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gabriellakirtonblog · 5 years

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How Eight Online Personal Trainers Earn Six-Figure Salaries

Personal training is not a get-rich-quick business. But with the right moves and a little luck, training clients online can be a rewarding and lucrative career.

According to our salary survey of more than 1,000 personal trainers, one in five trainers earn $75,000 or more per year. One out of every 10 trainers earn six figures or above. Those odds are slightly better than you’ll find in other careers. But there’s a lot you can do to improve your position.

For one thing, top-tier trainers were more likely than modest earners to train clients online in some form or another. Some trained clients online exclusively, while others did online training in combination with in-person training.

We wanted to see what the most successful ones had in common. So we asked eight online trainers, all of whom earn six or seven figures, about the attitudes, behaviors, and strategies behind their success.

They all work hard, as you’d expect. But the key to their success, as you’ll see, is working hard at the right things.

READ ALSO: How to Make $100,000 a Year as a Personal Trainer

1. Work on your communication skills

Jordan Lark wasn’t trying to reach six figures when he left his secure management-level job to become a full-time trainer. His focus was on his clients’ success. That’s especially important in the early days, because growth relies on word-of-mouth referrals.

“I have clients in 60 countries now,” says Lark, “and I could, like a family tree, plot them all back to the first 10.”

The key to good results: establishing clear, continuous communication between you and your clients.

That’s vital not only for convincing clients to trust your methods, but also for building a relationship in which they feel comfortable sharing pain points.

Try the girlfriend test: Pick a close relative or friend who represents your client—for Lark, whose clients are mostly women in their 30s, that’s his girlfriend—and whenever you contact clients, ask yourself how that person would respond to the message. Adjust the phrasing until you’re sure it will be well received.

And put a moratorium on emojis. You’ll be forced to make sure your words convey the right intention, thus honing your communication skills, Lark says.

The Wealthy Fit Pro’s Guide to Online Training retails for $19.99, but we bought it for you. We just ask that you pay shipping & handling. Claim your copy at go.theptdc.com.

2. Get organized from day one

You can’t build a house without a solid foundation. (Not one you’d want to live in, anyway.) The foundation of your business includes administrative details like your business license, tax forms, and insurance policies. Get those out of the way immediately, says trainer Roxie Beckles, owner of RoxStar Fitness.

Next come your basic business systems and practices. Write everything down, says Mike Doehla, founder of Stronger U, the nutrition-coaching juggernaut. Keep spreadsheets of your personal training clients, noting when you last touched base with them and when you’ll follow up.

Once all that is in place, you can scale up without short-changing your current clients.

But don’t try to systemize everything, cautions Lark. You need systems for repeatable processes like referrals and lead generation, but actual coaching demands a custom response.

READ ALSO: How Do I Get More Personal Training Clients?

3. Practice progressive overload

It takes time and patience to build a business. That slow progress can be frustrating on any given day, but the gains add up over time. And when an online personal training business finally clicks, there’s no limit to how fast it can grow.

“Think about it this way,” says Jason Helmes, owner of Anyman Fitness. “If you had a ‘normal’ job, a 10 percent raise would be phenomenal, practically unheard of. But 20 percent [annual] profit growth in this business is extremely achievable if you focus on the right things.”

Helmes speaks from experience. He made $2,500 his first year, training his initial clients for free and surviving month to month with little to no income from coaching. (He was also teaching middle school at the time and picking up extra jobs to get by.) Two years later, he hit six figures, and revenue has been climbing ever since.

Once you hit six figures, you still have to put in the work. Running a fitness business includes sometimes tedious, repetitive tasks like responding to emails and reaching out to prospective clients. Helmes likes to think of these tasks as “reps.” Get in your reps, and your business will grow.

Be patient. Those six-figure trainers from our salary survey? Eighty percent have been at it at least five years.

READ ALSO: How to Have a Long Career as a Personal Trainer

4. Pursue knowledge

Hang with highly successful trainers long enough, and you can’t help but notice their unabashed love of learning. For some, that means seeking higher education. (Trainer Sohee Lee, who’s pursuing a PhD in sports science, saw her business triple the same month she earned her master’s.)

