Whether you run a personal training company or you plan fitness holidays, one thing you need to do is make sure your business stands out from the crowd. This can be difficult in the current day and age, as there are so many fitness companies competing for the same space. This is why you need to make a dedicated effort to grow your fitness brand and reach new, relevant leads. But how can you do this? Read on to discover plenty of different ideas and suggestions that can help your business to excel. You may want to start off with a few suggestions and then implement more as time goes on. Either way, these ideas should certainly help you to grow your fitness brand in a sustainable and highly successful manner.
Social media is an excellent tool for businesses today, as it enables you to get closer with your customers than ever before. You can engage with them and build a loyal following. However, to do this, you need to use social media in the correct manner. So many businesses go wrong with social media as they use it as a platform to simply post an endless string of promotional messages. If you do this, no one is going to want to follow you. Social media is not a space for this direct form of advertising. Rather, it is about connecting with customers based on shared interests and topics, as well as creating exciting content that your followers are going to be likely to share. You also need to make sure you have a consistent voice on social media, which is why it makes sense to put one person in charge of your social media accounts.
Another idea that you can use to grow your fitness brand is to make the most of professional, branded clothing. From branded hoodies to T-shirts, getting your employees to wear such clothing can make a big difference. This is because it creates a tidy and consistent brand image, which people will instantly recognise. You also make sure that everyone dresses appropriately and that they represent your business in the best possible way. When it comes to branding, it is all about creating that image that people instantly recognise; they don’t need to think twice, they know it is your company. Merchandise is another piece of the puzzle when it comes to this; reinforcing your brand identity and ensuring that your employees advertise you no matter where they go or what they are doing.
Attend relevant events and exhibitions
Aside from the points that we have mentioned so far, another good idea is to make your presence felt at relevant fitness events and exhibitions. This is a great way to network with other professionals in the industry and to get the word out about your business. Over the past 12 months or so, a lot of these events were cancelled, but now they are starting to open up again. Make the most of this. Do some searching online to find out whether there are any events that appeal to you. In order to grow your brand, you need to get it in front of the right people, and this is exactly what exhibitions give you the ability to do.
Respond to reviews you receive (including the negative ones)
There is nothing worse than receiving a negative review about your business. You feel your heart sink! However, rather than getting down about this, you should use it as an opportunity. Firstly, look at the comment and assess whether or not there is anything you can do to improve your business so that you do not get the same result again. You should then reach out to the customer and attempt to rectify the problem. There are a number of benefits associated with doing so. Firstly, you could end up turning an unsatisfied customer into a loyal one. Moreover, even if the customer is not receptive, it shows that you have gone out of your way to try and make them satisfied. Other possible customers will see this and they will know that you care about your clients and that you want them to have a great experience with your brand. If that was not enough, everything you post online gives you another chance to get your keywords out there and increase the online content relating to your business, which can only ever be a good thing when it comes to online exposure.
Write blog posts
Another suggestion that we have for you is to add a blog to your website if you have not already. Blogs are highly beneficial for a number of different reasons. By adding blog posts, you are showing yourself as an authority in the industry; a company that people can trust. Not only this, but you get more opportunities to incorporate your keywords onto your website in a natural manner, which will work wonders in terms of SEO. the benefits do not end there either, as creating new content and sharing it on the likes of social media can help to increase your visibility and brand on there as well! Of course, to achieve these benefits, you need to make sure you post on a consistent basis, for example, every Friday. You also need to make sure that your blog posts are original, interesting, and informative. We must stress that creating blog posts for your own website is only one piece of the puzzle. You should also consider guest blogging as well, which involves creating content for other sites that include a backlink back to your own website. This is one of the most powerful approaches when it comes to building industry authority. However, you do need to make sure that the website is relevant to the service you provide and that it has a good domain ranking. So, for example, posting content on a blog about nutrition would make sense, yet posting a blog on a mechanic’s website would only end up hurting your rating because there is not any relevance.
Create instructional and promotional videos
The written word is only one form of content you need to use to your advantage if you want to grow your brand. Aside from this, it is highly advisable to start taking videos and upload them to YouTube and other social media channels you utilise. Workout videos are incredibly popular, as are videos that show people how to adopt the correct form when they are exercising. A lot of people find videos much easier to watch than reading content. Moreover, with videos, you are putting a face to your brand’s name, which can help to create a feeling of trust and make people feel more confident about using your fitness brand.
Your current customer base is your biggest asset, and this is something that you can leverage with a referral system. For those who are unaware, this simply means that you will provide a customer with a reward whenever they bring a new customer to you. For example, let’s say you are a private personal trainer. You may want to set up your referral system so that when anyone signs up for at least a month, the friend who recommended the company will get a month free themselves. A referral system like this encourages people to essentially promote and advocate for your business in order to get something in return. You do not have to worry about elaborate marketing campaigns, as your loyal clients will effectively be doing all of the hard work for you.
Competitions present you with an excellent opportunity. When structured carefully, you can get your brand in front of a lot of people. All you need to do is give away something exciting, such as a month’s free personal training subscription or a pair of new running trainers. Make sure that the terms of the conditions require people to follow, like, and share your social media post in order to enter. Recently, we have also seen a trend that encourages people to tag a certain number of people in the comments in order to get extra entries. With competitions like this, you are essentially getting other people to market your brand for you, as they will share the post with others. Plus, there is always the chance that anyone who does not win will end up going and buying the item for themselves.
So, there you have it: some of the different methods that you can use to grow your fitness brand. We hope that the information that we have provided will help you to grow your fitness brand effectively. It is important to recognise that branding is not purely a one-time thing. It is something that you will need to work on again and again to ensure you keep taking those big strides forward.