Introduction

​What You'll Learn
If you are new to the world of content marketing, keep reading, because in this post we’ll take a look at some of the ways you can create content that’ll bring in leads and help grow your business. 
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​Why is This Important?
Content is the start, middle and end of your marketing campaign and is critical to virtually everything you do. Content is your voice in the world of fitness marketing. No content, no voice. We'll talk about how to write on your company blog, guest blogging, writing eBooks and even attempting the mighty infographic.

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As I’m sure you know, personal training is one of the most competitive industries in the world. One of the most effective ways to separate yourself from the rest of the herd is an awsome content marketing strategy. By writing interesting and informative content, you establish yourself as a thought leader in your particular fitness niche, becoming a go-to source for guidance. Content marketing, when done right, should serve as the cornerstone for your entire fitness marketing strategy.

Step 1: Your Blog

It’s hard to begin a content marketing campaign when you don’t have any content to share and that's why starting a fitness blog is the easiest and most effective way to generate the kind of content people will want to read and share with others. Here are some of the benefits of regular blogging.
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• It gives you the chance to reach out and connect with potential clients
• It’s a great platform to being establishing yourself as a thought leader in your fitness niche
• It keeps your website fresh with new content. Remember, you want people to know you are active and relevant within your industry
• It’s a way to grow your reach (if your writing is helpful and full of unique insight, people are going to want to share it)
• It’s the foundation of organic search marketing

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​​Pro Tip: Blog from the very beginning—if you wait until you launch your product or service to start blogging, you’re doing yourself a real disservice. Start on day one by writing the kind of content your future customers will want to read. This way, you’ll already have an audience when your business hits the market. ​

Step 2: Share Your Blog On Social Media

By adding some simple sharing tools to the content you publish, you’ll make it easy for your readers to spread the word to others. If your blog is running on WordPress (or a similar piece of blogging software), there are hundreds of awesome plugins that you can use that let people submit your content to the social hub sites that we discussed in previous posts.
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Make it easy for your readers to market on your behalf by adding sharing widgets for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Delicious. Sharing buttons/widgets serve two functions:
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• They make it simple for readers to share your content.
• They show off the number of times your content has been shared—this will not only help you to better understand what kinds of post people are enjoying the most, it’ll establish social proof as well. If your content is being shared by lots of people, new readers will take that as a sign of your authority in the field. 
  
  ​This can be a double edged sword, however, as getting very few shares can be bad for your online reputation. If you are just breaking into the blogosphere, don’t be afraid to bug your friends and family. Ask them to share your stuff to help with the initial marketing push. 

Step 3: Your eBook

Writing an eBook is a great way to take your content marketing, lead generation, and email marketing to the next level. We’ve already established that lead generation is the key to successful email marketing. And to do lead generation effectively, you need a product that you can give away for free. This is where the eBook comes in.

eBooks are typically presented as downloadable PDF documents containing expert advice on a specific topic of interest for your potential customer.

If you are just starting out in your industry, eBooks are a great way to generate interest and increase social media traffic. They also demonstrate that you’re an authority on the subject being written about.

Now, some old school marketers shun the idea of giving something away for free, but this is outdated thinking. You want as many people to download your eBook as possible, because if they like it, they’ll share it with others, and when they share it, your reach expands. Publishing a quality eBook allows your readers to do your marketing for you.
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In the beginning, it’s best not to place any obstacles in the way of your content. It may be tempting to request an email address before letting someone read your eBook, but by skipping this step you’ll greatly increase the number of downloads your eBook gets. Your readers will appreciate the fact that you are giving them valuable content without asking for anything in return, making it much more likely for them to spread positive word of mouth. Give it some time. If your eBook begins to generate some buzz, you can always start requesting email addresses to build leads at a later time.

Step 4: Write a Guest Blog Posts

Guest blogging is when you submitting content for publication on another site’s blog. Guest blogging is a great way to achieve the following content marketing goals:
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• Establishing yourself as a thought leader. By getting content posted on popular sites frequented by your target audience, you gain legitimacy in their eyes.     
• Extending your marketing reach.
• Generating powerful backlinks to your own blog or website.

Before you’ll be accepted as a guest contributor for popular blogs, you’ll need to establish yourself as a competent writer. Don’t rush the process. Spend time in the beginning working on your own blog. That way, when it comes time to submit guest posts you’ll have a better understanding of how to write high quality content.
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When you do begin pitching guest blogs, don’t go straight for the most popular blogs in your industry. Build a reputation by guest posting for smaller sites first. As your popularity grows, you can work your way up the ladder until you become known as a leading voice in your field. 

​Put 100% effort into your guest posts--I can’t stress this point enough. Don’t just cobble together mediocre content and expect popular blogs to lap it up. Every blog you submit for guest posting should be the best blog you’ve ever written. And when your blog is accepted as a guest post, engage with the readers in the comment section and forum. 

Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS THE BEST CONTENT TO HAVE FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
By far, if you were to choose just one content marketing plan, it would be to develop a blog and write value added, targeted, SEO rich content, which can easily be shared on social networks. That is so simple. Don't wait to blog. Get blogging from day one, so you build up your content and online presence. 

HOW DO I START SHARING MY BLOG ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
It is super easy to start sharing your blog on social media. You can schedule it to go out to your social pages with a tool like Buffer or  Sproutsocial and also most you can add social share buttons to your blog posts to make it simple for your audience to share content they love. Like in these lessons.

WHAT IS GUEST POSTING?
Guest posting is when you are invited to blog on another blog, preferably in your industry Niche. This can be such a great marketing boost for your site, if you team up with a leading thought leader or someone who has authority in the industry. You need to make sure you have killer content first before you approach other bloggers and when and if you do get an invite, put 100% effort into making sure that one blog piece is awesome!

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