Fitness Marketing: Essential Tips for Personal Trainers

Let’s face it: the job of a personal trainer isn’t glamorous. You probably see more spandex in a week than most people do in a lifetime. You put up with cranky clients, money-guzzling gym owners, and weightlifting newbies convinced they can build massive biceps with 2-pound dumbbells.

If you weren’t so passionate about your work, you’d probably go insane.

Fortunately, the fitness industry is booming. With over two-thirds of Americans currently overweight or obese, there’s never been a better time to help people get in shape. Millions are unhealthy, unhappy, and desperate for a way to regain control of their lives.

So why are you still struggling to find clients?

Why aren’t the referrals flooding in?

Why, in a world where your profession is more important than ever, are you making less money than some McDonalds employees?

The magic word is “marketing.”

In the field of health and fitness, skill alone isn’t enough to catapult you into the public eye. Too many fitness instructors think that simply being good at what they do – motivating, educating, encouraging, instructing – will earn them a cult following of clients and spark a wildfire of referrals.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

You’re in a field where thousands of fitness professionals are fighting tooth and claw just to make a living wage. You need to do more than be a good trainer; you also need to be a smart marketer.

In fact, you’d be shocked by the number of fitness professionals who don’t understand effective marketing. Instead, they take the “piñata approach” to gaining business – swinging blindly with a bat of fliers, postcards, ads, and referral requests, hoping they’ll eventually hit a client. Any client at all.

Take off the blindfold. Put down the bat. Step away from haphazard marketing scheme.

By following these tips, you can revamp your marketing strategy and start gaining the clients – and the income – you deserve.

Fitness Market Research

There’s no way around it: successful marketing starts with research.

Some fitness trainers dodge this step, plunging headfirst into a marketing plan before they’ve even tested the waters. These are the same people who spend their careers floundering, pouring money into ineffective strategies, grasping for clients, and careening towards an empty bank account.

Don’t underestimate the value of research. No matter who you are or what you have to offer, powerful marketing requires powerful knowledge. And to make true headway in the fitness industry, you’ll need to do two things:

1. Know your target.

Plenty of professionals have wild misconceptions about their clientele. Without buckling down and studying your customers’ needs, habits, and budgets, any marketing you do will be ignorant guesswork. (Cue the piñata.)

• Assess marketing strategies.
  Are your clients more likely to respond to fliers, direct mail, online advertisements, or something completely different? Will they toss an expensive postcard in the trash – yet eagerly answer to a free Craigslist ad? Research the trends.
• Find out the language of Google keywords.
  Investigate how much traffic specific keywords generate, find out the top phrases clients search for, and say hello to your new best friend: SEO.

  Once you have the inside scoop about who you’re trying to reach, you can sculpt your marketing strategies to fit the target. But understanding your clients is only half the battle – which brings us to the second keystone:

  • Emulate success.
    Who’s dominating the fitness field, and what separates them from the hoards of struggling lightweights? Identify the industry leaders and determine what they’re doing right – then shamelessly pluck their best strategies for yourself.
  • Find out which turf is taken.
    Do most of the personal trainers in your area specialize in weight loss? Then stepping onto the same field will be an uphill battle – one you’re not likely to win. Avoid the most cutthroat niches, and you’ll instantly weed out miles of competition.

  Personal Training Marketing

  Right now, over a quarter of a million personal trainers are working in the USA. Some are raking in six-digit incomes, taking luxurious vacations, and raising glasses of champagne to toast their skyrocketing success. Some have even create huge residual incomes from their Personal Trainer Businesses.

  But as for the majority? They’re still struggling to pay the bills – and scouring Google for ways to save their tanking careers.

  How, then, did the successful scurry their way to the top? They started by mastering the principles of effective marketing.

  • Narrow your target.
    Instead of casting a wide marketing net, find an untapped niche. Do you want to scout out pregnant women, overworked CEOs, aspiring bodybuilders, or stay-at-home moms? Do you want to help people lose weight, gain muscle, or train for an upcoming triathlon? Determine your passion and pitch your services accordingly.

    It may seem backwards to prune away potential clientele when you want to expand your fitness business, but the more you hone your focus, the more you can specialize your marketing. In turn, a greater portion of your prospects will walk away as clients.

  • Step out of your comfort zone.
    Fear is the single biggest roadblock to success. Do you avoid holding health seminars, nutrition lectures, and fitness workshops because you’re afraid of public speaking? Does shyness stop you from assertively asking your clients for referrals?

    The only way to conquer your insecurities is by looking them straight in the eye – so tackle the marketing strategies you fear most. Put yourself in the very situations that send a ripple of terror down your spine. In doing so, you’ll not only gain more confidence, but you’ll also gain more clients.

  • Stand apart from the crowd.
    Remember that you’re competing amongst thousands of other trainers – many who are as qualified, experienced, and passionate as you are. What can you offer that no one else can? What services, knowledge, experience, and abilities do you – and you alone – bring to the world of fitness?

    Distinguish yourself. Offer longer training sessions. Hold free once-a-month consultations. Share your nutritional knowledge. Even if your competitors are boasting lower rates, you can deliver greater quality and value during the time you share with clients.

