Landing Pages can make or break your marketing

Landing Pages Can Make or Break Your Marketing Efforts

Businesses that have achieved online marketing success typically have websites with several key components. In addition to responsive, user-centered design and good content that's genuinely valuable to their readers; successful businesses utilize good landing pages throughout all of their marketing campaigns. This is because good landing pages are the bedrock of effective inbound marketing.

Your landing page is often the first representation of your company. It's what your potential customers see when they click on a search engine listing, a social media ad, a PPC ad, a blog post, a Slideshare, or a YouTube video etc.

In fact, whenever you post informative content and a call-to-action like:

  • Grab your copy of this free e-book,
  • Join our list for free updates,
  • Consult with an expert free, or
  • Receive a 30-day free trial without giving your credit card number, etc.

Your readers should click through to a landing page, not the homepage of your website. If you send them to your home page, they might not know what to do; and even if they can figure it out, they likely won't have the patience.

Landing pages are pages that are tailor-designed to provide each individual reader with what they want, while also gathering the contact information you need to:

  1. Nurture the lead,
  2. Hopefully, convert that person into a customer
  3. Then, convert him or her into a long-term customer and brand advocate

Landing Pages can make or break your marketing

One of the Main Reasons to Start Working with a Digital Marketing Agency Today: 

"You only have 8 seconds to get your readers' attention online."

There are too many other websites and vendors competing for your readers' time. Give them exactly what they've come to your website for in a compelling way, and they will stay long enough for you to get a lead.

That's why landing pages are such a crucial part of your online sales funnel. When your goal is to attract only local customers, sometimes landing pages are the only part of your online sales funnel. For example:

  1. A potential local client sees your ad,
  2. They click-through to find the exact information they're looking for, (who you are, what you do, why you're qualified to solve their problem and a simple offer or a basic call-to-action).
  3. They contact you, and
  4. The person-to-person sales process begins

Many experts believe that good landing pages are the most crucial part of most sales funnels. They also recommend A/B testing several different landing page ideas and using the most effective one.

When you're ready to take your business to the next level, contact us at Harness Consulting. We use a combination of the most effective marketing strategies to make sure we get and keep your potential clients' attention longer.

You will come across some firms that offer only PPC management, others that offer only SEO consulting and others that specialize in only video marketing.

  • According to Unisource, 90% of users say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision-making process.
  • According to ComScoreafter watching video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online; and
  • PPC campaigns like Google Adwords are converting at a nice average of around 2.7%.

Why Limit Yourself to One Strategy?

We have experts in every online marketing sector that will work hand-in-hand to design and manage your campaigns, so you can get the most out of your advertising dollar. We know what strategies build businesses in the modern marketplace.


Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing Essential

Wouldn’t you agree that it’s better to attract qualified, ideal prospects to your sales funnel rather than attempt to promote your business to everyone, creating “hit and miss” results? Or that it’s advantageous to embrace a strategy that connects with, engages your audience, and builds long-term customer relationships versus just focusing on getting the sale?

Absolutely! You see, there is an entire methodology that not only brings potential customers to you but keeps them coming back for more!  This approach has resolved multiple issues for businesses like time wasted on unqualified leads, little website traffic, and low lead conversions.  The more effective way to promoting your business is through inbound marketing!

This strategy has shown to be the best way to do business online.  In fact, 3 out of 4 marketers across the globe prioritize an inbound approach to marketing (Source: Hubspot).  Studies consistently reveal that inbound marketing successfully increases traffic, lead generation, sales and repeat business for brands who leverage this tactic.

What Exactly is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing

The inbound marketing concept centers around creating and sharing valuable content that solves problems and answers questions for your ideal customer (or buyer persona).  It simply draws prospects in through education.  Because of this noninvasive, selfless approach, prospects are instantly drawn to your brand and see you as the expert in your niche.

There are four key components to a working inbound marketing strategy.  It includes:

  • Attract: Driving quality traffic to your content via blog posts, social media, SEO strategies, video marketing, etc.
  • Convert: Turning website visitors into leads through your lead offers; you giving visitors something valuable in exchange for their contact information
  • Close: Transforming leads into customers by using closing tools like email marketing and marketing automation to help seal the deal
  • Delight: Creating happy customers and loyal, raving fans of your brand, converting into repeat business

The major benefit to inbound marketing is the process of nurturing a “stranger” into an eventual promoter of your business.

