Online Scheduling System

You’ve started a business and you recognize that it doesn’t make sense to shell out big bucks for a traditional office space. Maybe you’re the only employee or maybe all of your processes can be done over services like Skype. Maybe your top programmer is cemented in Boston and your writer works from the beach in San Diego.

No matter the reason, you’ve decided to build a business in a virtual space, using today’s awesome technology to stay connected and get work done. Virtual offices offer big benefits, especially in the form of cash savings, but it’s hard to know where to start out.

Four keys to perfecting the virtual office

Get yourself an official address

If the place where you work is steps away from the room where you sleep, you should probably get an official office address. It not only protects your privacy, but it provides a professional appearance and a natural boundary between work and home. Don’t think a PO Box at the local post office will solve the problem? Companies now offer professional business addresses to suit your needs. Regus’ MailBox Plus package or HQ’s Business Addresses will do the trick.

Get a virtual phone system (and number!)

Just because you’re working from a coffee shop or from the beach doesn’t mean you’re exempt from having a phone system. Today’s virtual phone systems can direct all calls to your cell phone. Not only can you answer calls from your iPhone, but they’ll provide you with an auto-attendant and multiple extensions. Need tollfree numbers? You can get those, too.

Find the right communication tools

You’re going to need to talk to employees, partners, clients, and others while running your business from a virtual office. Sure, things like a virtual phone system and email are crucial, but you’ll also have to leverage other tools. Google Apps for Business is a great option because it’s in the cloud. DropBox for storage, Asana for project management, and Skype for internal communications are all worth a try.

Figure out where you actually work

In order to be productive from your home office, you’ll need to figure out exactly where you’ll work. If you’re working from home, make sure that your office has everything you need. If you plan to work from the local library, ensure that you have a routine in place so that you can be productive each day. Set up a schedule so that you’re not wandering from coffee shop to coffee shop.

Working from a virtual office has so many perks—it’s inexpensive, allows you to hire workers no matter where they are, and gives you more flexibility and freedom than a traditional arrangement. If you follow these tips for perfecting yours, you’ll be well on your way to productivity and booming business.

Emma Siemasko is a Boston-based writer and entrepreneur specializing in small business tricks and online dating. Emma works as a content marketing specialist for Grasshopper and is the founder of Frog2Prince. For more about Emma, visit her website or follow her on Twitter @EmmaFayeS.

SimplifyThis helps small businesses to grow with our online appointment scheduling software. Take appointments through your website and invoice online, try it for FREE by visiting www.simplifythis.com.

Your small business has the research, the inventory and the consumer interest to take off. To make enough profit to bring your business to the next level, you are looking into one of the most tried and true methods of online marketing, email. You’ve got to feed the email marketing process to fuel your company’s growth. Successful email marketing on a large scale is possible for small businesses. In this post, we’ll show you how.

Let’s break this up into 3 pieces: collecting new emails, sending emails, and measuring success.

Collecting new emails for email marketing

Before you can promote your goods, you need someone to promote to. Acquire emails through giveaway promotions, referrals, or inquiry-based contacts. Do whatever it takes to build your base of emails. You’re not asking for much at this stage, just some noncommittal contact info. Be mindful that customers may be protective of their information. Give them a reason to want to be in your database, like:

Giveaways

From the “business card in a fishbowl” method to a fan-gated Facebook app (ShortStack.com is great), there are popular and rewarding reasons for potential customers to willingly give you their contact info without hating you for it. Use your own inventory or discounts for prizes on Twitter contests or offer free downloadable content/advice in exchange for email addresses.

Referrals

Remember when you had a crush on that girl in 8^th grade and it was much easier to ask your friend to talk to her instead of approaching her yourself? It’s basically the same thing with referrals. From simple social posts encouraging happy customers to share your business or incentivizing the deal with discounts, a “good word” from a friend is invaluable in email marketing. You can manage these incentives on sites like getambassador.com.