Not all successful trainers hold advanced degrees—or any degree at all. In fact, education as a stand-alone variable didn’t correlate with income in our survey. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t relentlessly curious and inquisitive.

“I’m always learning,” says Michael Beiter, owner of Pillar Coaching Services, who has taken college-level courses in exercise science but never actually earned a degree. He reads and writes for two hours every morning, and credits that habit for his business success as well as his personal growth.

READ ALSO: The Best Books for Personal Trainers

5. Treat social media like your virtual gym floor

When you run a business online, you must work that much harder to connect with people.

“Consider how long it takes to build a face-to-face relationship, and multiply that by a hundred,” says online trainer and nutrition coach Arpita Boyd, who posts three times on social every day. (To pull it off, she schedules all posts in advance for the coming week.)

To Lark, producing content is as close as an online trainer gets to walking the gym floor and chatting up potential clients. “You want to create content that makes you approachable,” he says. That way, when you put out a call to action, people already trust you and perceive you as someone who can help.

For content ideas, seek inspiration outside the fitness industry, he adds. Look to pop culture, psychology, comedy—whatever you like. Expanding your consumption helps you find fresh ideas.

And don’t overthink it. Lark spends about 15 minutes on each post, keeping them short (10 lines max), easy to digest, and representative of who he is and what he offers.

READ ALSO: Five Ways to Dominate the Gym Floor

6. Talk to actual people too

Strong people skills are essential for attracting clients, engaging with them, and knowing how to motivate them, Doehla says. “You have to know how people think, what they want, and how they feel.”

In addition to connecting with clients on social media and coaching calls, Doehla makes a habit of getting out and talking with real-live humans in their natural habitat. Whenever Doehla is out in public, he’ll start a conversation—not to make a sale, but to build his emotional intelligence and try to understand people a little better.

“A lot of people in the industry don’t want to do that,” he says. “Those are the ones who are struggling.”

It’s easy to become dependent on electronic communications. But what seems efficient can also be impersonal, and ultimately limit your growth. The game-changing moment for Ashley Crooks, an online trainer and business coach, was when he stopped trying to sell online and started talking to people on the phone instead.

READ ALSO: How to Sell Personal Training in Five Steps

7. Make friends with other trainers

While you’re working on those people skills, try using them with other online trainers. They’re not competition. They’re teammates. “Other coaches are an amazing resource,” says Lark. “Most love to help. Plenty are happy to refer. And they’re often huge supporters of your success.”

Befriending other trainers is also a great way to find a mentor, a valuable asset in any career. “If you’re going to ask someone to mentor you, they should be someone you know,” Beckles adds. The best guidance will come from someone who has seen your potential and trusts you to put their advice to good use.

Start by joining Facebook groups for trainers, Lark advises. We recommend our own Online Trainers Unite. Find trainers who resonate with you, and ask questions about what they do and why they do it. “The worst case is they don’t have time to respond.” In that case, you’re no worse off than if you hadn’t asked.

Just be sure to reciprocate, he adds. “Don’t just be a taker. Give at every opportunity.”

8. Invest in yourself

Not every continuing-education investment is a good one, as pharmacist and gym owner TJ Allan notes in this article. If you’re operating on slim margins, it makes little sense to add thousands of dollars to your credit card balance by attending pricey conferences and seminars.

But there are lots of ways to invest in yourself while staying within a budget. A perfect example: In his early days, Alwyn Cosgrove would use the fees from one training session a week for personal development.

If you’re an online trainer who charges $200 a month, you could designate one client’s payment to your education fund. That’s $2,400 a year, which goes a long way when you invest in these categories:

Professional education

Gaining advanced and specialized personal training certifications is one way to learn, and in our survey, it was correlated with income. Trainers who make $100,000-plus hold an average of seven certifications, vs. five for all respondents.

