When I first started learning how digital marketing works, I was completely overwhelmed. I didn’t know much, but I did know that many people were experiencing success online, and the online space was where you needed to be if you wanted to remain relevant in today’s day and age.
After interviewing and working with dozens of gyms and studios, I started to notice a theme:
They would hire someone to make a website, only to realize it wasn’t making them money. So then they would hire someone else to send traffic to that website. They would make a couple sales, but not enough to justify what they were spending on paid traffic. Then they would be upsold to an online sales funnel that allowed them to collect lead contact information. But when the results were underwhelming, they would realize they had the wrong offer and the leads they were receiving had no intention of purchasing anything from them.
Tens of thousands of dollars later they would get frustrated, quit and go back to doing things “the old school way”, which is what got them to where they were in the first place – stagnant in business growth and revenue.
I’ve been on both ends of this situation. I’ve been on the marketing side doing anything and everything to get people in the door. I’ve also been the person on the other side of the door trying to close a prospect who was a terrible lead to begin with based on the offer that brought them in.
So instead of sharing the “secret” to building a 6-figure business through online marketing, let me share with you the 5 myths the “gurus” tell you that will leave you broke and more confused than when you started. The online gurus have operated far too long as the car mechanics of this industry. They overwhelm their clients with information, then overcharge them because they don’t know any better.
Here are the 5 myths of online digital marketing:
- It will cost you an arm and a leg to leverage online traffic for your business. I’ve personally been sold and seen countless other business owners sold the idea of, “If you just get this website and funnel you’ll be successful… but it’ll cost you $20,000”, just to have it result in little to no sales. The truth is that you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to have a successful online marketing system. You just need to be clear on what type of customer you want, how your product or service can solve their problems, and you need to provide a compelling offer that attracts them. It sounds simple, and it is – keeping it simple sells.
- 6-week challenges and running cheap promos are how you get people in the door. Yes, those two offers have worked and still work for tons of fitness companies out there. The problem is that prospects who sign up for these offers rarely become long-term customers. Why? Because these offers start the customer-business relationship off with low value and put an end-date on the relationship. Why do you think businesses that use these offers have to run them every single month? Maybe it has to do with not being able to retain the prospects who sign up. Something to think about.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is king for getting new customers. In case you’re new to the term, SEO is how websites get ranked in search results on Google and Bing. Does being ranked high on the search engine boards help? Absolutely, but paying for search engine advertising like Google AdWords can cost an arm and a leg. It can also take about 6 months for you to experience the benefits of SEO optimization – this is because it takes a long time for your online content to mature. If you run one of the big box gyms who can afford it, then an SEO strategy may make sense for you. But for most studios, this is not the best place to start if you want to grow your business.
- The more services you advertise, the more sales you’ll make. Studies have been conducted on consumer behavior that tap into how consumers make buying decisions. What each study has found is that any time a consumer is presented with more than three options, they start to become indecisive, which can lead to decreased sales. Further studies have been conducted to determine consumer behavior when presented with three options. When three options are presented, 20% of consumers buy the low offer, 20% buy the high offer, and 60% buy the middle offer. Being strategic about how many options you offer as well as positioning the offers can be the difference between your prospect taking action or saying they “need to think about it”.
- Having a huge following online means you’ll make a ton of money. There’s a difference between being famous and financially successful. You can be both, but one doesn’t always lead to the other. Having tons of people on your email list or following your company on social media doesn’t necessarily mean they’re interested in doing business. I’ve seen email lists that were huge but yielded very little return. have also seen email lists that were much smaller but yielded a huge return when marketed to correctly. It’s all about the quality of your list, not the quantity.
Save yourself time and money by getting clear on who you want to attract, how your product or service can solve their problems, and create a compelling offer that attracts them.
Now if you’re an online or aspiring online Fit Pro, learn how to add at least 5-10 new clients every month without guesswork or wasting time.
Click the link to request access to our Smart Start Training and learn 4 Simple Steps to Building Your Online Sales Machine.