Contact inquiries

When someone creates an account, buys or gets that free downloadable content, you should be collecting his or her contact info. Use opt-in boxes or guest books to ensure anyone you are in contact with is added to your list.

What to send to whom: three types of emails

You have the ammunition. Now it’s time to start firing away with your emails. But it’s not all “Buy Now!” The three types of emails you should be sending are mass, segmented, and behavioral.

Mass marketing

I’m sure you’re very proud of your products and inventory, but try to only contact your customers in mass when you have something exciting to tell them. Sales, new products, limited offers or time appropriate messaging (Father’s Day gifts!) are all attention-grabbing reasons to email.

Segmented

Use the info that your contacts gave you. Segment your list by events, location and interests. If you collected a group of emails when they took a yoga class at your gym, they would be a prime audience to notify about upcoming classes. When a new camera lens comes out in your electronics store, notify the people who bought that camera! The information is distinctive enough that it pertains to the customer’s needs and wants.

Behavioral

Sending out automated follow ups for actions like purchasing (Thank you!) signing up (Welcome!) leaving items in a shopping cart (Don’t forget!) or a simple holiday greeting are all human reactions in email form. You can also make suggestions and up-sell off of other purchases. Give your brand a personality (hopefully a likeable one).

Email marketing: measuring your success

Unique coupons

Differentiate your codes so when customers input them, you know which part of your customer base is using them and how they got the coupon. Asking your customer to print out or bring in the email is another way to collect data on which sales are working.

Opens/Clicks

Using your email service provider’s analytics (we’ll discuss which ones you should use in a minute), check your CTR and unique opens. 10-20% opens per email is great. Anything below that and you should consider altering the frequency of emails or modifying the campaigns you’re running. Check which links are being clicked. Remember, if the email contains a digital task (Shop now!) or is just providing directions (Yoga this Friday at 9AM!) it has different implications for the number of clicks.

Google Analytics

Try to have enough information on your site that customers may be looking for. Simple pages like Directions, Contact, and About could improve your page rank just by being available. That type of organic search is invaluable in Google’s quality ranking system. Google is your friend. Use its tools to set goals and help your business grow.

Email service providers

The larger your email marketing becomes, the more work is involved. The tools and analytics available through ESP are extremely helpful to a small business marketer. ESP will help you with delivery to make sure your emails are not accepted as spam and comply with the CAN-SPAM act.

MailChimp/Constant Contact

There are many ESP options, and these two are pretty popular. (plus MC is free up to 2,000 subscribers). Keep track of your campaigns’ performance, CTR, subscriptions and more. They provide email templates you can use to drop in images and copy, or they can support your own custom designs.

If you have already have a sales and customer service department, look on your CRM’s website or contact them to see if they have an integrated email service provider. If not, choose your own and be sure to use it for all email marketing. Remember, you can’t send mass emails on Outlook or you’re gonna have a bad time.

About the author:

Dave Rekuc is the Marketing Director at Ripen eCommerce.  He specializes in digital marketing channels and has worked with companies ranging from small start ups to multi-million dollar eCommerce sites.  Check out their eCommerce solutions or tweet them @Ripen_eCommerce.

About SimplifyThis:

SimplifyThis helps small business owners to grow their businesses with our online appointment scheduling and online invoicing software. Take appointments online and convert more website visitors into customers. Invoice clients automatically and skip the paperwork. Try it now for FREE!

With so much energy focused on social campaigns and content marketing, it can often be easy to overlook on of the most successful and widely used platform – email. While it may not seem like the most up-to-date approach, the reality is that email marketing still finds great success among the noise of tweets, likes and g+ threads continually bombarding our lives. In the midst of so many public and mass produced social campaigns, there is still something, need I say, personal about receiving an email. For all these reasons, it’s important not to overlook the potential of a strong mailing list within your marketing strategy.

