April 10, 2025 • 19 mins
Want to market your fitness business to the 50+ demographic more effectively? In this special episode of the Optimal Aging Podcast I share my top 7 content marketing do’s and don’ts for connecting with people over 50.
💬 Discover why storytelling, email marketing, and consistent messaging are key to attracting and retaining clients over 50. Learn what mistakes to avoid and how to build real engagement without being pushy or spammy.
I also discuss hot trends like brain health, hybrid training, and AI in fitness content creation. If you're a fitness pro or gym owner targeting the older adult community, this episode is your ultimate marketing roadmap.
Topics Covered:
✅ 7 essential content marketing Do’s and Don’ts for fitness over 50
✅ Choosing the right social media platform for the 50+ demographic
✅ Emerging trends: brain health, hybrid training, Ozempic, and AI in content
Connect with Jay Croft here:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaycroft
For more tips reaching the over-50 fitness market, subscribe to The Optimal Aging Podcast or visit www.primefitcontent.com.
Email: jay@primefitcontent.com
Thanks for watching!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You tell your fitness clients all the time that
consistency is the number onething for them.
I'm guessing you tell them that, and it's the same with
communications.
So you want to be out thereregularly, often, frequently.
You want to have a steady pointof view, a steady voice, a
steady approach.
You know you don't want to havedifferent styles and clashing
(00:22):
messages coming at you all thetime.
You want to have someconsistent messaging and some
clarity about who you are andwhat you can do for people.
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft andwelcome to the Optimal Aging
Podcast, where we discuss thebusiness of exercise, healthy
living and well-being for people50 and over.
Each week we explore whathealthy living means for
(00:45):
millions of people over age 50and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections
.
For this week's episode, I wantto share a webinar I did last
year with the Functional AgingInstitute and its president and
co-founder, dr Dan Ritchie.
(01:06):
It's on seven do's and sevendon'ts to make your content
marketing more effective topeople over 50.
So let's just dive right in.
I think it's prettyself-explanatory once we get
going Enjoy.
I thought it would be fun tocome up with seven categories of
do this, don't do that, and sowe're going to talk about those
things here today.
(01:27):
The first do this, not that is,do tell stories that focus on
the people in your audience.
Don't spend a lot of timetalking about yourself and your
multitude of certifications andhow you have a passion for
helping people and all of that.
All that might have a placesomewhere at the bottom of your
bio page on your website, but itshould not be the focus of your
(01:50):
website, of your content.
Instead, the content needs tobe focusing on things that are
going to be of interest topeople you're trying to help,
and you can get that by puttingup stuff of your own member of
the month, somebody's birthdaypotluck that you might have
photos of that, and you're goingto do that with stuff that I
(02:11):
send you or that you get fromother sources that show the
bigger picture.
And these stories here areexamples of some of the human
interest type things that I liketo promote that I think help
your audience connect with youemotionally the power of
storytelling all the way back tocave drawings right and going
(02:32):
up to soap operas on the radioin the 40s and all the way up to
Instagram now.
Good storytelling involves thesharing of facts and information
and emotional connection sothat the audience is compelled
to do something.
That's what we mean bystorytelling, not that
everything has to have abeginning and a middle and an
end, that you're using emotionand fact to persuade people
(02:56):
without telling them that you'retrying to persuade them.
And so one of the ways we dothis is by using real people,
and the couple here on the leftthat's Betty and her husband,
bob, I think, is his name, butBetty is kind of the star for me
.
She's one of the first people Iencountered when I started this
.
I met Betty through Rob, whowas the gentleman in the middle
with his dog, and Rob is atrainer here in Atlanta.
(03:18):
He's in his 50s and he focusesmostly on older people at his
gym here in Metro Atlanta andhe's been working with Betty two
or three times a week for yearsand years and they really
opened the world up to me in alot of ways.
Rob is in his 50s and he's atrainer and he's physically
super fit and he's got thisreally lovely relationship with
(03:41):
his long-term client, betty, andthey have really helped each
other and changed each other'slives and she's just an
inspiration.
So these are the kind of thingsthat I'm talking about.
The woman standing here in redsquare is Kay.
She's a client, one of myclients and she is a traveler.
Her motivation for staying fitis so that she can travel, which
(04:03):
is a very common motivation.
