Blog

While every social media platform has strengths and weaknesses, I’ve found that the following five hold the most potential in the fitness industry. The importance of each will vary based on the types of content you create, but in general, their importance goes in the following order: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Most people think that graphic design is too challenging to figure out (if you don’t, you probably haven’t tried to make something look cool before). The truth is, it is complicated, but all of the work has already been done for you in most circumstances. That’s the beauty of the internet; you get access to some of the most talented people on the planet, and if you know how to do things right, it won’t cost you much to use them!

You can buy templates or hire professionals to do almost everything you need done. With just a few simple tools and an excellent teacher (me), you can make your brand look extremely professionals for little to no cost.

What you need to do in the first place is make a conscious effort to choose your direction and stick with it. Just like we’re going to be combining all of our different efforts into one cohesive plan, the same thing needs to be done for your style.

When I say “style,” I’m talking about a unified look for all of the different materials that people see, including:

• Your Logo
• Your Website
• Your Business Card
• Your Social Media Graphics
• Your Stationery
• Your Flyers
• Your Signage
• Your Banners
• Your Watermark (needs to go on everything)
• Your Photography
• Your Videos

In order to keep your style consistent, here are the different aspects you need to choose:

• Primary Color(s)
• Secondary Colors
• Feel
• Font
• Support Elements

PRIMARY COLOR(S)

You need to have one or two colors that you use consistently on graphics. Don’t confuse consistency with “everywhere”. You should not be using your primary colors as backgrounds on anything (backgrounds are covered in the Secondary Color category). Think of your primary color as the best representation of your brand; what does it say about you the instant people see it? This color is usually bold and should be incorporated into your logo somehow.

SECONDARY COLORS

Secondary Colors are going to be used for accents and backgrounds. This is not going to be bold and distinctive like your Primary Color; instead, it should complement the Primary Color and enhance it.

FEEL

The Feel of your branding is an important consideration, especially when it comes to attracting new customers. You’ve probably heard this quote a thousand times:

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

This is absolutely true when it comes to your marketing. If people feel nothing when they look at your presentation style, that’s a problem. You need your target audience to feel the right way about your brand.

The “Feel” should be something abstract and descriptive. Examples would be:

• Corporate
• Industrial
• Elemental
• Grungy
• Organic
• Earthy
• Heavy
• Apocalyptic
• Colorful
• Grave
• Lively
• Militant
• Flowing
• Hip
• Bouncy

FONT

Font is fairly easy, especially if you simply follow the font used in your logo or as a default setting on your website. Whatever you do, keep it consistent throughout the different materials. Everything should be reinforcing everything else.

SUPPORT ELEMENTS

Support Elements make designing much more consistent. These are simply design elements that you will use throughout your graphics. It could be a chain link fence, smoke, fire, geometric shapes, grunge elements, stone, cement, metal, etc.

Every marketing plan talks about “target markets,” and for good reason! Your target market will determine how your company looks, what content you create, what services you offer, and what products you promote. If you don’t know this essential piece of information, then you are making the mistake that 99% of business owners make: you are targeting everyone.

Here I discuss the 5 reasons I decided to give up alcohol for 2019… and no, it’s not because I was hungover on January 1st.

I turned 34 years old today. Now that I’m officially in my mid-30’s I’ve reached a unique and important point in my life. Here are my plans to have the best year ever.

Do you want to promote your business to your personal network, but feel guilty about it? Don’t! Just stop trying to promote yourself (and your business) and promote useful information instead. Here’s a 3 step process to make that happen.

There are some shows that speak to the unique experience of entrepreneurship, and I believe that Mad Men is one of them. Here are five of the top things I learned from this 1960s-based American drama.

If you think that creating a good product and an attractive website is all you need to succeed online, you’re wrong. If you want to use free online marketing to build your brand, you need to get to work. Here are two things you need to do daily.

It’s great that you have a wide variety of personal interests, but if you want to build your business network, increase your visibility and reputation, and enhance your income by leveraging your personal Facebook following, you need to avoid posting these 7 things on Facebook.

I’ve done it! I’ve finally reached the maximum popularity that Facebook has deemed “enough.” I have 5,000 Friends. But am I really that popular? And what’s the value of Facebook “Friends” anyways? Here I talk about how to get 5,000 Facebook Friends and why you need them.

When companies first get into social media marketing, they make this MAJOR mistake, especially when it comes to frequent posts. Learn what it is and what to do instead.