Business and marketing resources

The best business books for personal trainers are worth many times their cover price. Beckles says these books helped her make the mental switch from “independent contractor” to “entrepreneur”:

The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber

The Conversion Code by Chris Smith

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Coaches

Still not sure what you’re doing, or how to get from where you are to where you want to be? Do what your clients do and hire someone to help. Helmes says the best thing he ever did was hire a business coach to help him with Facebook ads and marketing strategy.

READ ALSO: These Are the Best Personal Training Certifications in the United States

9. Make your own rules

Google “daily routines of the super-successful,” and you might think the only way to get ahead is through highly structured days. Beckles calls BS on that idea.

Each of her days is different. She might start working first thing. Or she might go to the gym, spend time online, meditate, or just chill out for a while. “The way we’re taught is very masculine-energy-driven,” she says. “‘Go go go! Never sleep!’ That’s good for people who like that energy. But I like balance. And I run my company with balance in mind.”

Doehla can relate. He prefers less structure so he’s always available to staff and clients, and has more flexibility to react. “A lot of young trainers see this stuff and think ‘Oh, I need to do that,’” he says. “There are no rules to this. Do what you want, and see what works.”

10. Don’t limit your options

Seen the ads for Equinox Hotels? Beckles has. “All the comments are ‘Oh my god! I can’t wait to go there!’” she says. “No one is saying ‘But you’re a gym. Why are you a hotel now?’”

Her point: Trainers need to think outside narrow definitions of what a fitness business can offer. “Bring your uniqueness to the game,” she says. Just because no one else has done it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. For Beckles, that word doesn’t exist. “Unless you physically can’t do something, you’re only limited by what you think.”

Optimistic? Maybe. But it’s a sentiment shared by many of the successful online trainers we spoke to. You can’t win big unless you dream big.

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orphans-forest-blog · 5 years

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How To Get People To Like SEO 2019

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unifiedsocialblog · 6 years

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9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns

As the new home for brands, Instagram is the ideal place to promote your business, reach new customers, and engage your audience. Having an overall content strategy for Instagram is fundamental, but sometimes you want to put some extra effort behind a particularly important goal.

That’s where an Instagram marketing campaign comes in.

During an Instagram marketing campaign, you’re trying to achieve a specific objective over a fixed period of time. All of the content in your campaign is aligned and focused on a single target, which is specific and measurable.

If your Instagram strategy is a slow and steady marathon, campaigns are like sprints. They use more energy over a shorter period of time, and yield results and insights fast.

If you want to launch a product, connect with new customers, or build your brand’s reputation, an Instagram campaign can help you achieve your goal—as long as you set yourself up for success. In this post, we’ll introduce you to different types of Instagram marketing campaigns and share tips for running an effective campaign.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Types of Instagram marketing campaigns

There are several broad categories of Instagram marketing campaigns, each optimized for different goals and tactics. Here are some of the most common, to give you an idea of where to start planning.

1. Awareness campaign

During an awareness campaign, you’re pushing hard to increase the visibility of your company, product, or service. For emerging brands, or those trying to connect with a new audience, this can be a campaign to showcase what’s distinct, exciting and exceptional about your brand.

Because Instagram is a platform where users want to discover and follow brands (80 percent follow at least one company), it’s a natural platform for your awareness campaign. Getting your content in front of Instagram users is valuable: 75 percent of users take action after seeing a brand’s post, like visiting their website.

2. Cause campaign

Younger consumers (like the ones who dominate Instagram) care about more than just what a company sells. They care about the ethics and social responsibility of the brands they support.

A cause campaign is a way to champion your brand values. For instance, you could promote an awareness day or event, or partner with charitable organizations. Dove’s #DoveWithoutCruelty campaign highlights the company’s commitment to avoiding animal testing in partnership with PETA and influencers who promote ethical beauty.