Number two, on the do this,don't do that scale is do Send
emails, nurture your email list,build your email list and use
it, as I know, dan tells you allthe time because it's not
enough to rely on Facebook orany other third party, because
Facebook could go away tomorrow.
(04:24):
Facebook could get bought bysomeone else.
Facebook does change itsalgorithm all the time.
Facebook does not have yourbest interests at heart.
So if you build your audienceentirely on one of these
channels, like Facebook, youcould lose it.
You don't own it, you don'tcontrol it.
All your people on Facebookcould quit Facebook.
They could just get tired ofbeing on social media and leave.
(04:46):
Or Twitter got bought by a verycontroversial figure that a lot
of people don't want to beassociated with.
That could happen to any ofthese social media platforms.
So, again, as Dan tells you,you really need to be building
your email list and you reallyneed to use it.
I recommend twice a week.
Other people will tell you todo it more than that.
Again, email is one of thosethree main channels email,
(05:08):
social media and your blog.
And a lot of people tell me alot of gym owners like you tell
me that they're afraid to sendemails because they don't want
to be annoying, because theydon't want to spam people.
And so a couple thoughts onthat Number one when someone
gets on your email list, they'reasking you to engage with them.
(05:28):
That's the agreement that youmake with someone when you
exchange emails is you want tocommunicate?
So they've already said pleasesend me information, and if they
want to stop, they can clickthe unsubscribe button at the
bottom.
So that's on them.
The second part of that is ifyou don't want to be a spammer,
don't send spam.
Send good information thatthey're going to be happy to get
(05:51):
, like a recipe this chickenrecipe here or an inspirational
meme with a famous quote in amovie, star stories that are
going to be relevant to theirlives, things like this that
when they see your name pop upin their email list, they're not
going to think, oh, there'sthat spammer.
They're going to think, oh, Ilike that person.
She always sends me good stuff.
What did she send me today?
(06:12):
Number three, regarding socialmedia.
A lot of people ask me if theyhave to be on all the social
media channels, and the answeris absolutely not.
I believe you do have to be onone of them.
Answers absolutely not.
I believe you do have to be onone of them.
Pick one.
I generally advise facebook,especially since now facebook is
very easily connected toinstagram.
But if you're only going to beon one, probably be on facebook,
(06:34):
because that's where ourdemographic is mostly.
Now.
If you tell me that you knowyour audience, you know your
community and your community ofover 50 fitness enthusiasts
loves tiktok, then by all meansbe on tiktok.
You're the expert on yourcommunity of over 50 fitness
enthusiasts loves TikTok, thenby all means be on TikTok.
You're the expert on yourcommunity.
I'm not, so go for it, butgenerally just be on Facebook.
Post on it almost every dayduring the week, maybe on the
(06:55):
weekend, and you want to postthings that are a mix of
specific things about yourbusiness, like you have a new
class next week, starting onTuesday.
We got a new trainer, you'reputting together a team for the
charity softball tournament whathave you?
Things like that, and then thestuff that you get from sources
like me, which are the broaderpicture of Fitness Over 50.
(07:19):
So post something just aboutevery day and don't worry about
all the other channels.
It really does come down toyour individual need, though.
I think that Dan is probablygoing to put this on his YouTube
channel and I'm going to crunchit down into a podcast episode
for my podcast, optimal Aging.
So those are great examples ofI'm not on YouTube because I
(07:41):
don't have time to learn how touse video and edit video, and
it's just too hard for me, andin an ideal world I would love
to do it, but I can't.
So I don't.
So I want to impart that on you.
You don't have to be everywhereat all, so pressure's off, all
right.
Number four the first word insocial media is social.
So be social, get to knowpeople, communicate with others
(08:04):
on social media when you're notasking for a favor.
I think we often have thetendency to reach out to people
when we need something from them, and you might do this.
I'll think about it like if youwant the newspaper to come and
cover something at your gym, youmight send an email to a
reporter and say, hey, we'rehaving an open house next
weekend and I wish you wouldcome and write about it.
(08:26):
Well, the time to get to knowthat reporter is before.
You need them right.
And it's the same with otherpeople, not just people in the
media and your community, butcommunity leaders and prospects
of yours and members.
