Why Small Businesses Need to Embrace Digital Marketing

Almost half of all businesses don't have a digital marketing plan in place. Is your company among them?

If so, you need to make some moves. Small business digital marketing is essential for scaling your business in 2018. Advertising is on its way out, and digital marketing is taking the world by storm.

Want to learn more about digital marketing for small businesses, and how to create an effective online marketing plan? Read on to learn more about the importance of digital marketing strategies for small businesses.

It's the Way of the Future

83% of businesses report that their digital marketing tactics are working to grow their business. There's no denying that we live in a digital economy today. Smartphones are so pervasive that people spend 24 hours per week staring at their phone.

In the twenty-first century, you'll find people on digital outlets more than anywhere else. In the past, car passengers would certainly read bus stop benches as they zoomed past on the highway. Now, they stay occupied by the phones in their pockets.

Same goes for other popular forms of advertising, like newspapers, for instance. Every major news outlet has an app now, so people turn to their phones to get the latest news. It's easy, digestible, and usually free.

Even magazines are turning more and more toward digital publication. You'll find fewer places to place print ads in 2018. Those ads won't get beneath nearly as many people's eyes as digital strategies, either.

Connect with Your Ideal Client

One of the most potent uses of digital marketing strategies is to connect you to your ideal client. Digital marketing offers ways to market directly toward the exact demographic you're trying to target. Traditional advertising methods don't allow this direct targeting method.

Here's a social media marketing example. On Instagram, you can find hashtags that your ideal clients are searching on the app. Once you see these hashtags, you can begin to use them on your posts to reach that demographic.

Here's another example relevant to content marketing. By writing a blog and hosting it on your website, you can attract organic leads that are interested in what you have to say.

With some light research, you'll be able to find the questions your client base is asking online. From there, you can even tailor your blog topics to answer those questions directly. With some search engine optimization, this can land your potential clients right onto your website.

Your Small Business Digital Marketing Plan

Digital marketing is the only way to scale your business in 2018. As old traditional advertising methods die out, small business digital marketing has become a much stronger alternative. It's also the best way to reach your target demographic directly.

Want to learn more about how to dive into online marketing for small businesses? We can help there.

We specialize in inbound and video marketing, two of the most significant branch of digital marketing today. Get in touch to find out how we can help you scale your business!


Video Marketing

How Can Health Care Providers Incorporate Video into Their Marketing

When looking at some social media sites, you will come across everything from 'homemade' cell phone videos of patients and procedures, to just a slideshow of still (stock) photos with generic music in the background.

If healthcare professionals want to capture potential patients attention, they need to be effective with their presentation style.

It's common for someone to ask a friend for a recommendation to a dentist or doctor and word-of-mouth is the absolute best advertising. The crucial point is when the person getting the recommendation goes to search out the care provider to find out more information. The health professional only has one choice for a first impression when potential clients get to their website or social media page. Using quality video content is one key way of creating a positive impression (no pun intended).

Going to the doctor is a not-so-pleasant experience for some people, so they need reassurance that they are in the hands of professional and caring people. A quality video will portray precisely what the potential patient needs to see to feel comfortable picking up the phone to call for an appointment.

Here are some critical facts about video marketing:

  • 70% of marketing professionals report that video converts better than any other medium
  • The average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video than without.
  • 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. - Forbes
  • A successful video campaign is just one aspect of an overall marketing and relationship-building strategy. As a health professional, you are an absolute expert in your field, having spent hundreds of hours studying and learning your art. The one thing that is not taught in medical colleges is how to market yourself. This is where you need to seek out a professional who has spent their time studying their field of marketing. Partnering with a consulting firm that has a successful track record will benefit your practice immensely.

Here are some areas where videos can be successful:

  • A promotional video that explains who you are and what you do. A smiling, confident face goes a long way in making someone comfortable. If you have a team practice, then that video should show you as a team.
  • A virtual tour that shows what your facility looks like, highlighting any new technology along with anything that helps make the patient experience that much more comfortable. You can even include short clips of some simple procedures; something that sets you apart.
  • Patient testimonials that communicate your practices value, expertise and professionalism. Word of mouth is the best advertising and having real people give favorable testimony will go a long way to building confidence in a potential patient.
  • Stand out from the competition by adding a video to your business listing in online directories
  • Partnering with a professional consulting firm makes it simple to accomplish these goals.