Small Business Email Marketing Infographic

But here’s the deal, email marketing can be tough to get off the ground. However, thanks to the our friends over at Simply Business, there’s an email marketing guide to help you kick your campaign in motion. With everything from legal-tips, to checklists, to responsive testing techniques, you’ll have your bases covered for when it’s time to click that shiny “send” button.

Click image to open interactive version (via Simply Business).

Grow Your Small Business

SimplifyThis helps small businesses to grow with our two-in-one online appointment scheduling and online invoicing software. Read more about how online appointment scheduling can help your independent business. Or try it now for FREE.

For many people who run their own business, the 9-5 workday pretty much goes out the window. There is a lot you have to handle, and long hours are common. Depending on the nature of your business, you may not have much of a daily routine, which can interfere with other elements of your life, such as eating right and exercising. It is all too easy to get consumed with the myriad responsibilities and it is often a handy excuse for neglecting your health.  But, as they say, where there is a will, there is a way.

If your business pursuits have been getting in the way of you taking proper care of yourself, it is time to make a change. Here are some tips that helped me get in gear when I discovered my professional life was getting in the way of my health.

Realize the True Importance of Health in Business Success

It can be easy to forget how important health is when you are working on your own; a lot goes into running your own business, and if you are not up to snuff physically, you can compromise all you are working to build. How mad would you be at yourself if you could no longer live your dream life because of poor health choices? Pretty mad I am sure. If you have been neglecting your health at the expense of your business, there is a good chance that you have not thought too much about this, so you better start now.  When you can truly grasp the importance of this, it will be that much easier to implement the changes necessary to turn your habits around.

How to Commit to Better Eating Habits

Eating right is one thing that can quickly go out the window when you are busy with your business. You may opt for lots of take-out or chemical-laden prepared foods. This is a big no-no. Not only will these foods cause a bunch of health problems down the line, it can impact your business in the immediate moment. Poor diets lead to fatigue, lethargy and a sluggish mind—all of which can spell disaster when trying to do all the things you need to do each day.

There was a time when I noticed that I was letting my professional ‘’busyness’’ get in the way of my diet and I knew I had to make a change and I would like to share some tips that worked for me. In order to integrate more home-cooked food into your life:

• Make a grocery list at the beginning of the week and plan out meals and then go buy said items at the grocery store. You’ll be more likely to want to eat a healthy meal if everything is already in the house to prepare.
• Set aside a few hours on a specific day to batch food preparation tasks, such as cooking the rice, making the soup, preparing the casserole, cutting all the vegetables. Then, when the time comes to eat, you have to do very little to actually pull the meal together.
• Also stock your house with long-lasting foods that you can always call on to put something together.
• Finally, buy plenty of healthy snacks so that you have something to nosh on that is not laden with sugar, fat or processed carbohydrates.

Getting in Your Exercise

Countless people point to their busy work lives as an excuse not to exercise, and it is a pretty poor one in my opinion. No doubt running your own business can require you to sit in front of the computer for hours on end, but the idea that people truly do not have even 20 minutes free to work out is pretty hard to believe.

First, you need to adjust your definition of what it means to exercise. In our culture, we tend to think of it as formal exercise classes or going to a gym—we really do not have time to go there and we convince ourselves we truly cannot exercise that day; but it can be anything that gets you moving. I lived in Asia for two years, and I was the skinniest I had been in years, simply because I made the commitment to walk places instead of always relying on transportation. Not once did I join a gym.

If the place you usually get your lunch from is only a 15-minute walk, use your feet instead of your car. On the way there and back, you just got in your recommended 30 minutes. If you truly cannot spare that much time, working out in increments of at least 10 minutes each can help you achieve the same benefits as continuous exercise, and I have employed that strategy a lot when I am busy with work.

Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer who enjoys sharing tips on how to be healthy with a busy lifestyle; if you are in need of some inspiration for healthy, home-cooked meals, she recommends you check out Hamilton Beach recipes .

