1. Local Clubs – Free. Public speaking is credibility on steroids, and you’ll average 1-2 new clients per talk, guaranteed. Every community newspaper or community magazine has a local calendar of events that lists meeting places and topics for local clubs. Check it out, then contact the club president or listed representative and offer to speak at their next meeting. Here are some ideas:
Alcoholics Anonymous: How Fitness Can Be a Positive Addiction
Breastfeeding Mothers: What Type of Foods You Can Eat to Have a Smarter Baby
Cycling Club: 5 Moves For Stronger Quads
2. Guest Blogging – Free. Don’t have the time to start your own blog? Do you read blogs of other fitness pros or nutrition experts? Contact the blog owner and offer to submit to them a guest post every week or every month. It can actually be difficult to come up with blog topics, and they’ll be grateful for the assistance, especially if you’ve been reading their site for awhile and know the type of content that they’re looking for. Caution: Always Be Original. This means that if you write a blog post, on, say preparing for a triathlon, it shouldn’t be: “How To Taper For a Race”, but would instead be: “How To Choose a Restaurant in a Foreign City for Your Pre-Triathlon Meal”.
3. Podcast Appearances – Free. Similar to the aforementioned guest blogging tip, you can also contact podcasts hosts for free syndicated audio programs that you listen to and offer your expertise for an upcoming show. Do you listen to a fitness show? Then write the podcast owner and tell them that you’d love to present on some new tactics you’ve been using to help your clients shed fat. Be very upfront that you’re not trying to upsell a product or upsell yourself, but that you just have some exciting information that you want to share with the rest of the world. Important: you’ll be much more successful with this tactic if you’ve either contacted the podcast in the past to ask questions, or been a frequent commenter on the podcast’s website blog.
4. Business Cards – 500 for fifty dollars. I actually print my business cards double sided at a local office supply store. On the front side, I have my contact information, certification and services. But on the backside, I have listed all the various nutrition or fitness contacts with which I have an affiliate relationship, and list all the discount codes for those products. This means that every time you give out your business card, and someone flips it around and orders off a website you have listed on the back, you might make an extra 2 or 3 bucks. Considering you spend ten cents on the card, this is a slammin’ good deal.
5. Press Releases – Free. In my book, Train For Top Dollar, I have templates for press releases and tons of tips on how to contact and work with your local media. Here’s a tip straight from those pages: I keep a Word document on my computer with the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for every local newspaper, radio station or magazine syndication. When I have an announcement or local event, I send out an e-mail blast. Don’t include attachments, because you’ll likely get filtered as spam. But do customize each e-mail with the first name of the editor or DJ and do ask them t0 e-mail you back if they have any questions about your announcement. Don’t worry if you get turned down the first few times – you’ll eventually get your big break.
6. Do Something Unique – Free. What do your clients get that your competitor’s clients don’t? Unlimited phone and e-mail access? Nutritional support? Access to a network of professionals like special deals on local massage therapists or spas? Access to special computer programs that let them track their fitness and stay in touch with you more completely? Grocery shopping lists? Free bottled water with each workout? Whatever it may be, include it with your e-mails, radio ads, direct mail ads, press releases or public speaking announcements. Stand out!
7. T-Shirts – 25 for a hundred bucks: Here in my city, I can have white t-shirts with black lettering printed for $4.40, and I only have to order twenty five at a time. That’s it, and that’s not with some special discount. Just shop around and don’t listen to what anybody tells you about how they had to pay $10 per t-shirt. For another dollar-fifty or so, you’ll be able to print white lettering on black t-shirts, which shows up much better when your clients are walking around with your t-shirt on at their gym. These t-shirts should be given to all your clients for free. Here are my top sayings for my shirts:
“Ask Me Why My Personal Trainer Told Me to Eat Fat”
“Ask Me Why My Personal Trainer Told Me to Sleep In”
“Does Your Personal Trainer Tell You to Eat More Chocolate?”
The whole idea is that somebody at the gym see the t-shirt and asks/answers the question, or sees the t-shirt and goes to the website URL that you have listed underneath the smart phrase. Do you like to create other things, like stickers or mugs? I also create cool customizable products on Zazzle. Just google it.
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Excellent post. I’ve also had good luck with press releases, the media is hungry for good, local stories these days. Send out a press release on anything you do that is “newsworthy” and start promoting your business. I like the T-Shirt idea, I’ll have to shop around…