Email Marketing 101 for Personal Trainers

Marketing

Jan 2, 2020

By Tim Saye



Email marketing is one of the tools you want to start as early as you can because it takes time to grow organically. Your audience, the size and the quality of it will determine how successful an offer will be, so starting to build early will help you reap the benefit down the line.


How to Start with Email Marketing?

You'll need to pick an email marketing software to take care of a chunk of the repetitive tasks that come with managing lengthy email lists and segments. Early on you can link your current email account to PT Distinction and run all of your your client communications and email marketing through our incredible message center. If you want to put a larger focus on email marketing with open stats, specific email capture boxes, A/B testing and more you can get a huge amount from using a specific email marketing software.

Remember, email best practice around the world dictates, that you only target people who have opted in before emailing them. Otherwise, you run the risk of being reported regularly for spamming.


How to Choose the Best Email Marketing Software

According to Venture Harbour's comprehensive comparison article, there are 9 factors to consider when deciding on the software you'll employ in your fitness business. They also match the software they review based on these factors, so if you are entirely new to this topic, feel free to dig deep and see what they have to offer.


Here's a quick rundown of the factors:

1. Features - Most email marketing software will handle email lists, segments, offer template builders, but some of them go beyond, and you can use them for campaigns, A/B testing, automation and so on.

2. Cost&Value - Pricing often is based on the size of your audience and what may seem cheap with only a few hundred subscribers may become expensive as your list grows.

3. Ease of Use - Most email marketing software provides either a free trial or a money-back guarantee; make sure you make use of it so you can gauge if the platform is the right one for you.

4. CRM and Marketing Automation - We discussed a few client management solutions in a previous article. When you are looking to employ both, it may make sense to use a system that can cover both areas.

5. Email Analytics - There can be significant differences in the stats and reports each software produces, check these features before you set your mind on a solution to make sure it gives you everything you need.

6. Support - Many people don't think about support until they need it. Sadly, those can be frustrating times, and if the support isn't great, it can make a problematic situation even more stressful.

7. Security & Compliance - We already mentioned the GDPR for European citizens, and there may be other regulations you need to consider depending on your location and the sensitivity of the data you are handling.

8. Deliverability - Ideally, you'd like your emails to land in your audience's Inbox and not as much in their Spam folder.

9. Integrations - If your goal is to have an integrated system that can connect your email marketing to your CRM, maybe even with your accounting app, looking at the integration options is imperative.


Top 3 Email Marketing Software

PCMag has just compiled a list of reviews for the most popular email marketing software solutions. We list their top 3 below but feel free to look through their round-up and see which would fit the bill for your personal training business the best.

1. Campaigner - Campaigner comes up near the top of every list we have reviewed. They offer easily accessible customer support, many templates, easy to use interface and editor and automation workflows. Their online resource centre is claimed to be comprehensive too. You can have a free trial but be prepared to provide your credit card details.

2. HubSpot - HubSpot isn't just an email marketing software; it's a comprehensive social media management and blogging marketing hub. It includes a mix of workflows and client management integrations. According to PC Mag, their SEO features need improvement, and you will need to dig deeper in your pocket. However, you will have access to a system that over time may develop into a full platform for getting clients.

3. Mailchimp - MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing software among personal trainers, and it's no accident it came up third on PC Mag's list. They provide a comprehensive help centre so you can get started with their free option without needing any extra help, and their pricing is pretty flexible based on what you need. 


Wrapping Up

It's never too late or early to get started with email marketing. While PT Distinction has incredible messaging tools to use with clients and prospective clients in your free trials, or challenges, if you want to take your email marketing to the next level making the right choice for your business needs and personal preferences can go a long way, so take your time and pick the one that suits you best after having tried a few options.

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