Alexa Zimmerman is an Account Manager at Loud Rumor and one of the gyms she works with, Mark Fisher Fitness in New York, gets FREE Marketing. Here’s how…
First, here are some impressive stats Mark Fisher’s been able to rack up working with Alexa:
- 86 Members signed in a single month (during lockdown)
- $140K+ in Monthly Recurring Revenue
…that’s just the beginning. There are 4 no B.S. reasons Mark and other top gyms get their Marketing for FREE.
#1: Spend More (Might Seem Weird When Talking About FREE Marketing, But Keep Reading)
OK, I know that sounds like the opposite of “free” Marketing, but here’s how it works…
In order for your Marketing budget to increase your top-line numbers, it needs to not only translate into leads, but large-scale brand awareness.
For example, Mark Fisher is everywhere in New York, but doesn’t over-saturate the market. He’s on Google Display Ads, Facebook, Waze, and more…
Instead of putting $20 a day towards advertising, he’s closer to $100 per day. Here’s why:
$20 a day will take a lot longer to get in front of potential members and turn a profit. A LOT longer.
Break Even Faster So The Rest Is Profit
When gyms spend $100 or more per day, they generate more leads, faster. When that happens, they’re able to hit their “break even” number faster too. Everything after “break even” is profit.
So, let’s say a gym spends $3,000 a month. This includes an Agency fee, which is important. As you’ll see in this episode, having a knowledgeable, successful Account Manager like Alexa on your side will get you results faster.
Now, let’s say every member is worth $150 a month. That’s what they pay you.
So, if you’re spending $3K on Advertising, you need 20 clients to break even. Totally doable.
What’s really cool is, this doesn’t even include your brand awareness reach. Just because someone hasn’t become a lead… YET… doesn’t mean they’re not interested. That person has just been exposed to your business. In other words, if you sign 20 members, then you just got in front of that person and hundreds of others for free.
On top of that, once you sign 20 members, all of your Marketing is free. As soon as you break even on your $3K budget, everything after that is profit!
“There’s definitely a science to it.” Alexa says. “We may not always get those results in the first 5 days, but that doesn’t mean, through testing, analyzing metrics, that we can get there quickly and hit it pretty consistently.”
Advertising is a price, not a cost.
The only time Advertising is a “cost” is when you don’t do it. Obscurity is very expensive for a business. Advertising is simply a price that can lead to a profit.
#2: Want FREE Marketing? Offer FREE Things!
“Free” works!
It doesn’t matter if you’re offering a challenge, a week, a workout, or yes, a personal training session, FREE absolutely works!
FREE helps you eliminate skepticism and crush several objections.
A lot of people believe it devalues their brand but remember, you’re a local gym connecting with local prospects… it’s impossible to devalue a brand they haven’t heard of yet.
One of Mark Fisher’s high-end programs includes personal training. It’s a big ticket item and yet, he’s excited to offer a session completely FREE in his Advertising.
“I have other gym owners I work with who offer personal training, and they’re not selling as many personal training options as Mark.” Alexa says. “And I know it’s because he offers a free session… the data indicate it!”
If you want FREE Marketing, you have to be able to give away FREE workouts, personal training sessions, weeks, etc.
#3: Marketing Is Extremely Expensive When You’re Not Turning Leads Into Paying Members
First thing’s first, and this is important:
“There’s no such thing as high quality or low quality leads.” Alex says. “And Mark Fisher is a gym owner who gets that! The reason he’s doing so well is he and his team close their leads. They have a sales process in place.”
Here’s how it typically goes:
- Lead opts into a free offer…
- His team calls them right away…
- Gets them to book an appointment…
- Blows them away in that first appointment, and…
- Signs them up for a membership.
It’s not a 100% close rate, but it’s a lot higher than if he weren’t marketing and didn’t have a sales process like this in place.
So when you get a lead who doesn’t convert and you think, “These leads just aren’t interested…” I want you to change your mindset to this:
- If they weren’t interested, they wouldn’t have filled out the form…
- So, I know they’re interested, what is it about my sales process that lost them?
One of the things Mark Fisher says when a lead doesn’t convert: “Well, we have their phone number and email address, so they’ll fall in love with us eventually.”
That’s the right mindset!
Quick Sales Tip:
One of the biggest reasons fitness studio sales are lost is because the studio focuses on the studio or its workouts… not on the lead sitting right in front of them.
