AI ChatGPT: How to Massively Boost Your Fitness Studio's Marketing
As a boutique fitness studio owner, you're busy. You're so busy; I'm impressed you made time to read this article. So, how do you fit more into your day without removing all of the elements of fitness studio ownership that you actually like to do? Enter ChatGPT – a tool that has been highly polarizing since entering the mainstream. When I'm on coaching calls, I usually hear that people either love AI or they're afraid to try it out at all.
As a consultant, I've helped studios use ChatGPT for job descriptions, lesson plans (!! this alone could save hours), handbooks, and so much more. But let's explore the most common question I get, "Can ChatGPT help me with marketing?" Yes. And you should be using it because your competition is, and it makes them faster than you. Here are the steps you can use to leverage ChatGPT in your fitness studio to make your job easier and more efficient.
First: How Do You Use This Robot, Anyway?
It's all about the prompts you give ChatGPT. If you don't give it enough information, you'll get sub-par or robotic-sounding content back (you've probably seen a lot of that on Instagram lately). If you give it too much irrelevant information, you don't end up getting a quality response.
Prompts are how you unleash ChatGPT's potential. When you give clear, specific prompts with background information, you get better results. ChatGPT learns from your examples, so the more relevant details you give, the more likely you are to receive content you can use.
Here is Your Best Practice to-do List:
Define the Role: Tell ChatGPT precisely what you do and who it's writing for. e.g., "You're a boutique fitness studio owner specializing in postnatal wellness. You're writing for new moms in their 20s and 30s."
Keep it Clear: With AI, we walk the line between too much information and not enough. You want ChatGPT to know exactly what you want it to create, but remember you're speaking to a computer. Keep it streamlined, spellchecked, and specific, and give examples.
Ask for What You Want: Along with defining the role and clarifying who ChatGPT is writing for, also describe their job. To use the previous example, "You're a boutique fitness studio owner specializing in postnatal wellness. Write an email to encourage new moms to sign up for an upcoming workshop that focuses on safe postpartum exercises focusing on core and breathwork. The workshop is January 20th at 11 am."
My Favorite Tip: Ask ChatGPT to write in a specific way. If you want it to write like you, teach it how. You can copy a piece of your writing and ask ChatGPT to analyze it and give you the tone and adjectives to emulate. Use those adjectives in your prompts. i.e., "Write an Instagram caption about working out with a buddy. Use a friendly, casual, upbeat tone that appeals to a millennial audience."
Tell it What Not to Do: Set rules such as word count or punctuation preferences for tailored results. ChatGPT often uses ** symbols in their answers, and it makes my job harder when I'm editing, so I tell it not to use them. Problem solved. If you ask for 1000 words and it only gives you 700, prompt, "Can you go into more detail?"
Not a fan of Paragraphs? Ask ChatGPT to format responses in tables, lists, or bullet points. This is especially helpful for marketing and content calendars.
Try Again: There have been many times ChatGPT didn't get what I wanted on the first three attempts. Tell it what parts to keep and how to deliver exactly what you're looking for. i.e., "Rewrite that in a casual tone and use bullet points. Keep it to 100 words or less."
That's HOW to use it; let's look at what it can do:
Marketing Strategies:
Everyone is talking about using ChatGPT for social media, but it can end up sounding just like every other account. So, before you start, Prompt ChatGPT with something like this:
"I own a boutique fitness studio. My target audience is working professional women in their 30s. The culture is "come as you are" and friendly. What questions could potential clients have that I could answer on social media to increase engagement? Please give me 20 questions."
From that response, you can go deeper to build out your social media in a way that resonates with your clients. Keep tweaking until you get it right.
You've heard me preach about content calendars for years now. If you haven't finished the Best Year Ever workshop, you're in luck. ChatGPT can help. After you ask the previous question, prompt ChatGPT:
"You're a social media manager. Craft a creative social media content calendar for my Instagram page for one week. Focus on the questions and topics from above and use a casual, upbeat tone. I want to post two reels, three posts, and seven stories a week."
You can even ask for the calendar to be in table format, and your calendar will be complete.
Turn it into a Blog
You already know I write multiple blogs each month, and I often use ChatGPT to outline ideas based on a prompt or industry trends. In our Decode Your Digital Marketing workshop, you learned that you want marketing material in multiple places and formats: Web, Google, social media, and digital ads. Prompt ChatGPT:
"Based on the studio above, act as a digital marketing professional and create a content calendar for one week for Google updates, blog posts, and digital ads."
Ask ChatGPT to go into more detail on any of the areas until you feel confident in your digital footprint each month.
Ask for Newsletter Ideas
"You're an email marketer. Write a newsletter to my email list (describe your studio, target client, and other details). Create an email that is friendly and relatable. (Include your CTA and any other style requests).
Create Better Facebook Ads
It can even create the copy, budget, and campaign for your Facebook and Google ads, which is one feature I use regularly with clients. I think ChatGPT replaces ads managers for small studios with small budgets (don't come for me, ads managers).
“You are a boutique fitness barre, pilates, and yoga studio in Spokane, WA. You're planning a free new client open house for January 20th with free 30-minute mini classes, a free month giveaway, discounts, and other vendors. Acting as a digital marketing specialist, write Facebook Copy for an ad targeting women in their 30s to 40s. Include Facebook ad manager details and ad spend recommendations.”
The marketing potential of ChatGPT for independently owned fitness studios that don't have access to expensive marketing firms is game-changing and could help you keep up with large franchise budgets. Don't be afraid; try it out and see how much more you can get done in a day.