You’ve probably heard that SEO is the key to succeeding online, but you have no idea how to get it to work for your business. You’re not alone! Learn what SEO is and how you can make it work for your business by hiring a real SEO professional.

I’ve read thousands of fitness bios over the years as both a fitness enthusiast, editor, and business developer. Unfortunately, very few have sounded professional, no matter how amazingly qualified the individuals were. Here I’ll discuss five steps you can take to ensure that your fitness bio does the job you need done.

Want to turn all of that expensive fitness knowledge into cash? Or maybe you just want to make some side income to supplement your core business. Whatever the reason, here are a few keys to starting a profitable fitness website using no up-front investment of cash.

Growing a business to a point that it can be sold isn’t easy, especially when that business is in the fitness industry. Even so, I did it and it changed my life forever. Here are three of the core reasons why I sold my fitness business My Mad Methods to Onnit Labs.

It may be hard to imagine someone saying, “You have enough education,” but that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Fitness professionals have a thirst for knowledge that transcends logic sometimes. Here I’ll explain why your fitness knowledge may be sufficient, and why instead of getting a new certification, you should be investing in your business.

If you’re a fitness professional that doesn’t have a fitness book (or ebook), you’re doing your business a huge disservice. Fitness books serve a much greater function than a simple revenue source or lead generator (they do that too). Find out 5 reasons why very fitness professional needs to create their own fitness book.

I yell at small business owners for a lot of reasons, and failing to have a Facebook fanpage is one of them. Facebook Fanpages aren’t just free and easy tools to boost your fitness business, they are entirely NECESSARY. If you don’t have one, you might as well not exist online. Find out how to create a fitness facebook fanpage in 5 minutes or less!

Fitness competitions are beneficial for a number of reasons. They encourage fitness community growth, they can enhance your competitive spirit, and they really show you whether or not you’ve progressed with your training. The good news is that creating these events is relatively easy; the bad news is that managing them can make or break your organization.

The fitness industry is extremely competitive, but just like any other space, the person/company that does the work will reap the rewards. After working with dozens of fitness brands (including building and selling my own company), here are the 5 things I have found to be essential to online marketing for fitness.

Exercise demo videos are an excellent way to promote your business and your fitness knowledge cheaply and effectively. Even so, there are a few things that you can do to improve the look and feel of your exercise demonstrations with a little bit of effort. Watch this video and learn how to quickly start creating useful video content for your social media and website.

Is Content Marketing just the next in a long line of online marketing gimmicks? I believe that Content Marketing is one of the least understood, but most powerful, marketing methods available today. Here I’ll outline several reasons why this is true, and how it will become more true as the digital age rolls on. Content Marketing: you need to give a s@#t.

Content Marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your customer base, gain a loyal, long-term following, and establish your business as the expert in your industry, all while enhancing your sales through a low-cost technique. In order to maximize its potential, you need to avoid these three costly mistakes that could derail the entire effort.

Are you ready to write your first fitness article but have no idea where to start? Use this three step process to generate an endless amount of fitness article topics based on your experience as a trainer. Start writing and start getting traffic now.

Instagram could be your gateway to more clients, more followers, and more success in the fitness industry. No matter how you cut it, you need to be on there! Here are some basic lessons of how to Instagram for fitness professionals.

If you want some workout motivation, look no further than the top Instagram fitness accounts! Epic feats of strength, extreme human abilities, and helpful fitness workouts and tips all wrapped up in one list!

If you’re a good fitness professional, you’re probably sharing lots of useful fitness information every single day. Affiliate marketing could turn that information into passive income to fuel your passion for helping people get into shape.

Having any kind of success with a fitness workshop requires more than good information, a good presentation, and a good coach, it requires a strategic promotional marketing campaign to tell the world about it. Just like everything else I write about marketing in the fitness industry, I always relate this back to a good workout plan. You need an objective, a timeline, a method, and consistent execution. Here I describe the basics of those components.

I’ve spoken to literally hundreds of different trainers about how to make money in the fitness industry, and while many of them are extremely qualified, very few have ever considered the fitness workshop as a possible revenue stream. Fitness workshops could provide an enormous boost to your fitness business, and here I layout a step by step process for creating your first one.

Every trainer should have professional fitness photography for their business. It can be cheap, quick, and easy if you use these 10 tips for managing your first fitness photoshoot.

Designing your fitness logo can be a simple, fun, and money-free process if you know where to go. On top of that, designing your fitness logo yourself could help you save money if you choose to hire someone later on.

Building your fitness business can feel like a really tough climb, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Using this one marketing tool you can effectively build your fitness brand with or without money.