This is a full transcript from Episode 2 of The Fitness Business Marketing Show. Click the images below to listen on iTunes or Soundcloud.

 

 

ALISON BRIGGS: Welcome to the fitness business marketing show sponsored and created by Marketing for Gyms and Personal Trainers, one of the leading and most respected marketing companies in the fitness industry today. Hi. I’m Alison Briggs and I’d like to introduce you to the creators of the show, industry leaders and all round nice guys, Frank Smarrelli and Brad Cusworth. With the combined industry experience of over 40 years having owned and operated personal training studios, health clubs and managed well over 60 staff members, you are sure to get lots of valuable information from this week’s show. So, without further ado, let’s jump straight in.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Thanks Alison. And, welcome everyone to show number two. We received some absolutely amazing feedback from the first fitness business marketing show a few weeks ago. So, a huge thank you to everyone who provided comments and feedback. We definitely appreciate it. We also received some questions on our website as well this last couple of weeks as well, which is awesome. So, thank you for that. And, we’ll be covering some of these questions later on in the show. So, let’s get straight into it. Frank, how’s things, mate?

FRANK SMARRELLI: I’m really good, Brad. Yeah, no, just was wrapped to hear so many people, you know, just commenting, you know, even sending, you know, even existing clients and friends and family who were on the first episode just to get, yeah, even the odd text message here and there saying well done, lots of energy guys. So, no, it was really good. Like I said in episode one Brad, we’d kind of been talking about this for about a year and we’ve had other priorities to get through in our business Marketing for Gyms and Personal Trainers. But, it was so good to get the first one through and yeah, looking forward to the second one. What has caught your eye this week in the fitness industry?

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. So, mate, today I’m going to talk about do it yourself websites. That’s one of my pet hates so I’m going to get this off my chest nice and early so I can move on from it.

FRANK SMARRELLI: I think it’s going to sound a little bit like my weekly rant [0:01:46] to listen to this. Go for it.

BRAD CUSWORTH: I think it might, mate. But, yeah, I was scrolling the newsfeed on Facebook the other day and it just triggered my mind about this topic. Because I saw a personal trainer who had literally just launched their brand-new website. And, they’d even spent a bit of money to boost it out which was great to see but when I clicked on the link, you know, it was really bad, mate. Like, he was obviously very excited about what he created which was awesome, and you know, he’d done that boosted post to get the word out there and tell everyone about it. But, I clicked on the link and mate, I have to be totally honest here, it looked like absolute rubbish.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah.

BRAD CUSWORTH: He used one of the free website platforms, mate, like a Wiks or something like that and yeah, it just looked a bit like a dog’s breakfast. So, you know, the logo was all squashed and out of proportion. He didn’t even have any social media icons. He didn’t have his phone number.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Brad, are you really surprised though – sorry to interrupt you – but are you really surprised because I mean, you’ve been building websites and I often say this, and I don’t say it ’cause you’re my business partner, but you’ve been building websites in the fitness industry for fitness professionals for ten years. And, I can honestly say listeners, no one builds better websites than Brad, and I mean that. So, are you really surprised to be seeing that though this week?

BRAD CUSWORTH: Not surprised at all. But, I had to bring it up on this podcast because it’s something that has really frustrated me. You know, I’ve been – as you said – building websites for ten years and one thing that comes back to mind, see we talked a lot about mind setting in episode one. But, I think people, once again they’re not really treating it like a real business. They’re sort of like a half-arsed approached, if I can use that term. It’s just like not really doing things properly. So, yeah, just when I looked at this website it just triggered my mind again – once again about yeah, how many PTs are out there trying to save money but putting more time in to it. Which is, you know, people I think don’t view time as money sometimes when it comes to business. You know, I had one client recently who spoke to about getting a new website up and running and they sort of came back to me and said ‘look, I’m going to have a crack at it myself’, and I thought – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Okay.

