Unique!
And that’s precisely what GOLD RUSH™ does for you. It flat out
works, as you can see from Ed’s results, and the dozens of other case
studies at:
http://www.fitnessmarketingsystems.com/grsales.html
“The Gold Rush event forced me to overcome my
fear of public speaking and led to a bunch of new
speaking opportunities. Now I’m sort of on a corporate ‘speaking tour’ - and my fitness business
has never been stronger or more profitable. Now
I pretty much dominate my local market. Anybody
can do Gold Rush and get the publicity and
attention I got. It’s not hard, you just have to be willing to passionately
share what you know. Besides the publicity, new clients, new opportunities and new profits from Gold Rush, I guess what I’m most proud of
is that I was able to give back to my community and help a deserving
Charity.” Chris Hill, Owner, Personally Fit, Longview, Texas
“I’ve done Gold Rush twice. The first one
was smaller (just 38 attendees), but it
brought in $10,300 in recurring monthly
(EFT) revenue. The second one was
larger and brought in $121,000 in
recurring revenue. I also landed
Business Person of the Year in Oceanside
(awarded by the Chamber of Commerce) and lots of other
publicity opportunities.” Coach R.B. Berry, Dare To Be
Fit, Oceanside, CA
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