Learn the most effective and under-utilized digital marketing strategy for Pilates and boutique fitness studios.
Today I am talking to Mike Williams from Digitally Fit. I got introduced to Mike by one of my Pilates website clients who’s been working with him for a few years now. My client was raving about how much Mike has helped her small Pilates home studio grow. My curiosity picked and I reached out to Mike with an offer to record an interview and discuss marketing strategies that he finds most effective TODAY.
Digital advertising is one of the questions that I get a lot from my Pilates studio owner clients. It’s an important part of growing the business and finding the right clients to walk through your doors. However, many studio owners who tried doing advertising on their own found out that it was expensive and hardly brought any results at all. Today more than ever Pilates studios need reliable forms of marketing to bring in new clients through their doors so I asked Mike to share his BEST and MOST EFFECTIVE strategy that he teaches to all of his coaching clients.
We will be talking about retargeting campaigns. Don’t worry if this term seems foreign to you. Mike will describe in detail what it is and how you can make this marketing strategy work for you. This is a cost-effective advertising strategy that has helped many privately owned gyms, boutique studios and local businesses grow their customer base. If set up correctly, this strategy can help you lower your advertising budget by 75%!
Recap of our conversation and important links:
1. I’ve tried digital advertising and to didn’t work for me. What did I do wrong?
- It used to take between 7 and 12 touch points to warm up to the idea of doing business with do. Because of how many interruptions there are today, it takes much more than that to acquire a new client.
- Retargeting is the #1 tool that most small business are not using. It can be less expensive than regular ads and produce better results.
- Your audience needs to remember the name of your business and your offer. You can remind them using digital retargeting.
2. What is “retargeting”?
- Retargeting allows to put your message back in front of the people who engaged with your social media or visited your website.
3. What are the best platforms?
- FB, IG, Google Display network
- Youtube because they have high “ad inventory” and very few businesses use it.
4. What ad formats works best?
- Having a video will help you put the face with the name of the business.
- Image ads can still work, a lot depends on the ad platform that you are using.
5. What is the best conversion goal for your ad?
- Warm up your leads with a lead magnet (free informational offer of great value that would introduce your brand to a new visitor.) You will be running a regular “cold” ad campaign.
- Then retarget with your main offer.
- Ask for as little information as possible for the free offer (name, email) to increase conversions.
6. What budget should you set for your marketing campaign?
- Decide what budget you can stick with long-term.
- With retargeting you can start as low as $3/day
- The budget can be determined by the traffic of the website.
- For the cold traffic ads you can expect to pay $20/day and up to generate any significant engagement.
7. How much traffic should your website have in order to run a retargeting campaign?
- You need to have analytics installed in order to determine what you can do.
- Install Google remarketing code and Facebook pixel before you need them so that you have enough data in your audience to run an ad.
- With most studio/gym websites you would need at least 1 month worth of tracking data to have an audience large enough to run a retargeting campaign.
8. How time consuming is ad management?
- After everything is set up, you can expect to spend between 30 min and an hour a month.
- If you have your funnel in place, you spend your time optimizing the offer or the ad.
9. How to write emails that your subscribers actually open?
- Email is not dead. Everybody checks their email daily.
- If you have good content – people would read it.
- The #1 skill you can have as a business owner is copywriting.
- You OWN your email list. You don’t own your Fb users, IG followers etc. Those platforms can shut down your page/account at any time. However, nobody can take away your email list, so you always have a way of connecting with your followers by sending them engaging emails and your offers.
10. How often should you email your list?
- Minimum once a week, ideally at least twice a week.
- Emailing once a month is almost like not emailing at all.
11. What should I write about in my weekly newsletter?
- Check out the Copy Cure course by Marie Forleo
- Read your email out loud. If you are falling asleep reading your own email – don’t send it.
- Infuse some personality in your email, don’t keep it “strictly business”.
- Weave some education with some information to make your emails stick out.
- Subscribe to other professionals in your field and see how they communicate with their subscribers. How does their personality come through in the newsletter?
- Create an email swipe file. Copy emails that grabbed your attention and use them as inspiration for your personal newsletter.
Do you want to learn more about retargeting?
Download Mike’s FREE Retargeting Setup Checklist
Have questions or need help with your digital marketing campaign?
Get in touch with Mike at DigitallyFit.biz.
Mike Williams transitioned into the fitness world after spending 2 decades in corporate life. His passion for helping others soon expanded beyond his facility as he bonded with other fitness professionals trying to grow their businesses. He recognized that most fitness professionals, himself included, were skeptical about seeking assistance although they universally needed help in some area of their business.
As a fitness business owner, Mike developed a passion for digital marketing and continues to educate himself on this ever-changing landscape. He understands the challenges that face local brick and mortar businesses and enjoys helping them create marketing strategies tailored to their needs.
Outside of work, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and their 5 boys.