Fitness Boot Camp

Marketing Strategies:

How to Write and Place Simple Ads that Pack Your Fitness BootCamps!

By: Georgette Pann

Table of Contents PG 03: Introduction: Build it and They Will Join?

PG 04: How to Create Ads that Get Results

Know Your (Prospective) Trainee Understand How Your Boot Camp Benefits the Trainee

PG 07: Creating Reader-Oriented Sales Copy

Get Prospects to IMAGINE the Benefits Get Prospects to FEEL Something The Most Important Part of Any Advertisement A Call to Action

PG 11: Sample Advertisements for You to Use

Sample Flyer or Sales Page Sample Press Release Sample Postcard Sample Newspaper Advertisements

PG 20: How to Get Your Ads in Front of People

PG 20: Online Marketing Building an Email List Use Regional Pay Per Click Ads Search Engine Optimization Get Affiliates

PG 24: Offline Marketing

Seek Out Joint Venture Partners Two-Step Offline Advertising Customer Referral Programs Customer Discounts and Customer Loyalty Programs Other Advertising Strategies

PG 30: Guerilla Marketing Strategies

Speaking Engagements Publicity Stunts Holding Boot Camps in Prominent Locations Car Signs Handing Out and Hanging Up Flyers

PG 34: Conclusion

Introduction: Build it and They Will Join? If you did your market research before starting your fitness boot camp business, then you already know that there’s a hungry market eagerly waiting to join your boot camp. But in order for you to enjoy a booming business, two things must happen:

1. You must have the ability to reach your market. That means putting your ads in places where your target market will see them.

2. You must have the ability to speak directly to your market in a way that

touches them. That means your ads must speak their language. In other words, you need to understand your market, understand how to persuade them, and know where to place ads for maximum effectiveness. If you falter on any of these key points, your boot camp business will fail. But don’t worry – once you get done reading this ebook, you’ll know everything you need to know about finding boot camp trainees and creating ads that attract them like crazy. Let’s get started…

How to Create Ads that Get Results Your advertisements are the bridge between your prospects and your business. If your ad speaks to your prospects, they’ll join your boot camp. If not, your boot camp classes – and your bank account – will be alarmingly empty. As such, you can consider your advertisements not only the bridge between you and your prospects, but you can also consider them to be the very lifeblood of your boot camp business. That means if you want to do well, you’ll need to learn how to persuade people in writing. Here’s how… Know Your (Prospective) Trainee Before you can connect with a prospect to persuade them to join your boot camp, the first thing you must do is profile this prospect. You’ll start with demographics – such as gender, income, where they live, how much schooling they’ve had – and so on. Then you’ll move to personality characteristics: what their hopes are, what their fears are, what they want, what motivates them, and so on. But how do you get at these characteristics of a potential trainee? For starters, you should talk to as many potential trainees as possible. Ask them these sorts of questions:

What do you want out of a fitness program?

What are your goals in a fitness class?

What are your overall weight loss and fitness goals?

What motivates you to meet these fitness goals? WHY do you want to meet these goals?

If you’ve taken other fitness classes, why aren’t you doing them any longer?

What other fitness programs or diets have you tried? And why aren’t you still using them?

What’s the hardest part about keeping fit?

What’s the hardest part about losing weight?

What’s the hardest part about eating well?

What’s the easiest/best part about the above three? …and so on.

Another good source of information is to go online and visit forums that are frequented by your target market. Again, you need to talk to them and perhaps survey them to find out their hopes, fears, and desires. Reading the forum archives may also give you a glimpse into what your market is thinking. Finally, you may also consider talking to other business owners and marketers who cater to the same niche. While a stranger might not be willing to share what they know with you, if you have any friends in the market …ask them! Bottom line: your job is to get inside your ideal prospect’s minds to figure out what makes them tick, what motivates them, and so on. Let me give you an example to illustrate why this is so important… Imagine for a moment that you created an advertisement centered around the health benefits of joining your boot camp. You talk about how being in shape can lower one’s blood pressure, reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, help lower their risk of diabetes by trimming extra weight, and so on. Would this ad “speak” to your prospects? Maybe – especially if you’re ads are being put in front of middle age men whose doctors have scared them into leading a healthier lifestyle. But maybe your ads aren’t effective at all… If you’re putting this ad in front of 20-something women, they might not be all that concerned about the health benefits. After all, not very many of them are thinking about heart disease at that age. So what are they thinking about? Perhaps things like:

Slipping back into their favorite pair of “skinny jeans.”

Getting in shape for swimsuit season.

Looking good on their first date with a hot guy.

Looking good when their ex comes back into town.

Being slim for their high school reunion.

Looking drop-dead gorgeous on their wedding day. In other words, you MUST target your ads to speak directly to different groups (niches) within your overall market. As you see in the above example, you simply cannot send out the same ad to twenty-something year old women as you send out to 40-something year old men. It won’t work. You must tailor your ads for different groups.

Note: You may even consider tailoring your boot camps to different groups as well. For example, you can advertise and run a “boot camp for brides” program that promises to whip women into shape before their wedding days. Or you can run a program for older men who are looking to slim down for health reasons and get in shape. Whether you divide the boot camps themselves is up to you. However, you absolutely must create different ads to appeal to different groups within your overall market.

Understand How Your Boot Camp Benefits the Trainee Now that you know your prospective trainee, your next step is to step back and take a good look at your fitness boot camp. How, exactly, does it benefit your trainees? Ideally you should take out a blank piece of paper and write down every feature and benefit you can think of that your boot camp provides to trainees. Some benefits and features may not be important to all trainees – and that’s ok. This is a brainstorm, so write down as many as you can think of. Before you write your list, understand this: features are the facts about your boot camp. What you need to do is write down how each of these features benefits your prospect. Here are a few examples of features …and how they translate into benefits:

One feature of your boot camp is that it starts at 6:00am. How does that benefit the trainee? It means they can easily get the workout completed and still get to their job on time. The outcome: even busy people can join this class.