BRAD CUSWORTH: – – – okay, give it a go. And, then literally this guy spent three weeks straight trying to build his own website. And, three weeks later he called me up and he said ‘Brad, I’ve just wasted three weeks of my life. My website looks like a piece of you know what’. And, I said – I had a look at it and I said, ‘mate, you’re right, it looks crap’. So, we had to start fresh. Initially he was trying to save a little bit of money and do it himself but he wasted three weeks of his life when he could have been spending that time on marketing his business more effectively – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah, sure.

BRAD CUSWORTH: – – – actually generating clients and getting more clients through the door. So, yeah, it’s something that I think people need to learn to outsource the things that they don’t have strengths in when it comes to business. And, you know, really leave it to the professionals, rather than trying to do everything and trying to, you know, wear all the hats in their business. You know, creating a successful business is hard enough as it is without trying to do everything yourself. So, yeah, when it comes to business and marketing I really believe if something’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing properly.

FRANK SMARRELLI: For sure.

BRAD CUSWORTH: And, you may save a few dollars up front but how much is that going to cost you in the long term – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: In the long run.

BRAD CUSWORTH: – – – in the long run in your business.

FRANK SMARRELLI: And, Brad, what’s our business philosophy? It’s almost like our mission statement, listeners. What’s – and it’s got to do with potatoes – what is our mission statement within our business?

BRAD CUSWORTH: Well, we always say ‘no half-baked potatoes’, right.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Baked potatoes.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. Which really applies in this case.

FRANK SMARRELLI: There’s no doubt about that. And, guys, it’s like Brad’s almost been reading my weekly rant notes, and he hasn’t I can assure you, but basically, you’ve got to know your strengths, delegate your weaknesses. Know your strengths, delegate your weaknesses. That’s the key point. That’s one of the reasons – one of the key reasons why our business has been so successful. But, I guess personal trainers and even club operators and managers are kind of trying to save a buck here and there, but actually it costs you in the long run.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah, totally agree. I just want to leave people with this before we move on. When someone lands on your website you have less than five seconds to create a great first impression before they leave your site and never come back again. So – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Not much time.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. Your website is so important. 90 percent of people will check out your website before they make contact with you. So, when they do check it out you want to ensure that you create a great impression and then you get the lead most importantly. So, yeah, I encourage everyone to visit their website today, use the five second rule, click on it and just take an honest opinion of your own website. If you’re a prospector landing on that website, would you be inspired to take action and actually connect with you, or would you think oh god, this guy’s is half baked? So – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: What’s your saying, Brad, about your websites? Like your websites are the front door of your retail store, it’s the front door of your business.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Absolutely.

FRANK SMARRELLI: If the front door is crappy and it’s, you know, it’s on two hinges and it’s on its last legs and the handles crappy, well people are going to get that impression of your actual business. And, not only a business but potentially you as well.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Exactly. Yeah, and just one final point on that. This guy – I checked out the website and it’s really common is that the images that he had on that website were terrible. He had an image of a completely empty PT studio and the amount of people that do this in – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: And, people love that.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Oh, my god.

FRANK SMARRELLI: I know. Photos of empty gyms or empty studios, listeners, and just – that is half baked. It is half baked.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah, totally. You’ve got to get some energy and life into your website. Like, people need to see your members in there training, having fun, high energy because that’s what they will connect with.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Definitely.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. It should have been called Brad’s weekly rants but – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Well done, mate. Let’s move on.

BRAD CUSWORTH: So, next up we have Frank’s book review. What have you been reading, mate?

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah. This is really cool, Brad. I read this book by Gary Vaynerchuk probably about – it would have to be close to two years ago now. It’s called Jab Jab Right Hook. And, I went to pull it out – I went to try and pull it out the cupboard about a month ago and I couldn’t find it. And, my gut feeling is I must have lent it to someone. You know how I feel about my books, I don’t lend my books to anyone but I must have lent that to someone, I couldn’t find it.
 
