Fitness Professionals Business Cards

You know, despite the exciting developments in technolog... websites... blogging... pod-casting... email marketing... SMS marketing... the humble business card remains as one of the simplest, lowest-cost ways to promote your fitness business.

But unless your business card gives your prospect a strong reason to KEEP the card, then you'd be better of just scribbling your name & number on the back of a napkin.

Why?

Because thanks to the previously-mentioned technological boom over the past decade, business cards "live" just long enough so the carrier can pop your details into their PDA or computer (if you're lucky), before they unceremoniously toss it in the bin! So why waste your hard-earned money on something that isn't valued, and isn't likely to give you a return on investment?

If you want your business cards to be put to work, the biggest and most important thing you need is to provide a strong reason to call. A "call to action". This could be in the form of a free initial session. A free T-shirt & towel with every 6 month membership. Go in the drawer to win a holiday for 2 to Fiji, with every 12 month membership purchased. Or even a free report on how to get the world's sexiest body by Christmas, which they can download from your website (of course, they'll need to enter their name & email address first...)

Put a value on the card. Something like, "This card entitles you to a free sports drink with every court hire". Or "Present this card for 10% off your first session". Give them a strong reason to hang on to your card - but more importantly, to call or come in to your business.

You can even use your business card to capture qualified prospect's contact details on autopilot. For around $40 a month (plus call costs), and virtually zero setup fee, you can have a 1300 or 1800 number, recorded message and answering service created just for your business card.

The 1300 number links to an answering service ("24 hour message for your convenience") where interested prospects can leave their details. You get the contact details of qualified prospects sent straight to your email as an audio file, and you can target your info packs much more effectively. And best of all, you don't have to have someone sitting by the phone all day!

Once you have a strong call to action, use it to create a powerful, eye-catching headline. Instead of placing your company name & logo at the top of the card (which your prospects aren't really that interested in, to be honest) use this space instead to tell them why they should call YOU.
A sample headline could be,

"FREE audio CD tells you how to lose weight SAFELY and QUICKLY - without resorting to pills, potions or fad diets".

Or even something controversial to grab attention, like:

"Are YOU making this back-damaging mistake when you lift weights? "

Then again, you may opt for something simple like this:

"Don't throw me away! I'm worth $15 at your first visit!"

...followed by the usual name & contact details.

Although many fitness business owners shy away from the idea, you will be surprised by the positive results when you include a mug-shot photo on your business card. Just as relationships are stronger when in person than over the phone or email, placing a casual "relaxed" photo of yourself on your card helps to create strong neurological pathways in your prospects mind. They remember you, like you, and have more trust in you simply by having your photo in front of them. The photo is particularly powerful if you're a personal trainer - because you ARE the product!

Why waste the back of the card? You can use this to provide details on the free widget you offer on the front of the card, or to hold various client testimonials (to reduce scepticism in the mind of your prospect), or even for the prospect to write their name & contact details for entering into the raffle drawer (for that great holiday to Fiji!) They have to come in to the store to pop the card into the barrel, which is a great time to chat with them and encourage them to purchase or grab a trial membership. More importantly, your card has performed the highly-valuable task of capturing a qualified prospect.

For even stronger qualified prospects using this method, use a fitness-related prize as opposed to cash, or a holiday (it depends upon your particular business).

There is much more that could be said for business cards - they truly are one of the most overlooked and under-utilised marketing tools available to fitness professionals.

By using some (or all) of these ideas, you'll be able to turn your boring humble business card into a response-generating marketing tool!

This has been a really quick overview on what you can do to maximise your business card's impact - I'd love to hear your results!