Another feature might that it’s an all female class. The benefit is that those women who might feel uncomfortable in a mixed class will feel better about your class. The outcome: they’re more likely to stick with this training program.

Yet another feature is that perhaps weights or special equipment is used in your class. The benefit is that trainees burn fat faster. Another benefit is they build muscle, which increases their metabolism. The outcome: they’ll get slim, faster.

Now go ahead and brainstorm all the features and benefits you can think of with regards to your boot camp. What will your boot camp do for trainees? What benefits will they receive? Pull it Together Now you understand what motivates your trainees. You also understand inside and out the benefits your trainee’s receive when they join your boot camp. Now it’s time to start creating ads based on this information…

Creating Reader-Oriented Sales Copy Whenever a prospect reads anything you write – whether it’s a newspaper ad, a postcard, a press release, or something else – he or she is always thinking, “what’s in it for me?” As such, the job of your sales copy is to answer that question. And to do that, you must do this: create benefit-laden, reader-oriented ads. Your marketing messages must always be about your prospect, NOT about your boot camp. Wait a second… did I just say your ads shouldn’t be about your boot camp? Yes I did. Let me explain… Your prospects actually don’t care about you, your business, or even the boot camp class itself. All they care about is what benefits they’ll receive if they join your boot camp. As such, the worst thing you can do is create an ad that’s an ego-driven, “back patting” advertisement. The prospect doesn’t care how great you think your boot camp is. He doesn’t care if you’ve got a really clever name for your business. All he cares about is if he’ll get the benefits he so desperately desires. For example, imagine creating an ad that looked something like this: ------------------- Jack’s Fitness Boot Camp Cardio, weights, and boot camp-style training. One hour a day, three times a week. Classes start at 6:00am…(and so on)

------------------- Do you see the problems with this ad? First off, the headline is about Jack and his boot camp – NOT the prospect. Indeed, most prospects won’t even read past the headline because it doesn’t answer the “what’s in it for me” question. It’s Jack-centered, not reader- centered. A good headline should address the prospect directly by making the promise of providing a big benefit. The body of the ad is the same way. It feels the features of the boot camp, but it doesn’t tell the benefits. What can trainees expect? Will they lose weight? Burn fat? Build muscle? Build endurance? THAT’S what prospects want to know: how will it benefit them? Look at every line of that ad, and you’ll see that every line is about the features of the boot camp, never once sharing a benefit. Don’t make your prospects guess what benefits they’ll receive – tell them explicitly. One way to tell if you’re writing “reader-centered” ads is to look at how many times you use the word “you” and “your” as opposed to how often you’re using the words I, me, mine, ours, etc. If the word “I” (and similar) come up too often, your ad is probably about you and the boot camp, not about the prospect. You should be generously using the word “you” to create reader-oriented copy. Indeed, comb through your ad copy and see if you can transform “I” sentences into “you” sentences. Let me give you an example: ------------------- “I” centered copy: “I will show you the right way to warm up.” Now transform that into a prospect-oriented sentence: “You’ll discover the right away to warm up to avoid pain and injury.” ------------------- Do you see the difference? The second sentence starts with “you’ll discover,” which orients it towards the reader. In addition, this line is better because it tells prospects the benefit of learning the right away to warm up. (Specifically, trainees receive the benefit of avoiding pain and injury.)

Get Prospects to IMAGINE the Benefits Your ads should not only list the benefits, they should also seek to get prospects to imagine those benefits. That’s because people rarely buy a product or service – or in your case, membership in a boot camp – unless they can first imagine being in the boot camp and receiving the promised benefits. As such, you should specifically ask your prospects to imagine certain benefits. Indeed, use lines in your ad copy that start with, “Just imagine…” For example, “Just imagine how you’ll feel when the pants you’re wearing right now get so big that you can’t wear them any more. Imagine how good you’ll feel when you slip into your “skinny jeans….” And that brings us to our next point… Get Prospects to FEEL Something People buy based on emotion and justify with logic. That means you need to get your prospects to feel something. You need to touch off their emotional hot buttons. Make them feel the pain of their problem …and make them feel the ecstatic pleasure of the solution you’re providing. If you’re writing a longer piece like a sales letter, you have plenty of time to agitate this emotion. Telling a story is a good way to stoke this emotion, if you can get the prospect to identify with you or the main character of the story. If you can tell a story about one of your past trainees, even better! Social proof (like a testimonial) is a powerful sales tool. For example, you may tell a story about a woman who was too ashamed to go to the beach. Or how she missed out on her child’s play because she was too overweight to fit into the chair. Or how she was too embarrassed to go to her reunion because she didn’t want her classmates to see how fat and out of shape she’d become. When your readers identify with this character, they’ll be reminded of their own pain, shame, and embarrassment that their weight has brought them. Now here’s the key: you take that pain and get the prospects to imagine how GOOD they’ll feel when they’re slim and in shape again. Ask them to imagine how they’ll feel at their class reunion when they’re slimmer than their classmates. Ask them to imagine how good they’ll feel on their wedding day when they slide easily into their wedding dress. And so on.

Bottom line: make them feel the pain of their problem, and then make them feel (and imagine) the joy of the benefits of your boot camp.

Tip: your sales copy isn’t selling the boot camp – it’s selling a DREAM. Your prospects have been dreaming about being slim, healthy, and fit. Sell them on this dream. Make them feel it. Make them imagine it. Think of it this way: people don’t buy sessions in a fitness boot camp. Instead, what they’re buying is good health and attractiveness. THAT’S what you must promise – and emphasize – in your marketing materials. And here’s another tip: remember that people want results and benefits, but they want these benefits to come quickly and easily. Your prospects know that a boot camp isn’t exactly “easy” – but because it’s not easy, prospects can expect “quick” results. That’s the key.

