The Optimal Aging Podcast
Millions of people over age 50 represent the biggest consumer market in history for fitness, nutrition, travel, recreation and more. But most businesses don't know how to market to them. We'll interview entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to discuss this exciting opportunity.
The Optimal Aging Podcast
7 Content Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for Fitness Over 50
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!
You tell your fitness clients all 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 there regularly, often, frequently. You want to have a steady point of view, a steady voice, a steady approach. You know you don't want to have different styles and clashing messages coming at you all the time. You want to have some consistent messaging and some clarity about who you are and what you can do for people.
Speaker 1:Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft and welcome to the Optimal Aging Podcast, where we discuss the business of exercise, healthy living and well-being for people 50 and over. Each week we explore what healthy living means for millions of people over age 50 and what's coming next, with a focus on communications, content and making powerful connections. For this week's episode, I want to share a webinar I did last year with the Functional Aging Institute and its president and co-founder, dr Dan Ritchie. It's on seven do's and seven don'ts to make your content marketing more effective to people over 50. So let's just dive right in. I think it's pretty self-explanatory once we get going Enjoy. I thought it would be fun to come up with seven categories of do this, don't do that, and so we're going to talk about those things here today. The first do this, not that is, do tell stories that focus on the people in your audience. Don't spend a lot of time talking about yourself and your multitude of certifications and how you have a passion for helping people and all of that. All that might have a place somewhere at the bottom of your bio page on your website, but it should not be the focus of your website, of your content. Instead, the content needs to be focusing on things that are going to be of interest to people you're trying to help, and you can get that by putting up stuff of your own member of the month, somebody's birthday potluck that you might have photos of that, and you're going to do that with stuff that I send you or that you get from other sources that show the bigger picture. And these stories here are examples of some of the human interest type things that I like to promote that I think help your audience connect with you emotionally the power of storytelling all the way back to cave drawings right and going up to soap operas on the radio in the 40s and all the way up to Instagram now.
Speaker 1:Good storytelling involves the sharing of facts and information and emotional connection so that the audience is compelled to do something. That's what we mean by storytelling, not that everything has to have a beginning and a middle and an end, that you're using emotion and fact to persuade people without telling them that you're trying to persuade them. And so one of the ways we do this is by using real people, and the couple here on the left that's Betty and her husband, bob, I think, is his name, but Betty is kind of the star for me. She's one of the first people I encountered when I started this. I met Betty through Rob, who was the gentleman in the middle with his dog, and Rob is a trainer here in Atlanta. He's in his 50s and he focuses mostly on older people at his gym here in Metro Atlanta and he's been working with Betty two or three times a week for years and years and they really opened the world up to me in a lot of ways. Rob is in his 50s and he's a trainer and he's physically super fit and he's got this really lovely relationship with his long-term client, betty, and they have really helped each other and changed each other's lives and she's just an inspiration. So these are the kind of things that I'm talking about. The woman standing here in red square is Kay. She's a client, one of my clients and she is a traveler. Her motivation for staying fit is so that she can travel, which is a very common motivation.
Speaker 1: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 all the time because it's not enough to rely on Facebook or any other third party, because Facebook could go away tomorrow. Facebook could get bought by someone else. Facebook does change its algorithm all the time. Facebook does not have your best interests at heart. So if you build your audience entirely on one of these channels, like Facebook, you could lose it. You don't own it, you don't control it. All your people on Facebook could quit Facebook. They could just get tired of being on social media and leave. Or Twitter got bought by a very controversial figure that a lot of people don't want to be associated with. That could happen to any of these social media platforms. So, again, as Dan tells you, you really need to be building your email list and you really need to use it. I recommend twice a week. Other people will tell you to do it more than that. Again, email is one of those three main channels email, social media and your blog.
Speaker 1:And a lot of people tell me a lot of gym owners like you tell me that they're afraid to send emails because they don't want to be annoying, because they don't want to spam people. And so a couple thoughts on that Number one when someone gets on your email list, they're asking you to engage with them. That's the agreement that you make with someone when you exchange emails is you want to communicate? So they've already said please send me information, and if they want to stop, they can click the unsubscribe button at the bottom. So that's on them. The second part of that is if you don't want to be a spammer, don't send spam. Send good information that they're going to be happy to get, like a recipe this chicken recipe here or an inspirational meme with a famous quote in a movie, star stories that are going to be relevant to their lives, things like this that when they see your name pop up in their email list, they're not going to think, oh, there's that spammer. They're going to think, oh, I like that person. She always sends me good stuff. What did she send me today?
