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.

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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.)

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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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Are you wasting half your paycheck trying to gain clients?

Learn these money-saving strategies to help your marketing success shoot through the roof.

Have you ever heard the saying “it takes money to make money?”

I’ll let you in on a secret: it’s a load of hooey. At least when it comes to fitness marketing.

Right this minute, thousands of personal trainers are convinced they need pricey promotional tactics to stay competitive, and are quickly losing their hard-earned cash as a result. Mail-outs, magazine ads, newspaper listings – not only are these strategies expensive, but they don’t even snag enough clients to keep your business afloat. 
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Marketing is going to make or break your business.

All business owners need to aggressively market their enterprises to bring in new clients. This holds true for personal trainers, too. But marketing alone isn’t enough. It’s important for personal trainers to know which of their marketing efforts are working. It’s why those trainers who want to succeed are constantly performing fitness marketing research.

Marketing can be pricey. Ads in glossy magazines or newspapers cost money. Commercials on local television or radio stations aren’t cheap. Putting together a top Web site requires the service of costly design professionals. Even running a marketing blog can cost a fair amount of dollars depending on how it is hosted.

Spending money on marketing is fine, though, if it brings in new customers or builds name recognition for a business. But no entrepreneur wants to spend money on promotional efforts that don’t pay off. That’s a costly mistake.
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Wonder why you don’t have more clients? Learn five powerful marketing tips every personal trainer needs to know.

If you’re a personal trainer, you already know that success requires action. Phenomenal bodies aren’t built by sitting around and waiting for the dumbbell to move itself; you’ve got to grab the weight and lift it.

The same goes for your business. Even if you’re a topnotch trainer, you’ll never attract enough clients if you aren’t proactive about promoting yourself. If you want amazing success, you need amazing marketing.

So what does that entail? Read on to find out.
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