`So, I basically ordered it and it came through last week. And, I read it again. It’s one of those books, listeners, yeah, Jab Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk, he’s probably the number one or one of the number one social media type of agencies or coaches in the world. I’m sure people know about wine libraries, he’s been around for a hell of a long time. It is such an amazing book. I know this is a big call but I’d have to say it’s one of my favourite business books of all time. And, some people might say ‘well Frank, it’s not really a business book, it’s more of a social media book’. But, if anyone – if any personal trainer, club operator or club owner is doing their own Facebook management or wants to learn more about Facebook and even Instagram and other social platforms like Pinterest, go and buy this book. Like for 35 or 40 bucks, I cannot speak highly enough. It’s full colour, glossy book, tonnes of information about what to do, what not to do, samples of great posts, poor posts, good posts. It’s just a fantastic – fantastic book. Yeah. I just want to kind of take away my – I guess my key takeaway.
 
So, yeah, Gary was really famous for his wine library episodes on YouTube but probably ran for about, I don’t know, close to ten years it seemed like. He now runs Veyner Media with his brother in the US and I think they, yeah, they turnover ran absolute squillion. As I said before, I think it’s one of the best, if not the best, it’s a big call but it’s probably one of the best, if not the best social media books ever written. In short, I guess he talks about, Brad, kind of like different definitions, so it’s almost like a boxing match.
 
So, I guess the right hook – a right hook concept aims to probably – it’s probably a self-promotion type of post. It’s more of a sales based post. Whereas jabs are content based posts that aim to engage and trigger emotional response.
 
So, think of right hooks as sales and kind of jabs is yeah, probably more organic type of content. Gary also has a long list of examples that reveals different brands that are throwing too many right hooks on social platforms. And, people are probably not understanding how those specific platforms actually – you know, probably actually engage the consumer on a much deeper level. He emphasises, Brad, time and time again, that you just need really well-timed jabs that resonate with followers. Like he says that – and this really resonates with me, so you know in a boxing match, is the right hook the most important punch or is it the jab that sets up the right hook? Now, if you know anything about boxing or martial arts, it’s the jab that actually sets up the big punch.
 
So, he says rather than doing right hook after right hook, so sales based post after sales based post, which is really killing Facebook if you want me to be honest, you’ve got to start to be able to create and really engage with jabs. So, jabs over the right hooks. And, I know, Brad, you’re kind of – maybe you can even give the listeners some take on – you hate people blatantly selling on Facebook, don’t you?

BRAD CUSWORTH: Mate, it’s one of my pet hates. I actually get quite fired up about it. I won’t go on about it now but yeah, the key – I think we mentioned this in episode one as well – the key when it comes to marketing you’ve really got to focus on building those relationships and adding value. Not, just spewing up over everyone.

FRANK SMARRELLI: It’s like selling.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yes. Social media is all about connecting and building relationships.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Engaging.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Actually, engaging and caring about people. It’s not about ‘look at me, you know, sign up for the next two weeks for $29’ – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Definitely.

BRAD CUSWORTH: – – – without actually taking that time to build that relationship. So, it’s definitely a fine art. But it’s something that once you put more attention on building those relationships, that the results that it would generate in your business are worlds apart.

FRANK SMARRELLI: I agree. Look, he really speaks more about this in his videos. I follow Gary, as you know, really closely. He goes social is not a magic pill. It’s not like you can, you know, start posting on Facebook on Instagram and build an empire overnight. Like, he actually scoffs at that. Like, it’s all about hard work.
 
So, if you think that optimising your social pages is going to change your business within an hour, within a day or within a week or even a month, it’s not going to happen.
 
So, the thing is it’s almost slow and steady but you’ve got to start somewhere and it’s all about optimising your Facebook page and your social pages to increase interaction. What I also love about the book, Brad, is Vaynerchuk also writes a brief history of all the main social platforms and shows the reader many different kind of post examples. Like I mentioned before, some great and some that kind of completely miss the mark.
 
So, you actually see live examples. The book is full colour so you actually see live examples of what’s a really bad post and what’s a really good one. Love that side of the book. Gary’s vision is also about just making sure that when posting engaging content that’s actually going to build your brand awareness through non-selling.
 