Why It’s Essential in 2016

Inbound marketing, when done right, positions your business for long-term success.  Consumers are fed up with being inundated with advertisements yet they are constantly online seeking solutions to their problems.  Search is the #1 source for content traffic generation and it’s the preferred choice for looking up information.  Inbound marketing positions you to be found by your target audience when they’re searching for you, making it essential for your business in 2016!

If your business is ready to start leveraging inbound marketing tactics to begin drawing qualified prospects into your sales funnel, contact us here for a scheduled consultation.  We are certified to help!


Boxing Woman

The Best Gym Ads

The Best Gym Ads

In our work creating gym marketing campaigns for our clients, we have been crawling the web looking for the absolute best ads ever produced for fitness centers. We are really proud of the list we have come up with, and were honestly shocked at some of the not-so-successful (read: bad) gym ads we encountered. These ads represent the best of the best in terms of visual design, emotional appeal, market positioning and humor.

killer-gym-ad

Company:  Ascent Protein

Agency: TDA Boulder

We love this ad because it doesn’t hit you over the head with its message.  It’s a very clever way to connect with the pride gym goers have in waking up early.

Great Gym Ad

Company:  Gold’s Gym

Agency: Taejun Park: School of Visual Arts

This ad is not only incredibly visually clever, but it is more impressive because it was made by students!  The creativity they displayed has to be contrasted with some of the cringe worthy Gold Gym ads in the worst ads section.  Maybe Gold’s should stick to hiring students.

Great Yoga Ad

Company:  Yo BK Yoga Studio

Agency: J. Walter Thompson New York

The idea of fat melting away to reveal a new person underneath is not a new one.  But combined with an excellent illustrator and a great Yoga pose it certainly feels like one.

Gym ads

Company:  Equinox

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy New York

I have to admit that I don’t understand every ad in this “Commitment” series.  But they are all undoubtably visually striking and very hard to forget.  Some of the ads are a little risqué so check them out at your own discretion.

Olympia Gym Ad

Company:  Olympia Gym

Agency: Rediffusion Dyr

If this ad is depressing you, wait until you see the rest of this series.  While these ads might not be “fun”, they are certainly some of the most emotionally powerful advertisements that we came across.

fat batman

Company:  Power House Health Club

Agency: Euro Rscg Delhi

While I’m not sure these Gym ads don’t have some question marks regarding intellectual property, its undeniable that they provoke an instant reaction.   Its not all about surprise with these ads however, as they are funny and tell a story that might resonate with many people about reality vs expectations.  For a certain psychological profile I feel these ads could be highly motivating and funny.  The rest of the ads in the series are just as good. (Fat Superman) (Fat Spiderman)

Gym Ad Enviroment

Company:  Power House Gym

Agency: Savannah College of Art & Design

The genius behind this ad is the carefully placed interaction with the outside environment.  This is extremely difficult to do, and when this technique is attempted it almost never comes out this well.

Funny Pole Fitness Ad

Company:  Pole Dance Studio

Agency: Unknown

This ad is hilarious, but appropriate in so many ways.  Making an ad that works on a pole cannot have been an easy challenge, and it is awesome that they were able to communicate effectively and then ad the joke.


Differentiation-in-the-Fitness-Business

Gym Marketing: 8 Fun & Engaging Campaigns To Implement

In this gym marketing guide, you will learn about 8 fun and engaging gym marketing ideas to implement in your marketing strategy. From video marketing to tips on calls-to-action, we have tips on how to attract and retain new members.

Gym Marketing: How do you Attract New Members While Maintaining Current Members Engaged?

This is the number one challenge of any business. What is the secret to attracting prospective customers? The good news is that getting in front of your ideal customer has never been easier.  However, you first need to determine which type of content your customers may be seeking and how they are searching for that content. In order to accomplish that, you start with a goal.

Just like when you are working out, you always need a goal. Are you looking to increase gym members? Develop a brand awareness? Or engage and retain your current customer? Setting goals for your campaign will help you define the scope of the campaign and the target audience.