Some of the other, finer points of videos in marketing include:

  • Using videos to drive traffic to your website/social media. Search engines love video, and with proper video SEO, you can use video to drive lots of traffic to your site.
  • Use targeted keywords when titling and tagging your videos
  • Create a variety of videos, each focusing on a different search term
  • Use multiple video sharing sites to increase links back to your main website - Lifewire

As pointed out earlier, video is just one aspect of a successful marketing program. Tying in all of the other tools available with professionally produced videos will ensure that your practice attracts new patients and continues to grow.

You can download our free e-book "Video Marketing Road Map" to give you an idea of what we can help you accomplish in your practice. You can contact us for more information or with any questions.


5 Ways to Use Video to Better Your Social Media Marketing

According to Social Media Today, video posts on Facebook have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts. Videos yield crazy engagement on social platforms...and there’s no slowing down. More people are consuming videos from their mobile devices at alarming rates, so it’s critical you position your brand to capitalize on this movement.

Adding video to your social media marketing offers huge benefits such as increased brand exposure, better follower engagement, and more opportunities to drive traffic to your web pages. Your audience will appreciate the variety you bring to their newsfeeds while giving an alternate approach to engaging in your content.

So, give the people what they want more—video!

Five different ways to incorporate video into your social media marketing

#1 Your Story is Important. Share it!

Storytelling is a time-tested tactic that works great at pulling your audience into your brand message. People connect with you through your story. It helps you establish common ground with your followers, making you relatable and real. Stories also separate you from other brands which give you that competitive edge in the industry.

Humanize your brand by communicating its story on video. Delve into the “why.” Who do you desire to inspire and what problems are you solving through your products? What charitable contributions do you make to your community? Share what motivates your team to get up and go every morning. Sharing your story will add greater meaning and purpose when people do business with you.

#2 Offer Short Instructional Videos for Your Followers

An excellent move to promote your brand with social video is to create short, instructional videos demonstrating how your products can be used to solve a problem for the viewer. How-to videos are beneficial because you’re showing people how to achieve a specific result. As a result, you’ll keep viewers engaged while strategically placing your brand in front of your social following.

Reduce your video to the most basic steps of the process then speed up your video in production (editing), so it only lasts for about 30 seconds. These social video snippet can be product-related or simply something relevant to your niche. The beauty is they quickly solve a pain point for users.

#3 Answer Questions

Consider the FAQs that often hit your inboxes or are typically prompted by your prospects. These are excellent content pieces for your blog, email campaign, social media posts, and of course, videos. You see, you’re giving the people exactly what they want because these inquiries derived from your audience. By addressing their questions, you’ll boost thought-leadership and be viewed as an expert in the industry. Plus, it gives you endless content to share across your marketing platforms.

Enhance your credibility by posting videos that highlight one question then offers an in-depth response. Since many social users are leveraging search as a way to connect and discover new brands, be sure to include keywords or hashtags that your audience is actively searching for. Whereas hashtags reign on networks like Instagram and Twitter, keywords perform better on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.

#4 Go Live!

Live-streaming platforms such as Facebook Live, Periscope, and Instagram Stories are driving tons of engagement on social media. There’s something special about connecting with someone in real-time. People get to see and experience the real you! Live videos quickly build trust and can accelerate your brand’s presence fast on social media.

Use these tools to your full advantage. Invite followers into your world by taking them behind-the-scenes at the office, in the field, or company event to share a taste of your brand’s culture. Host live Q&A sessions where you give your audience a chance to ask you anything industry or product related to getting on-the-spot responses. Report breaking news and share your insight and opinion of the matter...give your followers a chance to do the same to foster conversations.

Commit to making live-streaming a regular content strategy in your social media marketing. With consistency, you’ll experience a significant boost in engagement and followership.

#5 Highlight Fan Content

Did you know that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation? Positive testimonials and reviews are killer ways to foster trust with your audience especially those who haven’t heard of you before. Prospects want to see if your products or services genuinely bring results. Sharing others experiences with your brand is a great way to show it!

With that said, use your fan’s content as a form of an online review. User-generated content can be creatively compiled into one video as a promotional tool or multiple videos to build up your content vault. Give users credit by mentioning them in the post. Growing this strategy can prove to be a valuable tactic in your inbound marketing as you highlight your customers and give social proof that you’re making a difference.