So, he’s a massive believer in Jab, hence the reason that the, you know, the name of the book, it’s about jab jab jab and then right hook, and it takes time. If there’s one thing – like people often say what’s the biggest thing that you take from Gary’s books and I’ve got all of them, and you know his videos and stuff, is I love the fact that he says to people, like I just mentioned a moment ago, it takes time. You’re not going to have an amazing Facebook page and then one week later you’re going to have an amazing business. The book is an all-time New York best seller and it’s certainly a book, as I said if you’re a fitness professional wanting to know more about social platforms or you’re a club operator or a club manager, go and get the book. It literally one of those books, guys, that you can – you know, the listeners, Brad, can literally read this in probably two nights. It’s got lots of different images. But, the key point is, is making sure that we’re posting organic content first and foremost and then making offers down the track.
 
So, it’s almost like in many ways but it’s like what we teach, it’s almost like subconscious or subliminal selling and not straightforward selling. And, that’s kind of the essence of the book. Fantastic book if you want to know more about social platforms.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Awesome mate. Just another note on that as well for our listeners. Make sure you’re consistent with your postings. So, there’s no point doing this strategy for two or three weeks and then you go missing for about a month. You need to make sure you’re consistent with this strategy on an ongoing basis week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. And, over time you build that relationship and that will then result in more prospects, more leads and ultimately more members and clients for your business.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Well said. Well said, Brad. Cheers mate.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Cool. So, before we move onto our Q and A section, Alison has a quick message from our podcast sponsors.

ALISON BRIGGS: I’d like to say a quick thank you to one of our major sponsors Gym Pages. You can visit their website at www.gympages.net for more information on how to easily create customised landing pages and websites for your fitness business. Now, back to the fitness business marketing show.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Thanks Alison. So, Frank, what else do you have for our listeners this week, mate?

FRANK SMARRELLI: So, Brad, every episode as you know we’ll be answering two questions from our listeners. If you have a question that you would like answered, simply go to our website, www.marketingforgyms.com, click on the podcast tab in the top menu bar and scroll down and click onto the banner that says, ‘ask a question’. This will then open up a pop up and you’ll be able to ask your question directly into that pop up. So, the question that I have Brad, and openly I had this question come through via email or via email, via email if you’re in the US and Canada. The question was, ‘what percentage of our marketing budget should be spent on member retention compared to lead acquisition?’ I look at that – that’s a high-end question, Brad, like that is a really quality question. I’m going to say that question – I’m going to read that question out again. So, ‘what percentage of our marketing budget’ – again this an Anytime Fitness club manager in New South in Sydney, in New South Wales, east coast of Australia – ‘what percentage of our marketing budget should be spent on member retention compared to lead acquisition?’
 
So, to answer that from an overview perspective rather than shunt down, I personally think generally speaking 50 percent of your marketing budget should be spent on member retention compared lead acquisition. I just want to quickly say this.
 
So, kind of back ten years ago people used to fight the retention or the attrition war with a more sales mentality. There is no way that you can win the war against attrition, monthly – the loss of monthly members with lead acquisition. There is so many people that have come and reach out to me and say ‘Frank we did 60 sales last month at our Plus Fitness or our Jetts or our Snap Anytime, we had 60 sales but we lost 50. Frank, we did 80 sales last month but we lost 75. Frank, we did 48 sales last month but we lost 55.’ You cannot combat natural attrition or attrition full stop with lead acquisition. I said this in episode one, it takes – I know it sounds very cliché – six times more expensive to actually attract a newly into your business, the front door of your business than it does to keep a member coming in. So, for me to keep this really simple to answer the question, you know, from a simplistic perspective, I would spend 50 percent of my marketing budget – bedroom I was going to say, that sounds really weird doesn’t it – budget, Brad, on member retention compared to lead acquisition. Now what – how does that look like? Well, depending on what brand you have, it may look different to a big box club compared to a small box club. But, what I’m trying to say is you need to allocate time, energy, money and effort into making sure that you are retaining your members. And, you know, Brad, how passionate I am about this in retaining your members. Because at the end of the day, quick 30 second, every club globally or every personal training studio globally pulls from a certain radius – a certain geographical radius from their club. I call that a geographic wake up call. Now, it’s going to get to a certain stage when you cannot – you can no longer pull people from that specific geographical area because there’s no more people to pull.
 
