Why Most Fitness Professional Advertising Fails

By Eric Ruth

The Pros And Cons Of Advertising

If you’re around my age, 40, you probably have pretty strong memories of a little band named Pink Floyd.  If you liked their stuff (“Wish You Were Here” is one of my all-time favorite songs), you probably know that Roger Waters is the mad genius who penned most of their memorable lyrics.

Roger left the band at the pinnacle of their success (really dumb) and did a couple solo albums.  One of which was called The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking.

I’m sorta knocking off that title for this chapter.

To advertise, or not to advertise – that is the question.

Oh boy, now I’m knocking off the bard.

From Pink Floyd to Shakespeare – I don’t discriminate.

So, what are the pros and cons of advertising – and should you do it?

Let’s investigate.

First, let me define what I mean by “advertising.”

When I use the term “advertising,” for our purposes, I’m referring only to paid space advertising in publications like your local weekly newspaper, val-pak or money mailer type coupons, or any other non-targeted publication.  Essentially, any advertising you do in general circulation advertising vehicles.

Advertising has a much broader scope, but just keep in mind that I’m talking only about this specific type of general advertising.

This is just one of many of the marketing systems Sean and I teach, and some of our Net Profit Explosion members continue to utilize this type of advertising system very successfully, whereas some have reported a lack of quality results.

So why does advertising in general circulation vehicles work for some and not for others?

Here are the three reasons why advertising fails:

1. Wrong choice of media.
2. Poorly written ad.
3. Lack of consistent, personalized follow up.

Wrong Choice of Media

Media: any “medium” (newspaper, val-pak, magazine, radio, tv, etc.) which is used as your advertising vehicle.

Keep in mind that you are ALWAYS better served if you can advertise in a targeted publication instead of a general one.

In my area, just outside of Washington, D.C., we have a couple news-magazines which are being successfully utilized by lots of studios, clubs, gyms, yoga instructors, trainers, etc.  These are certainly more targeted than your regular daily or weekly newspapers.

Washington Parent magazine.
D.C. Family magazine.
Metro Sports magazine.

These are all monthly publications in a magazine format which are delivered in bulk to local retailers whose customers pick them up on their way out the door.  You know the kind.

FYI: There’s a HUGE opportunity here for a savvy marketer to fill a need in most areas by publishing a Health and Fitness related newspaper as a way of obtaining free advertising for him/herself, and generating revenue from advertising sales to others.

I know these targeted publications are working for these fitness advertisers because I see their ads repeatedly.  Only a complete fool who’s looking for the quick path to bankruptcy runs losing ads over and over.

Become an expert on the media in your area.  Find all the publications which are available to you.  You’ll be surprised by the number of possibilities you may not already know about.  Check out the health food stores, gyms (that’s where I get copies of all the above mentioned news magazines), grocery stores, and tons of other locations.  Go to your library and ask for help.  If you look, you will find.  Most people don’t look.  They just choose the biggest circulation newspaper they can afford, and plop down cash for their ad.  BIG MISTAKE.

General circulation newspapers can work.  But my suggestion is that you pick a weekly newspaper over a daily (longer shelf-life, are more thoroughly read, are generally “town-oriented” presenting more local news and less national news, are generally cheaper, are shorter – thereby your ad doesn’t drown in a sea of ads – and the whole paper is looked at by most readers instead of just a particular section – sports, metro, front page – in a larger daily pub.) Wow! That was a major run-on sentence and I don’t feel like editing, so I hope you understand what I just said.

Also, val-pak and money-mailer type coupons can work.  Most of these sell coupons in 10,000 home chunks (depending on size of your town).  And most charge about 5 cents a house (they might ask for more up front, but EVERYTHING is negotiable).  Here’s a little tip. If you want to test this type of advertising, many of these coupon companies will allow you to do a test to only 5000 homes.  Just keep in mind that you MUST verify the zip codes and request HIGH-END homes.  You’ll be wasting your money if your ad is delivered to apartments or blue collar neighborhoods.

Also, ALWAYS let the sales rep know (regardless of what type of media you are advertising in) that you are running a DIRECT RESPONSE ad, you quantify everything so you know if the ad is profitable or not, and you can only afford to pay X dollars (X being at least 15% below the rate card – never pay full rate card – everything is negotiable!)  (In a future product I’m working on right now – soon to be released in the spring of 2008, I’ll show you a FOOL-PROOF way to ALWAYS get at least a 15% discount on ALL the space advertising you run.)

Poorly Written Ad

Of course, you’ve got to run a compelling ad.  I’ll cover the most important element right now.

YOUR HEADLINE IS THE WHOLE BALLGAME!

Sorry to yell, but I want that to really sink in.

A good friend of mine who is a baseball fanatic says that pitching is 90% of the game. I argue that it can’t be more than 50% because even if you pitch a perfect game, your team has to put a run on the board to win.  (Funny thing, but I just saw the fallacy in my argument – a pitcher could actually walk four guys in a row, thereby losing the game with pitching. Our minds are amazing. This little revelation just reinforces my belief that none of us THINK enough. If we did the mental “labor” of thinking things through more completely, we’d all be better off. Our brains are the most powerful analytical tools ever, and we all underutilize them.)

In advertising, your headline is at least 90% of the game.

Your headline is the “ad for your ad.”  If the headline doesn’t grab attention, your ad won’t get read.

Your headline should ideally do three things:

1. Identify your prospect
2. Offer a big, compelling benefit
3. Arouse curiosity

Does this headline meet the three criteria?

You bet.

Will the rest of the ad get read?