Don’t Get Left Behind

The numbers and stats prove that people enjoy videos on social media. Its popularity has caused brands to tailor their social strategy accordingly to meet the demands of today’s consumer. Use these tips to better your social media marketing and give the people what they want!

Ready to amplify your social media marketing with video? We know how to create compelling video marketing campaigns that humanize your brand and gives you the slight edge. Reach out to us today and let’s chat!


7 Steps to Building an Amazing Patient-Nurturing Workflow

7 Steps to Building an Amazing Patient-Nurturing Workflow

Just as a marketing strategy is essential for any entrepreneur, it is equally vital for healthcare providers such as doctors, dentists or orthodontists. The power of building a robust patient-nurturing workflow serves to increase engagement, improve care, save staff time and increase your client base.

With just a few simple steps, you can take advantage of powerful tools to be more efficient with your email marketing, getting the right messages to the right people at the right time.

The Seven Steps

1. Set goals

Determine your objectives for your email campaign. Is it to inform patients about new services? To provide appointment reminders to improve attendance? Is it to inform and enhance compliance with treatment recommendations? Is it to improve outreach and bring in new patients? As you identify multiple objectives dependent on the patient type, then you can move to the next step where you will narrow your focus for each group.

2. Target your audience

For each goal, there is an intended target audience. Creating a list of criteria for inclusion into the group helps determine placement. Some patients will belong to the group who receive personalized appointment reminders, while another group gets a newsletter about ongoing care and specials on cosmetic procedures. Sometimes these lists will overlap, and other times they will be separate. This is all part of getting the right information to the right people. Laying the groundwork is a critical piece predicting the future success of your workflow.

3. Map your content

Determine what content you will deliver, what you intend to accomplish with this piece and when you will provide it. Thinking about the examples above, the patient who gets appointment reminders might need them when they set the appointment, a week ahead of time and again the day before the meeting. For the patient receiving your newsletter offering a special on cosmetic procedures, perhaps you want to send the first notice three months before the winter holidays and then again monthly as a reminder before party season begins.

4. Compose emails

Be intentional with the message you send and consider that when you compose the email. For each type of patient, you will focus the content of the message and end with a specific call to action. Perhaps that call to action is for the patient to confirm, cancel or reschedule an appointment. Or, it is a link to learn more about a procedure and an invitation schedule a consultation. Decide here what the message will say, how many times to distribute it and what the desired outcome is.

5. Set workflow rules

You don't want to inundate patients with emails, so carefully setting up rules will prevent this. Workflow rules can specify who receives an email batch and when they receive it, but can also exclude patient groups or certain days or times. If your office is closed on Friday afternoons, you don't want to send an email with a call to action that prompts a patient to schedule via phone and no one is there to respond. Likewise, the patient who has weekly orthodontist visits might lose an important appointment reminder if they are also receiving the email about a cosmetic procedure that they do not qualify for at this time.

6. Go live

After the pre-work is completed, turn the workflow and start collecting data!

7. Analyze and improve

Analyze the data and make changes where needed. Are you meeting the goals? What is your click-through rate? What is your conversion rate? Do you see an improvement in adherence? Watch how the workflow performs and prepare to make changes. Change the subject line, the offer, the frequency or the call to action and analyze the impact.

It’s the 9-1-1 for Marketing 4-1-1

At HARNESS, email workflow is just one of the services we offer to improve your marketing campaigns, expand your business and increase your exposure. Contact us to learn more about creating a patient-nurturing workflow that will help your practice.


4 Unique Ways to Boost Website Traffic Using Video Marketing

One of the most common challenges businesses face in digital marketing is driving visitors to their web pages (Source: Hubspot). Traffic generation is the start of any successful inbound marketing campaign; the more quality visits you have, the more opportunities created for lead conversions and sales.

Video marketing has proven to increase website visitors, foster engagement, and elicit users to action. Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs). This is huge considering search is a top tool for consumers to locate brands and find solutions to problems.

If you’re seeking ways to drive more people to your web pages or want to amplify your video marketing, here are four unique tactics for boosting website traffic using video in your digital strategy.

 

#1 Leverage Video in Your Email Marketing

A video is the fastest way to communicate quickly with your audience. And since they increase engagement and conversions, it makes sense to use video in your email marketing campaigns to create optimal results.

Your email strategy is crucial to converting leads into customers and customers into raving fans of your brand. It’s a top channel for increasing revenue, therefore, using tools that improve list engagement is vital to your overall business goals.