With that understanding, check out these tips below and think about how they will help you to work toward your marketing goals. Need some ideas for goals? Some of the goals that we typically define with our gym clients include attracting new members, differentiating the gym from competitors (think about what makes your gym culture different), and current member retention.

gym-marketing

Here are 8 marketing tips, including video marketing ideas, to help you get started:

1. Video: Workout of The Week

It is the perfect way to engage those customers who are looking for fun workouts. Start this campaign at the beginning of the year, when fitness resolutions are at their highest. Then give your audience a timeline and goals with each video to motivate them to keep watching. If this campaign is set up to attract new members to your gym, then the videos in this series should be hosted by one of your instructors in order to establish his or her credibility with the audience. By interacting with these videos, future customers get a preview of the level of competence of the coaching staff as well as the overall cultural tone of the gym. 

2. Tips To Improve Fitness

We all had to start somewhere. One of the secrets to retaining members is focusing on education. Share the secret sauce. You gain nothing by keeping your vast fitness knowledge to yourself. The most valuable application of that knowledge is to freely share it with your members in order to ensure they get the most out of each visit.

For instance, create videos that demonstrate proper form for each exercise. Get new members jump started by offering tips and workout programs to keep them motivated.  This campaign will aim to improve your check-ins, and grow your memberships.  

3. Membership Sale and Specials

Run a promotion for the first 25 people that visit the gym that day. The promotion depends on your monthly membership cost and the special you decide to run. For example, you can run 40% off memberships for the first month, or a particular dollar discount on a membership, classes, or gear (if you sell gear in a house). Evaluate your membership cost and provide a unique offer that will get people in the door. While we understand that cutting into your already tight margins is a difficult decision, the goal of this is to create new members. Once you have them in your system, you can focus on retaining them at full price.

4. Free Technique Workshop Once a Month

Use your website to create a landing page where non-members can sign in with their email to gain access to a free video with one of your instructors teaching a particular exercise. While you at first at seems you are giving away free instruction, you have the visitors' contact information (especially email) to continue to nurture the relationship over time. It will provide you with a nice segmented list of customers who are interested in learning more.

These customers have entered the buyer's journey within your sales funnel. They are in the "Awareness Stage." You need to provide them with the answers to the questions that first brought them to your site. From there, you provide content that moves the buyer through each of the stages to the "Decision Stage" where they become a customer.

First, they have to feel like they fit in to your community. Second, they need to understand the type of workouts your members perform. Finally, they need to know what makes your gym different.  This effort might seem like a lot of work for the gym, but it makes the difference between customers that are generally interested in fitness and wanting to sign up on the spot (by continuing these efforts you create advocates that send endless referrals your way). If they do not sign up right away, do not worry. You simply need to continue nurturing the relationship and stay consistent (without harassing or being annoying).

5. Offer a free class for new check-ins via Yelp or Facebook

According to Time.com, Americans check their mobile phones around 46 times per day, so why not take advantage of that and provide a free pass to new check-ins on Facebook and Yelp.  Promoting this offer on Facebook via an ad that targets mobile users will work to drive them down the sales funnel, ideally converting to become a member. Most people feel motivated and excited to workout at the end of a fitness class, and will be ready to take action right then. Moreover, you are able to get all of the referral traffic from that user's network as her check-in will show to all of her friends and family.

6. Free guest passes for a Google or Yelp Review

Google reviews look good when people are searching for a gym, and they also help your business rank higher in local SEO!  Even further, it influences the customer's decision to join. If you are short on Google or Yelp reviews, encourage your members to leave you reviews by providing them with a free 5-day guest pass for a friend.  This campaign will attract new business to your gym by giving new customers a taste of the culture and expertise of your staff.

7. Feature a Gym member

Featuring a member who works hard to reach their goals will inspire the rest of your members to maintain their efforts and work toward their goals.  A monthly or weekly member feature will serve as a motivation to keep guests checking into the gym. This campaign can also be featured on the website, and all social media profiles. Members will be encouraged, and happy to be part of a community that motivates them to do better.

