Pilates Body ATX

18 Minute At Home Ab Workout

Hi, from Maine!

I’m visiting my family this week and enjoying the cool weather, the beaches, seafood, and relative peace and quiet. My brother is a rower and soon to be college freshman. I had a chance to try his ab intensive crew team workout and wanted to share it with you. It’s perfect for when you are on the road or just want to work out at home but don’t have a lot of time. He starts with a light warm up jog/ walk around the neighborhood, then does intervals for 18 minutes. Let me know if you try it!

Anders’ Workout:

1 min crunches
1 min side crunches (L)
1.5 min push ups

1 min criss cross
1 min side crunches (R)
1.5 min squats with weights

1 min leg hover (chin to chest, life legs to hover 6-8” off floor)
1 min teaser twists with weights
1.5 min lunges

1 min teaser lifts
1 min curl ups with weight (legs in table top, curl up and bring weight over shins. Rollback to extend arms over head)
1.5 min tricep push ups

2 minute plank hold
2 minute mountain climber

Pilates studio - now offering childcare! (Niche marketing for your business)

We are trying something new at ToddPilates this month. We’ve converted the back area of the studio from changing rooms to kid play space and are offering childcare during a few of our morning classes.

We’ve noticed that a lot of our regular morning clients are moms and come to classes much less frequently during the summer. With their kiddos out of school they have a harder time than usual getting their workouts in so this is a perfect opportunity to try a new marketing strategy to keep our summer classes full!

In competitive markets, you’ll find more specialization, and clients will look for the sort of fitness studio that specializes in what they need. In this case, we are specializing in keeping kids happy and giving moms a chance to get a workout.

Where to market:

Neighborhoods near the studio with lots of families

Connect with local mom blogs and reporters of family friendly publications

Create a targeted Facebook page or group for moms

What to showcase in Marketing:

Convenience: Don’t have to take time to find childcare

Toys/ books/activities for kids

Photos/ images of moms and kids working out

This targeted approach to reach out to moms will help get new clients coming in the door. To do that, the marketing needs to be focused and aimed at moms in community.

Want help creating your own niche marketing campaign? Email pilatesbodyatx@gmail.com

Spicy Kale Chips

A nutritious and tasty snack that takes minutes to make!

• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Tear kale leaves and discard the thick stems. Drizzle leaves with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes. Lay leaves on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until edges are brown and crispy.

Web coupons for your fitness studio

With the success of Groupon, Living Social, and a number of other digital  coupon services, many fitness studios have an opportunity to offer free class trials to get new clients. The way most work is that you offer your classes or training sessions for about 1/2 off. The coupon company uses their website and email list to sell the certificates and then they split the sales with you and you end up with about 25% of the value of your services.

Here’s the most important key to success with these things… if you use web coupons, don’t plan on making money with them. The purpose of these is to introduce your studio to potential new clients with no upfront advertising cost. You only have to pay if there is a paying client coming through your door. Your job is to focus on conversion and make sure the client comes back!

Make sure your whole team of instructors is ready to serve all the new clients who come from the promotion. Deliver an awesome experience for every client, every time, and they will likely stick around and buy your regularly priced classes and service.

Want some help designing an effective digital coupon promotion? Email me, pilatesbodyatx@gmail.com

Pilates Workout Music Vol. 9 

Here’s the current playlist from my classes at ToddPilates! Enjoy it and get moving!

Red Hands - Walk Off The Earth

#thatPower - Will.i.am ft. Justin Bieber

She Wolf - Shakira

Scream & Shout - Will.i.am

White Lies - Max Frost

Pumpin’ Blood - NoNoNo

I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding

Gentleman - Psy

Carried Away - Passion Pit

Dance with Me  - Ra Ra Riot

Walking with the ghost - Tegan and Sara

Help I’m Alive - Metric

Lights Out - Santigold

Sad Sad City - Ghostland Observatory

So High - Ghost Loft

Local Level Marketing

At Kor180, we are reaching out to local business owners in our neighborhood (three-to-five-mile radius around the studio) to connect with potential clients and invite them to try a class at our studio.

Our current promotion is an awareness campaign using door hangers on all the businesses and apartments in the area. The door hanger includes a special offer to try a “FREE WEEK of classes” and a yummy, healthy food bar. 

We are keeping costs low by hanging the promotional material ourselves and by running a small trial market before we branch out to larger neighborhoods.

With this campaign, as in any marketing effort, we are tracking the return on our investment by monitoring site traffic using a unique code on the door hanger and by making sure we ask each new client how they found the studio.

Need marketing ideas for your studio?  Email me, pilatesbodyatx@gmail.com

Put testimonials and customer reviews on your website

Do you have a collection of letters and thank you notes from clients? Don’t let them just pile up, make the most of them by sharing them on your site or blog. 

Testimonials about your studio or teachers give you instant and natural credibility that comes from real people. It’s the type of word of mouth marketing that people look for when deciding where to do business or which instructor they’d like to try a class with.

Yes, Testimonials are nice to receive, but they can have a much greater impact when you actively manage them and turn them into a marketing tool for your studio.

Here are some ways you can use them:

• Put testimonials on your website to show off the recommendations for your classes and services
• Add testimonials to your new client welcome letter or email before their first visit to the studio
• Create a book or bulletin board for the welcome area of your studio for client notes, cards, and case studies
• Add a “Tell a friend” link to every page so your clients can easily share your site.
• Add links to good online reviews on yelp.com and other sites to your blog

Don’t make it complicated, just share the good stuff your clients are saying about you. Questions? Email me, pilatesbodyatx@gmail.com

Quick Tip: Add engaging content to your Facebook page

This week, try using Facebook’s poll feature to poll or survey your studio’s Facebook fans. Not only will you get to interact with your clients and fans outside the studio, but when people comment or respond, the link to your page will get shared in their news feed which helps to promote your page to everyone who follows them. Resonance is always the goal!

Here are some poll ideas:
Which Pilates exercise is most challenge for you?
Which brand of workout clothes do you like best?
Which celebrity would you most like to workout with?

**Use FB poll feature to add choices**

Want more help sprucing up your page? Email me, Pilatesbodyatx@gmail.com