So, unless corporates are coming into that area, unless new residential buildings are being built where new people are coming in, fresh leads are coming into that geographical area, you’re always going to be marketing to the same people. Now, I believe that after a three and a half to four-year period, and there’s tonnes of research on this, it tells us that that pool of prospects in which you pool from actually dries up. So, if you’re not retaining your members I can guarantee this, there will be a certain level within three to five years where your business will actually start to plateau. And, I see this with clients. People that reach out to me say, ‘Frank, you know, we were doing so well but kind of as soon as we hit that three and a half, four-year mark, we’re actually going backwards.’ And, when I ask them to send me the statistics over the last 12 months, their cancellations and their sales figures for the actual month you can clearly see that there’s that equilibrium. And, that’s basically – not necessarily because they’re doing a lack of marketing and it could well mean that, but the thing is, people are just losing too many people down the back end. Like, you know the program I run, Brad, called Plug the Leak, so you’ve got to make sure that you’re putting as much energy, time and effort and money into retaining your members compared to lead acquisition. Because there’s my short and brief answer to the question.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Awesome mate, love it.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Okay Brad, what question do you have for the listeners this week?

BRAD CUSWORTH: All right. So, next we have a question from Jane. Now, Jane’s just started a brand-new PT business in Perth, Western Australia. So, Jane said, this was actually on our website over the last couple of weeks from our last podcast.
 
So, Jane said, “hi, my name is Jane. I’m a brand-new PT in the fitness industry and notice that so many trainers are running challenges these days. Should I focus on getting more clients into my weekly PT sessions or should I start to run challenges?”

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah, great question. If you look on Facebook or Instagram everyone’s running challenges. So, I think that’s a great question. I’m looking forward to your answer.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Cool. So, yeah, Jane there’s no doubt that running group training challenges is an absolutely amazing way to build a successful PT business, without a doubt. Now, if you’re a brand-new PT however, I do recommend starting out with one or two – a few either one on one sessions or two on one sessions, start with that just to build your confidence and experience as a personal trainer initially. It’s really important you build that initial foundation, you know, especially if you’ve just done your cert III and IV you’re brand new, maybe you haven’t got a huge amount of experience training other people – I’m not sure about your specific situation. But, I’m going to answer this based on someone who’s just done cert III and IV, pretty green, pretty fresh and just starting.
 
So, yeah, I recommend initially really focusing your energy on building a solid foundation. So, you know, getting your first maybe ten, 15, 20 clients doing your one on one sessions, two on one sessions, really focusing on building your brand, posting on Facebook regularly, increasing your exposure in your local area and really getting that initial foundation really solid in your business and getting more confidence and more exposure. Now, after that initial – it might take you a few months to get to that level but after that initial few months, and you’ve built that good foundation, my advice is then start looking at expanding into small group training or take the next steps to running challenges over a set period of time. So, it might be, you know, even these days it’s really popular to do your 28-day challenge, it might be six weeks, eight weeks. Now challenges and group training sessions are fantastic for PTs and definitely something we highly recommend because one of the biggest – I’m sure you agree, Frank – one of the biggest issues with being a PT is that you only have so many hours in a week to train clients in one on one sessions.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Sure.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Right. And, I know I got to this point when I was a PT many years ago, I got to a point where I was doing maybe 40, 50 sessions one-hour sessions per week and I really hit that upper limit or that ceiling on the amount of income that I could generate. You know, I started to burn myself out as well. So, when you get to that point, group training or challenges is a fantastic way to really leverage your time as you can make a lot more money per session, and you don’t even have to wait ’til you get to that 40 or 50 level, it’s something you can implement much earlier these days. So, I’ll just give a quick example where my wife Sarah and I have a business called SJ Mind Body Training. Now, we have a really simple model where the only thing we do is eight-week group training programs. Now, our programs are just for women, that’s just the niche that we’re focusing on, but we do four eight-week training programs a year and we’ve actually now gone to eight to those, so we run them back to back. Now, the model that we have, we have 30 women in each program, we run two programs back to back as I said, and we have a total of 60 women, so 30 in each one. Now, it’s a great model ’cause Sarah only does three sessions per week in each group, so the total is six sessions per week over the two groups. Now, it works out we make around about 18 to $20,000 in every eight-week block which works out to be around about $400 per hour. Now, compare that to – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Not bad.