Use the following tips to leverage video in your email marketing and promote traffic generation:

  • Reduce customer service cases by creating FAQ videos versus text. Add the video in your email message and mention the full-length website or blog post link for more detailed instructions
  • Repurpose a favorite blog content into a video series, using each subheading as a new video. Create an email campaign around this topic, sharing a video daily over a period. Include the blog link in each email for recipients to obtain the original article
  • Using the word “video” in your email subject line has been proven to increase open-rates
  • Share customer testimonials with your subscribers. It’s an excellent way to foster trust and get new leads to do business with you
  • Practice email segmentation to send personalized, tailored content to your recipients that speaks directly to their needs and interests. This is one of the best ways to increasing open-rates, clicks and shares

 

#2 Include a Video on Your Landing Pages

Videos are persuasive and authentic. It draws viewers into your message, quickly building trust and establishing common ground. This is why videos are ideal for your landing page content.

How does this relate to traffic generation? Wordstream notes that having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on the first page of the SERP for your keyword. Many consumers are experiencing your brand for the first time on search. Introducing your business via video creates trust and ways for people to connect with you.

Do a split test of your landing pages, having a video on one and full text on the other. Measure your results to discover which is producing favorable outcomes concerning traffic and lead conversions. In the video, be sure to state a clear call-to-action that tells viewers to opt-in and what they can expect in return.

 

#3 Post How-To Videos on Social Media

Another way of boosting website traffic using video is through instructional content. How-to videos perform exceptionally well on social media. Typically, these videos need to be short (about 30 seconds long) to keep your followers engaged. Doing product demonstrations or illustrating how to achieve a specific result on your audience highlights your brand as an authority and go-to source in the industry.

Produce a series of how-to videos to edit for social media. The goal is not to sell your product but demonstrate its uses, so viewers understand the benefits and features. You want to boost your credibility and the value you bring to newsfeeds.

Additionally, address common problems in your niche. Show followers a better way of reaching a result by demonstrating the process on video.

 

#4 Optimize YouTube Videos for SEO

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine, boasting 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users. With only 9% of U.S. small businesses using this medium to reach their audience, there is an excellent opportunity to separate your brand from competitors and get in front of your consumers. This is a unique channel to increase website traffic using video because viewers are more likely to follow instructions from video than other sources.

The key, however, is leveraging YouTube SEO tactics to boost visibility.

Here are a few pointers to optimizing your video content to rank on YouTube:

  • Optimize your title by including your longtail keyword. Make it descriptive by mentioning the benefit viewers will gain from the video. If feasible, try to have your keyword as close to the beginning of the title as possible
  • Create a full description, naturally sprinkling your keyword throughout. Be sure to add your website or blog post link to access your content easily
  • Encourage engagement in your video. Ask viewers to subscribe,like, and click. These are key ingredients to improving your overall video SEO
  • Make your video awesome. Follow an outline, so you hit on your major key points and avoid rambling. It’s important to get to your topic quickly to keep people on your video...another factor for SEO
  • We can help you create amazing videos that get in front of your audience, captures attention, and entices viewers to take action. Reach out to us here to discover how we can help amplify your video campaigns.

 

Conclusion

Implement these tactics to being increasing website traffic using video marketing. Not only will you experience a surge in site visitors, but you’ll also notice a boost in engagement and conversions. The benefits (and results) are too compelling to ignore!


Gym Marketing

Gym Marketing: Attract New Members with Helpful Tools

Gym Marketing

 

The fitness industry is more competitive than it has ever been. Society has been on a fitness addiction of self-improvement promoting. Leading to an increased demand for fitness products and services. With service demands booming, fitness brands and businesses have had no issues with drawing people to their services. The challenging dilemma business owners now face in the fitness industry is keeping customer engagement in their brand. Competitors will happily steal customers away when customers begin to lose interest. The secret to inspiring continuous customer interaction with your brand is compelling content in gym marketing.

 

Credible Content

Content marketing helps you reach potential clients in beneficial, intriguing ways. It opens the platform of not only telling clients why they should take a look at your brand but why they should keep coming back as well. The content needs original information, genuine, authentic, educational, and make people feel they can trust your business. Delivering credible content will influence the vital part of developing emotional connections and strengthen your reputation. Not only will customers remain involved with your business but they motivate them to share your brand information with contacts as well. Outsourcing reliable content through content marketing is achievable in numerous ways.