The Most Important Part of Any Advertisement The most important part of any ad or marketing message you create is the headline. That’s because of the headline doesn’t do its job, the rest of the ad wouldn’t even need to exist since no one will read it. So just what is the headline’s job? Simple: to attract attention and compel the prospect to read the next line of your ad. No, you’re not trying to sell your boot camp in the headline. Instead, you’re just getting boot camp prospective trainees interested in reading the rest of your ad. How do you do this? By creating a headline that promises a big benefit. And to make your headline even more compelling, you should arouse curiosity whenever possible. Remember: your headline (and your entire ad, for that matter) should be about the prospect and the benefits he will receive. You’ll see example headlines in the sample ads later in this section. A Call to Action Here’s another important component of any ad you put out: it must include a strong call to action. In other words, you need to tell your prospective trainee EXACTLY what you want them to do the moment they finish reading the ad.

For example, a sales letter call to action might ask trainees to click the “register” button and register for an upcoming boot camp right now. On the other hand, a small classified ad in a newspaper may ask prospects to call or write for a freebie. That’s because there isn’t enough room in a two or three line classified ad to properly sell a prospect on joining your boot camp as a paid trainee. Instead, you should offer them something valuable for free, such as a fitness report or even a free session at your class. That way you get prospects to step forward and identify themselves as potential trainees who are interested in what you’re selling. And you get their contact information so that you can follow up with them and close the sale.

Sample Advertisements for You to Use Below you’ll find sample flyers, press releases, and ads that you can use as a template to create your own ads. Indeed, you can use these exact ads if you’d like. However, you probably don’t want to – and that’s because some of these ads may be directed towards a different niche market than the one you’re trying to attract. If you’ve done the brainstorming exercises earlier where you listed everything you know about your prospect and everything you know about your boot camp, then it won’t be hard for you to “tweak” these ads to speak directly to your target market. Sample Flyer or Sales Page Because you have a full page to sell prospective trainees on joining your boot camp, your flyer can end with a call to action that specifically asks prospects to call you to register. However, you can also choose to turn your flyer into a lead generator. In that case, you’d “sell” the prospect on joining one of your sessions for free. But please note: even though you’re offering something for free, you still need to “sell” the prospect just as if you were trying to get them to buy something. That

means your ad needs to be benefit-laden and reader-oriented as described earlier in this ebook.

Tip: the good thing about using your ads to give away freebies to get leads is that your response rate will be higher. In addition, you’ll be building a prospect list. Even if they don’t buy into your current boot camp sessions, they may buy into future sessions if you maintain contact (through postal mail or email) and start building a relationship with them. In addition, they’re likely to buy OTHER things you’re selling – whether it’s personal training sessions or even just fitness books or workout gear. In other words: just because a lead you generated with a freebie doesn’t join your boot camp doesn’t mean you should stop selling to them. Not at all!

You’ll likely want to include some pictures on your flyer. A good “before” and “after” picture of one of your former boot camp trainees would be your best bet. That’s because “social proof” (like testimonials and results other trainees experienced) are some of your best sales tools. Social proof should be included in all of your longer ads, sales letters, flyers, etc. I’ve included a place to insert a testimonial in the sales page / flyer. Be sure to replace it with actual testimonials from your trainees. If you’re just starting out and don’t have any testimonials, then train a friend if you have to and have them give you a testimonial. Final tip: you’ll want to use fairly big font – especially the headline. That way it will catch the eye of your prospects more easily. The following flyer/sales page is aimed at young men who are interested in slimming down for the upcoming “beach season.” You can use this sample on your web page. Or you can trim it down a bit and use it as a flyer instead. Your choice. Scroll down for the sample flyer/sales page…

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Who Else Wants to Show Off Six-Pack Abs on The Beach this Summer?

I used to be the “fat guy” on the beach who never took his shirt off. I know what it feels like when all those bikini babes on the beach won’t even give you the time of day. But that was years ago. And you know what? Now every year I can’t WAIT for summer – because I can’t wait to take my shirt off at the beach. I love how the women can’t take their eyes off my abs. And some of them can’t seem to take their hands off me, either. If this sounds like your idea of a fun time at the beach, I have some good news for you – it’s your turn! Just imagine how good it will feel to have the rock-hard body you’ve always wanted…

You’re about to discover the secret of sculpting your own Greek God beach body!

(Plus You’ll Even Get to Try it Out Absolutely FREE!) What’s the secret? It’s an exciting “Beach Body Boot Camp” that will melt your fat faster than chocolate bar in the hot sun. Just look at what you get when you join now:

You’ll enjoy a high-energy workout – the same kind Hollywood celebrities use to keep their bodies firm!

You’ll see your fat melting away, revealing rock-hard abs underneath!

You’ll see real results in as little as two weeks from now! A firmer body, less fat, more energy!

You’ll develop the kind of chest and arms that women can’t keep their hands off of!

You’ll develop the body – and the confidence – to take your shirt off at the beach this summer!

And much, much more! But don’t take my word for it. Just see the sort of results other Beach Body Boot Camp trainees have enjoyed:

[INSERT ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL] [INSERT ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL]

If you’d like to see these sort of results, then call me right now at 1-800-xxx-xxxx to register for a FREE training session! There’s no obligation. Just call now and you could be working towards a firmer, sexier body immediately!

