How to Plan & Execute Your Holiday Promotion To Stand Out From The Clutter

Love it or hate it, Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) are almost upon us. That wonderfully chaotic day where everything is on sale, and everyone’s credit cards are putting in the reps.

The semi-official start to the holiday shopping season is a great chance for gym owners, personal trainers, and fitness entrepreneurs to attract new clients and bolster your business for the year.

Considering consumers spent more than $9 billion on Black Friday and $11 billion on Cyber Monday in 2022, it’s a no-brainer to participate. But, how do you stand out from the noise?

We’ll give you four key takeaways to make sure your Black Friday doesn’t turn into a whack Friday.

Plan and Persist

I hate to break it to you, but up to 75% of emails may never even get opened. It’s honestly no surprise given that a whopping 347 billion emails are sent every day. On Black Friday alone, 116.5 million are delivered.

So spreading the word about your holiday promotion requires some persistence. Just because someone doesn’t open your first email or make a purchase after seeing one social media post, doesn’t mean they never intend on purchasing.

You’ll need to start planning ahead so you can build hype leading up to your sale. Let your audience know what’s coming so they can start anticipating what they want to buy. Then as the sale is running, continue to remind them to buy. Let them know it’s available for a limited time only so they know to act fast.

However, being persistent doesn’t mean continuing to send the same message over and over. If the first email didn’t work, you’ll need to try something slightly different with the next. This is where it gets fun. Play around with subject lines, lean into different value props, be creative with images, and change the timing of the email. Through this process you will also start to learn what resonates with your audience and what doesn’t.

Keep in mind your clients’ habits. When are your clients most engaged with you? When are they training and not training? This will help you determine which days they are most likely to engage with your emails.

As you’re planning, think about what makes you stand out from your competitors. What makes your coaching business different? What do you hear from your happiest clients? What problems do you solve for your clients? Answering these questions will make it easy to develop your offer and surrounding messaging.

Also, remember that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer one-day events. Many companies run promotions for the entire week or even longer. So consider how long you want to run your sale for to keep up with the market.

Start thinking ahead on what channels you will use to communicate (email, social media, ads, etc.), what message, and how often. Then you can start building out your calendar.

Personalization Goes a Long Way

With so much noise, you need to personalize your campaign wherever possible. And we’re not just talking about using a first name.

Of course your goal is to expand your clientele. But what about existing clients? Is there something you can offer them for being a loyal customer? Are they up for a membership renewal? Each of these scenarios will require a different message. Potential clients who have never trained (or purchased) from you may not know who you are yet. So their experience is much different than clients who already know and trust you.

Just keep this in mind as you’re building your campaign. Tailoring your message and offer is extra work, but it’s worth it. Emails that are relevant and personalized typically result in higher email clicks (and yes, sales).

Be Smart About Who You Are Emailing

When using email as your main channel to get the word out about your holiday promotion, it’s tempting to take every email address you’ve ever gathered and blast out the details about your Black Friday/Cyber Monday offer. Here’s why you shouldn’t do that:

If email providers (Gmail, for example) detect unusual activity from your email domain, you run the risk of getting blacklisted. Blacklisted means your domain has been flagged as spam and your email’s likelihood of getting delivered decreases. Basically, straight to spam and it’s not easy to dig out of that hole. But this can be easily avoided if you follow email best practices.

To ensure emails land in the intended inbox, make sure the recipients on your list have opted in to receiving communication from you, and never buy email lists.

Then, make sure your email lists are up to date. Do you have someone on your list who bought from you 5 years ago? Your email will feel out of the blue and is probably unwanted. They are most likely to report it as spam. Stick to those who tell you they want to hear from you or frequently engage with your content. They are more likely to buy anyway.

Next, make sure your daily send volume isn’t out of the ordinary of your day-to-day email sends. If email providers detect a sudden surge in sends (doubling what you normally send, for example), that could be a spam indicator. This makes it even more important to cut down your email list to make sure you’re emailing recipients who want to hear from you and who are used to hearing from you.

Email Subject Lines Do’s and Don’ts

Have you ever opened an email because of a catchy subject line only to realize that what was inside the email had nothing to do with what got you to open it in the first place? That’s called clickbait and we’ve all fallen for it. Continuing to do so hurts your credibility and will make people less engaged with your brand.

We’re not saying that you can’t be creative and catchy when coming up with subject lines, by all means, we encourage that. Just make sure that users know what to expect when opening your email and that they won’t be taken by surprise when they see what’s inside of it.

Best practice is to keep your subject line under 40 characters so that all text is visible, whether opening on a computer or on a phone. Don’t be afraid to have fun with it, especially if that speaks to your brand tone.

Here’s to high email open rates and crushing your goals!

Every holiday season there’s more competition and more clutter to break through. So start planning now, be strategic about who you are emailing, personalize your offers, and get creative with your campaigns to find what resonates with your audience. And don’t forget, creating a great customer experience with trust will keep customers invested and coming back for more.