View this post on Instagram

We don’t test on animals and are certified cruelty-free by PETA. We hope that this will inspire others in the industry to follow and become certified cruelty-free brands, too ???? Real beauty is cruelty-free. #Dove #RealBeauty #CrueltyFree #BeautyWithoutBunnies #PETA #DoveCrueltyFree #Care #DoveProducts

A post shared by Dove Global Channel ???? (@dove) on Oct 16, 2018 at 2:05am PDT

A cause campaign can build trust and loyalty from an audience that shares your values, and engages socially-conscious users.

3. Sale or promotion

Running a sale with an Instagram-specific promotion is a frequent tactic of brands. It rewards engaged followers and encourages them to visit your account for sales and discount codes. Now that you can shop directly from Instagram, it’s even easier for users to act on a special sale.

View this post on Instagram

FLASH SALE ⚡️15% off with code COZY until midnight tomorrow ⚡️ support the @bcrfcure and get yourself or a loved one a sweater before they’re gone for good ???? thank you @close_knit for the pic ????

A post shared by 323 (@323_clothing) on Oct 30, 2018 at 8:49am PDT

Certain holidays and times of year are perfect for running a sale—after all, no one really grows out of the back-to-school fever. But Instagram is also a great place to run a flash sale using a promo code that’s only applicable for a short period of time. It can be a powerful way to drive pre-sales before a product launch, or move inventory to make way for new items.

4. Instagram contests

Contests are big on Instagram, because they’re hugely effective at driving engagement. You can set rules for entry that support your campaign goals. For example, asking users to tag a friend to enter is an opportunity to reach new followers. Asking them to enter through a form allows you to grow your email list.

Find out more about the many ways to run Instagram contests (and the specific rules you need to know before running one).

5. Product launch

If you’re launching an exciting new product or service, you may want a campaign to go along with it. This builds anticipation and excitement around your launch, and gives you an opportunity to show off the different advantages and qualities of your new product.

For example, Montreal-based retailer Frank & Oak developed an Instagram campaign to promote their #StylePlan subscription box.

View this post on Instagram

Look great without the fuss. Let our stylists pick out what you need and send them straight to your door. Fall is the perfect time to give #StylePlan a try.

A post shared by Frank And Oak (@frankandoak) on Oct 14, 2018 at 7:29am PDT

Their campaign posts highlight the value and convenience of the subscription, share looks from both their men’s and women’s lines, and suggest that users can buy it for themselves or as a gift.

View this post on Instagram

Raise your hand if this #Styleplan selection represents the box of her dreams?

A post shared by Frank And Oak Women (@frankandoakwomen) on Jun 16, 2018 at 1:00pm PDT

6. User-generated content campaign

In user-generated content (UGC) campaigns, you’re encouraging followers and customers to share posts featuring your products, using a specific hashtag to tie the campaign together.

View this post on Instagram

Super Squishy and POOFY ☺️✨@Aritzia #TheSuperPuff #Aritzia

A post shared by Michelle ☻ (@simansays) on Oct 18, 2018 at 9:29am PDT

A UGC campaign not only promotes awareness of your brand through the hashtag, it also provides you with content that you can use on your own channels. A major incentive for participation by users is the hope that brands will repost their photos.

These campaigns all have different goals and methods, but each of them is focused on getting a customer to take a specific action in a fixed period of time.

Awareness or user-generated content campaigns might not seem like things you need to put a deadline on, but the messaging and tactics that you’re using will get stale if you keep them around too long. Eventually your audience will stop responding.

You can also combine elements from these campaigns (for instance, combining a contest with a user-generated content campaign). For instance, fitness app Aaptiv combines a contest with user-generated content with their #5KYourWay campaign:

View this post on Instagram

Lace up your runners and get running! ????????‍♀️ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I've recently been contacted by @aaptiv to participate in the upcoming virtual 5K Your Way run on October 27th and am so excited to share this event with you! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Aaptiv is an on-demand audio fitness workout that allows you to workout pretty much anywhere, anytime. I LOVE Aaptiv and fully believe in the app so highly recommend it! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The best part of the #aaptiv5kyourway event is that Aaptiv has chosen to partner with @charitymiles to support a good cause. This year I have chosen to support @girlupcampaign an organization that helps promote women's rights globally because I believe that equality is key to WELLTHY living. ???????? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you are looking to start a new workout program, run a fun 5K, or support a good cause then the 5K Your Way is the perfect opportunity. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I'd love for you to lace up and join me on October 27th so be sure to sign up by clicking the link in the bio!