Gym marketing strategies are not only about attracting new members but retaining current members as well. Customer retention is less expensive than acquiring new members, and more profitable over time.

8. FAQ and Unique Content Via Live Video Or Blog Post

Answer frequently asked questions on your website or through live streaming on your social media channels. Not only will these posts help with current members by reinforcing your expertise and educational culture, but it will also create a resource for your members to turn to for information. You can also create short videos answering these questions and post them on channels like Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. This is especially ideal for gyms that have a lot of technical workouts and machines where precise movements are essential to complete the workout.

FAQs are not the only questions to answer. You can also do research on keywords and most searched questions online, and answer them via a blog posts and video to attract more traffic to your website.  Members and non-members will have a resource of information that will help them take full advantage of the gym. This type of content also helps your website to rank for more keywords. Providing consistent, valuable content that is SEO-optimized will get more people to your site and in your doors.

Bonus Tips For Gym Marketing

  • Do not forget to include a call-to-action at the end of these videos and blog posts to capture information and use it to build an email list. This email list can be used to send valuable content via email and transform non-members to members.
  • An important to remember not try to sell, rather provide value, in order to help your audience reach their goals.  This approach will set you apart from your competition who do nothing but promote.

Climbing Gym Marketing: Improving Your Inbound Marketing

One of the biggest problems in climbing gym marketing is that their social media efforts do not bring them the results they expect. They take beautiful, interesting pictures for Instagram and Pinterest, but don't get traffic to the gym. This does not mean that the pictures are bad, it just means you need to make minor tweaks to your posts. Here is how:

Improve-climbing-gym-marketing

Write Good Descriptions

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but no one will find your picture without a description. If you are using social media solely for climbing gym marketing, your post needs to be keyword rich, but engaging. Don't just post a bunch of hashtags or keyword phrases, either. Write an interesting comment and include a strong call to action with every post.

Reply to Comments

It's not what you say, but how you say it. Once people find your pictures and comment on them, you need to take a moment to convince them to take the next step. This should be done naturally and uniquely. For example, don't write "Thanks for the like, visit us in person to see more." Instead, try something more personal, "Tammy, I'm glad you like the technique we are using. If you contact us, we can show you how to do it at the gym."

Include Links

Not everyone will want to pick up a phone to contact you. If you have a website, take advantage of it. Include a link to every picture. This will allow people to easily gather more information about you as a climbing gym, making them more prone to buy.

While taking one-of-a-kind photos or videos for social media is a great first step, it takes an effort to make the perfect inbound marketing campaign. To learn more techniques that can help your climbing gym grow, contact us today.


Video-Marketing

16 Video Marketing Production Statistics for 2016

Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. have made it clear and the fact is undeniable - Video has changed the way we interact with the world and market our businesses. We share links across social media and upload 6 billion hours of video to Youtube every month. That number doubles each year as we consume more and more video.

Video Marketing Statistics 2016

So what does that mean to you as a business owner, salesperson, or marketer? Let’s take a look: e video marketing statistics for 2016:

Video Marketing Statistics For 2016:

  1. Forrester, an authority on marketing data, published a report that states that video marketing has been proven to increase click-through rates in email by 300%
  2. Including video on your landing page will increase conversions by as much as 80%
  3. YouTube has reported that viewership has doubled every year
  4. The top 100 YouTube channels increased views by 110% in the past year reaching 14.7bn views in January alone
  5. Do you sell products online? 90% of customers find that video is a key factor in their decision process
  6. Do you focus on b2b marketing? 75% of c-suite execs watch work-related videos weekly
  7. 92% of video viewers share videos on mobile
  8. The Online Publishers Association has shown that 46% of viewers take an action after watching video - compare that with your current conversion rates
  9. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
  10. YouTube has over a billion users, ⅓ of people on the Internet
  11. The average YouTube viewing session on mobile is over 40 minutes
  12. More than 50% of video views come from mobile devices
  13. The first video uploaded (watch video below) to YouTube was Me At the Zoo, garnering 33,456,515 views as of this post
  14. ReelSEO reports that 76% of b2b marketers report a positive ROI on video
  15. Forbes states that 50% of execs seek more information after learning about a product or service through video
  16. Looking to increase time on site? Visitors that watch video spend twice as much time each session onsite

Video marketing production can be a difficult task because it requires technical skills and expensive equipment, but by creating a strategy and through concerted effort, many businesses have managed to create successful videos in-house. If you are interested in creating your own videos, check out our Video Marketing Roadmap.

