From Passion to Profit: Heart Centered Strategies for FitPros

006 Mastering Testimonials: Your Secret Weapon for Fitness Marketing Success

• Nichola Page • Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this episode, we're looking at mastering testimonials for fitness marketing success.  Using powerful testimonials can make all the difference when it comes to getting new clients.  Why are they so important?  And how can you leverage them in ways you might not have considered before? Stick around, because we're about to uncover it all.
 
Testimonials are more than just kind words. They are the bridge that leads potential clients from being complete strangers to enthusiastic paying clients. It's about building that crucial "know, like, and trust" factor. And in the world of marketing, this is what we call social proof - when others sing your praises.

Throughout this episode, we'll explore the diverse ways you can integrate testimonials into your marketing efforts. From traditional flyers and posters to the digital realm of email campaigns, Google reviews, and social media posts, we'll leave no stone unturned.
 
But remember, not all testimonials are created equal. It's not just about saying you're great, it's about painting a vivid picture of the impact you've had on your clients' lives. Stick with me until the end, and I'll share some powerful questions you can ask to ensure you get impactful responses.
 
 So, whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, testimonials are your secret weapon in the world of health and fitness. Let's harness their power together. 

Key Takeaways: 

  • Testimonials are essential for establishing trust and credibility with potential clients. 
  • Social proof, in the form of testimonials, is a fundamental component of any marketing strategy.
  • Add testimonials to all marketing, including flyers, posters, email campaigns and social media.
  • Utilise both written and video testimonials for maximum impact. 
  • Craft specific questions for clients to answer, ensuring testimonials address common concerns and highlight key benefits and results. 

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Welcome to From Passion to Profit, where we talk about all things related to managing and creating a successful health and fitness business. I'm your host, Nichola Page. And in this episode, we'll be looking at the power of testimonials. Why are they so important? The different ways that you can use them that you may or may not be aware of. And how do you get testimonials that give much more of an impact that really compels people to want to now work with you?  

So, why are testimonials so important? If somebody is going to come along, and they've never heard of you or ever seen you before, you have to build the ‘know, like and trust’ factor in order for somebody to go from cold to being a paying client. One way in which we can accelerate that process is by building trust and we do that with, what's called in the marketing world, social proof. Social proof is where other people, not you, are talking about how great you are through your testimonials.  You might call them testimonials, success stories, they’re all the same thing. 

Having testimonials in your marketing, whichever type of marketing you're doing, is crucial.  It’s a fundamental part of creating your whole marketing strategy. If you're not already using testimonials, and you have got clients, or have had clients who've got results, you 100% want to be starting to gather those testimonials, those success stories.  At the end, I'll give you some pointers about what questions you ask them to get more impactful wording.   I mean, it's one thing if somebody said, Oh, Nichola was amazing, she's really great, she knows what she's talking about.  That doesn't really do it. It's nice. It's a bit of an ego rub, but it doesn't compel somebody to want to go on and work with you. So what questions do you need to ask people to get more impactful ones? 

Testimonials, as I've said, are a great way to accelerate that know, like, and trust, it’s the social proof that we need, but how do you use testimonies? There are loads of different ways. So let me just go through a few ways with you, how you can actually use testimonials, and be a bit creative with them. Where you need to be putting these testimonials are, as I've said, on the marketing that you're doing.

It could be if you're doing flyers, or you have posters.  I know that's all a bit old school, but trust me, they work when they're put in the right places. In fact, flyers and posters can work extremely well because the majority of people have stopped doing that now because they're too focused on social media. Make sure your flyers and posters have a testimonial on them. If you're doing a flyer, you want a testimonial on the front, and you want one on the back.  So two different ones and if you’ve only got one, fine, put it on front and back. Don't ever, ever, ever have a flyer that's got nothing on the back of it. That is a complete waste of marketing space, you want to utilise it. 

You might have some referral invitations. Make sure you've got a testimonial on that. If you're doing email campaigns, particularly if you are doing the campaign where you are, let's say you're emailing your list because you want them to buy something from you or maybe you've launched something new. You want to make sure that you use testimonials in the body of the email. You can even put a p.s at the bottom or in your signature.  You could just have as standard, a testimonial from somebody so no matter who gets your emails, there's always already a testimonial in there. 