A post shared by The Wellness Hive (@the.wellnesshive) on Sep 28, 2018 at 8:00pm PDT

9 tips for creating successful Instagram marketing campaigns

Now you’ve got plenty of ideas, but an idea is only as good as the strategy behind it. We’ve got tips to help you make a plan for success and achieve your campaign goals.

1. Set S.M.A.R.T goals

When setting an objective for your campaign, you want to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based.

For instance, say you want to increase your Instagram followers. Break that down into:

Specific: Who do you want to reach? What do you want them to do? Be precise in your targets. Make sure you have a single goal and that all your campaign content is unified to support it.

Measurable: How will you know if you’re successful? Establish a baseline for your current followers and engagement so you can track growth.

Attainable: Is your goal realistic? Can it accurately be measured? Goals should take hard work to achieve, but they should not be out of reach.

Realistic: This should be based on your budget, current rate of growth, and duration of the campaign. Do your research, and don’t make a wild plan to go from 100 followers to 10,000 in two weeks (unless you’re promising all new followers a free trip to Hawaii).

Time-based: The duration of your campaign should be based on your goal and the amount of time you think you’ll need to achieve it. Don’t set an arbitrary limit of one week if your goals are ambitious, but also don’t make it so long that you lose steam.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free checklist right now!

2. Plan your campaign content

Once you’ve identified your goals, you should plan out each of your campaign posts. Make a roadmap or content calendar of the posts and Stories you want to share each day. If you’re reaching out to influencers (more on that below), ask them to post on a particular day that makes sense according to your calendar.

Each post should make sense on its own while still reinforcing the overall message of the campaign. If audiences see multiple posts, they should work together to build excitement. If they only see one, it should be strong enough to entice them to learn more.

The content calendar can include posts that give a preview of your campaign (like if you want to announce a sale before you run it, or photos of your product before you release it) to build momentum.

Campaigns are a lot of work, and you’ll want to reach for the Gatorade part way through. Having a solid plan in place before you launch will make it easier to maintain a consistent level of quality and creativity throughout.

3. Use the Feed + Stories

If you’re only running your ads on the Instagram feed, you’re missing out. People watch 400 million Stories each day, but only 50 percent of businesses are using them.

Stories can complement your posts, or you can let Facebook Ads place your content in either format. This Story from Girlfriend Collective, part of a free-shipping campaign for their new line of bodysuits, is an example of a promotion that would work in the Feed too:

And it was complemented by campaign posts in their Feed:

You can also tailor your content for Stories and creating Highlights, like Everlane did for their ReNew campaign.

If you’re intimidated by the format, we’ve got a primer on getting started with Instagram Stories.

4. Use A/B tests

Want to get the most out of your campaign’s lifespan? Use A/B testing to refine your strategy. Test multiple versions of your ads simultaneously, which will maximize your budget by automatically selecting the best-performing versions.

You can A/B test almost every element of your ad: images, copy, placements, audiences, landing page. And each test will give you more information about what works best, giving you a ton of data that will help you get even more out of your next Instagram marketing campaign.

5. Create a unifying aesthetic

Your campaign should align with your brand’s overall look and feel, but you can still make it distinct. Unlike a single ad, which benefits from blending well with the rest of your content, a campaign can stand out on its own.

It should be memorable and recognizable, so that each piece of the campaign adds up to a total, coherent message. This will help to reinforce your key call-to-action and build familiarity each time someone sees a promotion.

It also gives the campaign itself some character and a tone which will guide your content. Think about how you want people to feel when they see your campaign. Is it funny? Calming? Exciting?