Get the video marketing road map

HARNESS offers a unique approach to video marketing services and analytics. From video ads on social to unique videos for each stage of your sales funnel, we create a custom strategy, produce results-driven videos based on your target verticals and goals.  It does not stop there as it does with many video production companies. We also optimize and manage content distribution with deep analytics to guide your decision-making process.


Facebook Offers Ads Changes September 2016

Facebook Offers Ad Changes

Facebook recently revamped its “Offers’ program, now allowing retailers to offer coupons for discounts that are redeemable in-store or online for e-commerce platforms such as Shopify. Originally launched in 2012, Offers hasn’t had the success that Facebook originally intended. That is especially true when compared to its mobile ad platform that accounts for 84% of the organization’s revenue.

So what Do Facebook Offers Ad Changes Mean To Marketers?

Well, everyone obviously loves to find a bargain, and as advertisers do more to stand out they use discounts and promotions to attract new customers. Further, the end-user wants to be able to easily redeem these offers anywhere, and this new addition to the Offers program makes that easier for them to do so.

As mentioned above, there are two types of offers (in-store and online), which can be shared in two ways: either promoted with an ad or organically with a post on the retailer’s Facebook page. Ads will appear in the Facebook feed by making use of the social networks targeting tools pushing the offer to those most likely to purchase.

Do the new Offers additions work?

While we need more data to determine the true viability of these ads, preliminary information points toward success. Testing the revamped ads, online retailer Maurices saw a 31% increase in return on advertising spend. By promoting a $15 discount, the retailer was able to capture a wider audience and turn those users into customers.

Facebook is also offering a new, dedicated offers tab that allows users to view current and past offers in a single location on the business page. Users can also access all of the offers that they have claimed by viewing their bookmarked offers. Additionally, Facebook will serve helpful notifications regarding offers that have been claimed but not yet redeemed by the user in order to push them further toward making the purchase.

In the future, Facebook will allow discrete codes for different users or groups so that a business can segment its followers. For instance, if a certain group is more likely to purchase high ticket items then the retailer would interact with them different regarding offers. The new Offers are currently available.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

 

 


Climbing Gym Marketing: Turn Buyers Into Loyal Customers

Community building and goal programs are a fun climbing gym marketing strategy that both support current customers and turn day pass buyers into loyal customers. There's a lot of room to be creative in a program like this. Start by encouraging your employees to get involved. If they are excited, you'll soon find your customers following a suit.

Here are 4 steps to creating a climbing gym goal program:

Climbing Gym Marketing: Turn Buyers Into Loyal Customers

1. Climbing Gym Marketing: Get Started

Your first steps are to name your program and announce it both in-house and through your outbound marketing channels. Come up with a fun hashtag to promote on social. Then, print paper flyers, post notices around the gym, send an email to your segmented email list with all details to prompt customers to take action.

2. Foster Healthy Community Competition

Dedicate a wall or poster board to the program, and incorporate a way to show your climbers' progress. A 'mountain to climb' is a simple metaphor to turn into an image and makes it easy to post goals at different levels on the mountain. Give members cutouts to write their name on, or use photos, and pin them on the board at the appropriate levels. Including an 'encouragement' section where climbers can write supportive messages and tips keeps things fun and upbeat.

3. Create a Reward Based Goal Structure

Set and post goals based on beginner, intermediate, and advanced climbing levels. Or consider creating a personalized goal program for customers taking classes or working with trainers. Once a goal is met, reward your climbers with a small gift or a one-time discount. Depending on your gym there are so many fun prizes to offer, from power bars to water bottles, merchandise and membership fee discounts, even having their photo posted on a program wall or being featured in a social media post. Mix up discounts and gifts at varying goal levels to keep your climbers motivated.

Depending on your gym there are so many fun prizes to offer, from power bars to water bottles, merchandise and membership fee discounts, or having their photo posted on a program wall and getting featured in a social media post. Mix up discounts and gifts at varying goal levels to keep your climbers motivated.

