Although it usually takes money to make money, these 5 no-cost marketing tools can actually help generate business in your gym without straining your bottom line.

Source: 5 Free Marketing Tools Small Businesses Can’t Afford To Ignore

Think that it takes lots of money to market your business effectively? Nope. There are a number of online marketing tools now available to help you attract and sell to more customers without costing you a dime.

Here are five of the most effective marketing tools your business should be already using:

Facebook groups

Facebook groups are free, they’re easy to create, and they provide a way for you to talk directly to your biggest fans – your customers. Facebook groups are communities, unlike Facebook pages, which are essentially public bulletin boards. Since you can control who is allowed in your group, you can monitor the information that is shared and set the tone for discussions. Groups are a very cost-effective way to inform prospects and customers about your business and to start building a relationship with them.

You can use your group to share news of the latest inventory to come in, as NTY Clothing Exchange does with their videos of designer purses now available. Share photos of holiday decorations you’ve set up, to entice shoppers to stop by and see them. Or start conversations that help you better serve your customers, such as through polls or fun prompts. Clothing retailer LuLaRoe uses Facebook groups as a sales channel, supplemented with Facebook Live video chats.

YouTube

While some business owners may be reluctant to jump on the video bandwagon because they don’t like seeing themselves on camera, statistics show that consumers are rabid for video content. They don’t care what you look like if the information is useful or entertaining or interesting.

Video is another effective and inexpensive way for prospects and customers to get to know you. Use your smartphone to record yourself, upload it to YouTube, and then share it with your customer base. You’ll probably be surprised by the amount of people who watch it.

If you have no idea what to talk about on-camera, here are some ideas to get you started: talk about and showcase your new inventory, demonstrate how to use a popular item in your store, address the most common question you’re asked about your business or help customers deal with a common problem. Videos can be as short as two minutes or as long as an hour – whatever length you think your audience wants. You can use them to position yourself as the expert in your field, by offering a helpful tutorial on a subject your customers want to know more about. All at no cost.

Help a Reporter

Even if you have no budget for advertising, you can certainly invest time in pursuing publicity opportunities. Publicity involves persuading the media to write about you, mainly in articles and blog posts. Success is being quoted in an article in a newspaper, magazine, or on a website your target market pays attention to.

So how can you get the attention of busy reporters and writers? Pay attention to the articles they’re working on and the types of sources they need. To find that out, all you need to do is subscribe to HelpaReporter.com, at no cost.

SurveyMonkey

Successful companies know a lot about their prospects and customers, including who they are, what they buy, why they buy it, and more. Without a massive market research budget, how can you gather some of these insights? By using SurveyMonkey, a free tool for creating short online surveys.

You can create a simple questionnaire using SurveyMonkey and share it with your Facebook group; include a link on receipts, perhaps with a small incentive for filling it out; mention it in a customer newsletter or email your entire mailing list to ask that they complete it. Specific questions are best, such as, “What day are you most likely to shop with us?” Or, “What product or service do you wish we carried?” Or even, “What one change could we make that would cause you to buy from us more often?”

Then use the responses to make adjustments and earn more of their business.

Google Alerts

One of the best tools for competitive intelligence, blog post fodder, and market research rolled into one is Google’s free alert service. It’s useful for staying on top of particular companies, issues, products, or topics of interest, simply by setting up an alert that triggers an email to you whenever keywords you’ve entered appear online.

Given the ongoing need for social media content, Google Alerts can be a lifesaver for coming up with new ideas to write about. Create alerts for subjects your customers are interested in or that are related to your products and services. Then, when related emails arrive in your inbox, set them aside to use as inspiration the next time you have to pen a blog post, draft a customer newsletter, or share a Facebook or LinkedIn update.

Social Media is continuing to gain MOMENTUM, and it will continue to disrupt how customers make decisions.  Fewer and fewer of our clients watch “normal TV” or read a newspaper. We all have POP UP blockers on our computers. How to we engage our clients?

Let’s start with the  basics of understanding how social media works. Knowing what your clients (Moms and Dads) want is crucial.

