LOS ANGELES, California – February 6, 2016
Digital communication and tracking can be especially beneficial for personal trainers, nutritionists and wellness coaches.

In today’s world, most of us keep our friends, family and co-workers updated on the happenings in our lives through the use of social media.  We post on Facebook, tweet out the latest news on Twitter and put pictures on Instagram. Social media interaction is a common way to communicate digitally in our society and can be especially useful for businesses in the fitness industry.

It is a great way to communicate with our clients and get the attention of prospective new ones. Online communities and digital communication have become an important part of marketing strategies for businesses. One benefit of using social media platforms is they allow us to track engagement – including user activity, shares, likes and comments.

Social media is a must in the fitness industry. It provides a great opportunity to help support your club brand. Although social media isn’t meant for hard selling, it’s a great way to interact with your clients and followers in a soft-sell capacity. It brings a human element to your business and creates a more personal relationship with your members.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another one of the more effective marketing tools for business today. Now that most people use their mobile phones for everything, it’s an easy and convenient way to reach your clients. As with social media, emails can be tracked to see who opens them, who opts out, who forwards them and specifically what links within the email they click.

Unlike social media, email marketing can be used for promotions and can take a more sales-based approach to their message. The best strategy would be a mix of informational and promotional-based emails, as most readers don’t want to feel like they’re being bombarded with only sales-related promos. Your emails shouldn’t be too long and need to be clear and concise with content. Most people read these quickly (basically skimming them) so it needs to capture their attention from the get-go. The first thing people see is your subject, so be creative to increase your open rate.

Email marketing is a great tool for lead generation, and as such, you should focus on marketing yourself as an expert in the fitness industry. Included in your email schedule should be a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletter offering ways to help lose weight, increase stamina, build muscle tone, improve health and wellness, etc. Be specific and offer good advice, including quick tips on how your readers can be healthier and improve their overall fitness.

Email tracking allows you to test to see what schedule and frequency work best for your business. Check regularly and adjust accordingly if you aren’t getting the results you are hoping for, as tracking visitors and email opens gives us insight as to what’s working and where to improve. The ability to track member engagement helps get more leads and encourages the club/member relationship.

Tracking

Digital communication and tracking can be especially beneficial for personal trainers, nutritionists and wellness coaches. Personal trainers and coaches benefit by having more access to their clients both in and out of the gym.

For personal trainers, finding methods for tracking member workouts and activities in and out of the gym will give greater insight and greatly increase their client’s overall health successes. The ability for nutrition coaches to monitor and track their client’s diet and intakes gives them more insight for proper guidance. Trainers also can make recommendations for services or classes offered by the club. A vast amount of information now is captured digitally with wearable devices and nutrition apps loaded on smartphones. Gaining regular access to that information can be beneficial for trainers and coaches and can improve their ability to coach their members. Communicating workout tips, service offerings, and health and nutrition advice provides the guidance and encouragement their clients need and are great ways to increase member engagement and membership lifetime values.

On the flip side, one-on-one interaction is still important even in our technology-savvy world. The trainer/member relationship is one of the most critical aspects to the success of any fitness or nutrition program offered by a health club. Combining digital communication, tracking and coaching with in-person interaction in your club is the best way to increase member engagement and improve your member’s overall health outcomes while increasing your bottom line.

And finally, once you have your social media and email campaigns set, you will need to have a follow-up plan in place. Make sure you have your salespeople, personal trainers, managers, etc., ready to take the leads and turn them into clients, while building on the relationships you already have at your club.

Author

Bruce Painter, business development manager, is responsible for expanding sales within the H2 Fit division and also manages the strategic development of H2’s channel partners within the fitness industry. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry, having managed the sales divisions of ClubRunner and Palm Beach Financial Exchange.