=========================================== Note: if you intend to make the above into a sales page, then length isn’t such an issue. You can expand on the beginning story (telling your own, or perhaps telling the story of one of your clients) to really “agitate” the pain. Then you can add more specific benefits to the bulleted list. On the other hand, if you’re turning the above into a flyer than you’ll want to make it shorter. What you can do is cut out the first portion of the ad that tells the story. Instead, you can start with the headline “You’re About to Discover the Secret of Sculpting Your Own Greek God Beach Body!” (And you can keep everything else mentioned after that point.) Sample Press Release When you’re writing a press release, you’re essentially writing for two audiences. First, you need to attract the editor’s attention. And second, you need to write something “newsworthy” that the newspaper readers will enjoy. Remember: this is not an ad. Rather, it’s free publicity. Your best bet is to read press releases in your local paper to get a feel for what your editors like. Then craft a short press release, and encourage the editor (or a reporter) to call you to follow up. (Indeed, one way to get your press releases printed is to develop a good working relationship with the editor.) Here’s a sample release aimed at women right before the holidays...

=========================================== Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (your contact information)

The Best Holiday Stress Buster? Exercise The holiday season is a whirlwind of activity: parties, shopping, baking, hosting …and that’s on top of the usual workload. It’s no wonder the holidays are known as one of the most stressful times of the year. Unfortunately for women, they tend to get hit the hardest. Usually they’re the ones picking out gifts, wrapping them, doing the holiday baking, and everything else that goes along with making the season festive. And that means women are more likely to get run down, develop headaches, have an elevated blood pressure, and get ill during the holidays. Of course the solution would be to scale back all the holiday activity. But that’s not going to happen. So the second-best solution is for women to exercise. “Exercise is known to beat stress and help people relax,” says (Your Name), founder of the (Your Boot Camp Name). “And strenuous activity in particular can help women lower their blood pressure, boost their mood, relieve the tension in their muscles, and make them feel more energized.” Ideally women should set aside at least 30 to 60 minutes three or four times per week for exercise. Almost any exercise helps – such as walking or riding a bike – but boot camps like (NAME OF YOUR BOOT CAMP) are becoming increasingly popular among women because the high-energy workout is an excellent stress buster. And the camaraderie motivates women to keep attending sessions to keep receiving benefits. “Of course it also doesn’t hurt that exercise also keeps the holiday weight off, “ (your last name) says. “That alone helps reduce stress.” To find a holiday stress-busting boot camp workout near you, visit www.yourdomain.com.

### For more information on this topic, please contact (YOUR NAME) at (YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION).

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Sample Postcard A postcard doesn’t give you much room to sell prospects on joining your boot camp classes. Ideally, then, you should use postcards in one of following ways: 1. Send them to existing customers to sell them on joining another class or

buying other products. It doesn’t take as much time or effort to convince existing customers to buy something else from you.

2. Use a series of postcards to “warm up” a new prospect to the idea of joining your boot camp.

3. Offer something free to your prospect through the postcard (such as a free video, report, or training session).

4. Get your prospects curiosity aroused enough that you compel them to go online to read your full sales pitch.

Here’s a sample offering a free training session for soon-to-be brides…

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Attention Future Brides: Check out this FREE Offer… Here’s the Quick and Easy Way to Lose Weight Before Your

Wedding Day!

This summer all eyes and cameras will be on you, the blushing bride. Just imagine how great you’ll feel when you lose a few pounds before the big day. And think of how BEAUTIFUL you’ll look in your dress! Listen, I know you have a lot of other planning to do, so I’m going to help you lose all the weight you want before your big day. How? With the “Bride Boot Camp” that’s designed for busy brides just like you. And the best part? You can join your first session absolutely free! You’ll discover just how easy it is to lose weight, feel great, and slip into a smaller size dress.

Call now and ask for your FREE fat-busting session: 1-800-xxx-xxxx!

=========================================== Sample Newspaper Advertisements If you’re taking out large space ads (like quarter page ads), then you have the luxury of selling the trainee/recruit in that space. However, chances are you’re likely to take out a very small ad – perhaps even a classified ad – which means you only have a few lines. As such, your ad’s job is to get people to step forward and identify themselves as prospects. The best way to do that, as usual, is by offering a freebie. In the above postcard we offered a free session. In this ad I’ll give you an example of offering a free DVD. What you’ll want to do is put a partial workout on DVD that people can follow along with at home. And at the end of the DVD you encourage people to sign up for the boot camp. Of course you’ll also follow up with them by email or postal mail, too.

=========================================== Free DVD Shows You How to Lose Weight Fast

Forget about those boring workout DVDs with their cheesy music. If you want a firm body fast, you need the (NAME OF BOOT CAMP) DVD. Go to www.yourdomain.com to request your FREE fat-busting DVD now!

=========================================== Here’s another sample of a small classified ad. This time the ad specifically targets people whose doctors have told them to lose weight…

=========================================== Did Your Doctor Tell You to Lose Weight?

He said you need to lose weight or get used to the idea of having your chest sawed open for heart surgery. You chose weight loss. Now you can choose to get your FREE DVD that shows you how to lose weight quickly, safely, and easily. Get your free (BOOT CAMP NAME) video now at www.yourdomain.com.

=========================================== Here’s another ad aimed at young men who are attracted to the idea of a good workout. Note that there’s an “edge” to it, as it speaks to the “alpha male” type of prospect…

Note: most of your prospects are looking for a quick and easy solution to their weight loss problem. However, there are a small number of people who enjoy the idea of “no pain, no gain” – that’s who this ad is for. You

don’t want to run this as a general ad for people like brides to be, because it won’t “click” with them.

=========================================== For Guys Who Want Rock Hard Abs Fast

Real men don’t “sweat to the oldies.” Real men live by the motto “no pain, no gain.” That’s why we’ve developed the toughest boot camp work out you’ve ever seen …and you can get it – FREE – on DVD by calling us right now at 1-800-xxx-xxxx. If you’re man enough to do what it takes to get rock hard abs fast, then call now!