Furniture company Article created a cheeky, humorous campaign for a sofa launch that makes an impression:

6. Track the metrics that matter

If a campaign falls in the woods, and no one is around to measure how loud the sound is, did it really make an impact?

Before you even launch your campaign, you should have identified the key metrics that you’ll be using to evaluate your success (that’s the M in your S.M.A.R.T goals). For example, in an awareness campaign, you’ll want to pay attention to audience growth, reach, and share of voice.

These will vary depending on the objectives of your campaign. There are a ton of metrics you can track on social media, and some analytics are unique to Instagram. Depending on the type of campaign (like a sale or a product launch), you may want to track metrics outside of the platform too, through trackable links or the use of promo codes.

Make sure to establish a baseline, so you can accurately measure the impact of your campaign.

7. Partner with influencers

Influencers are users who have a large, organic audience on Instagram, and whose followers trust their opinions and recommendations. For that reason, influencers can be amazing partners who connect you to a loyal and engaged audience and add authenticity and trust to your campaign.

Posts created by influencers on behalf of your brand need to abide by FTC guidelines and be clearly labelled as ads, like these examples from Danish watch company Skagen’s influencer marketing campaign:

View this post on Instagram

Always on time thanks to #mySKAGEN and always up to date with texts and notifications. Head over to www.ollieandsebshaus.co.uk where I share more features on the #SKAGENsmartwatch. @skagendenmark

A post shared by Deborah (@apieceofcake82) on Apr 20, 2018 at 1:14am PDT

View this post on Instagram

[Advertisement] • Not even a rainy autumn day can make me sad and I’m still getting all my notifications without pulling out my phone on my @skagendenmark Falster II watch ☔️⌚️???? #mySKAGEN #SKAGENsmartwatch #ad

A post shared by Wesley Thompson (@wesleythompson) on Oct 30, 2018 at 9:08am PDT

These partnerships only work if they make sense for your campaign and your brand, so do your homework. Identify influencers who share your values and aesthetic, and check out their other branded posts to see how they present sponsored content.

When it comes to audiences, pay attention to engagement and fit, not just size. Influencers will smaller but loyal followings, can be a more strategic (and economical!) choice, especially if they’re a strong match for your target audience. For more tips, check out this post from an influencer’s perspective.

8. Budget for success

Budgets are everyone’s favourite part of a campaign strategy, right? We all have to do them, so let’s do them right. When coming up with a campaign budget, identify the tactics that make the most sense for your goals, and be sure to include those costs.

You know you’ll need to cover promoted posts and Stories, but working with influencers and running contests come with additional costs. Gather your intel in advance and then build those into your marketing budget.

In a perfect world, you’d have infinite funds for all your campaigns, but here on Planet Earth, you might need to make adjustments to your tactics if your funds are limited, or run a shorter campaign.

9. Think about the post-Instagram experience

Depending on the goals of your Instagram marketing campaign, you may be sending people off Instagram after they click on your posts or promotions. Don’t forget about the post-click destination! A strong landing page will help you hit your campaign target.

Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish photos directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

Get Started

The post 9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns published first on https://getfblike.tumblr.com/

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bizmediaweb · 6 years

Text

9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns

That’s where an Instagram marketing campaign comes in.

If your Instagram strategy is a slow and steady marathon, campaigns are like sprints. They use more energy over a shorter period of time, and yield results and insights fast.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Types of Instagram marketing campaigns

There are several broad categories of Instagram marketing campaigns, each optimized for different goals and tactics. Here are some of the most common, to give you an idea of where to start planning.

1. Awareness campaign

2. Cause campaign

Younger consumers (like the ones who dominate Instagram) care about more than just what a company sells. They care about the ethics and social responsibility of the brands they support.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dove Global Channel ???? (@dove) on Oct 16, 2018 at 2:05am PDT

A cause campaign can build trust and loyalty from an audience that shares your values, and engages socially-conscious users.

3. Sale or promotion

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 323 (@323_clothing) on Oct 30, 2018 at 8:49am PDT

4. Instagram contests

Find out more about the many ways to run Instagram contests (and the specific rules you need to know before running one).

