By Travis Mattern from Fitness Education Online
Facebook ads are too expensive, they don’t work, and they’re too complicated—right?
Well, that’s what a lot of people will say. And then you have the “digital marketing experts” who tell you “you need to know your audience.” They’ll tell you to consider all sorts of variables, run a video ad, retarget to anyone who watched three seconds or more, etc.
Well, I’m here to tell you it doesn’t need to be that complicated for most fitness professionals.
Don’t Make These Mistakes!
Here’s the biggest mistake trainers make when running Facebook ads: We run an ad we think will work instead of an ad that does work.
We produce copy that appeals to us and write things we would want to read. We use a photo that resonates with us. We provide a ton of information to justify price and show how much value we’re giving.
You’ll notice I said “we” above. That’s a problem: Trainers often aren’t focused on clients and what would resonate with them.
The prospective clients who see the ads might not yet have a love of fitness, or maybe they’re intimidated by the fit people in the photo. Or maybe they’re turned off by the fact that you’re offering 20 sessions a week and they can’t find the motivation to get off the couch at all.
To solve this problem, we must focus on running ads that appeal to our potential clients, not ourselves.
The next mistake: confusing boosting a post with running an ad on Facebook. There’s a difference. Boosted posts mean more people see specific content, which is cool. But does that content actually generate leads and grow your business? In our experience with 100s of trainers, it doesn’t. You’re simply lining Mark Zuckerberg’s pockets.
So what should you do instead of boosting? There are heaps of options, which is why most people boost a post. It’s the easiest option. In our experience you should run a “lead ad” instead.
With a lead ad, viewers have to click “learn more,” and they will be directed to a form where they must enter their names and contact information to get more details. Once people have done this, they can receive an automated email response from you via a customer relationship manager (CRM). Then you should get on the phone with the lead and have a chat.
Making the perfect sales call is an art form, so if you haven’t perfected it, I recommend reaching out to a solid sales coach and reading plenty of books.
Subscribe to Two-Brain’s YouTube channel for sales content for gym owners.
So how much money are you willing to spend on an ad? And how much money is a new client worth to your business? The second question is the most important. In our experience, you want to sell a product that is at least $300. This means you’ll recoup a $300 ad spend with a very small number of sales depending on the costs associated with delivering your product.
Before you even look at running an ad, you need to know your numbers!
In the next post in this series, Travis will tell us how to set up Facebook ads for success!
