You’ve done all the traditional marketing. Your name is in the yellow pages, the white pages, and the yellow book. You have a website, so you’re on the Internet. You even paid for a big sign in front of your business that stands out among its neighbors. But most of your competitors have done these things, too, so it’s time to apply some innovating thinking to your marketing strategy.
And when it comes to creative fitness marketing, it’s not so much where you advertise as how you advertise.
Gaining Competitive Edge
Forget the phone books. Don’t pay huge sums for big partial- or full-page spreads, because very few people use them anymore. If you want to hit a large audience, you’ll find it online. You’re already online (or you should be), so it’s not a matter of where. It’s how you sell your services.
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So maybe you’re not new to the world of personal training. In fact, you may have been successfully performing services for your local community for years, and you’ve been making decent money at it. Your business has grown through word of mouth, and you’re at capacity. You couldn’t possibly take on another client, even though it breaks your heart to say, “No.” It breaks your heart, not just because you’re missing out on that income. But let’s face it, you have a passion for fitness, and a struggling soul is asking for your help. You want to help.
When You Have Reached Capacity
Believe it or not, you can help this client reach his or her fitness goals, despite the fact that you’ve reached capacity. You could do it one of two ways. You could refer the client to a friend or acquaintance in the personal training community, one who you know will provide the same quality service that you would provide. Or you could hire another trainer to work for you, who can pick up this client and any new clients who come along. The latter alternative has the benefit of lining your pocket.
Next Steps
If the idea of growing your business is appealing, the next step is to hire that employee. If you know someone who would love supplemental income, and who, in your opinion, would be a good personal trainer, then you’re good. Work out an arrangement with the person as to how much you’ll pay per hour, per session with the client, or on whatever basis you both agree is fair. Hiring requires the same negotiation savvy that you’ve demonstrated in the process of growing your existing client base.
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So, you would like to dip your toes into the world of personal training. Maybe you lost your day job, and as the fitness nut you are, it occurred to you that your skills might be marketable. Or maybe you have already tried the path of working in the fitness business and found that you are proficient at it, but you’re tired of working for someone else. If you’re in the latter category, you’re in better shape to start up and market your new business. If you’re in the former, you may have some work to do. Either way, these basic fitness marketing principles will help you get on the right track.
The Recipe for Fitness Marketing Success
The basic principles of marketing are the same in any industry. Successful fitness marketing follows the same model that the likes of Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart have followed for decades. The recipe begins with providing customers with a solution, offering the solution at a fair price, and making the customer aware of your offering.
1. Provide a solution to a customer demand or problem.
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If you want to do something well, you learn how to do it. You’d think it would be easy to get clients when you’re doing the best job you can do for them. The professional attitude isn’t what attracts clients, though it helps you keep them. How you market yourself closes the deal.
Beginning a business takes time and it isn’t easy to do. It’s easy to get bogged down in money and tax issues. Take a step outside yourself and think about the importance of marketing yourself.
Show your excitement.
First, make sure your excitement about what you do comes through. People respond to the positive feelings and energy. Your business depends on you.
Don’t be afraid of a no.
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Successful marketing is all about branding your personal trainer business. Your personal trainer business brand depends on who your target market is. Who is your ideal client? These are questions you need to answer in order to develop a solid marketing plan.
Defining Your Ideal Client
Defining your brand starts with identifying who your ideal client is. If you already have a client base, consider which clients you enjoy working with most. Why do you prefer them? Which do you enjoy the least, and why? Chances are, you prefer the clients who show up for their scheduled appointments, take your advice to heart and follow it, and pay in full and on time. In other words, your ideal client is reliable and serious about his or her fitness goals. If your ideal client fits another description, that’s fine; you should work on a market plan that targets your own ideal client. This post will focus on attracting reliable clients.
As we approach the High Holy Day of Healthy Living Commitments (otherwise known as New Year’s Day), you should be taking advantage of it by rolling out your New Year’s fitness marketing strategy. If you don’t have a strategy already in place, you only have a few days to get one together.
Opportunity Knocks But Once A Year
New Year’s Day is the single-most golden fitness marketing opportunity, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. You have to wait twelve whole months before that opportunity knocks again, and you’ll spend at least the first six kicking yourself for missing it. Your task is simple: target the vast population of people making New Year’s resolutions to be fit in 2010, and help them keep their commitments to themselves. As it turns out, lots of people make the resolution to be fit every year. Unfortunately, fewer people actually keep the resolution. Fewer still keep it for more than a couple of weeks.
The good news is that many resolution-makers have steady paychecks that they’re willing to spend on some assistance meeting their goals (or, as I like to call it, the kick in the a** they need to get off their butts and exercise.)
During this festive holiday season, folks everywhere are setting aside their personal fitness goals in lieu of cookies, pumpkin pie, and curling up by the fire watching all-day showings of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on the AMC channel. It’s cold outside, people in Maryland are still snowed in, and nobody wants to go for a walk in the neighborhood, let alone hit the gym. ‘Tis the Season of Joy! And for many, there is joy to be found in sugar, fat, and lazy days.
Ah, but for most, there is still guilt.
Shoppers Looking for the Perfect Gift
Yes, indeed, this is the Season of Guilt. How many times have you heard people remark that they shouldn’t be eating this, or they should be exercising, and verbally throwing in the towel? You have probably heard at least one friend hold a conversation with herself that sounds something like this:
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Believe it or not, many people hate exercise with a passion that exceeds climactic ecstasy. No, seriously: some would rather give up sex forever than set foot on a treadmill. It defies explanation, I know. Who would want to give up sex for anything?
It’s true that some of us, like you and I, actually love exercise almost as much as we love sex. And there are the weirdos I mentioned above, who hate it as much as they love sex. But there are shades of gray when it comes to exercise. The world of fitness isn’t any more black and white than the rest of life, and many are indecisive about exercise due to conflicting feelings about it:
-Some would rather not do it, if they had the choice, but maybe force themselves out of concern for their health or physical appearance.
-Some actually don’t mind exercise, because it feels pretty good, once they get going. The trouble is finding the motivation to get started, because they’re either lazy or settled into a routine.
-Some really enjoy exercise, but don’t think they have time. After all, it requires changing clothes, strapping on shoes, taking a shower, and squeezing all that into a hectic lifestyle that barely leaves room to breathe.
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Most trainers don’t go into the personal-training business because they like marketing. They become personal trainers because they want to help people lose weight, build their strength and live healthy lives. But the truth is that promoting a business is every bit as important as is knowledge when it comes to gaining new clients and financial rewards.
Personal trainers won’t ever build their businesses without first mastering some basic fitness marketing strategies.
Without marketing, even the most knowledgeable and skilled personal trainers will be desperate for work. That’s because even the best trainers won’t attract clients if these potential customers don’t know they exist.
But can trainers market their businesses without spending a small fortune? Sure. It just requires some common-sense fitness marketing strategies.
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Imagine taking a giant box and filling it with swarms of sweaty people, dozens of dumbbells, a smattering of weight machines, two rows of treadmills, and a spandex-clad gym rat named Bruno who likes to ogle at himself in the mirror while flexing.
Now imagine trying to sell that box to hundreds of people in your city. People who don’t like ads. People who don’t like commercials. People who hear about other boxes on a daily basis – including ones that are cheaper, bigger, and have less Bruno than yours.
Tough job, right?
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