Springfield Author Weighs In With 'The New Rules of Fitness Marketing'

You can't rely on Facebook alone to market your brand new gym. You've got to get yourself out into the community and schmooze it up a little bit, experiment with the Internet and sponsor a local Little League team. 

Those are just a few of the techniques that Springfield marketing expert Lisa Shaughnessy advocates in her new book "The New Rules of Fitness Marketing." The author interviewed 26 fitness experts from around the country and asked them about these topics: 

• Selling the non-sleazy way
• Public speaking
• Community events
• Building your tribe
• Overcoming challenges
• Advice on getting started

"There are a lot of independent personal trainers and gym owners who have a hard time with the sell," said Shaughnessy. "They know all about working out and training, but they hate asking for money. People have to have someone they can relate to, who they like and trust. It takes more than posters on a Facebook wall." 

Shaughnessy, who hosts a bi-weekly fitness marketing podcast, spent 21 years in the Air Force and received a marketing degree from the University of Maryland. She is married and has a son. Her local clients include SAPT, Student-Athlete & Adult Performance Training, in Fairfax. 

After retiring ffrom the military, Shaughnessy handled marketing for an agency in the Department of Defense. She started her own firm Agility Marketing LLC last year.

Online Coaching

Forget about not going to the gym when your personal trainer is only a click away. Move the coffee table, set up the laptop webcam and get to those push-ups! 

"I can have somebody send me a video of a lunge pattern or their dead-lift, and I can coach them from afar," said Serena Bernal, a Boston-based nutrution and fitness expert, in the book. "I can say, 'Hey, your hops are coming up a little too high, your back is rounding a little bit, do this instead.' I send over the feedback and everything is golden." 

Shaughnessy's next book is about how to market your online coaching business. 

"Online coaching is where your personality really needs to come out - when you don't have a physical location," said Shaughnessy. "No wallflowers need apply." 

"The New Rules of Fitness Marketing" can be found on Amazon.com.

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