It's okay to follow people onsocial media and if you see that
they had a birthday, to wishthem a happy birthday, or if you
(08:48):
see that their kid had agraduation, to offer
congratulations, congratulations, just something.
So you have that social backand forth.
You're not just asking peoplefor something all the time, you
know.
The other thing is I'm asoutherner, my parents were
southerners and I don't know ifother people in the country are,
are serious about this, assouthern people are or were.
(09:11):
But you don't talk aboutpolitics or religion or what's
the other one money, sex,whatever these topics that it's
impolite to discuss.
And I often see gym owners onsocial media talking about the
current president or the lastpresident, or this cable news
network or that cable newsnetwork, or what somebody thinks
(09:33):
of the COVID vaccine or theother COVID vaccine or whatever
all these irrelevant issues thatyou have opinions and express
them with your friends andfamily, but in public, when
you're representing yourbusiness, you need to avoid all
of that, because all you'regoing to do is turn off half
your audience.
You want people to come to youand become your customers and
(09:57):
become part of your fitnesscommunity, and it's just too
easy nowadays to turn people offreally quickly.
The other main reason for thatis you will lose control of the
conversation, and we've all donethis.
We've all been with some cousinat Thanksgiving and harmlessly
make a comment and before youknow it, it's way out there in
left field.
That does not do you any good.
(10:18):
So the simple way to avoid thatis just to avoid that.
Do this, not that.
Number five this comes down tothe images and the words that
you use in your contentmarketing on your website, in
your email newsletters, on yoursocial media.
You want to be sure that you'reusing photographs that show
what kind of people you want tohelp.
(10:40):
This doesn't mean that you haveto show specifically your own
members.
It means that you need to showpeople who will stop them.
As they're scrolling throughFacebook or as they're looking
for gyms to join on the internet, they'll see something that
makes them think oh, that's meLike.
(11:00):
This woman here is clearly inher 50s or 60s and she's out
being athletic, right.
So you might use that andthat's going to be a signal to
other people in that age groupthat you're interested in them,
in the same way that a photo ofa young boy or a young man with
his shirt off and six-pack absposing in front of a mirror
tells other young men like thatthat you want them to come.
Do you see what I'm saying?
It's a way of showing whoyou're there to serve.
(11:22):
And then, similarly, please becareful with the words.
I was at a gym not long agodoing little consulting in
person, and one of the employeesstarted telling me something
and another employee said oh,who was that?
And this person's, this 25 yearold gym employee, said oh, you
know, it was when those two cutelittle old ladies came in and I
(11:44):
raised my eyebrows and I said,excuse me, what did you just say
?
And she said, oh, these twocute little old ladies.
They were probably about 50.
And you know, I very politelysaid well, let's not say cute or
little, or old or ladies.
Those are loaded words and 50might not be that old.
How old do you think I am?
She kind of said I don't know,40.
(12:05):
And I said, no, I'm 60.
You're talking about people whowant to come in and spend money
with you and get to know youand you're dismissing them as
cute little old ladies.
That's not going to do it.
So be careful that you're notcondescending to people in our
demographic.
It's really easy to do.
I'll tell you an example from myown life my stepfather.
He died a few years ago, but hewas literally a rocket
(12:30):
scientist at NASA and by thetime I knew him he was, I don't
know, in his 60s or so.
He had white hair andwire-framed glasses and he
looked like the man in thecartoon Up and he was adorable.
My stepfather was adorable.
He was also brilliant.
They don't let adorable peoplebecome NASA rocket scientists
(12:51):
unless they're all so brilliant,of course.
And he was also kind of cranky,so he didn't like it when a
waitress would touch him on thearm and say oh hello, honey,
aren't you cute?
You know, this man helped putpeople on the moon and here's
some waitresses saying aren'tyou cute?
So be aware of that.
And that leads to this, just afun example.
(13:11):
I didn't create this, this wasoff the internet a few years ago
after Jennifer Lopez performedat the Super Bowl.
That was her in 2020, when shewas 50.
And then the other woman.
There is the actress named RueMcClanahan, who was one of the
Golden Girls and just goes toshow you the variety of people
we're talking about in thisdemographic it's vast but also
(13:33):
that the opinions and viewpointsand goals of people over 50
have changed.
