The Funnel Fixed: How to Structure Your Fitness Marketing in 2025

In this latest episode of Profit Made Simple, we welcomed back Bec Anderson after incredible feedback from her previous appearance.

This time, we moved beyond ads alone and tackled the entire marketing funnel — showing fitness business owners how to warm up prospects, build trust, and convert more leads in today’s competitive market.

If you’re still relying on bottom-of-funnel ‘buy now’ ads, you’re leaving money on the table.

Here’s how to fix that.

Why Your Funnel Needs All Three Stages

The fitness market is more saturated and more sceptical than ever. As Bec explains, gone are the days when you could simply run a direct ‘join now’ campaign and expect a flood of leads overnight. Prospects need time to get to know you, like you, and trust you before they buy.

That’s why your marketing needs to cover:

  • Top of Funnel (TOFU): Build awareness and visibility
  • Middle of Funnel (MOFU): Build trust and credibility
  • Bottom of Funnel (BOFU): Convert interested leads into paying clients

Top of Funnel (TOFU): Build Awareness

At the top of your funnel, the goal isn’t to sell, it’s to introduce yourself to your community and create omnipresence.

What works best:

  • Brand awareness videos that share your story, values, and mission
  • Educational content that gives value without asking for anything in return
  • Hooks that capture attention in the first 3 seconds

Bec recommends allocating 5–10% of your daily ad budget to TOFU brand awareness campaigns. Optimise these for through play video views so you can later retarget people who watched a significant portion of your videos.

Practical examples:

  • Share why you started your business
  • Showcase what makes you different from other gyms
  • Give a behind-the-scenes look at your studio

The aim here? Be locally famous. When people see your logo on a car or pass your studio, they should immediately recognise it.

Middle of Funnel (MOFU): Build Trust

Once people know you exist, it’s time to deepen the relationship.

Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is a valuable free resource you give in exchange for someone’s contact details, like an e-book or short video series.

Bec’s tips for a great lead magnet:

  • Be niche-specific
  • Solve a problem immediately
  • Make it easy to consume
  • Give away something so good they’d expect to pay for it

For example:

  • “5 Steps to Feeling Your Best Postpartum”
  • “The Over-50 Strength & Mobility Blueprint”

Collect just first name and email to reduce friction and keep lead costs low.

Once you’ve got their details, follow up with at least a five-day nurture email sequence, offering even more value before you make a sales offer.

Social Proof Videos

Testimonial videos from your clients are incredibly powerful. Ask them:

  1. What made you get started?
  2. What results have you seen?
  3. Would you recommend us?
  4. Why do you continue to train here?

Short, authentic videos (30–90 seconds) showing real people in your space will build immediate trust.

Budget: Allocate 10–15% of your daily ad spend to MOFU.

Bottom of Funnel (BOFU): Convert Leads

Now that people know you and trust you, it’s time to make the offer.

BOFU campaigns target the warm audiences built from your TOFU and MOFU stages. This is where you run your ‘28-Day Challenge’ or ‘6-Week Transformation’ ads.

Best practices:

  • Retarget people who watched your videos or downloaded your lead magnet
  • Use strong, clear calls-to-action (e.g., “Book Your Free Consultation”)
  • Showcase social proof alongside your offer

Bec recommends dedicating around 70% of your ad budget here, since this is where conversions happen.

Key Metrics to Watch

To measure success at each stage:

  • TOFU: % of viewers watching at least 50% of your videos
  • MOFU: Lead magnet opt-in rate and cost per lead
  • BOFU: Cost per acquisition and conversion rate

If people are engaging with your TOFU content but not moving down the funnel, adjust your middle stage. If they’re engaging with MOFU but not converting, refine your offer or follow-up process.

Quick Wins to Improve Your Funnel in 2025

Bec’s top three actions for fitness business owners:

  1. Launch a lead magnet and nurture sequence
  2. Upgrade your creative — ads that worked in 2023 won’t cut it in 2025
  3. Use Video Sales Letters (VSLs) — you on camera, explaining who you help and how

Bonus tip: Check the Facebook Ads Library (especially in the US) for inspiration on creative and offers that work.

Final Thoughts

In today’s market, trust comes before transactions. By running ads at all three stages of the funnel, you’ll stay top-of-mind, build credibility, and convert more of the right clients.

If setting this up feels overwhelming, Bec offers free ad account reviews to show you what’s working, what’s not, and where to improve.

You can simply book in the review call here: https://go.oncehub.com/FacebookAdReview