How to get Lean & Mean?

 Since I’m in the fitness industry you’re probably thinking “Oh she’s going to talk to us about working out” right?? It’s funny because most of the time, when I’m asked to speak it’s usually about marketing, or being a female business owner. “Marketing” has always been my favorite part of my business, coming up with creative angles to get press and separate YAS from other companies in the fitness industry. Its fun for me, I take the Donnie Duetch approach, when asked why he was so successful, he said, “I market to myself and I know myself well.” I do the same thing. Now in this economy, “Creative Marketing”-Stepping out of our traditional boxes is key. In this economy, you have to get creative!! In the past you might have spent money on advertising and if it worked great, if it didn’t, oh well, but now it’s all about the ROI, your return on investment!! Basically, how much money can I get out of this?

Marketing creates a Brand, that’s why it’s so important!! Basically, only the strong Brands will survive. I wish I could have the Donna Summer song, “I will survive” playing in the background. The Brands will survive and since Franchising is “All about the Brand”, if you have a franchise you are in a better position than most businesses out there. Surviving is one thing, growing is another? Growing your business will take more than just “hanging in there”. I have to admit, the economy put a holt on my growth plans.  I went from selling 6 franchises in a snap to having more leads than ever, but no sales. We had to refocuses, in hindsight it’s was a good thing, since we are a new franchise, our growth could have gotten out of control.

Growing up extremely poor has always made me frugal, well, except when it comes to my cars, I won’t go into that, I’m a bit of a car nut. I have always made it a game to get the best deal, even when I have the money. Now most companies have had to cut back on our advertising and marketing budgets. I have become my own little PR agency, “YAS PR” I am not going to lie to you, it’s a lot of work, and I’m 50 years old, so the whole Social Media, Facebook and Twitter is a tad creepy to me!! I reluctantly went on Facebook, I’m still reluctantly on Facebook, and I use it because I have to. I have a personal page, a YAS fitness center page & a fan page, it’s ridiculous, and then came the Tweets form Twitter? How retarded? I just could not wrap my head around it? I went on to peoples Twitter page that I respected, like Martha Stewart, and I read it going, “What the hell is she talking about?” On Twitter you have to keep you posts to 140 characters, which is basically 25 words. So sometimes it’s hard to get your point across.

Originally why I started using Facebook was to promote my business, I started with a YAS Fitness Center Facebook page, but in order to promote it they had to be my friends first? I had all these people wanting to me “my friend” I keep thinking, who the hell are these people?  Now I figured the ones from South Jersey had to be from High School but the rest of them? But I started accepting people just so I could invite them to my business Facebook page-for me Social Media is all about business!! That’s it. Now, I started “Twittering” to promote my book, “The No OM Zone” I look at my daily Tweets as part of my job; it’s my job to help promote my book, period. (http://twitter.com/kimberlyYAS)

Now the good thing about Social Media is, “it FREE” the bad thing is, it does take time. But to stay current, all of us need to be proactively on these sites, you just don’t want to be left behind in the social media world.  The internet is key in business, 53% of all searches start with Google, that how important the internet is. Over 50% of the people looking for you or your business start with Google. Check your companies Google ranking, type in your companies name and see where it comes up. How many of you already do this? I use “Google Alerts” I get notified when someone post something about me or YAS.

The one thing that I know is, it’s easier than ever to get information out in cyberspace, but because there is so much out there it’s harder to get people attention. I am absolutely amazed how many impressions it takes to get noticed, that’s why it’s important to use “Social Media” for your business!!

Here are some facts about “Social Media”

• Facebook has 200 million active users! Up 89% this year alone
• Facebook users check their accounts three to four times daily!
• They spend an average of 19+ minutes per visit
• Facebook signs up 250,000 new users every day
• YouTube plays 75 million videos daily! That's bigger than any TV network
• LinkedIn has over 15 million business people networking
• Twitter grows at 300K new users per month
• Twitter is growing at over 40% a month (They predict it will overtake Facebook in the near future)

Now after reading these facts, it became clear to me, and I hope to you too, that Social Media is the future! All of us need to tap into this as a way to grow our businesses.

 

I am going to leave you 5 Lean & Mean Tips:

1. Give them something to talk about!! Isn’t that a song by Bonnie Raitt? “Let’s give something to talk about” I am often asked how I get so much press, in fact I was just on CNN, why? Because my tagline is “No Chanting, No Granola, No Sanskrit” Sanjay Gupta was surfing the internet looking for “Yoga without Granola” So, if you have a business, think of an angle to get people talking about you!! “Think Madonna” whether you like her or not, she always give us something to talk about!! Remember editorial is Free, but why would someone write about you? Give them a reason!!
2. Customer Service-In this economy people are looking for customer service, I guess would be “Lean & Nice”
3. Make Deals!! Ask Ask Ask!! Who cares if they say no, there are a lot of vendors and advertiser out there. The worst thing that can happen is somebody say no, but in this economy you might see a lot more yes’s than no’s. It’s a buyer’s market right now take advantage of it; it’s not going to stay this way!!
4. Diversify!! I learn this when I lived in Houston Texas, when the oil business went “Bust” it took the whole city down with it. I had guys, the oil business was all men at that time, handing me gold Rolex watches to handle their bankruptcies. It was crazy, but I really learned that lesson. You should have several streams of income.
5. Last but not Least: Social Media-If you are not on Facebook, join. Become an expert on Twitter.(It’s free) I know at first this seems like a lot work, but it’s like everything else, once you get used to it, it becomes part of your daily routine, now I’m 50 so if I can do it, you can do it.

 

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