BRAD CUSWORTH: It’s not bad, hey. So, compare that to most trainers who, you know, they might charge anything between 60 to 100, 150 an hour, whatever they are in their local market, but it’s a great model. You get to help a lot more people at once. You get to leverage, you get to really tap into that group training environment where there’s a real community feel. We have a private Facebook group and it’s a great way to really leverage your business. And, you know – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: And make more money.

BRAD CUSWORTH: And make more money at the end of the day which is at the end of the day that’s what we’re in business for, right.

FRANK SMARRELLI: In business for.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. And, you get to serve more people as well. So, yeah, to sum it up, I recommend getting some experience first with one on one clients. When you feel that your confidence is building then you can move onto group training and challenges. And, that will really leverage a time and also make a lot more money in your business.

FRANK SMARRELLI: It is almost the philosophy, Brad, when it comes to this sort of stuff and answering that question, you’ve almost got to learn to walk before you can run.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Exactly.

FRANK SMARRELLI: I know some digital marketers out there in this internet world we live in now, just go you know basically build a business and make a trillion dollars in about four and a half hours. Honestly, guys, the people that are making money are the people that are actually selling those programs and courses.

BRAD CUSWORTH: So true.

FRANK SMARRELLI: I concur with you 100 percent. I think you’ve got to walk before you can run. I think you’ve got to set a strong foundation before you can go out. Like, I think it’s a mistake for a person to go and get certified, so get their cert IV, let’s talk about Australia, so get their cert IV and then to think that they can go and open up like a challenge business and make basically, you know, 400 bucks an hour. I think you’ve got to set up your solid foundations before you can launch something like that. Is that what you’re kind of getting at, Brad?

BRAD CUSWORTH: 100 percent. Yeah. And, once you’ve got that foundation then you can launch into – it might be challenges, it might be creating your own online programs and selling those which I’m sure we’ll cover in future episode, but yeah, there’s so many options. But, yeah, just – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Get your processes right.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. Walk first and then work up sprinting later on.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Beautiful mate, well said.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Cool. So, that brings us onto our next segment.

ALISON BRIGGS: And, now it’s time for Frank’s weekly rant.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Thank you. I love that. Thanks Alison. My weekly rant – doing your own graphic design. Geez, I’ve got to make sure that I calm down first.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Breath, mate, breath.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Like I said in episode two of the Fitness Business Marketing Show, there are so many existing brands growing globally and even more new brands coming into the market, whether that be the New Zealand market, Canada, UK, America etcetera. Most of these fitness business are fighting for the same market. I mean that’s the reality. So, rather than succumbing to the competition, be better than the competition with everything you do. One thing that really, really irks me, Brad, is when I see PTs or club operators or managers creating their own – basically their own – I guess I’m going to call them marketing tools when they’re creating their own Facebook banners and their own booster post images and flyers and posters and signage. If you’re a skilled designer, okay cool, I can kind of suck that up, but I’ve got kind of no qualms with that. But, some of the shit that I see, honestly, people creating and using as marketing tools, listeners, this sort of stuff can actually hurt your brand. There’s more drawback than benefit. This actually hurts the business that you’re actually trying to run. So, I was taught earlier on in my business career that the way you do one thing is the way you do most things. And, that’s worth repeating – the way you do one thing is the way you do most things.
 
Now, I had a really close mate of mine that doesn’t adhere to that strategy. And, I admit that I have a bit of a full-on personality but if you’re going to do something what do we say, Brad, what’s our mission statement – no half-baked – – –