4. Spread the Word Together

Now that you've created your program, it's time to encourage your members to share with their online community. All social posts, e-communications, and printed material (like signs, brochures, posted charts etc.) should include your gyms social icons and the program hashtag with a call to action.

Your website and appropriate digital advertising should clearly display easy ways to share information about the program, celebrate when goals are met, and encourage other program participants. Most importantly, keep inspiring your customers to push themselves and have fun!

Need a little more help devising and implementing your marketing strategy? Get in touch with HARNESS here.


Climbing Gym Marketing Strategy: Marketing Automation and Customer Segmentation

Utilizing Segmentation and Automation Workflows to Create Recurring Revenue for Your Gym

As the industry continues to grow at a projected rate of 13% this year, an increasing number of owners and general managers are developing their climbing gym marketing strategy.  That is not only to differentiate from the competition, but also to reach an audience that is mostly unaware of climbing. At one time, core climbers would provide the revenue needed to sustain a profitable operation.  However, as the industry becomes more saturated and gyms grow into larger, full-service facilities, gym owners will feel the pressure to find solutions that generate new business, maintain relationships with core climbers, and maximize potential share-of-wallet from each customer.

So how does a gym owner with limited resources accomplish what the big brands are doing with their marketing? The full answer is beyond the scope of this article, but we will break down some of the high-level strategies to help maximize potential revenue from each guest.

Segmentation

The most important climbing gym marketing strategy you must understand is knowing your audience in order to have a more personalized conversation. As our culture continues to push toward customer-centricity, we can no longer simply push promotions about products and services to a mass audience. That simply does not work. The sales process has changed and customers are using powerful resources to find and evaluate options for spending their expendable income. If you fail to have conversations at the individual level based on a customer’s unique needs, then you will fail to capture that customer’s interest.

Consider this, only around 20% of a gym’s revenue comes from core climbers, the guests that have experience and would find a place to climb whether or not your gym was in business. The remaining 80% consists of varying personality types and interests, but our research has shown that most of these individuals fit into two categories: fitness-minded adults and youth guests.

Fitness-minded Adults - in many cases these are individuals that already hold a gym membership to a traditional gym, CrossFit gym, yoga studio, or other specialized training such as Pilates. They tend to be relatively affluent, educated, and resourceful. They also have a decent size social circle with which they share opinions and give referrals. For them, climbing presents an option to either supplement or replace more traditional (boring) workouts.

In the video below, we spoke with a great example of this type of guest. They love climbing and consider themselves to be somewhat “outdoorsy” people that like to hike. They also take their fitness seriously ,so they work out at traditional gyms regularly. They like climbing because it “does not feel like working out.” They are able to hang out, socialize, and get a workout over a couple of hours without ever feeling the boredom that comes with activities such as running on a treadmill.

Youth Guests - in many cases these kids already have multiple activities that they participate in. Often they find climbing because of hearing about it from friends. These kids are frequently not inclined to participate in more traditional team sports (or “ball sports” such as football, basketball, etc.) and find that climbing presents them with the opportunity to set and accomplish individual goals, build confidence and character, and to socialize with a team if they are part of a gym’s youth programs.

Your gym’s guest may vary based on your location. For instance, if you live in a mountain town the percentage of core climbers may be higher. In most cases, these ratios represent the average (even in the UK).

Once you understand these customer types, or personas, you are able to create content that speaks to their needs better than if you simply email your whole list with the same information about promotions and events. You should speak to individuals as people rather than yelling at your whole list through a megaphone. How do you do that in a way that is efficient in regard to both budget and time? The answer: marketing automation workflows.  Once you have properly segmented your customers this is the secret sauce that powers your climbing gym marketing strategy.

Automated Workflows

Let’s start with a quick primer on marketing automation. Automation is a great way to engage customers and future customers individually based on their exhibiting a series of behaviors. For instance, if someone came to our website and checked out our Inbound Marketing page multiple times, then we know that that person is likely interested in learning more. If that person has already subscribed to our list by providing their email in exchange for a piece of content, then we can automatically cater the information we send to them to focus on inbound marketing. Our system is designed to automatically segment customers into workflows that pertain to their exhibited interests.

