For small business professionals, placing advertisements in newspapers and magazines requires a lot of forethought and planning. There are many parts to placing an effective ad, the least of which is designing the ad itself.
Contact the advertising departments of these periodicals
and ask to speak to your area accounts representative. Many magazines and
papers have reps covering specific areas of your county, city, or state. When
speaking to the person, explain to them who you are and what you wish to accomplish. Most representatives are very helpful in making suggestions
regarding proper placement of ads, and may be able to offer suggestions
that you had not yet considered.
When speaking to your local rep, you should make sure to obtain the
following information:
1. Rate Card: Have the rep fax or mail you a current rate sheet so that
you know exactly how much your advertisement will cost.
2. Current Demographics: Each newspaper and magazine tracks the number
and type of people that read their publications. Make sure
to obtain a list of the periodical’s demographics, this is the most
valuable piece of information that a fitness trainer can obtain from an ad rep.
3. Submission Requirements and definition of “Photo Ready:”
Make sure to find out what is required to submit an article. Find out
what form the ad must be in, and when submission deadlines are scheduled.
Also, find out what the periodical’s definition of photo-ready is. This
definition varies from paper to paper, and may vary from a concept
sketch to pre-printed three color film. Make sure that the representative explains how the ad must be submitted.
4. Special Promotions: Many times, magazines and newspapers implement
their own promotion programs or events. As a trainer, these promotions may
provide you with the added exposure that you need.
5. Creative Design: The final thing that you should ask the
representative is whether they offer creative design assistance, and if there is a cost for such assistance. Most newspapers offer graphic design services to
advertisers who are placing ads in their papers. Personal trainers live on a budget, and this is a great way to
save what would otherwise be spent on graphic artists.
Which fitness clients are you trying to attract? Define the age, sex, and specific demographic that
you are trying to attract and train. Be specific, people who want to train
to lose weight are in a completely different demographic than those who
want to train to gain lean muscle mass.
After you have written down your specific training demographic, write
down why people in this group would want your services. Write down what
you believe they want, and what value they will receive by choosing you as
their personal trainer. Once again, be specific, this will be the foundation
of your advertisement. Keep in mind that most people will not pick up the
phone for an advertisement that says “get fit.” However, millions of people every day invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to “lose weight.” Make sure that you know the real reason why a client would chose you as their trainer.
You have chosen where you are going to advertise, and what you are selling, so now it is time to determine what the ad is going to say and how it is going to be laid out. This is where the assistance of magazinecreative designers is invaluable. However, the onus in still upon you to write the copy. In order to develop effective ad copy, there are a few basic facts that you must address to attract fitness clients.
In addition to attention-grabbing words, proper use of color is invaluable to create an effective display ad. Red and Yellow stand out among all other colors, and are usually attract the most attention. If you are placing color ads, these colors should be considered.
When writing the copy, word it in such a way that it addresses your
training clients specific need. Refer back to your notes on why the
client would want to use you as their trainer, and what would they expect out
of your services. Don’t offer to help people “Get Fit!” when you can offer to “Lose Ten Pounds Fast!” Most people don’t care about fitness for fitness’ sake. Most just want to look and feel good. Address the specific needs of your target client, and word it to address specific wants, worries or concerns.
Word the advertisement in a way that creates emotion. A client will only act if you can create enough emotion to motivate them. How many of people out there say they want to get fit and lose weight, but have yet to call you? Unless you create enough emotion to make them act, they will never respond to your ad. Create negative feelings toward where they are at right now, and positive emotion towards what a change in fitness will be like.
Now that your ad uses wording to create emotion, it is time to encourageaction. You should now make an offer. EVERY ADVERTISEMENT SHOULD HAVE AN OFFER. Showing before and after pictures may motivate some people, but you will have a much better response if you ask the customer to contact you.
Putting your contact information is not enough to get most people to
pick up the phone. Make sure the advertisement asks your potential personal
training clients to contact you, and does so in such a way that the customer will be motivated to call now as opposed to waiting for three months. Once
again, EVERY ADVERTISEMENT FOR PERSONAL FITNESS TRAINING SHOULD INCLUDE AN OFFER.
As a final inclusion to your ad copy, determine how you are going to
track the response that you get from your advertisement. You will be
spending a lot of money on developing and placing the ad, Wouldn’t it be prudent to find out how effective the ad was? The most common way to
track the effectiveness of an advertisement is to include a coupon or a
special offer. This serves a dual purpose, 1) it serves as an offer to entice
fitness clients to call, 2) it provides a way for you to know how many
people responded to an advertisement.
Also, ask if the periodical can send you a printed proof of the ad before it
goes to final press; just to make sure that the colors and words line up.
After printing, make sure that the periodical sends you a copy of the
magazine or newspaper with your ad included.
These are the fundamental steps that personal trainers, fitness clubs,
and small businesses follow when placing advertisements. The process is
not complex, but it does take some thought to create an effective
advertisement.
Barrett Niehus
Business & Marketing Resources for Fitness Trainers
———————————————————————–
Look on the internet for seo services