It can be challenging for small businesses to find time for marketing when there are many other day-to-day tasks to keep on top of. And unless you have a particular talent for (or interest in) marketing, it’s very tempting to focus your efforts on aspects of running your business that you find easier to deal with instead.
However, most people agree that marketing is vital to any successful business, so giving it proper attention is essential. The key is to achieve a good return on your investment time.
This post will look at some time-saving marketing ideas for personal trainers, covering everything from planning, useful tools, and ways of working more efficiently.
Before starting, first, you need to plan carefully. The more strategic you can be at this planning stage, the less likely you will waste time on marketing activities with little impact.
Research – Identify who you’re trying to reach and where to find them. For example, what social media platforms do they tend to use? It’s a good idea to visualize your target market as an actual person or a few different people; this is known in the marketing world as creating ‘personas,’ but the process does not need to be complicated and can be highly informative and helpful.
Strategy – Use your market research to inform your strategy. Which types of marketing activity will you focus on, what goals, and how much time will you spend each day/week/month? Remember that it’s much better to do a few things well than many things poorly, so prioritize. Think long-term, draw up a schedule, and set aside time in your calendar for marketing tasks.
Monitoring – Don’t forget to build regular evaluation into your schedule, so you can assess whether your strategy is working and your time is being spent well. Also, identify which stats are important to track so that you don’t get too bogged down in data.
There are many tools out there that have been specifically designed to save time, so it’s worth doing some investigation to see which ones might be most helpful:
Automation – Social media management tools such as Hootsuite, and Buffer enable you to plan and schedule posts. This process encourages you to set aside dedicated time for content creation rather than doing it sporadically, which helps you work much more efficiently. In addition, sending emails using software such as Mailchimp allows you to set up automated responses, such as welcome emails, which is an obvious time-saver.
Consolidation – There are various tools that enable you to manage multiple platforms in one place, for example, Hootsuite as already mentioned. Check out our recent beginner’s guide to the Meta Business Suite for some tips on how consolidating your Facebook and Instagram accounts can save time.
Templates – Cut down on design time by using templates for all kinds of marketing content, from email newsletters to Instagram posts to infographics for your website. There are hundreds of existing templates that you can use or adapt to suit your needs, or you can make and reuse your own. In addition, tools such as Canva make it easy to create all kinds of graphics.
Once you’ve drawn up your marketing strategy and identified which tools you will use, it’s time to put it into practice. Here are some tips on how to work smarter to optimize efficiency and achieve your goals:
Focus – do one thing at a time, and tackle similar tasks in one go. Switching between activities wastes time as you need to get up to speed when using different skills or tools. Make sure you’re free from other distractions and unlikely to be disturbed.
Timing – most people have specific points during the day or week when they’re better at concentrating on different kinds of activity. Work out when your optimal time is for carrying out marketing tasks, and incorporate that into your schedule.
Organization – find a system that works for storing and managing your marketing assets, so you can quickly access them when you need to. This could include content such as images and videos, records of keywords and hashtags, and a running list of ideas you can easily add to on the go.
To round off, here are a few more time-saving marketing tips:
1. Repurpose content – Optimize your content and save time by repurposing it for different uses, e.g. blog infographics can become Instagram posts.
2. Ask for referrals – Asking clients to refer their friends is a quick and effective marketing idea (incentivizing this can help).
3. Ask for reviews – This is a very efficient way of extending your reach and enhancing your reputation.
4. Outsource work – If there’s a particular type of marketing activity that you feel would benefit your business, but you just don’t have the time/skills to do it justice, then get an expert to do it for you.
5. Pay for advertising – It’s always worth considering paid advertising as part of your marketing strategy, as it can achieve results quickly.
Don’t be intimidated by the idea of marketing your personal trainer business - it does need attention, but it shouldn’t be a hugely time-consuming task. Just make sure you’re making the best use of your time by prioritizing which activities to focus on, finding tools to help you, and working as efficiently as possible.
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