Additional Reading:

Healthy Mind and Healthy Business

Zen Living for Entrepreneurs

How to Deal With the Pressures of Being a Founder

Ways to Simplify Your Small Business

For the self-employed, effective networking is essential to planning a successful career. From management consultants to piano teachers, building and sustaining relationships is the key to success.

Who You Know Relates to What You Know

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”

The two ideas of “who” and “what” are not mutually exclusive, there is a clear positive correlation between the two. For most of us, we learn from our associates, then as our knowledge grows, so does our network. The power to maintain an open channel of communication with customers, experts and peers allows you to learn new skills, build strong relationships and grow your business.

Tips to Maximize Social Media

If social media is not producing the results you expected, think, are you covering these three bases?

Build Credibility

In an age where anyone with a laptop can wrongly call themselves a writer, musician or graphic designer, it is important to earn people’s trust. The internet has turned us into bunch of cynics, while this has protected us from the jokers out there, it does make it difficult for the genuine talent to shine through.

Don’t be selfish with your posts, you cannot build credibility by only promoting yourself. If you only share your own work, it has an essence of hard sell about it. If you share insight and other’s work, people will start to regard you as an expert in your field.

Build Relationships

Constant talking is not communicating is it? It needs to be a two way process, and social media is great for listening. Engage with your network, don’t just post generic, spammy nonsense. Pretend you’re a fitness instructor on Twitter, which of these posts looks most familiar to you?

Bad: I offer a wide range of personal fitness solutions, get in touch for more info.

Better: Congratulations to ***** for losing five pounds this month, keep up the good work!

Not only is the second option more sociable, it will have a far greater reach. The first post will be read an ignored by the majority of your followers, the second is likely to be retweeted by the subject, receive further praise from their followers, and increase interest in you.

This is just one example of how genuine relationships grow with your skills and success.

Offer Help

You’ve started to establish your credentials, now use them to help others. People are always posting their problems on social media, so see if you can help out where you can. Someone has just come home from the gym and is complaining about cramp, time for you to step in and share your know-how.

This is a great way of building on your existing contacts, dedicated social media monitoring software works wonders for this, but comes at a price. A more cost effective technique will be using Facebook groups or Twitter hashtags that are relevant you your industry.

Remember though, play it cool, you are offering help not selling your services.

Joe Errington is a marketing and social media executive for MITIE, the strategic outsourcing company who supply business services in the UK and abroad.

About SimplifyThis: Simplifythis helps busy entrepreneurs streamline administrative tasks, while helping convert site visitors to paying customers with our web-based appointment scheduling and online invoicing system.

If you have taken the plunge and work for yourself, whether you are a budding entrepreneur or a freelance writer, your success is dependent on many elements that someone who functions as the employee of someone else does not have to concern themselves with. They go to work, get their paycheck and this cycle repeats so long as they do not get themselves fired. For those of us in the other camp, no one is giving us a salary—we have to find clients and customers on our own to bring in an income on a steady basis. It can be stressful, and it can take a lot of work, work we may not sometimes feel like doing. If we want to run a healthy business, we need to have a healthy mind. We need to take care of ourselves and develop a mindset that supports success. Here are some tips for making this happen.

Meditate

While for some, meditation may have a hippy, crunchy granola type-vibe, it is a practice that is increasingly being adopted by a host of people, especially business people, to help improve their lives. While it is surely a core component of many spiritual practices, the benefits of meditation are largely practical and have nothing to do with spirituality or religion.

It helps tame a wild mind, change perspective and reduce stress—something that is crucial to someone who works for themselves. Meditation has improved my life more than any other tool I have tried, and its effects on my working life are immense. It helps me tackle the day with a clear mind; that morning rush of anxiety that comes with thinking of all the tasks that lie ahead is greatly diminished. I respond to problems with greater ease and do not get as caught up in the emotions. When we feel a large amount of stress, it is easy to shut down and do nothing; while this may be the perfect solution at times, doing it frequently can seriously jeopardize your business  because you will fall behind in doing what you need to do to grow your success.