You know, rue McClanahan lookslike someone's grandmother with
her makeup and her hair and heroutfit, and Jennifer Lopez looks
like she's here to kick somebutt.
So keep that in mind too.
Number six do update your blogevery week.
The photo here underneath thetext where it says gaining
(13:57):
planxpiration and want longevitythat's a screen grab I took
from Rose's website.
Rose is a client of mine, afriend of mine.
I don't know if she's still inthe mastermind at Functional
Aging, but she has been, and soshe updates her blog every week.
You can see there April 14thand April 22nd, and these happen
to be things that I sent her.
(14:17):
They don't have to be, but oneof the things that I send every
weekens your website for thesearch engines, but also, I
believe, more importantly, itshows your potential audience,
(14:40):
what you're interested in andwhat your values are.
This shows people that Rose'sbusiness is interested in older
people these happen to be olderwomen, but they're not always
women on Rose's page and thatshe's interested in helping them
live longer, healthier lives.
That's really powerful when youdo that.
One of the ways you do that isthrough really good blog
(15:01):
material.
And don't forget to have a leadmagnet on your website.
If you're not familiar withlead magnets, we can discuss it
in Q&A.
But basically, a lead magnet issomething that you offer on
your website, on social media,in your email newsletters,
everywhere you can that says hey, I'll send you this thing of
value, whatever it is, inexchange for your email address,
(15:23):
and then I'm going to put youon my email list and you're
going to get stuff from me, butin exchange for that you get
this valuable thing.
And the lead magnet can be verysimple.
It can be like three dessertrecipes.
It can be 10 things to remembernext time you come to the gym,
just a sheet of paper with sometext typed on it.
Or it can be something reallyelaborate, like Nomly, which is
(15:46):
a company I know that puts outthis checklist of ways to find
clients without using Facebookads, and that's pretty elaborate
.
That's a pretty substantialdocument.
Yours can be, yours doesn'thave to be and again, we can
talk about all of that, but youshould have something on your
website all the time that'sdoing that work for you.
The last do this, don't do that.
(16:07):
Number seven be consistent inyour communications.
You tell your fitness clientsall the time that consistency is
the number one thing for them.
I'm guessing you tell them that, and it's the same with
communications.
So you want to be out thereregularly, often, frequently.
You want to have a steady pointof view, a steady voice, a
(16:28):
steady approach.
You don't want to havedifferent styles and clashing
messages coming at you all thetime.
You want to have someconsistent messaging and some
clarity about who you are andwhat you can do for people and
stay on top of it.
Bake it into your business,just like you bake into your
business your suppliers and theguy who brings you I don't know
(16:49):
laundry detergent, so you can dotowels at your gym or the
plumbing company in Avon Coughor when the plumbing backs up or
whatever.
Bake communications and contentmarketing into your business
just like everything else.
It's that important, otherwiseyou won't do it, it'll fall by
the wayside and then it's justanother missed opportunity to
(17:09):
engage your audience.
So that's the seven do this anddon't do that.
And I want to just share here afew hot things.
Right now.
Much of what I just discussedhas been brewing for a little
while, but there's some newtopics that are really
interesting right now that I'mwriting about that other people
are writing about that yourcustomers might know about or
want to know about.
One is brain health.
(17:48):
That is the idea that more andmore research is coming out all
the time that tells us thatexercise can improve our brain
health and even create new braincells and neu mix.
That you decide, but somethingjust so people have that option,
particularly if you're dealingwith a lot of her.
(18:09):
People go south for the winterand now through virtual training
, she can still train them andshe can still charge them during
winter.
So that's a really importantthing.
Older people are now concernedabout their holistic health
after the pandemic and howfitness can play a role in that.
So be aware of these topics aswell.
Really interesting stuff goingon with that.
(18:35):
I had a podcast not long agoand I wrote an article for webnd
recently about lifetime, andequinox are now making these
drugs available in their clubsand it's a really interesting
topic and these drugs arechanging the game for a lot of
people, so stay up on that.
And then, of course, artificialintelligence.
Everybody wants to know if youcan just have artificial
intelligence write your content,and the short answer is no, you
can't.
(18:55):
You can use it for a few thingsyou can.