Google reviews, these are another way for you to get testimonials. It’s an important part for you to be able to get organic reach with your website. Are you using Google reviews?  Are you asking people to leave them?  Make sure you're maximising there.  If somebody has left you a Google review, take that information and use it on your flyers. Use it in your email campaigns.  Just maximise and leverage what you've already got. 

On your website, make sure that you've got testimonials weaved in through your different pages and then have a dedicated page that's all related to testimonials, and success stories. If you're creating a landing page or a sales page, put testimonials on there.  

Social media posts, you can use testimonials.  You can literally have a post, that just says what that individual has quoted. Or you could do it more like a case study approach. Here's how I worked with my client, Nichola, this is what she said at the end of it. So you can maximise again, you can put a slightly different slant on how you use your testimonial on social media. 

If you're doing ads, put a testimonial in the copy. Whether that's a paid ad, or whether you're doing more like an organic ad where you want people to take action - click here to sign up to your taster class. Before that part of that wording that says click here, put a snippet of a testimonial on there.

Then another way to use testimonials is more in the sales process. Everything I've just said there was primarily to do with marketing, getting people to you in the first place.  Once they've had an experience with you and you now want to get them to sign up to a membership or a programme or a package, use testimonials there. If you physically hand something out, maybe you do in person, face to face classes or sessions, and you give them an offer sheet, where you know, they've got their options available to them, how much it costs, etc. Make sure you've got testimonials on there. It's that social proof again. 

If you're doing things where you're getting people to sign up, and you send them via an email, make sure you've got testimonials in that email. They're really powerful, and they're very very underused.  

There are different types or ways of doing your testimonials as well. So those are places where you can use them. I wonder how many of those that I've just listed out you're actually using? There's probably a lot more that you could be doing. And remember, on social media, if you think well, I've recently done a testimonial social media post a week or two weeks ago, I can't do that same one again - yes, you can. You absolutely can. Because the chances are, with the algorithm, not everybody saw that post in the first place. And even if they did, we have to hear the same message over and over and over again, before it sinks in.  In marketing terms, there are stats, anything between 17 and 21 times, whatever the up to date stats are, 17 to 21 times somebody has to see that same message before they go, Ah, I'm going to do something about that, I'm going to take the action that person wants me to take.  So you can repeat them again, because not everybody saw it in the first place. If you've got a number of different testimonials, then maximise on that. 

But there are different ways you can do testimonials. You can have the written version. You can have written versions in your emails.  You can have them on your website.  You can have them on your social media posts. And you can also have Video.  Video, particularly on social media is really powerful. That could be where you are asking that person questions. It doesn't have to be an amazing looking video.  It could just be you holding up your iPhone, you're on the other side of the phone, the video is pointing at your client and you're asking them the questions. Tell me, what made you come to this taster class? What was going on? And they answer.  It could just be literally as simple as that.  It doesn't have to be a professionally shot video.  That will do the job But video is really powerful.

Think about how you could use your written testimonials, and who you could ask who would be willing to do video.   Some people are Oh, I don't want to be on camera. But if you are there, you set your phone up, then you're there just having a chat with that client asking them questions. They’ll maybe feel much more comfortable to do that. You could do it on Zoom. You could set up a meeting with that client, record the Zoom session.  You're just they're having a chat asking them specific questions. Great. Now you've got your video testimonial. 

Where are you going to use it? You could use it on your social media posts, you can put it on your website, you could embed that within a landing page or sales page, you can put it in your email campaigns.  If you've got a podcast, you can do interview style testimonials.  

It’s unlimited with the different ways that you can use testimonials. But the main thing is, to do it, is to maximise on them. 

Now, when it comes to testimonials that you're going to use to, let's say you've got a taster class running, or you're offering a seven day trial, whatever your hook is, your first step in, whether it's free, or whether it's a low cost thing, the thing that you want people to do first, your testimonials should be ideally about the thing that you're asking them to do, as opposed to working with you for six months. 

So, if you were, let's stick with doing a free taster class, okay you're promoting that in your marketing.  The testimonial that you use should be from somebody talking about their experience of the free taster class, in an ideal world.  The chances are, you probably haven't got those. And if you haven't, and that is what you're offering, you need to start to build those.  Because it's congruent with what you are offering and what that person is saying.  If you haven't got that, you can still use other testimonials for now, but make it your aim to get testimonials that are specific, and literally refer to the thing that you are trying to get them to say yes to. I hope that makes sense. 