5. Product launch

For example, Montreal-based retailer Frank & Oak developed an Instagram campaign to promote their #StylePlan subscription box.

View this post on Instagram

Look great without the fuss. Let our stylists pick out what you need and send them straight to your door. Fall is the perfect time to give #StylePlan a try.

A post shared by Frank And Oak (@frankandoak) on Oct 14, 2018 at 7:29am PDT

Their campaign posts highlight the value and convenience of the subscription, share looks from both their men’s and women’s lines, and suggest that users can buy it for themselves or as a gift.

View this post on Instagram

Raise your hand if this #Styleplan selection represents the box of her dreams?

A post shared by Frank And Oak Women (@frankandoakwomen) on Jun 16, 2018 at 1:00pm PDT

6. User-generated content campaign

In user-generated content (UGC) campaigns, you’re encouraging followers and customers to share posts featuring your products, using a specific hashtag to tie the campaign together.

View this post on Instagram

Super Squishy and POOFY ☺️✨@Aritzia #TheSuperPuff #Aritzia

A post shared by Michelle ☻ (@simansays) on Oct 18, 2018 at 9:29am PDT

These campaigns all have different goals and methods, but each of them is focused on getting a customer to take a specific action in a fixed period of time.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Wellness Hive (@the.wellnesshive) on Sep 28, 2018 at 8:00pm PDT

9 tips for creating successful Instagram marketing campaigns

Now you’ve got plenty of ideas, but an idea is only as good as the strategy behind it. We’ve got tips to help you make a plan for success and achieve your campaign goals.

1. Set S.M.A.R.T goals

When setting an objective for your campaign, you want to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based.

For instance, say you want to increase your Instagram followers. Break that down into:

Specific: Who do you want to reach? What do you want them to do? Be precise in your targets. Make sure you have a single goal and that all your campaign content is unified to support it.

Measurable: How will you know if you’re successful? Establish a baseline for your current followers and engagement so you can track growth.

Attainable: Is your goal realistic? Can it accurately be measured? Goals should take hard work to achieve, but they should not be out of reach.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free checklist right now!

2. Plan your campaign content

The content calendar can include posts that give a preview of your campaign (like if you want to announce a sale before you run it, or photos of your product before you release it) to build momentum.

3. Use the Feed + Stories

If you’re only running your ads on the Instagram feed, you’re missing out. People watch 400 million Stories each day, but only 50 percent of businesses are using them.

And it was complemented by campaign posts in their Feed:

You can also tailor your content for Stories and creating Highlights, like Everlane did for their ReNew campaign.

If you’re intimidated by the format, we’ve got a primer on getting started with Instagram Stories.

4. Use A/B tests

5. Create a unifying aesthetic

It also gives the campaign itself some character and a tone which will guide your content. Think about how you want people to feel when they see your campaign. Is it funny? Calming? Exciting?

Furniture company Article created a cheeky, humorous campaign for a sofa launch that makes an impression:

6. Track the metrics that matter

If a campaign falls in the woods, and no one is around to measure how loud the sound is, did it really make an impact?

Make sure to establish a baseline, so you can accurately measure the impact of your campaign.

7. Partner with influencers

View this post on Instagram

Always on time thanks to #mySKAGEN and always up to date with texts and notifications. Head over to www.ollieandsebshaus.co.uk where I share more features on the #SKAGENsmartwatch. @skagendenmark

A post shared by Deborah (@apieceofcake82) on Apr 20, 2018 at 1:14am PDT

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wesley Thompson (@wesleythompson) on Oct 30, 2018 at 9:08am PDT

8. Budget for success

9. Think about the post-Instagram experience

Get Started

The post 9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

9 Tips for Creating Successful Instagram Marketing Campaigns published first on https://themarketingheaven.tumblr.com/

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winreplace30303 · 6 years

Text

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9

#FEED 7 EDUCATION

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rtawngs20815 · 6 years