Speaker 1:Number three, regarding social media. A lot of people ask me if they have to be on all the social media channels, and the answer is absolutely not. I believe you do have to be on one of them. Answers absolutely not. I believe you do have to be on one of them. Pick one. I generally advise facebook, especially since now facebook is very easily connected to instagram. But if you're only going to be on one, probably be on facebook, because that's where our demographic is mostly. Now. If you tell me that you know your audience, you know your community and your community of over 50 fitness enthusiasts loves tiktok, then by all means be on tiktok. You're the expert on your community of over 50 fitness enthusiasts loves TikTok, then by all means be on TikTok. You're the expert on your community. I'm not, so go for it, but generally just be on Facebook.
Speaker 1:Post on it almost every day during the week, maybe on the weekend, and you want to post things that are a mix of specific things about your business, like you have a new class next week, starting on Tuesday. We got a new trainer, you're putting together a team for the charity softball tournament what have you? Things like that, and then the stuff that you get from sources like me, which are the broader picture of Fitness Over 50. So post something just about every day and don't worry about all the other channels. It really does come down to your individual need, though. I think that Dan is probably going to put this on his YouTube channel and I'm going to crunch it down into a podcast episode for my podcast, optimal Aging. So those are great examples of I'm not on YouTube because I don't have time to learn how to use video and edit video, and it's just too hard for me, and in 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.
Speaker 1:You don't have to be everywhere at all, so pressure's off, all right. Number four the first word in social media is social. So be social, get to know people, communicate with others on social media when you're not asking for a favor. I think we often have the tendency to reach out to people when we need something from them, and you might do this. I'll think about it like if you want the newspaper to come and cover something at your gym, you might send an email to a reporter and say, hey, we're having an open house next weekend and I wish you would come and write about it. Well, the time to get to know that reporter is before. You need them right. And it's the same with other people, not just people in the media and your community, but community leaders and prospects of yours and members. It's okay to follow people on social media and if you see that they had a birthday, to wish them a happy birthday, or if you see that their kid had a graduation, to offer congratulations, congratulations, just something. So you have that social back and forth. You're not just asking people for something all the time, you know. The other thing is I'm a southerner, my parents were southerners and I don't know if other people in the country are, are serious about this, as southern people are or were.
Speaker 1:But you don't talk about politics 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 on social media talking about the current president or the last president, or this cable news network or that cable news network, or what somebody thinks of the COVID vaccine or the other COVID vaccine or whatever all these irrelevant issues that you have opinions and express them with your friends and family, but in public, when you're representing your business, you need to avoid all of that, because all you're going to do is turn off half your audience. You want people to come to you and become your customers and become part of your fitness community, and it's just too easy nowadays to turn people off really quickly. The other main reason for that is you will lose control of the conversation, and we've all done this. We've all been with some cousin at Thanksgiving and harmlessly make a comment and before you know it, it's way out there in left field. That does not do you any good. So the simple way to avoid that is just to avoid that. Do this, not that.
Speaker 1:Number five this comes down to the images and the words that you use in your content marketing on your website, in your email newsletters, on your social media. You want to be sure that you're using photographs that show what kind of people you want to help. This doesn't mean that you have to show specifically your own members. It means that you need to show people who will stop them. As they're scrolling through Facebook or as they're looking for gyms to join on the internet, they'll see something that makes them think oh, that's me Like. This woman here is clearly in her 50s or 60s and she's out being athletic, right. So you might use that and that's going to be a signal to other people in that age group that you're interested in them, in the same way that a photo of a young boy or a young man with his shirt off and six-pack abs posing in front of a mirror tells other young men like that that you want them to come. Do you see what I'm saying? It's a way of showing who you're there to serve. And then, similarly, please be careful with the words.
Speaker 1:I was at a gym not long ago doing little consulting in person, and one of the employees started telling me something and another employee said oh, who was that? And this person's, this 25 year old gym employee, said oh, you know, it was when those two cute little old ladies came in and I raised my eyebrows and I said, excuse me, what did you just say? And she said, oh, these two cute little old ladies. They were probably about 50. And you know, I very politely said well, let's not say cute or little, or old or ladies. Those are loaded words and 50 might not be that old. How old do you think I am? She kind of said I don't know, 40. And I said, no, I'm 60. You're talking about people who want to come in and spend money with you and get to know you and you're dismissing them as cute little old ladies. That's not going to do it. So be careful that you're not condescending to people in our demographic. It's really easy to do.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you an example from my own life my stepfather. He died a few years ago, but he was literally a rocket scientist at NASA and by the time I knew him he was, I don't know, in his 60s or so. He had white hair and wire-framed glasses and he looked like the man in the cartoon Up and he was adorable. My stepfather was adorable. He was also brilliant. They don't let adorable people become NASA rocket scientists 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 the arm and say oh hello, honey, aren't you cute? You know, this man helped put people on the moon and here's some waitresses saying aren't you cute? So be aware of that. And that leads to this, just a fun example. I didn't create this, this was off the internet a few years ago after Jennifer Lopez performed at the Super Bowl. That was her in 2020, when she was 50. And then the other woman. There is the actress named Rue McClanahan, who was one of the Golden Girls and just goes to show you the variety of people we're talking about in this demographic it's vast but also that the opinions and viewpoints and goals of people over 50 have changed. You know, rue McClanahan looks like someone's grandmother with her makeup and her hair and her outfit, and Jennifer Lopez looks like she's here to kick some butt. So keep that in mind too.
