If you’re a fitness brand, content marketing is now essential for building brand awareness, inspiring your audience, and generating leads. Here, we’ll look at trends in the fitness sector and explore various content strategies to strengthen your business.
Define Your Target Market and USP
To attract customers and drive long-term sales, you need to create ultra-focused content that caters to the right audience. Whether you’re targeting experienced instructors, running enthusiasts, novice swimmers, or gadget geeks, you need to know your primary audience and then define your unique selling proposition (USP). Answer the following:
- What is your mission?
- Who is your ideal client?
- What specific services do you provide?
- What makes you better than other brands?
- Why should your audience choose you over the competition?
Have the answers? You can now create a strong USP that will help potential customers quickly understand why your business is right for them. Your USP is the foundation on which to build your content strategy.
Write Helpful, In-Depth Blog Posts
According to HubSpot, brands that publish 16 or more blog posts per month get around 4.5 times more leads than brands that publish four posts or less. Increasing your blog post frequency will help establish your brand as an expert in your niche.
It will also improve your search engine rankings. Companies that blog regularly tend to receive 55 percent more site traffic than those that don’t. What does your audience really want to know? Listen to your existing customers for topic ideas.
Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
To improve your search engine visibility, your website content should include keywords your prospects will use in search queries. Mention your location across your website, and clearly display your contact details.
Your site also needs to be user-friendly. Around 95 percent of prospects will visit your website before making a purchase decision. Clearly communicate who you are, what you offer, and your USP.
Capture Leads With Website Forms
Don’t miss the opportunity to convert website visitors into leads. One of the best ways to do this is by offering an email newsletter. Display a lead capture form that highlights the benefits of subscribing. You could even include a special offer to encourage subscriptions.
Update Your Online Listings
Many prospects searching online will be directed to search-and-review sites such as Google My Business, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Angie’s List. If you’re not listed on these directories, you’re missing out!
Create More Video Content
Video consumption is on the rise. Around 81 percent of brands now use video for marketing, compared to 63 percent in 2017. The fitness industry is one of the best at creating inspiring and educational video content. Find ways to make your videos stand out from the pack.
Many consumers get all their fitness content from social media, so if you’re not on it, you’ll miss out on many new customers. What should you post? Remember your USP and consider these ideas:
- Workout tips.
- Nutrition guides.
- Promotional offers.
- Inspirational quotes.
- Fun events you’re hosting.
- Before-and-after fitness transformations.
- Behind-the-scenes videos of your business.
- Photos of your gym, studio, staff and clients.
The average person on Facebook is a member of about 30 groups. Why not create a group based around your brand? Share your knowledge, offer tips, pose questions, and share motivational posts. Avoid too much promotion here – that’s for your Facebook page.
Instagram is one of the most popular channels for fitness content. Show real-life success stories, post appealing photos and motivational content, and use fitness hashtags to drive engagement.
Twitter also has a vibrant fitness community. Get noticed by using relevant hashtags to start conversations. Use Twitter polls to ask your followers their views on fitness issues. And post more images. Tweets with images receive 150 percent more retweets than those without.
Tell Stories
Whether you run a gym, teach yoga classes, or sell running gear, you’re more than just a product or service. To grow your fitness business, you need to sell the story of your brand and your reason for existing. It’s why some of the most popular brands like Nike don’t just sell things; they stand for something.
If you have a backstory that makes your brand special, use it. People will remember you, connect with you on a more emotional level, and you’ll increase customer loyalty in the process. And use the stories of your customers. The right kind of storytelling has the power to inspire, motivate, and build a community around your brand.
Be Consistent
People are hungry for fresh content. If you’re too slow to deliver, they’ll look elsewhere. Be consistent, and you’ll be more memorable.
- Develop a content calendar so you can deliver a steady stream of content.
- Decide how often you’ll publish to each channel, and stick to it.
- Use a consistent tone of voice that relates to your USP.
Follow these strategies and you’ll soon start to see the benefits that content marketing can offer. Above all, get to know your audience, find out what content they love, and be authentic. Do this, and you should have no problems attracting new customers.
Need some professional copy for your fitness business? Get in touch to find out more.