=========================================== Here’s a slightly longer classified ad that seeks to appeal to those who want to exercise to get more energy and start feeling better. Note that this ad appeals to people who already believe exercise is the answer to their problems…

=========================================== Who Else Wants More Energy?

You struggle to keep your eyes open after lunch. At night you can hardly wait to get into bed. You’re tired of being tired. But it doesn’t have to be that way any more. If you want more energy, better health, and an all around good feeling, all you have to do is set aside 30 minutes a day, three times a week to follow this simple boot camp style workout program. It’s easier than you think. Just imagine yourself feeling good all the time! You deserve it. Call 1-800-xxx-xxxx now for a FREE DVD that gives you a much-needed shot of energy, any time you want! Call now!

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How to Get Your Ads in Front of People Now that you know how to write your ads in such a way as to directly speak to your target market of prospective trainees, your next task is to get these ads in front of them. You see, it’s a waste of time and money to place broad ads in broad media venues. Instead, you want to place laser-targeted ads in places where your target market is likely to see them.

Note: In the following sections we’ll discuss both online and offline marketing methods. Even if you only market offline, it’s still a good idea to have a website. And the reason is because it allows you to start an email mailing list, plus it gives your prospects and opportunity to learn about you and contact you any time of the day or night. Being without a website – even if you don’t own a web-based business – is like being without a phone. Simply put: your customers expect you to have a website and be available by email. Yes, even though you’re a boot camp trainer!

Online Marketing Your website serves several purposes. You may use it to:

Provide more information for prospective trainees.

Give prospects and customers another way to contact you.

Allow prospects to register and pay for your classes.

Sell related products and services (like books, workout gear, and similar).

Give prospects a way to request freebies from you, such as free sessions, reports, or DVDs.

Collect contact information so you can run an email list as well as, perhaps, a postal mailing list.

Building an Email List Not everyone who stops by your website (or calls you, or sees you in person) is going to register for your boot camp. However, if you keep in contact with them, there’s a good chance they’ll buy something from you in the near future. That’s because people buy from those they know and trust. If you’re a stranger, they’re less likely to buy from you. But take the time to set up an email list (use Aweber.com), load your autoresponder series with a dozen or more messages,

and you’ll have a tool that’s automatically building relationships with your prospects …and building their trust, too! As such, the one of the primary goals of your site (if not THE primary goal) is to encourage every visitor to join your mailing list. Here’s how to do that:

Step 1: get an autoresponder / mailing list manager like Aweber.com.

Step 2: Load up at least 7 to 12 messages into the autoresponder. This means you load up email messages that are automatically sent by the autoresponder at pre-determined intervals …like every few days, or once a week, or any other interval you choose. Ideally you should start out by sending messages every other day. Eventually you can settle into a once a week pattern.

What should you send? First, you’ll want to send out good content to build trust. For example, send them diet and workout tips. But mixed in this content should be soft-sells (and occasional hard sells) for your boot camps. If you sell any other products or services, include recommendations for them, too. Use the sales copy tips earlier in this ebook to help you write your email ads.

Step 3: Follow Aweber’s directions for copying and pasting a bit of code on your site. This allows your visitors to join your mailing list from your site.

Step 4 (this is important): give visitors a compelling reason to join your mailing list. Refer to the sales copy tips when you write your “ad” for people to join your list. After all, you ARE selling them on giving up their email address. Ideally you should offer a freebie (like a free report or DVD) to encourage people to join.

You should at a minimum collect the first name and email address of your prospects. Offering a physical freebie (like a DVD) allows you to collect their postal mailing address too. If you’re offering downloadable freebies like online videos or ebooks, then make it an option for them to provide their physical mailing address, too. Even if you don’t plan on using this information, some day you might be glad you collected it.

Step 5: keep in contact with these prospects. Send them coupons and offers for your boot camps and other products. Send useful information to keep them interested in reading your newsletter. Make your newsletter interactive and engaging.

Once you have your mailing list set up as described above, you can start marketing your business in these other ways… Use Regional Pay Per Click Ads Run a search in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, and you’ll see “sponsored ads” show up alongside the regular search engine results. These are pay per click (PPC) ads. That means that the advertiser doesn’t pay for placement. Rather they pay whenever someone clicks on their ad. These ads appear because the advertisers bid on certain words. The higher they bid in relation to other advertisers, the higher their ad will appear in the results. So if you have 15 people bidding on the key words “fitness boot camp,” generally the person who bids the most on the keyword will have their ad at the top of the listings. However, they also pay the most whenever someone clicks on their ad, as advertisers pay per click whatever their bid is. So if you bid 15 cents per keyword, then you pay 15 cents when someone searches for that keyword, sees your ad, and clicks on it. Now obviously you don’t need to bid on keywords like “fitness boot camp,” because you’ll get people from all over the world clicking on your ad. Instead, you just want to target your ads to people who are living in your city or region. Example: if you live in Houston, they you might choose to bid on words like: “Houston fitness,” “Houston fitness boot camp,” “Houston weight loss,” “Houston fitness gym,” “Houston personal trainer” and similar. Your goal is to get as many interested, qualified leads as possible clicking on your ad (and right to you web site). Refer back to the sales copy section for tips on how to write ads that get attention. Be sure to pay particular attention to the headline of your ad. Search Engine Optimization This one is free: you optimize your web pages around certain keywords so that your site will appear at the top of the search engines when someone searches for those keywords. Here’s how to do it.. Step 1: Choose your keywords.

Go to WordTracker.com or similar to find out what words your market is using to find you. Since you are looking (again) for regional keywords, you should be paying attention to phrases like “Houston fitness classes” and similar. Step 2: Choose one of your keyword phrases and create a web page around it. Include the keyword in your page file name, in your page title, in the navigation links, etc. You’ll also want to create a relevant article and include this keyword at a 2% to 3% density rate – meaning the keyword phrase should show up two or three times for every 100 words of content. Step 3: Repeat step two with as many relevant (regional) keywords as you discover. Step 4: Get and links and traffic by:

Asking other related site owners to exchange links with you.