  • Keep your promises.
    Health clubs that make inflated claims and outrageous offers might start off with a bang, but they’ll end with mushroom cloud of destruction once members realize they were deceived. To gain and keep clients, you can’t just dazzle them with impossible promises; you also have to earn their trust. The old “bate and switch” tactic won’t cut it. Don’t offer anything you don’t plan on delivering.
  • Show how you’re different.
    In all likelihood, you aren’t the only fitness hub in town. Prospects need to know why they should come to your health center, instead of choosing that other club that offers belly dancing every Tuesday and is right next to Starbucks (where they can buy their post-workout Frappuccino). What’s unique about your staff, your equipment, your cost, your classes, and your facility? What do you offer that clients simply can’t pass up?
  • Make it personal.
    Clients are weary of faceless companies that seem to be staffed by robots. No matter how you choose to market, infuse your health club with a sense of soul. Reveal the wizard behind the curtain. Put a heart in the Tin Man. Present real people in your advertisements, and dissolve the ice of corporate anonymity that freezes away prospects.
  • Focus on retaining current members.
    If your clientele is dwindling, don’t start launching marketing campaigns to recruit new prospects: first figure out why your current members are migrating elsewhere.

    When you factor in time, advertising expenses, and lost revenue, it costs about five times less to keep a current member than to reel in a new one. Your existing clients are your gateway to precious referrals; they’re worth far more than the monthly membership fee they pay. If your health club becomes a revolving door, you’ve just kissed your most effective marketing method goodbye.

  • Focus your marketing budget on generating internal referrals.
    The most powerful and reliable marketing strategy starts with the people you already know: your clients. If they’ve flourished under your guidance, clients gladly become your walking billboards with the right incentives.

    Offer rewards for referrals. Give your clients a discounted month of training for every new customer they bring you. Provide gift cards for them to give to friends. And whenever your clients land you a successful referral, don’t keep your gratitude a secret: treat those clients like royalty and encourage them to keep referring.

  • Take your marketing online.
    The potential for internet marketing is infinite – and if your business isn’t online yet, you can bet you’re losing potential clients to the ones that are.

    Advertise on Craigslist once a week. Build an e-mail list of prospects and customers – and send them special updates, educational articles, and exclusive offers every month. If you still need a website, don’t hand over your wallet to an expensive design firm; hire a talented college student, or swap services with a local web developer who’ll build you a site in exchange for a few free training sessions.

  • Choose your media wisely.
    If you end up paying for your leads – which you should only do if you’ve exhausted your free options – then you’ll need to tread carefully. Buying ad space in highly circulated newspapers might seem like a good plan, but you’ll be paying to flash your ad in front of hundreds (or thousands) of readers who don’t give a lick about fitness.

    You’re better off placing ads in magazines and papers with a more specialized readership, even if the circulation is lower. Visit local health food stores to see which magazines they carry. Health journals and local fitness publications are more likely to reach your target group.

2. Know your competition.

Remember that old cliché about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Just because you’ve heard it 70 times doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Analyzing your fitness rivals is your ticket to effective marketing.

Health Club Marketing

When you’re promoting a health club, you’re in a trickier situation than most businesses. You aren’t just selling a service or a product; you’re selling a concept. You’re selling a vision of attainable health and fitness. You’re selling a potential lifestyle.

Clients need to know they’ll be welcomed, accepted, and empowered at your health club. If you’re operating a health club, you can boost your marketing success by following these rules.

Here is an excellent resource for marketing your Health Club or Fitness Center.



Fitness Marketing Strategies

Once you grasp the principles behind marketing, you have one more hurdle to clear: choosing the right strategies.

Even if you’ve done your research, honed your focus, and distinguished yourself from the pack, poor strategizing can be the Achilles’ heel of your career. Know which strategies are the most cost-effective and which will be a wasted effort.

Now, imagine what life will be like once you’ve chiseled your marketing strategy down to a science.

Referrals are pouring in. Clients are paying you top dollar for your time. Other trainers are begging to hear your secrets. Your schedule is packed with back-to-back training sessions. Income is steady. You never have to worry about finding more clients.

It just can’t get any better than this – right?
Actually, it can.

Make no mistake: if you market effectively, you’re guaranteed to increase your client base and gain more business. But if you stop there, your income will be linear. You’ll be putting in hectic hours just to keep the money flowing in.

Even if you can afford those exotic vacations you’ve always wanted, you won’t be able to take them often – because every week of missed work is a week you don’t get paid.

Even if you buy that fire-engine-red Ferrari you’ve always dreamed of, you won’t have the time to drive it – because you spend every waking moment busting your tail at work.

This is why successful marketing will get you far, but isn’t enough to give you the enviable lifestyle some fitness professionals have secured. The difference between those who live comfortably and those who live downright luxuriously is simple: the first group works hard, and the second group works smart.

So how can you join the ranks of the elite?

In my free 7-day Personal Trainer Business Boot Camp, I’ll show you exactly how to leverage your income so that your paychecks double in both quantity and frequency – even when you’re not working. (Yes, your bank account can be filling up while you’re sitting on a beach in Tahiti.)

If you’re satisfied with slaving away for a great income, marketing alone will do the trick. But if you’d rather take it one step further and gain the time to pursue your hobbies, have fun, and genuinely enjoy life, my free Personal Trainer Business Course will show you how.

Get ready for phenomenal success.

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