You can use it to make yourlife easier in certain ways, but
it can't just automatically doall your content, at least not
yet, thank god, or I'd be in bigtrouble.
Okay, so that is pretty mucheverything from me.
I want you to reach out to meif you have any questions or
concerns or what have you.
You can see my informationthere.
(19:17):
Please call me or email meanytime.
I'm happy to talk to you.
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, jay Croft, ofPrimeFit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
(19:38):
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
topics I should cover.
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay J-A-Y at
primefitcontentcom.
Again, thanks for listening.
Join me next time.
You tell your fitness clients all the time that
consistency is the number onething for them.
I'm guessing you tell them that, and it's the same with
communications.
So you want to be out thereregularly, often, frequently.
You want to have a steady pointof view, a steady voice, a
steady approach.
You know you don't want to havedifferent styles and clashing
(00:22):
messages coming at you all thetime.
You want to have someconsistent messaging and some
clarity about who you are andwhat you can do for people.
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft andwelcome to the Optimal Aging
Podcast, where we discuss thebusiness of exercise, healthy
living and well-being for people50 and over.
Each week we explore whathealthy living means for
(00:45):
millions of people over age 50and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections
.
For this week's episode, I wantto share a webinar I did last
year with the Functional AgingInstitute and its president and
co-founder, dr Dan Ritchie.
(01:06):
It's on seven do's and sevendon'ts to make your content
marketing more effective topeople over 50.
So let's just dive right in.
I think it's prettyself-explanatory once we get
going Enjoy.
I thought it would be fun tocome up with seven categories of
do this, don't do that, and sowe're going to talk about those
things here today.
(01:27):
The first do this, not that is,do tell stories that focus on
the people in your audience.
Don't spend a lot of timetalking about yourself and your
multitude of certifications andhow you have a passion for
helping people and all of that.
All that might have a placesomewhere at the bottom of your
bio page on your website, but itshould not be the focus of your
(01:50):
website, of your content.
Instead, the content needs tobe focusing on things that are
going to be of interest topeople you're trying to help,
and you can get that by puttingup stuff of your own member of
the month, somebody's birthdaypotluck that you might have
photos of that, and you're goingto do that with stuff that I
(02:11):
send you or that you get fromother sources that show the
bigger picture.
And these stories here areexamples of some of the human
interest type things that I liketo promote that I think help
your audience connect with youemotionally the power of
storytelling all the way back tocave drawings right and going
(02:32):
up to soap operas on the radioin the 40s and all the way up to
Instagram now.
Good storytelling involves thesharing of facts and information
and emotional connection sothat the audience is compelled
to do something.
That's what we mean bystorytelling, not that
everything has to have abeginning and a middle and an
end, that you're using emotionand fact to persuade people
(02:56):
without telling them that you'retrying to persuade them.
And so one of the ways we dothis is by using real people,
and the couple here on the leftthat's Betty and her husband,
bob, I think, is his name, butBetty is kind of the star for me
.
She's one of the first people Iencountered when I started this
.
I met Betty through Rob, whowas the gentleman in the middle
with his dog, and Rob is atrainer here in Atlanta.
(03:18):
He's in his 50s and he focusesmostly on older people at his
gym here in Metro Atlanta andhe's been working with Betty two
or three times a week for yearsand years and they really
opened the world up to me in alot of ways.
Rob is in his 50s and he's atrainer and he's physically
super fit and he's got thisreally lovely relationship with
(03:41):
his long-term client, betty, andthey have really helped each
other and changed each other'slives and she's just an
inspiration.
So these are the kind of thingsthat I'm talking about.
The woman standing here in redsquare is Kay.
She's a client, one of myclients and she is a traveler.
Her motivation for staying fitis so that she can travel, which
(04:03):
is a very common motivation.
Number two, on the do this,don't do that scale is do Send
emails, nurture your email list,build your email list and use
it, as I know, dan tells you allthe time because it's not
enough to rely on Facebook orany other third party, because
Facebook could go away tomorrow.
(04:24):
Facebook could get bought bysomeone else.
Facebook does change itsalgorithm all the time.
Facebook does not have yourbest interests at heart.
So if you build your audienceentirely on one of these
channels, like Facebook, youcould lose it.
You don't own it, you don'tcontrol it.