Posting on related blogs and forums.

Submitting articles to article directories (like ezinearticles.com).

Submitting your site to other relevant directories, like city directories. Get Affiliates Do you sell other products, especially downloadable products like ebooks? If so, join clickbank.com or paydotcom.com and start recruiting affiliates. The bonus is that these affiliates will send lots of traffic to your site …meaning you’ll build your mailing list, fast. Just getting listed at the above sites will help you recruit affiliates. However, you can also specifically contact owners of related sites and offer them a 50% commission to promote your ebooks or similar products. Obviously a great number of buyers won’t be regional buyers, and thus won’t be prospects for your local boot camp fitness classes. However, this makes a nice side business alongside your regular boot camp fitness business.

Offline Marketing Seek Out Joint Venture Partners Seeking out joint ventures (JVs) is a free marketing strategy that works both online and offline. And not only is it free, it’s also an extremely effective strategy. Here’s the idea – two or more business owners who cater to the same market join forces for mutual benefit. So instead of looking at these business owners as competition, you look at them as possible joint venture partners. The first place to start is by building a relationship with business owners you might like to work with in the future. This is particularly true of “in demand” and “big” partners who likely get several JV requests crossing their desk every week. Think about it: are you more likely to do a favor for a friend or for a stranger? Right, you’re more likely to do favors for friends. (After all, when was the last time you drove a complete stranger to the airport, or helped him move?) And likewise, your potential JV partners are more likely to do business with those they already know and trust. That means you need to do something to get your foot in the door and start a dialogue. Perhaps by meeting them at fitness seminars (for industry professionals), picking up the phone and asking how you can help them, stopping by their business to start getting acquainted, etc. Of course developing a relationship is not always possible – especially if you don’t have months to develop these relationships. In this case you need to call, visit in person, or write a joint venture request. Either way, all sales rules apply. Make your joint venture proposal about your potential partner, NOT about you. Remember, keep the focus on the benefits your partner will receive. Example of Joint Ventures Now that you have the general idea of a joint venture, you’re probably wondering what type of partnerships you can strike for mutual benefit. Here are a few examples, both online and offline:

When you send out a postcard to your customers, you mention your joint venture (JV) partner’s products or services. She reciprocates by doing the same thing the next time she does a mailing.

You swap promotions in your email newsletters.

You trade links on your websites.

You find someone who does a similar fitness class, like a strength training class. The two of you decide to run a class together, where you’ll teach boot camp cardio, and your partner teaches strength training. You share the costs, share the profits, and split the work.

If you hand out flyers or brochures at a seminar, trade show, or similar, you hand out your partner’s marketing materials too. She does the same for you.

If you mail physical products, you include your partner’s marketing material in your mailing. Your partner does the same for you.

You give your partner a stack of coupons that she can give to her customers. Similarly, she gives your customers exclusive discounts on her products and services.

You do a fundraiser for a local charity with several other related business owners. You all reap free publicity.

You buy the shopping bags for a related business (perhaps a supplement store) in exchange for being able to put your flyer in every bag.

You write a book or create a workout DVD with one or more business owners who cater to your niche. Everyone gets permission to give it away as a lead generator. The free product promotes everyone’s business, so everyone benefits from the exposure.

And so on. The JV possibilities are nearly endless, limited only to your imagination. As long as it’s something that’s beneficial for all parties involved, you may consider contacting business owners for joint ventures. The next question is who should you be contacting for joint ventures? The best partners are those that cater directly to the same niche as you. However, you’ll find some benefit in JV’ing with those who have similar niches – not every one of their customers will be interested in what you’re selling, but there will be enough cross-over customers to make it worthwhile. Let me give you some examples of people you can approach. This list is by no means exclusive! Look around your city (or online) and see who might cater to the same market…

Other fitness boot camp trainers. (You could do joint classes from time to time, create a DVD together, etc.)

Other fitness trainers. These include personal trainers, spinning class trainers, strength training trainers, aerobic trainers, and so on.

Gym owners and managers.

Fitness/athletic stores.

Health stores.

Businesses that cater to athletes (like batting cages).

Vitamin and supplement stores.

People who sell weight-loss related products and services.

Medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, chiropractors, etc.

Military recruiters. (If you start a class specifically to help people get in shape for boot camp, the recruiters may be willing to steer recruits in your direction.)

Wedding planners. (If you are running a “bride boot camp.”)

Businesses that cater to new moms. Useful if you’re targeting women who want to shed their baby fat.

Nutritionists (especially those that work for gyms).

Businesses that sell to college students – especially health/fitness businesses targeting students. Useful if you’re looking to help students avoid (or shed) the “Freshman 15.”

Multi-level marketing representatives that sell health foods, fitness equipment, vitamins and/or supplements. For example, “Noni Juice” is a popular health drink, and the company has plenty of representatives.

And so on. Don’t forget to look online for websites that cater to the same niche. In addition, look on Amazon and elsewhere to find authors in the same niche. Then get out there and start building relationships, and start devising ways that you can help each other make money and get more customers.

Now let’s look at some other ways to advertise your business offline… Two-Step Offline Advertising We’ve already discussed the reason for two-step advertising. Namely, you should use this strategy whenever you don’t have enough time or space to adequately sell your prospects on registering for a fitness boot camp. Instead, you need to offer them something valuable for free (such as a free boot camp session) in exchange for their contact details. You might need to use two-step advertising if you’re buying classified ads in print publications, small display ads in print publications, short radio ads or short TV ads. You’ll also need to do this two-step process if you’re sending postcards or other small ads. When you start considering where to place ads, remember this: the more targeted the readership, viewers, or listeners, the better response you’ll get. Here are a few ideas of where to place your ad:

Place your newspaper ad in the health section of the newspaper. You may also consider putting it in the sports section.