As referenced above, a workflow is a series of events that take place based on if/then logic. For example,“If a customer visits the inbound page three times, then enter them into the inbound marketing workflow.” That workflow would include a series of emails that makes them aware of what inbound marketing entails, educates them on various facets of the methodology, and finally describes what makes us different from other marketing agencies. That process nurtures a relationship with a visitor being a stranger to an educated potential customer. Remember that “educated” part; it will be important later.

So after establishing your gym’s segments, you can create workflows that walk a customer through to a goal that you establish. A good example would be helping a day pass buyer to become a member. When you consider that most sales require three to five touch points before a future customer takes action, then you should design your workflow accordingly.

Establish Goals

Imagine you want to send all of the 50 North American classics in Steck and Ropers book in one year. You would need to establish short-term and long-term goals in order to accomplish this. Even the logistics of getting to each location would require some goal setting and prioritizing. Successful marketing automation is no different in this regard.

You must first establish what you want your user to accomplish through your workflow. Do you want them to sign up for a membership or enroll in your classes? Are you hoping to fill out your yoga classes with more guests? Would you like more members to attend your upcoming events? All of these present concrete goals that are possible to accomplish with automation.

Thus, you have first established your customer segments above and then set goals for each segment. Now you can move on to doing the work of creating the content and designing the emails.

Educating Guests

Like it or not, you are in the business of education. Guests will look to you to be an authority on climbing and present resources that will help them to dive into their newly acquired climbing hobby/lifestyle. Workflows present an excellent opportunity to establish yourself as a resource, build relationships, and maintain trust with guests.

While the ultimate goal of your workflow may be to get day pass buyers to become members, your focus should be on educating them about the sport and helping them to learn the basics of climbing. That way, next time they come to the gym they won’t pump out by pulling themselves up the wall gorilla-style. If climbing is more enjoyable, they are more likely to stick with it. Simple right?

We have had a lot of success by using videos in our emails. Immediately after someone comes in on a day pass, we send them a video that demonstrates how to climb with straight arms in order to avoid getting pumped and having sore forearms for days. A few days later we send them a video on the basics of footwork. After waiting for a few days, the workflow sends them a membership offer. If they reach our goal of buying a membership, they are removed from the workflow. If not, we continue with more emails focused on climbing tips and follow up with another offer. Typically we see around 10-13% click-through rates on these emails, while the industry average click-through rate is around 1-2%.

Keeping Your Lists Up to Date

Getting your list into your automation software can prove difficult unless you have an API in place that syncs customer information from your point of sale system with your email platform. If you are using Rock Gym Pro, you will need to manually export and upload your list to your automation software on a regular interval (weekly is ideal). That is done in order to reach customers at a time when the information is still relevant. If a guest climbed with a day pass a month ago and had not visited your gym again since, they are not likely to care about your climbing tips. Wouldn’t it be better to reach them just days after they climbed at your gym and your brand is still fresh in their mind?

Measuring Success

Recently, Rock Gym Pro made it possible to track conversions using Google Analytics. That is an excellent addition to the software and is critical to your digital marketing efforts. This will also be important to measuring the success of your workflows. By using UTM codes, it is possible to track the source of traffic from each email. Later, you can trace the path of those visitors through your site to conversion (using the conversion event available from Rock Gym Pro) with your analytics software.

Further, you should pay close attention to the open rate and click-through rates of each email in your workflow. If some of your emails are experiencing low click-throughs then it is likely that you need to either update your copy or another aspect of the content. This may require some experimentation to optimize each email to have the biggest impact on sales - that is part of the fun though!

Bring it Together For a Complete Climbing Gym Marketing Strategy

Although the overall strategy is somewhat straightforward, the implementation process takes some time to set up. The good news? It only needs to be set up once. It can be tweaked from there.

So start by understanding your customer segments. Next, establish a single goal for your workflow. Then you create the content that will be promoted with your workflow. Finally, pay close attention to your metrics in order to determine the success of each campaign.

Would you like more information on marketing your climbing gym? To see more posts in our series click on the button below.




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