Nourish the Mind with Empowering Thoughts

How we think determines every aspect of our lives; it is no accident that people who have forged success striking out on their own all seem to share a similar mindset that emphasizes positive thinking, personal responsibility, conquering fear, and persevering through obstacles with your end goal always in mind—read up on the Steve Jobs and the Oprah Winfreys of the world and you will quickly see this pattern emerge.

I worked in an office just like anyone else years ago, thinking that was just how it was. But, once I started ingesting materials that offered a different perspective, I began to see a whole new world of possibilities; to live my dream life no longer seemed like something that would always be relegated to the world of fantasy. I managed to forge a successful freelance writing career, and I am typing this post from beautiful Costa Rica. Striking out on your own can be scary-that is why so many people never even attempt it. You will face challenges from all sides—doubts and fears will emerge, people who are too scared to ever do what you do will project their own fears onto you, you will think you are not cut out for this. None of it is true, and keeping a steady mind diet of empowering information will help you get through these more difficult times.

Nourish the Body

Too many of us still do not see the strong connection between the state of the body and the state of the mind. One of the first things I noticed about adopting healthier eating habits is the effect it had on my mental state—this is not surprising because all sorts of nutrients contribute to our mental health in various ways. If you take care of your body, you will feel more energy and a more energetic body lends itself to a more energetic mind. When you work for yourself, your physical health is paramount; remember, no paid sick days. You might also consider supplements that can support your mental and physical health.

Closing

The road you have taken is traveled by far fewer people and there is a reason for this—many people simply are not willing to do the work necessary to achieve success. Your mind can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy—the choice is yours. Creating a strong mind and reining in stress should be a vital part of anyone’s business plan.

Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer who enjoys blogging about natural health, the importance of mindset and related topics; she recommends visiting Solstice Med for more information on natural remedies that can promote mental and physical health.

Additional Reading

Zen Living for Entrepreneurs

How to Deal With the Pressures of Being a Founder

Ways to Simplify Your Small Business

As a small business owner you may find yourself either doing a lot of writing for the web or hiring others to write about your brand. Writing for the web is different than writing for print. People consume content on websites differently than how they read words on paper. To make your web copy work best for your business try these tips.

Hook them in

The best written copy in the world is worthless without readers! Lure your potential customers with a memorable and compelling headline. Think of your headline as a shop window; a well dressed shop window catches the eye, arouses curiosity and brings customers into the shop. Your headline should do the same. It should encapsulate what is in the copy that follows and compel your customers to want to learn more about your product and service.

Know who your target market is.  And talk to them.

Exactly who are you trying to sell this to?  Yes in a perfect world “everyone” might be a suitable answer, but in reality, who is most likely to spend their hard-earned money on your product?  Is it women?  Young, middle-aged or old women?  Middle-aged women with kids? Middle-aged women with small kids?  Middle-aged women with small kids with health issues?  You get the idea.  Once you’ve figured out exactly who you’re speaking to, speak to them in their own language.  For example using high-tech terminology won’t sell software to computer illiterates. And using street slang is likely to sail over older people’s heads.

Sell the benefits rather than the features

Remember who you’re writing for. The customer. Not you. At all times, point put how the features of your product or service will benefit your customers. For example, the vehicle you are writing about might feature ‘four wheel drive’.  Now, point out the benefits of that feature – safer motoring on slippery surfaces or the ability to go places that other vehicles can’t.  In other words, sell the sizzle, not the steak!

What is unique about what you’re selling?

If you’ve done your branding homework, you’ll already have a unique selling point, a brilliant tagline all about it and a succinct and desirable positioning statement.  If you haven’t had much experience with branding, the very first step is to discover your unique selling point, also known as a point of difference.  Chances are there are several products out there that are similar to yours. So why should a customer spend their money with you? Is your product bigger, smaller, better, brighter, louder, tastier, greener than the others? And if so, how so?  In your website copy (or ad copy) explain exactly what makes your product stand out from the rest and convince the customer that they need that benefit most.  Ideally, you’ll then sum it all up in fewer than seven, memorable words – then you have a tagline too!

