E-marketing Strategies

Thanks to the variety of sources of information on-line for this presentation.

Special thanks to:• Casey Conrad at Smart Club Marketing in the USA - www.SmartClubMarketing.com

Big Picture Goals of Business

Generate more prospects.

At the same time lower the customer acquisition cost.

And make more sales by: Improving sales skills and/or Lowering the barrier to entry

They don’t see themselves as “fit enough” to join a gym or start personal training.

They’re afraid to make fools of themselves.

They don’t see gym operators or personal trainers as professionals.

We simply make it too difficult!

Anything that costs money has a barrier to entry. Customers must weigh out the pain vs. pleasure. Examples of non-club products and levels of barriers to

entry: Car sales Cell phone plans

In the health club we create levels of barriers too: Enrollment fees. Contract lengths. PT package/prices once a member.

There are pro’s and con’s of barriers. Can you afford barriers in a tough economy?

pre-contemplation

contemplation

preparation

Prochaska, 1982

Pre-Contemplation

This is the stage where an individual doesn’t even know or believe they need/should change their behaviour. “Smoking isn’t bad for you.” “Exercise doesn’t help you.”

Contemplation

Contemplation is where a person begins to become aware of the need to change.

The key word to listen for in contemplation is “Should.”

An individual could stay in contemplation for any length of time.

Preparation

Preparation is the stage where the individual goes from feeling they “should” change to they “are going to” change.

There are two very different ends of the spectrum in preparation, resulting in various lengths of time before moving onto the next stage.

Action

This is the stage we love!

This is where the person actually begins the process of changing. They throw out the pack of cigarettes. They come in and buy a membership.

Once someone hits action, they immediately move into the next stage.

Maintenance

Maintenance is the stage where the person has to consciously think about and work towards maintaining their new behavior. This is when they begin to substitute other

behaviours for the old ones.

Someone might never leave maintenance. This stage is retention.

Termination

Termination is that stage of change where the person has totally integrated the change. The smoker is no longer tempted The individual can’t think of life without exercising.

Often a “new to termination” person can become obnoxious.

“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got!”

Henry Ford

Pre-contemplation

Contemplation

Preparation

Action

Maintenance

Termination

External MarketingInternal MarketingGuerrilla MarketingCommunity OutreachCorporate Outreach

To get more leads . . . Do something(s) different

Try using a “two-offer” ad: The primary offer is to buy. The secondary offer is to respond in some way.

Market to individuals in contemplation and early preparation in a way that does not ask them to come buy a membership.

This means getting individuals to opt-in for free information and then building a relationship with them.

Anything you “add” to your website that generates prospects, NOT just visitors!

Guest pass sign up. eBook (we’ll discuss details later). Streaming audio or video presentations. Lectures, fitness instruction, health tips, etc.

Try using e-marketing strategies

We can use e-marketing and follow a 3-step process:

C = Capture names (build the list!).

B = Build trust with the prospect.

A = Make small action offers.

How?eBooks, reports, white papers These focus on the most common fitness issues

and chronic conditions of your target market: Weight loss Stress reduction Diabetes Low back pain

After the customer has discovered your offer for the free eBook, they go to the listed web page.

Each of your locations (or clusters) will have their own unique URL.

This ensures the proper tracking and follow up of all leads.

After they receive the free eBook the prospect will now receive tips in an auto responder sequence.

You can decide if the tips will go out every 7, 10 or 14 days.

Of course, the prospect can opt-out at any time but because they are not getting a “hard sell” most want to continue getting the information.

After trust has been built, every 4th tip there will be a “soft action offer” at the bottom. These marketing “breadcrumbs” lead this prospect into the facility without being pushy.

In essence an e-marketing system is like having a 24 hour a day salesperson who constantly generates leads and follows up with them.

Perhaps the best part about the e-marketing system is that once it is set up it runs automatically without any human element!

The ONLY thing your club has to do is promote any unique URLs and process incoming phone calls and tours as they respond to action offers.

Internal e-strategies

Auto responders to missed guests.

eNews offers to missed guests and old members.

Signature pages on everyone’s e-mail driving back to squeeze pages.

E-referral generator.

Tips for a contact management system

Ease of use: Must integrate easily into your existing website regardless of the design

program being used. Must be able to generate “squeeze page forms” easily.

Strong auto responders: Must be able to create product specific and interest specific auto

responders. Must have unlimited messages in any sequence. Must be able to send both text and html messages. Must be able to customise the mail merge with data base. Must be able to deliver digital products—even when they are free. Must have a transfer feature that opts-out then opts in to new auto

responders. Must have unlimited broadcasting capabilities.

Members

“Free” captures the name. Auto responders deliver content to build the trust of

the prospect. Multi-level ($) action offers are used to engage the

prospect into buying “something” from the club. Think about the “levels.” The goal is to determine products or services

throughout the levels. Consider “Program” that can be marketed

traditionally as well as through eMarketing.

Free

$1 - $10

$10 - $49

$50 - $199

Members

Do not let “information overload” throw you into paralysis!

Take it step by step. Get help:

www.SmartClubMarketing.com CaseysHealthClubTraining@yahoo.com