If your newspaper prints a health-related or fitness-related subset on occasion, place it in that section.

Place your ads in niche print publications, such as magazines that cater to local fitness enthusiasts.

Buy radio ads during relevant talk-radio programs, like health and fitness talk programs. (Tip: see if you can land a guest spot on these programs, too – that’s free publicity for you!)

Buy TV spots during relevant, focused local TV programs. Some local news shows have a “health corner” – that might be the best time for you to advertise.

As you start buying advertising, do two things… First, start small. You don’t want to dump a lot of money into advertising if you’re not sure it will work. Secondly, track your advertising. For example, if you’re doing a two-step ad then you can have people who request information give you a “priority code” or similar

that was listed in the ad. This code is actually for you, as it tells you which got the response in what publication. If you don’t know what ads are bringing in the money and which ones are losing money, then you’re wasting your money. Simply take the extra time to code (“key”) your ads, and you’ll make a lot more money in the long run. Customer Referral Programs One of your best sources of free leads can come from your existing customers. You should always make a point of asking your customers to tell their friends, colleagues and neighbors about your fitness boot camp. But you also need to take it a step further. Specifically, you need to give your existing customers a compelling reason to tell their friends. For example, for every friend they refer, they get a 5% discount (up to some set amount). Or for every friend they refer, they get a free training session (again, up to some set amount). You can make the offer even more attractive by offering their friend a discount, too. For example, both your customer AND the person he refers gets a discount or free sessions. This gives your customer an incentive to tell others, and the discount makes him look good to his friends. Customer Discounts and Customer Loyalty Programs There’s an old rule that says 80% of your profits will come from 20% of your efforts. This holds true across customers, too. You’ll find that 80% of your profits will come from 20% of your customers. These are your very best customers. Every time you put out a new boot camp, they’re the first to sign up. If you put out any other products, they’ll buy them without blinking. If you recommend your joint venture partner’s product or services, they’ll be happy to buy those, too. It makes sense, then, to focus your attention on these good customers. Treat them like gold. Give them your best discounts, your best bonuses, and your best freebies.

Show them that you appreciate them. Write handwritten thank you notes. Remember their birthdays. Spend some time talking to them before or after class. In short, let them know you care. You’ll also want to create a customer loyalty program. For example, if they sign up for X number of boot camp training sessions, they get one free. Or you may even consider giving them “points” for every class they sign up for. They can then trade these points for things like water bottles, workout gear, DVD’s and so on.

Tip: Here’s a good time to get a joint venture partner. You can get one or more partners who all agree to provide merchandise for each other at a discount (at cost). This merchandise can be used in your customer loyalty programs.

Other Advertising Strategies There are no shortages of places to advertise offline. However, not every advertising opportunity is a good one – even if it is cheap. Whenever you’re presented with an advertising opportunity, ask yourself if it is a way to reach your target market. In other words, is your market actually likely to see the ad? Or is the ad placement more of a “mass market” approach where there’s a chance that some of the viewers might be from your market? Here are a few opportunities you may be considering…

Yellow page advertising: if you’re just starting out, you may consider waiting before placing a Yellow Page ad. Check to see if it’s worth it to get a regular listing. If not, don’t sweat it if you’re not listed immediately after you open for business.

Val-Pak coupons: these are the blue envelopes that come stuffed with offers from local businesses. This is definitely a mass market approach. You’ll do better to joint venture with similar business owners and send your own (more targeted) mailing out.

Restroom advertisements: these are the ad boards you see in restrooms, often right in the stalls. If you choose to go this route, look for inexpensive opportunities in targeted places like gyms, health clubs, etc.

Place mat advertising: this is where cafes and other casual eateries put out paper place mats that are full of ads from local businesses. If you want to try this, place your ads where your target market is likely to see it – for example, at a café near a gym that’s often frequented by gym-goers. Another idea is to get your ad placed during “high times” such as before the summer beach season or right around the new year (when people are looking to lose weight).

Guerilla Marketing Strategies

First, here’s a definition: guerilla marketing strategies are creative strategies that require thinking out of the box and putting in a little effort …but generally very little money is involved. It’s stepping away from the traditional routes of advertising – like classified ads – and figuring out how to drum up free publicity, clever places to put your ads, and so on. As such, most small business owners find guerilla marketing to be not only attractive, but also very effective. Some of the strategies we’ve already talked about fall in the “guerilla marketing” category. For example, doing joint ventures with other small business owners is a free yet effective way to get more leads, more customers, and more money. And indeed, you can be extremely creative with your joint ventures. Let’s look at a few other examples of Guerilla Marketing… Speaking Engagements Do you feel comfortable speaking in public? If so, drumming up as many speaking engagements as you can is a great way to promote yourself. For example, you can give a talk at a local gym about the importance of properly warming up, or how variable intensity training burns fat fast. At the end of your speech you can promote your fitness boot camp. Or you can give a free class that demonstrates some particular technique, such as the proper way to do a variety of quad exercises. At the end of the demonstration your pitch your classes. You may give speeches and demonstrations in a variety of places, including medical centers, health centers, health stores, fitness stores, gyms, etc.

So how do you land these speaking engagements? Basically, you can offer your services for free to local business owners (there’s that joint venture again). And ideally, you’ll want to offer a cut of the profits for every person who joins your class. After all, this other business owner is bringing in the leads for you.

Note: Another way to do it is to advertise that you’re putting on a free demonstration or workshop. You can use traditional means to advertise, or you can use guerilla marketing tactics. Either way, your goal is to bring in as many leads as possible to your free class so that you can convert them into trainees for your paid classes.