BRAD CUSWORTH: Potatoes.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah. If you’re going to do something you do it properly. So, some of the crap that I actually see on people’s Facebook pages is actually cringeworthy. So, the key is, it’s such a competitive industry so you’ve got to step up and everything you do in your business should be world class. Now, it doesn’t have to be world class from day dot but you’ve got to – you’ve got to literally delegate to the people that know what they’re doing. So, my attitude to business is know your strengths, delegate your weaknesses. Know your strengths, delegate your weaknesses. I mean this, listeners, this is one of the main reasons why Marketing for Gym has been such – I mean Marketing for Gym has been going for ten years and it’s a successful company. I’m going to say that, it might sound a bit cocky but we do well. And, part of the reason why we do well is because we understand what our strengths are, Brad understands what my strengths are, I understand what his are – his strengths are, but we also understand our individual weaknesses and our company weaknesses so we delegate that. It is absolutely – it astounds – I would jump on at least – I would see at least a couple of Facebook pages every single day that are cringeworthy. Like, what are people thinking putting up banners with just really, really average text. And, what another thing that really irks me, and Brad I’m going to try and stay calm, is when you see a banner on a PC or a Mac that’s not mobile friendly. So, when you jump on a mobile device it’s half cut off. And, I know that’s one of your pet hates as well. So, literally jumping on a mobile device, I mean 88 percent of people in the US and Australia search on Facebook on a mobile device. So, if you’re going to create a banner or a booster post at least make it mobile friendly. So, my rant for this week, Brad, delegate your weaknesses and stop doing your own crappy graphic design. You might save a dollar or two now, but it actually hurts you in the long run.

BRAD CUSWORTH: And you know what, it’s not expensive to get graphic design done these days. Like our website, I think I mentioned on the last episode, Fiverr.com, so that’s F-I-V-E-R-R, dot com. You can go there now and it sort of works a little bit like eBay I guess, there’s profiles, there’s, you know, you get reviews, you can see past client feedback.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Of course.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Things like that. You can search for a designer that you like. You can get logos done, timeline banners, header images, whatever you want.

FRANK SMARRELLI: For next to nothing.

BRAD CUSWORTH: It might cost you – – –

FRANK SMARRELLI: Next to nothing.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Like oDesk, Elance, like you know, I usually – so much over the last kind of seven to eight years, it is a no brainer but I’ll go one step further, Brad. Align yourself with a graphic designer and continue to build that relationship throughout your business cycle or your business life. Like, most of my clients would basically use the same type of designer and it’s reflective in that business. And, I know this might sound weird to some of our listeners but just try to adhere to this kind of philosophy, even for three months, a 90-day period, the way you do one thing is the way you do most things. So, if you Facebook page looks crap and you’re posting crappy stuff and your flyers and your business cards and your posters, if all that looks crap that’s reflective on your business. It just – it’s one of my absolute pet hates, crappy graphic design, people who are trying to save money and then you look on a mobile device and the whole thing just completely looks skewwhiff. You might be saving a dollar or two now but in the end, that actually hurts your business long term.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Totally agree. Consistency is the key, hey?

FRANK SMARRELLI: No doubt. No doubt. And, a high level of consistency. I mean yeah, know your strengths, delegate your weaknesses.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Absolutely mate, couldn’t agree more. So, Frank, that concludes another episode of the Fitness Business Marketing Show.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Wow, we’ve already finished?

BRAD CUSWORTH: Where does 30 minutes go, mate? It just goes.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Yeah. Well I literally just don’t look at the time. I can’t believe how quickly that went.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah. Blink of an eye. So, yeah, so thanks for that mate. Enjoy the rest of your day.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Welcome.

BRAD CUSWORTH: We’ll be back in the next couple of weeks.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Back next time.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Yeah.

FRANK SMARRELLI: Fantastic mate, you too Brad, take care.

BRAD CUSWORTH: Cool. So, listeners, as always, until the next Fitness Marketing podcast, knowledge without consistent action means very little but when you take massive action you are sure to generate positive results in your fitness business. To wrap things up, Alison has a quick message from our podcast sponsors. So, have a great week and bye for now.

ALISON BRIGGS: I just want to quickly thank our major broadcast sponsor for making this Fitness Business Marketing Show possible. Marketing for Gyms and Personal Trainers offers the most comprehensive PT business accelerator program in the world. It was voted number one business growth program for personal trainers in 2016. The program is currently accredited with Fitness Australia and offers 15 CEC points upon completing an online multiple-choice assessment. Visit www.marketingforgyms.com and scroll down to PT business accelerator program under services for more information.