Here are 3 basic steps to being successful with social media:

1) Listen

Listening is a fundamental part of developing a two-way social media communication strategy for any gym. Listen and respond, or listen, evaluate, then respond. If you’re utilizing the latter formula, you’ll be more successful with your social media development than the former. The term ‘Listen’ in social media has become a “buzz” word among social media experts, gurus and marketers. Some businesses are using this term and not truly understanding the meaning and the responsibility that comes with listening.

To truly communicate with your audience using social media, you need to listen, think (evaluate), then respond. If it’s a question about your gym, programs, or service from a customer on your social media channel, make sure you’re listening to what they are really asking and respond accordingly. If it’s a conversation, listening to what they are saying and then join in. Don’t join in because you’re following a trend or because you heard all these experts say you must talk to your customers on social media. Listen because you sincerely want to engage and build a two-way communication and your customers are important.

2) Monitor

Monitoring your social media presence is different from listening. Listening as mentioned above pertains to the communication you develop with your customers and potential consumers. Monitoring relates to taking that communication and analyzing the chatter between your gym and customers. Understanding who you’re talking to on Facebook versus Instagram. Monitoring tied in with listening will provide you with the data you need to develop the right strategy to keep your customers engaged. According to the EXPERIENCED blog “57% of consumers are actively taking steps to avoid companies that bombard them with irrelevant communications, with 69% having unfollowed companies on social channels, closed accounts and cancelled subscriptions.”

Even though it might seem like the trust towards businesses is diminishing, it’s clear that customers still count on businesses to be present on social media. Consumers are still using social media to share their experiences with the businesses they value and the ones they don’t value. Whether to complain or to praise about your gym, customers want their voice to be heard, and they want you to listen. In addition, seeing the reviews customers are writing on Yelp or photos their posting on Instagram about your gym will help you to develop the right message and relevant content to treat them with care and attend to their individual needs.

3) Communicate

Now that you understand how to listen and monitor, the next step is to learn how to efficiently communicate with your existing and potential customers. The right communication starts with crafting the right response, creating the right messaging and developing the perfect content. When breaking through the clutter, think story and communication, not ad. You’ll know you’re developing the right message and content to complement your gym when you can get your customers to communicate with each other about your products or services.

Responding to feedback:

Crafting the right response to a customer feedback, whether positive or negative can be a little challenging. As a business owner, you love your business and if someone say anything negative about your business, it’s normal to go on the defense. Just remember it’s not personal, it’s just business. The right response to a negative review can be the difference between losing that customer forever along with future customers that might read their review and your response or regaining the trust of that customer and building loyalty with new consumers. Staying silent is worst than not responding and will look like you just don’t care about your customers. Your response to a negative review must be three things:

1. It must be sincere.
2. It must address each issue that customer had.
3. It should offer a solution.

On the other hand, responding to a positive review should serve as a chance to thank your customer. In either scenario, you should be using feedback as a way to grow your business.

Creating the right message:

You don’t have to be a superstar wordsmith or have a major in copywriting to create the right message for your gym. You know your business better than anyone else and if you’ve been around long enough, you should know what your customers like or dislike. Posting on social media is about telling a story. A story that at all costs should avoid overselling. Talk about your products, services, people and business culture in a fun and creative way that will show that there is a human behind your brand and not a selling machine. Use your words to connect with your customer’s emotion to build trust and loyalty.

Content:

Content will help you to emotionally connect your customers to your business. Whether it’s a 15-second video of a pre-school class playing in the pit, a photo of your team saying ‘Happy Birthday’ to their coach or news from the community that is important to your customers. One of my gyms is on the same road as a major shopping mall. Traffic is already picking up with holiday shoppers. Sending out a tweet or fb post “Lots of traffic on Gosling Rd this PM. Take Woodbury Ave” . Remember that great content that communicates your gym in a way that your users can relate to will lead to success. Knowing how to develop in-house content and repurpose approved content using customers’ photos is an affordable way to get great content. In addition, when taking photos for social media having the right scenery, symmetrical shot, composition or just a very creative imagination can help you capture the perfect visuals and will help bring your social community closer to your business. Having great content is imperative and it can make or break your social media strategy.