All your people on Facebookcould quit Facebook.
They could just get tired ofbeing on social media and leave.
(04:46):
Or Twitter got bought by a verycontroversial figure that a lot
of people don't want to beassociated with.
That could happen to any ofthese social media platforms.
So, again, as Dan tells you,you really need to be building
your email list and you reallyneed to use it.
I recommend twice a week.
Other people will tell you todo it more than that.
Again, email is one of thosethree main channels email,
(05:08):
social media and your blog.
And a lot of people tell me alot of gym owners like you tell
me that they're afraid to sendemails because they don't want
to be annoying, because theydon't want to spam people.
And so a couple thoughts onthat Number one when someone
gets on your email list, they'reasking you to engage with them.
(05:28):
That's the agreement that youmake with someone when you
exchange emails is you want tocommunicate?
So they've already said pleasesend me information, and if they
want to stop, they can clickthe unsubscribe button at the
bottom.
So that's on them.
The second part of that is ifyou don't want to be a spammer,
don't send spam.
Send good information thatthey're going to be happy to get
(05:51):
, like a recipe this chickenrecipe here or an inspirational
meme with a famous quote in amovie, star stories that are
going to be relevant to theirlives, things like this that
when they see your name pop upin their email list, they're not
going to think, oh, there'sthat spammer.
They're going to think, oh, Ilike that person.
She always sends me good stuff.
What did she send me today?
(06:12):
Number three, regarding socialmedia.
A lot of people ask me if theyhave to be on all the social
media channels, and the answeris absolutely not.
I believe you do have to be onone of them.
Answers absolutely not.
I believe you do have to be onone of them.
Pick one.
I generally advise facebook,especially since now facebook is
very easily connected toinstagram.
But if you're only going to beon one, probably be on facebook,
(06:34):
because that's where ourdemographic is mostly.
Now.
If you tell me that you knowyour audience, you know your
community and your community ofover 50 fitness enthusiasts
loves tiktok, then by all meansbe on tiktok.
You're the expert on yourcommunity of over 50 fitness
enthusiasts loves TikTok, thenby all means be on TikTok.
You're the expert on yourcommunity.
I'm not, so go for it, butgenerally just be on Facebook.
Post on it almost every dayduring the week, maybe on the
(06:55):
weekend, and you want to postthings that are a mix of
specific things about yourbusiness, like you have a new
class next week, starting onTuesday.
We got a new trainer, you'reputting together a team for the
charity softball tournament whathave you?
Things like that, and then thestuff that you get from sources
like me, which are the broaderpicture of Fitness Over 50.
(07:19):
So post something just aboutevery day and don't worry about
all the other channels.
It really does come down toyour individual need, though.
I think that Dan is probablygoing to put this on his YouTube
channel and I'm going to crunchit down into a podcast episode
for my podcast, optimal Aging.
So those are great examples ofI'm not on YouTube because I
(07:41):
don't have time to learn how touse video and edit video, and
it's just too hard for me, andin an ideal world I would love
to do it, but I can't.
So I don't.
So I want to impart that on you.
You don't have to be everywhereat all, so pressure's off, all
right.
Number four the first word insocial media is social.
So be social, get to knowpeople, communicate with others
(08:04):
on social media when you're notasking for a favor.
I think we often have thetendency to reach out to people
when we need something from them, and you might do this.
I'll think about it like if youwant the newspaper to come and
cover something at your gym, youmight send an email to a
reporter and say, hey, we'rehaving an open house next
weekend and I wish you wouldcome and write about it.
(08:26):
Well, the time to get to knowthat reporter is before.
You need them right.
And it's the same with otherpeople, not just people in the
media and your community, butcommunity leaders and prospects
of yours and members.
It's okay to follow people onsocial media and if you see that
they had a birthday, to wishthem a happy birthday, or if you
(08:48):
see that their kid had agraduation, to offer
congratulations, congratulations, just something.
So you have that social backand forth.
You're not just asking peoplefor something all the time, you
know.
The other thing is I'm asoutherner, my parents were
southerners and I don't know ifother people in the country are,
are serious about this, assouthern people are or were.
(09:11):
But you don't talk aboutpolitics or religion or what's
the other one money, sex,whatever these topics that it's
impolite to discuss.