Another way to get these speaking engagements is to make it well known that you are, indeed, available for speaking. Don’t be afraid to get into contact with organizations that regularly host guest speakers. Publicity Stunts If you want to get into your local press for free, one of the best ways to do that is via publicity stunts. In order to get the press, however, you need to alert the press to your stunt. In some cases you can send out a press release announcing the stunt, and then submit a press release after the stunt, too. If you’re doing something newsworthy, there’s a good chance that they’ll follow up to cover your stunt. This is a case where you can use your imagination. The more creative you get, the more likely you’ll get free press. You can also increase the chances of getting free press by tying your stunt to something that’s currently in the news or tying it to a fundraiser. Another way to get in the news is by attempting to beat (or create) some type of world record. Let me give you an example… The month of May (in the U.S.) is designated as a sports and fitness month. You could organize the biggest public fitness boot camp session your city has ever seen. Just imagine hundreds if not thousands of trainees in one class! To do this, you’ll need to hold a free class, and enroll as many people as you can in this class. If you have a college campus nearby, recruit trainees from the campus. Let them know you’re trying to break a record for the biggest boot camp. Ask each volunteer to bring as many friends as possible

If you get your press releases out well ahead of the event, the press releases can work to help you recruit volunteers, too. You’ll need to keep in contact with your volunteers to remind them of the upcoming event and to encourage participation. You should also have prizes and other incentives for everyone who shows up to participate in the event. If you’ve created enough excitement about break a record, you should have huge turnout. And that’s definitely newsworthy, so you’re likely to get press. Be sure to take your own pictures of the event so you can submit press releases to any media that didn’t attend the event. The above is just one example. Go ahead and brainstorm – being as creative as possible – to see what you can do to drum up some free publicity. Holding Boot Camps in Prominent Locations Where allowed by your local regulations, you should seek to hold your boot camps in prominent locations. Ideally, you should hold at least a few classes during “high traffic” times of the day. This means holding your classes in busy parks, on college campuses, near high-traffic streets, and so on. Of course you shouldn’t merely hold the classes and count on pedestrians to stop and ask you what you’re doing. (They won’t, they can see you’re busy.) Instead, you should set up a little table or a big sandwich board that includes information, as well as flyers that people can take home. If you have a friend willing to join you for these sessions, then your friend can hand out flyers while you teach the class. Your friend can also work to “pitch” the class verbally, collect money from people who want to register for future classes, etc. In other words, advertise what you’re doing loud and clear – and encourage pedestrians to join! Car Signs You can get your marketing messages across using magnetic car signs or even bumper stickers. While it’s not a highly targeted way of spreading your

messages, it’s certainly inexpensive. Getting just one new customer will likely pay for your investment in any signs. In addition to putting them on your own car, be sure to ask friends and family to display the signs on their cars, too. Be creative with the bumper stickers and signs. If you can create slogans that are agreeable to your customers, you can likely get your customers to display them on their vehicles, too. Of course you can also hand out other advertising specialties like t-shirts, pens, mugs, and the like – especially as “prizes” for some sort of publicity stunt or other event you’re holding. Search online for “advertising specialties” to find companies that will create these for you inexpensively. You can also go to CafePress.com to create your own (though they tend to be higher priced than ad specialty businesses). Remember, be creative with these items so that your customers are proud to use them and wear them. Handing Out and Hanging Up Flyers We touched on this before but we’ll mention it again – distributing flyers is another good way to get leads. Of course you should aim to distribute flyers to those who are likely a part of your target market. For example, you can hand out flyers at a fitness seminar, or hang up flyers in or near a gym of similar athletic facility. Check with your local regulations before hanging flyers on sign posts or handing them out in public. If you hand out flyers or hang flyers on private property (such as on a business bulletin board), ask permission first.

Tip: you may also consider leaving flyers in unusual places, like in the pages of a fitness book at your local library or book store. You may also ask if you can leave flyers – or short reports – in the waiting rooms of your local doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists, sports medicine doctors, and similar.

Conclusion The success of your boot camp business rests on the following:

1. Having a “hungry” and reachable market available to you. If you did your market research before setting up your boot camp fitness business, then you already know that there is a market eager and willing to register for your classes. And you know you can find them.

2. You know how to “connect” with your target market in your ads. You

know what motivates them. You know their hopes, fears, and desires. You can tap into those emotions to create ads that attract trainees like crazy. If you read the first portion of this ebook, you do indeed know how to talk to your market.

3. You know the best places to place your ads for maximum effect – that

is, you know exactly how to reach your market. And if you’ve read the second portion of this ebook, then you do indeed know how to reach that market both online and offline.

That’s it. Those are the keys to your success. Simply put, you find a hungry niche market of fitness enthusiasts, you create ads that speak to them in a persuasive manner, and you put these ads right in front of your niche. It really is that simple. Of course you’ll also want to carefully track and test your marketing campaigns to ensure you’re not throwing your money away. The most important part of any ad is its headline, so you should always test that first. Try different headlines to see which one converts the most browsers to buyers for you. You’ll also want to test:

Your overall offer.

Your price.

Where you place your ad.

What days (or seasons) you place your ad. All of this may sound tedious to track which ads and which publications get the best results, but it can easily help you earn (or save) several thousand dollars just this year. Bottom line? When you get your marketing plans in place, the customers and money will come in. That frees you to focus on what your really like: namely, leading your boot camp fitness classes.

About The Author:

Georgette Pann, BS Health/Physical Ed., Physical Therapist Assistant, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, SCW Certified Sports Nutritionist. She is the owner of Nutrifitness Personal Training and Nutrition Studio. She is creator of "Sure Victory-Fitness Boot Camp Kit" For more information on the Sure Victory Bootcamp Kit: http://thefitnessbootcamp.com . You can view the NutriFitness website at: http://thenutrifitness.com

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