Industries
Health & Fitness
As consumers invest more in their health and well-being, business owners will need to step up their marketing to stand out from a very crowded marketplace.
Marketing Fitness
Consistency is one of the hallmarks of a healthy lifestyle. A commitment to consistently choose healthy foods and to make time for exercise are building blocks to enjoying life. So why do many business owners in the health and wellness industry bing on marketing junk food?
Vanity lifestyle magazines, crowded coupon mailers, and remnant billboards may have some impact on local consumers but these strategies may not deliver the results that business owners need. Health and wellness entrepreneurs know that they need to keep their message in front of prospects and their existing customers. Online marketing is a big part of growing a fitness and healthy lifestyle brand.
While Google search is an important element of a successful (local) fitness marketing strategy, the keyword costs are high, as shown below for keywords “crossfit near me” or “personal trainer near me”. In some markets, personal trainers can get $60 / hr and in other marketing $120 /hr. Every market is different so the advertising strategies that are deployed are contingent on the revenue that can be generated by a new client.
Navigation, Social, and Video
A comprehensive health and fitness marketing strategy must include Google Maps and online reviews. In the example below, the search for “personal trainers west palm beach fl” yielded three companies. How did these three companies get picked? Local SEO strategies play a big role in the selection of companies in the 3-pack.
When you expand the search to see all personal trainers in West Palm Beach (image on the right) you can see that there are dozens of trainers with Google My Business listings. One company called The Exercise Coach decided to run a Google Ad (see top left image). Local fitness entrepreneurs have to find the right balance of SEO and SEM investments to increase their chances of connecting with a new customer.
Be Your Customer
Consumers spend hours each day on social media, watching YouTube videos, and sharing information on messaging apps. Is it possible that fitness firms have been so focused on Google SEM that they have ignored social channels. Here is a search done on Facebook from the same computer, in the same location as the Google search above. Notice that “Anytime Fitness” has reviews, but they come infrequently. The last three reviews are in Feb 2020, Jan 2019, and Dec 2018. What message does this send to a new resident that is looking for place to exercise?
Sadly, when you click to these Facebook pages, these fitness firms have very few reviews posted in the 12 months! Business owners need a modern, omni channel local marketing strategy. Yes. They also need an agency that will maintain and merchandising these online listings. All businesses need a steady stream of reviews to establish credibility and relevance.
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