Let’s get one thing straight: running Facebook ads will NOT save your fitness business!

I witness far too many fit pro’s attempting Facebook ads before they fix the “leaks” in their lead generation machine.

There are 5 key areas you must have dialed in before you launch any paid ads.

Facebook advertising doesn’t work unless you get a couple of these things right.

Let me tell you a quick story.

I absolutely love Facebook ads. I fell in love with it about 2012 or 2013 when I started to use it in my fitness business to get new clients.

In fact, they worked so well I was routinely having to turn them off because I just couldn’t handle the 10 or 15 leads coming in every single day to fill our program.

Today, I use it with my consulting business to get inquiries for my business coaching and for my events and when the time is right, I teach them to my clients to grow their fitness business, bootcamp, or gym to get more qualified people in front of them.

But… there’s a bit of a “but” with Facebook advertising.

I spoke to someone last week and she said, “Pete. Facebook ads don’t work.”

She sort of claimed that I’m bogus and they do not work.

When I went a little deeper into what she meant by that, it was pretty clear where she was going wrong.

Think of your marketing as a machine or a pipeline.

At one end of the pipeline, we have the leads coming in, the inquiry.

At the other end, perhaps we have the client joining and being on-boarded into your facility or program.

Throughout the pipeline there are certain steps. Now, if you have a kink at the start of the pipeline, something like the initial phone call, the consult to book them in, the skills that you or your team have as salespersons to convert them into a client, and then there’s the on-boarding process.

If somewhere along that line there’s a kink in the hose, is there any point jamming more water through it?

The answer is no.

We want the outcome, which is more clients, at the end of the pipeline but if there’s a kink or a breakdown in that hose somewhere, it’s not going to work.

Before you even consider Facebook advertising, you have to have a couple of integral things right first.

First, you have to know what your offer is.

Are you offering a 12-week transformation programme? What does that include and what’s the big promise? What’s the big idea? Are you offering some kind of initial low-ball offer or trial thing into your program?

You have to be clear on what that is.

The second thing to get clarity on is: Who is your market?

Who do you want to serve?

Some of you even talk about things that their market isn’t even interested in yet.

For example, we know the importance of mobility but there is no point talking about femur length or lumbar control or thoracic extension to someone who just wants to look better and feel better.

In a similar way, there is no point talking about getting jacked in ripped to a baby boomer looking to increase quality of life.

So clarity on your niche is really important because that comes into the marketing message and your skills in selling.

I can get you more leads tomorrow.

Facebook ads can get you more leads tomorrow.

But what’s the point if you can’t convert them?

A lot of people think, “I just need more leads. I just need more leads.”

Well, no.

You’ve got leads in front of you.

You actually need more skills in the selling process.

Three things you need once you’re ready for Facebook ads

Dan Kennedy calls this the marketing pyramid: the Market, the Message, and the Media.

Let’s go into those a little bit deeper now.

Message: What are you saying?

This determines your copy – the words you use. The words you use in a video, the words you use in a Facebook ad, or whatever the marketing piece is, right.

So with the Facebook ad, your heading has to be right, the copy has to be right.

It has to be easy to read. If you don’t have that right, it’s not going to get read.

The point of a Facebook ad really is to get the click.

Once they click on the landing page or the offer or whatever that is, then that part of the machine is to get the opt in.

For now, we’re trying to get the click.

To get the click, we need the right messaging. We need the right copy.

Market: What do they want?

A few things to consider here is to go a bit deeper on what they actually want.

What keeps them up at night? What are their fears and frustrations? What are their deep aspirations that they really want?

It’s probably not lose five kilos or lose 10 pounds. It’s probably much deeper than that.

Media: Where are you getting the message out?

This is where Facebook ads could potentially come in. You can also look at content from your website, content through Instagram, YouTube, other social media platforms, or podcasting.

There’s no point trying to do them all until you’ve got one or maybe two of these really dialled in.

I love Facebook advertising. But sequence matters.

Before you even consider Facebook advertising you have to get clarity on your niche: what do they want?

You need to have clarity on your offer: What is it that you’re selling? Why is it different to everybody else?

You have to upscale yourself as a sales person and your team as salespersons.

Once you have that right, the three Ms come into play.

I hope this helps to get some understanding of why I love Facebook ads but more importantly when to use them and what to do before you do.

If you found this video and this article helpful, please give it a like, a comment, or a share.

If you have any questions at all, let me know and I’ll cover it in another video.

This is Pete signing out.

Take care.