A Little About SEO Copywriting

Writing for the web adds a new level of complexity.  You’ll need to research what people “type in to Google” when they’re searching for your product (keywords).  You’ll then need to use these keywords in subheadings in your text and in the page title of each page.  Online, people will consume your media differently than in print.  You’ll need to use short, sharp sentences, short paragraphs broken up by headings, bullet points, infographics, video content – anything that makes it simple for your market to see what you do, how you do it and what’s in it for them.

Check your spelling and grammar

This sounds basic and boring, but it’s so very important.  Poor spelling and grammar is distracting at best, taking the potential customer’s focus away from what you’re selling. It also makes you, the seller, seem untrustworthy and unprofessional.  Once you’ve written your copy, do a spell and grammar check.  Ask a friend or colleague to read over it.  Better still ask several friends or colleagues to read over it.  If you’re not terribly confident of your language skills it’s worth paying a professional for their services just to leave an optimum impression on potential customers and increase your chance of a sale.

Dana Flannery is a specialist in SEO Copywriting at www.talkaboutcreative.com.au.  She comes from a 10 year background in broadcast copywriting and provides a broad selection of copywriting services.  Click hereto find out more.

Additional Reading:

Do You Need a Brand Strategy?

Elements of a Brand: Audience, Goals, Benefits &Positioning

How to Deal with the Pressures of Being a Founder

The paperless office is becoming very popular. Not only can it help ease the environmental impact of your company’s work, it can also add a new layer of efficiency to your day to day activities.

Reasons to Create a Paperless Office

While “going paperless” may seem like a daunting task, there are many reasons to pursue this choice. The benefits of a paperless office include:

• You don’t need space for file cabinets and other paper storage.
• You save money over the long run by decreasing the amount of trash you need hauled away from your office and the manpower you need to use on filing.
• Going paperless makes information more readily accessible from anywhere.
• Because information is available from anywhere, it increases the availability of telecommuting which in turn has its own environmental gains.

Tips for Going Paperless in the Office

But as useful as going paperless is, it can also be frustrating. There is a adjustment curve to working with cloud technology that some people overlook when they’re planning their new office. The frustration may have you rethinking your plans but don’t let it get to you. Instead, try some of these suggestions to overcome them.

Getting the Whole Office on Board

The hardest part of implementing a paperless office is making sure that everyone in the office is on board. Attitudes toward trying something new can vary, ranging from annoyance to outright hostility. Adding to that is the fact that you’re asking your team to relearn the way they do their jobs to some extent. To ease the transition:

• Make sure your team understands why you’ve decided to go paperless. If they understand what your motivation is, they are more likely to cooperate.
• Try to avoid overwhelming them, too. Instead of moving full steam ahead, consider taking your time so they can get used to each step along the way.
• Involve them with your planning process so they feel like they’re a part of it.

As excited as you may be about going paperless with your business, you can’t do this alone. You need your team in this with you.

Dealing with Security Issues

Going paperless means keeping a lot of valuable information in the cloud. With that, you increase your security risks, too. You’re exposing information you may have kept under lock and key in your office to anyone who has access to your password. If you’re a small business, you’re often trusting your information to someone else’s servers. It can be frustrating to have all these added security measures to worry about.

If you’re a bigger company, you should use your IT team to shore security measures. This includes:

• Making mandatory password policies
• Implementing backup procedures
• Installing the right equipment.
• If you’re a smaller company, you can outsource these tasks to an independent IT contractor company.

Using Paper Sometimes

One of the expectations you may have had when you decided to go to a paperless office is that you’d never touch another piece of paper again. Well that’s just not true for most of us. Paperless offices don’t just happen overnight. You may start off by digitizing billing and move on to saving client files in the cloud. It’s a process that takes time.