Then when it comes to you getting people to now go on and buy a membership programme or package, now you're going to have the testimonials as part of the sales process that are talking about the results they've got from working with you. Okay, so it's you taking people step by step with your testimonials. 

But what do you ask?  If you leave it open to people, if you said, would you do me a favour and just write me a testimonial - the chances are, what you're going to get back is Nichola was great. She's really great to work with, I love her classes, they're amazing, you should really try a class.  Not very impactful. So what you want to do is create, say, three, four, maximum of five questions that you could get your clients to answer.  Or if they've come to a taster session, and then they've signed up, get them to answer the questions about the experience that they've just had.  

For example, what led them to doing the thing that they've just experienced, whether it's a taster or whether they've just signed up to a programme.  What was going on for them? Why are they now in this situation? Because there will be other people, more of your ideal clients that will resonate with that. So what led them to this point?  

Did they have any worries or concerns about the thing that the testimonial is related to?  Did they think they were going to be too unfit? Were they worried that they didn't know anybody? Or did they have concerns about how much it costs? Because, again, your ideal clients, your other ideal clients that you don't know yet, your prospective clients will have the same concerns and worries.  It will resonate with them. 

What was the experience they had? What was that like? If they came to a consultation with you, how did that help them? What was that experience like?  It really showcases the value of doing the thing you want them to do? What did they do? What did they take from it? What did they enjoy the most? Did they have any light bulb moments? Did they feel any differently at the end of it? 

What would they say to somebody who was thinking about, doing the thing, but wasn't sure if they should? What would they say to somebody in that instance? 

So, you've got four examples of questions that you can ask there, that will then create a much more impactful testimonial. Now it might be quite wordy, you might have to strip it down. If you pulled out the bit about the concerns and the worries, you could take that part out of the testimonial and use that on social media to say, the most common concerns and worries my ideal clients have are… Here's what Nichola said, Here's what James said, Here's what Paul said. And this is what they said at the end.  It really allows you to leverage your testimonials in so many ways. 

Let me just summarise what we've covered here because the power of testimonials is huge.  There is so much power in it and what I see is they're very much underused.  It gives us that social proof, it accelerates the trust, a very important part of your marketing. 

There are lots of different ways for you to use them.  In your emails on your website, on your social media posts.  You can use written, you can use video, you can take out snippets of a testimonial and use it in a in a specific context. And remember, not all testimonials are good ones.  Just saying how great you are, is good for your ego, but not really going to get people over the line.  The purpose of a testimonial is for somebody to read it and go, that's what I'm worried about. That's where I am right now, oh, and they felt like this, or they got these results, I want that. Let me do what this person is telling me I need to do, booking that consultation or go to that class or buy that thing because I want to feel and be able to do what this person has just said they've achieved. That's what a testimonial is for. 

You need to make sure that you ask the right questions to get the answers that may have the biggest impact.  

I hope you’ve found this useful, and that it has got you thinking about the different ways that you can use the testimonials you've already got. Or maybe you've looked at your testimonials are going yeah, I need to go back to those clients and ask different questions to get better testimonials. And it's got you thinking about where you're going to be able to use them to leverage the power of testimonials.  

Make a list of the clients that you've got right now, or maybe they’re ex clients, go reach out to them.  Go back to them and ask them if they would kindly answer a few questions, or if would they be happy to do a video testimonial with you or jump on Zoom. You're just gonna ask them a few questions that you happen to be recording. You'll edit that and you'll use it as a testimonial. But make it as simple as possible for them to give you what you need. Rather than leaving it at.. Oh, would you mind taking a few minutes just to write me a testimonial. Some people just don't know what to say. And therefore it's going to be… she was great. Loved it, you should do it. Not helpful.

If you’ve found this session useful, and hopefully you have, would you do me a huge favour? Would you go over and leave a review? Would you tell me what you got from this, how it's helped you in some way?  What it's got you thinking about so that more people that read that review go I need to listen to that episode. I'd love for you to be able to leave a review and don't forget, make sure that you subscribe so you get notifications of all the other episodes that are coming out with even more nuggets to share.