And I often see gym owners onsocial media talking about the
current president or the lastpresident, or this cable news
network or that cable newsnetwork, or what somebody thinks
(09:33):
of the COVID vaccine or theother COVID vaccine or whatever
all these irrelevant issues thatyou have opinions and express
them with your friends andfamily, but in public, when
you're representing yourbusiness, you need to avoid all
of that, because all you'regoing to do is turn off half
your audience.
You want people to come to youand become your customers and
(09:57):
become part of your fitnesscommunity, and it's just too
easy nowadays to turn people offreally quickly.
The other main reason for thatis you will lose control of the
conversation, and we've all donethis.
We've all been with some cousinat Thanksgiving and harmlessly
make a comment and before youknow it, it's way out there in
left field.
That does not do you any good.
(10:18):
So the simple way to avoid thatis just to avoid that.
Do this, not that.
Number five this comes down tothe images and the words that
you use in your contentmarketing on your website, in
your email newsletters, on yoursocial media.
You want to be sure that you'reusing photographs that show
what kind of people you want tohelp.
(10:40):
This doesn't mean that you haveto show specifically your own
members.
It means that you need to showpeople who will stop them.
As they're scrolling throughFacebook or as they're looking
for gyms to join on the internet, they'll see something that
makes them think oh, that's meLike.
(11:00):
This woman here is clearly inher 50s or 60s and she's out
being athletic, right.
So you might use that andthat's going to be a signal to
other people in that age groupthat you're interested in them,
in the same way that a photo ofa young boy or a young man with
his shirt off and six-pack absposing in front of a mirror
tells other young men like thatthat you want them to come.
Do you see what I'm saying?
It's a way of showing whoyou're there to serve.
(11:22):
And then, similarly, please becareful with the words.
I was at a gym not long agodoing little consulting in
person, and one of the employeesstarted telling me something
and another employee said oh,who was that?
And this person's, this 25 yearold gym employee, said oh, you
know, it was when those two cutelittle old ladies came in and I
(11:44):
raised my eyebrows and I said,excuse me, what did you just say
?
And she said, oh, these twocute little old ladies.
They were probably about 50.
And you know, I very politelysaid well, let's not say cute or
little, or old or ladies.
Those are loaded words and 50might not be that old.
How old do you think I am?
She kind of said I don't know,40.
(12:05):
And I said, no, I'm 60.
You're talking about people whowant to come in and spend money
with you and get to know youand you're dismissing them as
cute little old ladies.
That's not going to do it.
So be careful that you're notcondescending to people in our
demographic.
It's really easy to do.
I'll tell you an example from myown life my stepfather.
He died a few years ago, but hewas literally a rocket
(12:30):
scientist at NASA and by thetime I knew him he was, I don't
know, in his 60s or so.
He had white hair andwire-framed glasses and he
looked like the man in thecartoon Up and he was adorable.
My stepfather was adorable.
He was also brilliant.
They don't let adorable peoplebecome NASA rocket scientists
(12:51):
unless they're all so brilliant,of course.
And he was also kind of cranky,so he didn't like it when a
waitress would touch him on thearm and say oh hello, honey,
aren't you cute?
You know, this man helped putpeople on the moon and here's
some waitresses saying aren'tyou cute?
So be aware of that.
And that leads to this, just afun example.
(13:11):
I didn't create this, this wasoff the internet a few years ago
after Jennifer Lopez performedat the Super Bowl.
That was her in 2020, when shewas 50.
And then the other woman.
There is the actress named RueMcClanahan, who was one of the
Golden Girls and just goes toshow you the variety of people
we're talking about in thisdemographic it's vast but also
(13:33):
that the opinions and viewpointsand goals of people over 50
have changed.
You know, rue McClanahan lookslike someone's grandmother with
her makeup and her hair and heroutfit, and Jennifer Lopez looks
like she's here to kick somebutt.
So keep that in mind too.
Number six do update your blogevery week.
The photo here underneath thetext where it says gaining
(13:57):
planxpiration and want longevitythat's a screen grab I took
from Rose's website.
Rose is a client of mine, afriend of mine.
I don't know if she's still inthe mastermind at Functional
Aging, but she has been, and soshe updates her blog every week.