  • Blogs
  • Videos
  • News Coverage
  • Demonstrations
  • Product Testing
  • Reports
  • Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is an essential tool to make your gym marketing stand out from the rest. It advertises what your brand offers with little effort. It supports friendly customer service by helpfully making information available to anyone. Not only will inbound marketing attract new customers but it will convince previous customers to remain immersed in your business too. An enabler for successful inbound marketing is sticking with credible content. Take advantage of the opportunity to make content fun and exciting. Integrate your brand's content into useful inbound marketing tools.

  • Social Media
  • Mobile Website Access
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Promotional Emails
  • Ebooks
  • Flyers
  • Friendly Connections

Potential customers are serious about finding a fitness facility that makes them feel welcomed and supported during their fitness journey. Offering a sales pitch with conditional attachments will send mixed messages and discourage potential members from your brand. Encouraging a friendlier feel for your brand will keep people engaged and inspire emotional connections. Emotional connections persuade customers to remain loyal. Friendly and passionate relations start with first impressions. First impressions for your business are often found in the business’s content and marketing. This only enforces why making content credible is crucial for keeping customers engrossed with your brand.

 

Take Away

The brands in the fitness industry are experiencing difficulties in keeping people involved because of high rising competition. This does not mean your business will drown in the rivalry pool. Influential gym marketing can set the standards for why customers remain faithful to your brand. Contact us today for more information!


Video Marketing Best Practices

A Crash Course in Video Marketing Best Practices

Video Marketing Best Practices

Video marketing has become one of the most important tactics for businesses today. Majority of B2Cs have already started producing videos for their brands. Data shows they see impressive returns on this investment.

In some cases, conversion rates increase 80 percent after adding videos to landing pages, an EyeView Digital study found.

Results aren't guaranteed, however. You need to follow video marketing best practices and avoid common pitfalls if you want to be successful. One of the biggest mistakes brands make is by creating a video with no clear audience and, thus, no real purpose.

The first thing you need to do when you're embarking on a video marketing campaign is to make sure you understand your audience.

 

Look at the Numbers

Use data to hone your audience targeting. Even if you already have a buyer persona, it's a good idea to flesh out details with customer data you've collected. There are some places you can check, depending on the digital marketing channels you use, like Google Analytics, email marketing and automation tools, YouTube Analytics, and social media.

Here is some of the data you should be looking at:

1. Location

Where does your audience live? Are they spread across the United States, or do you have a concentration of customers in one region (Southwest, Northeast, West Coast) that you can hone your message to?

2. Gender

Do you have an even split of males and females? More males? More females? This will help guide your messaging and approach in the videos.

3. Age

What age group does your brand attract? If you have more Millennials, you may need to take a more casual or humorous approach to get their attention than you would with an audience of Gen Y, or Baby Boomers.

4. Device

Are your customers coming to your website on a desktop device, a smartphone, or a tablet? This might seem inconsequential at first, but it offers important insights on the environment people are in while watching your video and how long they will spend watching it.

5. First time or returning visitors

Is your audience mostly first-time visitors, who are discovering your brand for the first time? Or are you getting a majority of returning visitors? This breakdown has a huge impact on your approach to video marketing because these groups expect very different information.

 

Learn what they want

To get a sense of what your customers want from a video -the type, the tone -try to glean some insights from what you already know they like.

Identify the content that's generated the most audience interest in the past. Conduct a content drill down in Google Analytics to see what pages and posts have:

  • The most visitors
  • The lowest bounce rates
  • The lowest exit rates
  • The best time-on-site metrics

Look for any common threads among these articles. Is there one topic that consistently performs well? Do you see a difference in results when content has a conversational or formal tone?

Then, evaluate which types of content attract the most visitors:

  • Blog articles that tell them how to do something or explain a process
  • 'About us' section to learn about the team
  • Product pages to look at your inventory

These are clues about what your audience prefers and the information they are most interested in.

 

Conduct Competitive Analysis

Identify a competitor with a target audience similar to yours, who you think is creating compelling videos. Do some sleuthing to find out what is working for them, and if they have any ideas, you can borrow as you launch your video marketing strategy.

Here are two ways to do this:

1. Look at social metrics on the website

Some companies posts videos on their websites and the data on these pages can be useful. See if they have social media icons that show how many times the posts have been shared, and find the most widely-distributed video. This is a good indicator that viewers liked the content enough to pass along. Take note of the title, the type of video, the length, the tone, and the content as examples of what your audience enjoys.