You’re darn right.

By whom?

New mothers, expecting mothers, new fathers, expecting fathers (they want their wife back the way she was, right?), new and expecting grandparents and friends of new or expecting moms might clip it for her.

IT WILL GET READ BY YOUR TARGET PROSPECTS.

Of course, there are other important elements to the ad to ensure it gets ACTED UPON.

But the single most important element is your headline.  Practice writing great headlines.

Lack of Consistent, Personalized Follow Up

The main problem that occurs with most Fitness Professionals utilizing this strategy for lead generation is not a poorly written ad which generates little response, but rather an inability to close the leads created by the ad.

What happens AFTER the ad has been placed is critically important.  The difference between success and failure is largely determined by the way the leads generated by the ad are handled by the marketer.

There are four critical elements to converting leads:

1. Contact information – you will always get better results if you can capture, or obtain, phone numbers as well as mailing addresses and email.  That’s why you want a marketing system which has caller ID – or you need some other way of obtaining phone numbers.

2. Immediate response – you must get to the prospect while they are in “heat.” If you are following my system and offer “special reports,” you have to get them into the mail or email WITHIN 24 HOURS of receiving the request.  The simplest solution is making the report available for immediate download off you web site – but be sure the prospect is required to complete a form providing you with her contact information.

3. Personal contact – it’s not enough just to mail out your report and hope for a response, you have to be proactive and initiate the personal contact by way of telephone calls.  If you’re mailing the report, the first call should be placed prior to mailing the report – simply disguised as an address verification call where you introduce yourself as the author, verify the correct mailing address, and possibly ask a couple questions to build rapport.  The second call should be placed within one week of mailing the report to offer your consultation, seminar, special introductory package, or whatever you decide you want to offer.  This call should be a “pitch” but it should also be an opportunity to build further rapport by asking more questions with the goal of discovering the prospects “hot buttons” – their “pain.”  I’m always amazed when someone tells me they “don’t like making these calls.”  I don’t like doing the dishes, but I do them.  C’mon.  You’re in business.  There will always be things you have to do that are less pleasant – but that doesn’t mean you don’t do them.  You’ve got to improve your telephone and in-person closing skills.  I’m sorry, but if you never develop these skills, then you cannot expect to make top dollar in this, or any other industry.  Being in business is about closing sales. Nothing happens until something is sold!  Unless you want to be an “employee” all your life – earning a sub-standard income – you’ve got to learn how to be persuasive. I’m not talking “used-car salesman” smarmy, either.  You don’t need ten different closes, thirteen different ways to overcome objections, or any high-pressure tactics.  All you need is to develop your RAPPORT-BUILDING skills.  And that’s primarily done by learning how to ask GOOD QUESTIONS.  Then you need a PRE-DEFINED “selling path” down which you lead the prospect. And when I say “selling” I’m not just talking about the actual taking of their money.  There are numerous other “selling” situations which never involve an exchange of cash. But that’s a whole other topic.

 

4. Consistent follow up – relentless pursuit works!  You must follow up with a timed sequence of mailings on a consistent basis, which do two things: 1. demonstrate your expertise, and 2. make irresistible offers.

Now that I’ve explained what goes into a basic advertising system, let me tell you about the pros and cons of this type of general advertising.

PROS

1. You can bring in a large number of leads rapidly. I have members generating 10-30 leads each time they run small space ads.

2. Reasonably inexpensive way to test your marketing. “Inexpensive” is a relative term – I’m aware of that – but it’s hard to find a better way to possibly generate 2-5 new clients for $250 or less.

3. Once you’ve got an ad that pulls PREDISPOSED and PREQUALIFIED leads on a consistent basis, and you are able to convert enough of them to be profitable (you may only need to convert one new client to be profitable) – then you have a MONEY MACHINE which you can turn on any time you need it.  This is the beauty of direct response.  Because everything is QUANTIFIABLE, you know the FIRST TIME you test an ad if it’s profitable or not.  If it’s profitable, you can run it sometimes for years without having to change it – and you get a consistent, predictable, reliable source of new business.

CONS

1. In the beginning, it can resemble gambling.  Don’t use your rent money to run an untested ad. You could “hit it” right out of the gate, but just don’t count on that. Good marketing systems generally require some tweaking.

2. The quality of leads may not be good.  The more targeted your publication, and the better you match your message to your market, the higher quality leads you will get.  But the only way to know is to TEST.  And testing costs money.  If you are going to use general publications, you want to do everything you can to QUALIFY your leads in your ad and in every other step of the system.

You have to have a TESTING MENTALITY.  This isn’t really a “con”, but I’m listing it here because, unfortunately, most people just don’t “get” this concept.  We all want stuff to just work for us with minimal tinkering and hassles.  That’s human nature. But if you think about it – almost nothing ever happens that way.  You can’t just pick up a golf club and drive a ball 250 yards straight down the fairway your first time on the links. It takes practice. Even when you have a system like mine where 99% of the work is done for you – you still have to put your marketing dollars on the line and TEST.  Some of my members have had immediate success, but some have not.  There are many variables which must be considered.  You have to do a little investigation and preparation BEFORE you test, and then you have to evaluate response and tweak your system based on that response AFTER you test.  But the bottom line is you WILL have to test.  But what’s the upside to this testing?  It may cost you a little bit of cash to get your system working consistently and reliably – but once it’s working – WHOOHOOO!!! – you have your hand on the control of a “money spigot.”  You can control the “flow” of new clients into your business and can rocket your income skyward.  I’d say that’s a pretty good reason to test

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