You can see there April 14thand April 22nd, and these happen
to be things that I sent her.
(14:17):
They don't have to be, but oneof the things that I send every
weekens your website for thesearch engines, but also, I
believe, more importantly, itshows your potential audience,
(14:40):
what you're interested in andwhat your values are.
This shows people that Rose'sbusiness is interested in older
people these happen to be olderwomen, but they're not always
women on Rose's page and thatshe's interested in helping them
live longer, healthier lives.
That's really powerful when youdo that.
One of the ways you do that isthrough really good blog
(15:01):
material.
And don't forget to have a leadmagnet on your website.
If you're not familiar withlead magnets, we can discuss it
in Q&A.
But basically, a lead magnet issomething that you offer on
your website, on social media,in your email newsletters,
everywhere you can that says hey, I'll send you this thing of
value, whatever it is, inexchange for your email address,
(15:23):
and then I'm going to put youon my email list and you're
going to get stuff from me, butin exchange for that you get
this valuable thing.
And the lead magnet can be verysimple.
It can be like three dessertrecipes.
It can be 10 things to remembernext time you come to the gym,
just a sheet of paper with sometext typed on it.
Or it can be something reallyelaborate, like Nomly, which is
(15:46):
a company I know that puts outthis checklist of ways to find
clients without using Facebookads, and that's pretty elaborate
.
That's a pretty substantialdocument.
Yours can be, yours doesn'thave to be and again, we can
talk about all of that, but youshould have something on your
website all the time that'sdoing that work for you.
The last do this, don't do that.
(16:07):
Number seven be consistent inyour communications.
You tell your fitness clientsall the time that consistency is
the number one thing for them.
I'm guessing you tell them that, and it's the same with
communications.
So you want to be out thereregularly, often, frequently.
You want to have a steady pointof view, a steady voice, a
(16:28):
steady approach.
You don't want to havedifferent styles and clashing
messages coming at you all thetime.
You want to have someconsistent messaging and some
clarity about who you are andwhat you can do for people and
stay on top of it.
Bake it into your business,just like you bake into your
business your suppliers and theguy who brings you I don't know
(16:49):
laundry detergent, so you can dotowels at your gym or the
plumbing company in Avon Coughor when the plumbing backs up or
whatever.
Bake communications and contentmarketing into your business
just like everything else.
It's that important, otherwiseyou won't do it, it'll fall by
the wayside and then it's justanother missed opportunity to
(17:09):
engage your audience.
So that's the seven do this anddon't do that.
And I want to just share here afew hot things.
Right now.
Much of what I just discussedhas been brewing for a little
while, but there's some newtopics that are really
interesting right now that I'mwriting about that other people
are writing about that yourcustomers might know about or
want to know about.
One is brain health.
(17:48):
That is the idea that more andmore research is coming out all
the time that tells us thatexercise can improve our brain
health and even create new braincells and neu mix.
That you decide, but somethingjust so people have that option,
particularly if you're dealingwith a lot of her.
(18:09):
People go south for the winterand now through virtual training
, she can still train them andshe can still charge them during
winter.
So that's a really importantthing.
Older people are now concernedabout their holistic health
after the pandemic and howfitness can play a role in that.
So be aware of these topics aswell.
Really interesting stuff goingon with that.
(18:35):
I had a podcast not long agoand I wrote an article for webnd
recently about lifetime, andequinox are now making these
drugs available in their clubsand it's a really interesting
topic and these drugs arechanging the game for a lot of
people, so stay up on that.
And then, of course, artificialintelligence.
Everybody wants to know if youcan just have artificial
intelligence write your content,and the short answer is no, you
can't.
(18:55):
You can use it for a few thingsyou can.
You can use it to make yourlife easier in certain ways, but
it can't just automatically doall your content, at least not
yet, thank god, or I'd be in bigtrouble.
Okay, so that is pretty mucheverything from me.
I want you to reach out to meif you have any questions or
concerns or what have you.
You can see my informationthere.
(19:17):
Please call me or email meanytime.
I'm happy to talk to you.
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, jay Croft, ofPrimeFit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
(19:38):
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
topics I should cover.
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay J-A-Y at
primefitcontentcom.
Again, thanks for listening.
Join me next time.
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