Each lead has a personal WHY for showing interest in your gym. They want to lose weight, they want to fit into a Wedding dress, they want to be more active with their kids or grandkids, etc.
You need to uncover that WHY from them and help them see how your gym can get them there. Make it visual and emotional for them.
Doing this should be built into the Sales Script you and your team use with every lead.
#4: Double How Fast You Get To FREE Marketing With Gym Referrals
Referrals are the absolute fastest way to grow your gym, lower your acquisition costs, and ultimately enjoy FREE Marketing.
Gym owners who put a Referrals strategy in place capitalize on what we call “infinite return.” I’ll provide the basic break down below, but I did a 100% FREE training on it HERE!
Let’s say it costs you $300 to acquire (Cost Per Acquisition) a new member through Marketing.
If you get 3 Referrals from that new member at the point of sale and only sign 1 of them, well you technically just signed 2 members off of a $300 CPA.
So, each member cost you $150 to acquire. But it doesn’t stop there. You just signed a new referral member, right? Well let’s say you get 3 referrals from that person too, and only sign 1 again.
You now have 3 new members from your original $300 CPA. So each member only cost you $100 to acquire.
This process dramatically lowers your cost per acquisition and rapidly increases your overall profit!
Every time you sign a new member, you should get at least 3-5 referrals from them… even if that new member was a referral from a referral from a referral.
See how that works? And we have a proven script to help you do this!
BONUS: 4 Additional Marketing Tips For Gym Owners
Here are 4 additional Marketing tips to help you dial-in your marketing efforts and eventually get to a point where your Marketing is paying YOU (not the other way around).
Tip #1: Know Your Buyer Persona
Who’s your perfect member?
You know, the member who absolutely loves your gym. The one who brings in referrals, wears your apparel everywhere, brags about you, and spends money each month ON TOP OF their monthly membership dues.
Do you already have someone, maybe a few people in mind?
Great! Turn them into “your perfect member” and attach a name to them. Let’s call this member Lisa, OK?
Every time you write an Ad, a Landing Page, an Email, a Promotion, whatever it is, write it as though you’re writing it specifically for Lisa.
This way, people just like Lisa will get excited by it!
Tip #2: Know Advertising Inside and Out
This doesn’t mean you have to run campaigns or optimize Ads. What this means is that you understand the process and, more importantly, how to connect with your buyer persona.
Every great Entrepreneur understands Marketing. From Henry Ford to Richard Branson, they all know the game and how to play it at a high level.
Do you think Jeff Bezos has ever set up a Facebook Ad Campaign? No, of course not. But, he understands Marketing and how to get the most out of it.
Tip #3: Run Brand Awareness Campaigns
A lot of small businesses focus on lead generation campaigns. They measure the success of an Ad by how many leads it brings in, and if it’s not generating leads, it’s no good. Here’s the truth…
It’s tough to get cold audience leads, but warm audience leads come in droves…
Brand Awareness campaigns put helpful content, from you, in front of your target (cold) audience. These are people who’ve never heard of you before, but they see a video from you on the best morning stretch routine, and they remember you.
Then, when they see an Ad from your for a FREE WEEK, they’re much more likely to opt in.
Typically, when you’re running lead generation Ads, you set them up as “cost per click.” That way, you only pay when someone clicks the Ad and goes to your Landing Page.
For Brand Awareness, you want “cost per engagement.” These Ads are not designed for leads, they’re designed to get people to watch, learn, like, and comment. Plus, you can use these engagements to create a retargeting audience.
Tip #4: Turn “Organic” Posts Into “Ads”
Speaking of engagement, it’s a good rule of thumb to first post your Ad organically on your page. Whether it’s a lead generation Ad or a brand awareness Ad, you want to put it in front people who already follow your page.
That way, you can build up some social engagement and proof before you put money behind it. Why does this matter?
People are much more likely to engage with and click on an Ad that already has social engagement. It tells them that this is something people think is important or worthy of checking out.
The best way to do this on Facebook is post it on your page, then grab the “Post ID,” and plug the Post ID into the Ad you’re creating in Ads Manager.
“One of the big things I’ve noticed about Mark Fisher and some of the other gym owners I work with,” Alexa says, “is that the ones who get one-on-one coaching do 10X better.”
What she’s noticing happens to be statistically true!
The gym owners Loud Rumor works with who are part of our Loud Rumor Virtual Training (LRVT) TEAM program signed 347% more new members in 2020—during a global pandemic!