Speaker 1:Number six do update your blog every week. The photo here underneath the text where it says gaining planxpiration and want longevity that's a screen grab I took from Rose's website. Rose is a client of mine, a friend of mine. I don't know if she's still in the mastermind at Functional Aging, but she has been, and so she updates her blog every week. You can see there April 14th and April 22nd, and these happen to be things that I sent her. They don't have to be, but one of the things that I send every weekens your website for the search engines, but also, I believe, more importantly, it shows your potential audience, what you're interested in and what your values are. This shows people that Rose's business is interested in older people these happen to be older women, but they're not always women on Rose's page and that she's interested in helping them live longer, healthier lives. That's really powerful when you do that. One of the ways you do that is through really good blog material.
Speaker 1:And don't forget to have a lead magnet on your website. If you're not familiar with lead magnets, we can discuss it in Q&A. But basically, a lead magnet is something 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, in exchange for your email address, and then I'm going to put you on my email list and you're going to get stuff from me, but in exchange for that you get this valuable thing. And the lead magnet can be very simple. It can be like three dessert recipes. It can be 10 things to remember next time you come to the gym, just a sheet of paper with some text typed on it. Or it can be something really elaborate, like Nomly, which is a company I know that puts out this checklist of ways to find clients without using Facebook ads, and that's pretty elaborate. That's a pretty substantial document. Yours can be, yours doesn't have to be and again, we can talk about all of that, but you should have something on your website all the time that's doing that work for you. The last do this, don't do that.
Speaker 1:Number seven be consistent in your communications. You tell your fitness clients all 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 there regularly, often, frequently. You want to have a steady point of view, a steady voice, a steady approach. You don't want to have different styles and clashing messages coming at you all the time. You want to have some consistent messaging and some clarity about who you are and what 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 the guy who brings you I don't know laundry detergent, so you can do towels at your gym or the plumbing company in Avon Cough or when the plumbing backs up or whatever. Bake communications and content marketing into your business just like everything else. It's that important, otherwise you won't do it, it'll fall by the wayside and then it's just another missed opportunity to engage your audience. So that's the seven do this and don't do that.
Speaker 1:And I want to just share here a few hot things. Right now. Much of what I just discussed has been brewing for a little while, but there's some new topics that are really interesting right now that I'm writing about that other people are writing about that your customers might know about or want to know about. One is brain health. That is the idea that more and more research is coming out all the time that tells us that exercise can improve our brain health and even create new brain cells and neu mix. That you decide, but something just so people have that option, particularly if you're dealing with a lot of her. People go south for the winter and now through virtual training, she can still train them and she can still charge them during winter. So that's a really important thing. Older people are now concerned about their holistic health after the pandemic and how fitness can play a role in that. So be aware of these topics as well. Really interesting stuff going on with that. I had a podcast not long ago and I wrote an article for webnd recently about lifetime, and equinox are now making these drugs available in their clubs and it's a really interesting topic and these drugs are changing the game for a lot of people, so stay up on that.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, artificial intelligence. Everybody wants to know if you can just have artificial intelligence write your content, and the short answer is no, you can't. You can use it for a few things you can. You can use it to make your life easier in certain ways, but it can't just automatically do all your content, at least not yet, thank god, or I'd be in big trouble. Okay, so that is pretty much everything from me. I want you to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns or what have you. You can see my information there. Please call me or email me anytime. I'm happy to talk to you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Optimal Aging Podcast. I'm your host, jay Croft, of PrimeFit Content. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll subscribe, review and tell a friend. All of that helps me grow my audience. I hope you'll share any comments and tell a friend. All of that helps me grow my audience. I hope you'll share any comments you have with me, including suggestions about people I should interview and topics I should cover. You can learn more about my newsletter and content business at primefitcontentcom and write me at jay J-A-Y at primefitcontentcom. Again, thanks for listening. Join me next time.