2. Look at YouTube

If competitors post videos on YouTube, you can look at their Channel and see which videos are the most popular. Find the videos with the most plays, as well as Likes and comments.

Again, find any common denominators in their most-successful versus least-successful videos. Are they longer or shorter? Animated or live-action? Featuring one person or featuring multiple people?

This should paint a clearer picture of the likes and dislikes of your audience (or at least a demographic very similar to your customers).

 

Ask your audience

The most straightforward way to make sure you understand your audience is to ask them questions. Conduct customer interviews to learn about:

  • What they like
  • What they find useful
  • What they want more or less of
  • The information they still want from you
  • The information they wish they had when making a purchase decision

Once you have gathered all of these insights, you should be armed with plenty of data to make videos tailored precisely to your target audience.

Do you want to learn more about creating videos that will help your brand stand out? Contact us to talk about a strategy that can help your business drive conversions online.


Why You Need An Inbound Marketing Agency

 

With inbound marketing being the most effective strategy for growing your brand online, it is crucial that your business is focusing on and adequately executing each of the incoming components to achieve optimal results. They must be fully operating to reap the rewards of generating quality traffic, leads, and sales for your business.

However, this can prove challenging for some brands. Not having the time to create ongoing content, overwhelmed by all the different strategies and how to manage them, and unsure where to begin in online marketing are all common obstacles that some businesses face with implementing inbound marketing. If any of these hurdles hit home, hiring an inbound marketing agency is your solution.

In fact, check out these four reasons why your brand should strongly consider an inbound marketing agency to help improve your online strategy:

Leverage the Experts

Online marketing techniques are always changing. What works today in SEO, for example, may not work tomorrow. Instead of trying to keep up with the trends, leverage the expertise of an inbound agency that knows of the latest marketing techniques. They know what’s working in online marketing and what’s not. Use their knowledge to your advantage so you can focus on what you do best in your business.

Enhance Your Content Strategy

The key to a solid content marketing strategy is aligning your content with your ultimate business goals. If you consistently find your team struggling with content ideas an inbound marketing agency will help you get a clear picture of the brand's goals and target audience so that you’ll never run out of ideas of what content to share.

Eliminate Paralysis by Analysis

Because there are so much information and plenty of internet marketing strategies you can implement, some companies get stuck in trying to decide which techniques to use, what to do next, or what tools to deploy and so forth. Your inbound marketing agency will know which online tactics and marketing automation tools that are best for your unique business goals and objectives.

Bottom Line, Get Results!

You've spent a lot of money on your websites, yet your pages are not generating any traffic or leads. You're not even showing up on the organic searches in Google! It’s simply time for you to get results. Every day that you wait in trying to figure it out, you miss opportunities for leads, sales, and new customers. Contact us today for a consultation on how you can get to your next level and create the results you deserve!


Gym Marketing Advice: Differentiation In Fitness Business

In a crowded field competing for Americans' disposable income, how can your gym marketing or fitness center stand out from the crowd? With nearly 100,000 gyms and fitness centers of all stripes in the United States, what will draw potential members to your gym and more importantly, keep them there?

With the high turnover rate in gym memberships, differentiating yourself from your competitors is vital to attracting new members. This holiday season, with resolution time just around the corner, is the perfect time to learn how properly made and promoted videos are a key to attracting dedicated members to your gym.

Differentiation-in-the-Fitness-Business

What Makes Your Gym Special?

The first step in determining how you are going to make your gym stand out from the morass is to understand why your gym should stand out. What features about your gym will make is special to potential members? Is it the equipment? The hours? The people? The location?

Actually, according to a 2014 survey, the top reason people gave for joining and sticking with their gym was the convenient location (50 percent). Ranking second at 38 percent was the equipment.

Of course, the reasons people go to and stick with a gym are as varied as the number of members of the gym. The CreditDonkey survey also found 44 percent of respondents said they go to the gym with another person, so having a workout buddy is key to sustaining membership. The survey even found that 30 percent of respondents don't even break a sweat at the gym because they are too busy chatting with their friends to get started with their workout.

All of this is just food for thought as you think about how to market your gym as a different alternative. Do you need to highlight your location? Your friendly staff? Your discount family or buddy plans? Your superior equipment? All of these can be great marketing tools if your potential customers can find out about them.

Who Are You Targeting?