Also, “paperless office” is a misnomer. Some of your vendors may be wary of paperless business practices. Depending on the laws in your area, you may need to keep original signatures and documents on hand for certain deals. If you find that you still need to have a notepad at your desk because that’s how you work best, it’s not the end of the world. The real point is to reduce the amount of wasted paper and space in your office as much as possible while still getting down to business.

Andrew Whitaker is author and Brand Manager for Promotionalgifts.org. He enjoys writing about business and marketing issues.

In today’s internet savvy world, if you want to keep your business on top, you need to market online. The fitness industry is no stranger to the world of online marketing. Here are some tips that you can follow to effectively market your fitness business online.

Build your website

The first step to promote your business online is to create a website. Be it yoga, Pilates, or any other form of fitness venture, having a website of your own will help you in the long run.

Add all the details about your business and relevant photographs of your fitness studio on your website. Having one or two client testimonials will also help to create a good impression in the customer’s mind.

Consider building your website using WordPress. To get started, have a look at these fitness focused WordPress themes.

To help convert more site visitors to students, try our online class scheduling software.

Build an email list

Email marketing is an important way of staying top of mind. Being top of mind is particularly important for a fitness business, especially as people tend to enroll in one or two classes and then drop the whole idea. Capturing new students’ email addresses right in the beginning will allow you to remind prospective new students that you are there, ready for them to bring their lazy butts back to class.

Bank on Facebook

Create a Facebook business page for your fitness venture. It’s another low-cost way to stay top of mind, and also build awareness if your business is new. On this page you can publish everything related to your business like announcements, schedules, photographs, and notes. You can start interesting online polls to know the opinions and needs of your customers, and you can also start contests which contain questions related to fitness and offer special discount packages for people who give the first 10 correct answers or so. 

Once you’ve become particularly adept at marketing with Facebook you can also make use of other social media websites like Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest to promote your business.

Consider, too, some of these offline marketing approaches.

With the rising number of trainers and fitness studios, it is important to project your fitness business in a unique way. Here are some marketing tips that you can follow to popularize your fitness business.

Word-of-mouth marketing

While marketing your fitness business, do not forget the age old practice of word-of-mouth marketing. Talk to your friends about your business, and ask them to spread word about your business among their friends and acquaintances too.

Also share links regarding your business with your friends on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Your friends can then re-share your link, making more and more people aware of your venture. In this way you can start a buzz among the community about your business.

And of course, deliver quality fitness classes that people love and excellent customer service so that they will naturally speak highly about your business to others.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is a primary way of promoting your fitness business. Definitely create a website for your fitness business. The website should contain:

• All the relevant information about your business including information on instructors, hours and a class schedule
• Contact details so that clients can get in touch with you easily
• An email subscribe option, as your email list is where the money is
• Links to social media profiles
• Client testimonials
• Online class scheduling option (try ours!), to convert visitors to students

Read more about marketing your local business online.

Market your specialty

There may be many general fitness classes available. But to stand out in the crowd you need to market your specialty, some unique service that your business provides. For instance, if you are a yoga instructor, go a bit deeper and try to focus on specialized branches like Hatha Yoga or Power Yoga.

Focusing on a specialty draws attention to your business.

Post flyers

Posting flyers or posters on bulletin boards is an economical way to spread the word about your business. Local businesses that sell fitness equipment and books related to fitness may allow you to advertise your fitness studio through flyers or posters in their shops.

Offer discount packages

Offering discount packages is another way of attracting clients. You can offer special discount packages for customers who newly sign up with you. You can also offer incentives and promotions to already existing customers, thus maintaining a good client base.

Advertising

Advertising through radios and newspapers is an age old method of promoting your business. While advertising through newspapers and radio may be an expensive solution, in many cases it can help you reach out to a lot of customers.

Also keep in mind online advertising opportunities such as Google’s AdWords program.

Remember, all good marketing starts with knowing your audience. As the saying goes, when you try to reach everyone, you reach no one.