Does Your Marketing Strategy Meet the Criteria?

With such a huge number of marketing tactics available to personal trainers, it can be hard to decipher which ones are worthwhile. You need to be able to discern which ones are worth your time. Knowing which tactics work beforehand gives you a huge advantage. Today we’ll be talking about some criteria to judge each tactic by to see if it’s worth using. The major criteria to use when comparing personal training marketing tactics are:

1.)   Impact

2.)   Return

3.)   Cost

4.)   Barriers

Impact is whether your target audience will be exposed to or impacted by your marketing efforts or not. And how well your target audience is exposed to it. You want to choose very high-impact tactics for your target market so more people are exposed to your services. Obviously you want exposure to your intended audience. If some tactic won’t allow you to do that in a productive manner, you may want to rethink using it.

Return is how long it will take you to see new leads with this type of marketing tactic. A good rule of thumb is “the shorter the better”. Selecting rapid return strategies will give you more people to reach out to and creates for you more potential clients for the present. Not just the hope of potentials for the future. Plus, it keeps you and your services fresh in these potentials’ minds. Take advantage of these tactics and follow up quickly.

Cost is an assessment of the full cost of implementing the certain tactic. This includes all the time along with all the money you invest. You want low cost if you can get it. If a marketing activity takes you more time and money then what you will get returned from the effort, it is not worth doing. Make sure to make some calculations beforehand to get a better idea of how much you will spend versus how much it could make you. There are obvious risks involved here, but risks are needed.

Barriers are any circumstances or beliefs that will prevent the entire series of marketing activities relating to this tactic from being executed. There are two kinds of barriers. Personal and Execution. Personal barriers are barriers created by your skills, abilities or mind set. Execution barriers are barriers created by your circumstances such as financial resources or time availability. You want to choose marketing strategies with minimal barriers.

Each of the above criteria needs to be taken into consideration when looking at how you’re marketing your services. Each is just as vital as the previous. Weigh out your options and decide which will be best for you. There never will be a perfect marketing strategy. Nothing will line up with all four of these criteria. So, ultimately it comes down to your discernment. It is always a good idea for you to discuss your options with close friends who have your best in mind. But, like I said before, risk is inevitable and needs to be embraced.

About

Ryan Farrell started working with the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFPT) in 2012. As NFPT's Marketing Coordinator, Ryan is responsible for aiding company reputation by building brand awareness and establishing strong working relationships among NFPT, its affiliates and industry partners.