That brings us to the second question you need to address. Who are you targeting as your potential customers? Do you feel like your membership is too young? Too old? Not diverse enough? Are you a women-only facility? A rock-climbing facility? A yoga studio?

If you think building a gym membership means attracting the 24-35 crowd, you might be surprised to learn the average gym member is in their early 40s. Older members tend to be more stable as they are settled into their community, have greater disposable income and stick to a fitness commitment more than their younger counterparts.

Once you've considered your selling points and your target audience, you're ready to get to work in producing what will most likely become a series of marketing videos.

More Than Just a Video on YouTube

The rise in the quality of cell phone cameras has turned everyone into a photographer and videographer. If you have the budget, a professional can contribute great ideas to enhance your marketing, but if you need to save the money, you can produce good content with the help of your staff and members.

Once you've produced the videos you believe will sell your facility to your potential customers, you still face the challenge of getting them seen. Just loading them to your website or YouTube makes no guarantee your target audience will find them.

Getting your video to stand out on the Internet is an even greater challenge than getting your gym to stand out in your community. Search Engine Watch points out that video has exploded on the Internet in recent years, so creating a video that will catch attention on Internet search engines is a constant challenge. And while Search Engine Watch offers you tips to make your video more appealing, keeping up with the ever-changing search engine optimization standards is more than you as a gym owner have time to keep up with.

Taking care of that headache is our responsibility. We have experts in video production, website development and search engine optimization that will ensure your customers will find your videos and more importantly, your gym or fitness center. Contact us to learn how we can make your marketing efforts stand out from a competitive field.

Are you ready to find out how to get your marketing in shape? Check out our Gym Marketing Guidebook.


Inbound Marketing to Ensure Customers Find Your SaaS Business (Part 1)

You have the idea. You have the expertise to put the package together. You even are entering into one of the hottest fields of business. Now, you just need to learn how to find customers in need of your software as a service company.

Since you're targeting a tech-savvy field, you need to be where they can find you. According to Forbes magazine, public cloud-based business is expected to grow at a robust 19.4% annually with revenues to reach $141 billion by 2019. Those kinds of projections also mean opportunists will be flocking to the field, increasing competition for your business. Inbound marketing is the best way for you to ensure customers find you in the burgeoning SaaS business.

In this two-part blog series, we'd like to give you a quick primer on why inbound marketing can benefit your SaaS company and in the second part start you thinking about how you can stand out to your potential customers.

What Is Inbound Marketing?

Plain and simple, inbound marketing is how you find customers among those who come searching for you. Well, maybe they are not literally looking for you, but they are looking for someone who can do what you do to help them do what they do.

Put another way, your potential customer has a need or a problem, what marketers call a pain point. When they have this pain point, what are they going to do? In today's technological market, they are going to go to the Internet searching for a solution to their pain point. You are the person with that solution, so they need to be able to find you, then believe that you are the best person to solve their pain.

Inbound marketing works by positioning you to be found by the most potential customers who have a similar pain point and need your solution.

How Does Inbound Marketing Succeed for Software Businesses?

Inbound marketing works by looking at your potential customer base with a funnel approach. A funnel is wide at the top and narrows down as it gets closer to delivering the goods where they belong. A funnel approach to marketing is one that casts a wide net at the top where potential customers can learn about you and your service. Once the customers become interested, the marketing becomes more targeted to convince them to advance further into the funnel to learn how your service solves their pain point, ultimately turning that potential customer into a money-paying customer.

Inbound marketers first cast that wide net by ensuring your company is positioned to be found by anyone who has a certain pain point that your company can solve. Inbound marketers do this by understanding your potential customers, knowing their pain points and ensuring when they search for a solution, your business stand out among the search results. This is called search engine optimization.

Because Internet search engines always are trying to give their customers the best results, they constantly change how they judge content to ensure the best results. As a busy executive, you don't have time to keep up with those changes, but an inbound marketing company can do that. Marketers must understand such language as keywords, long string keywords, video matrix, etc. to ensure your content stays at the top of the search engines' results.

Casting the net is just the first part of the inbound marketing approach. The next steps involve capturing those potential customers' attention and convincing them your company offers the best solution to their pain point(s). In the next blog post, we'll talk about how you can help with an inbound marketing campaign by thinking about who your potential customers are and how you can offer them the best solution to their pain point.

Contact us if you'd like to learn more about the intricacies of inbound marketing and how it is the best solution for SaaS companies seeking to expand their customer base.