Personal Training Marketing: Five Steps to Success

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.

Specialize your services.

It’s impossible to be an expert in everything. Helping people get fit is a noble occupation, but if you’re accruing clients from all walks of life, there’s no way you’ll have the time – or the knowledge – to meet each person’s individual needs. You’ll be a mediocre trainer for the masses, rather than a masterful trainer for a few.

Picking a niche is the only way to become a rock-star fitness professional. If you narrow down your prospects to the retirement population, for example, you can focus exclusively on the services a senior citizen may want. Osteoporosis prevention through weight training? Check. Gentle yoga for flexibility? Check. Weight loss and heart-healthy nutrition to combat disease? Huge check.

Once you’ve honed your focus, you can explore the depths of your niche – gaining competence, credibility, and clients along the way.

Exhaust your free resources before paying a dime.

Some fitness professionals drain their bank accounts chasing cold leads and hunting for prospects, thinking the more money they pour into marketing, the more of a return they’ll get.

This is a fine plan – if you don’t mind bankruptcy.

But if you’d rather keep your car, your house, your cat, and your complete Simpsons DVD collection, stick with low-cost or no-cost options. In fact, free strategies – like word-of-mouth referrals and Craigslist ads – usually drive more prospects to your door than radio commercials, newspaper advertisements, and other pricey promotional plans.

Establish yourself as a complete health-and-wellness resource.

Forget what it says on your business card: you’re more than a personal trainer. You’re a health authority. You should be the first person your clients come to when they have a question about supplements, diet fads, protein powder, workout clothes, or the nutritional value of Cherry Garcia ice cream.

Give your clients answers. Empower them with knowledge. Use the strategy I reveal in my “Secret Weapon” book to blast them through the most mind-blowing workouts imaginable. Be everything they need in a heath resource, and you’ll rapidly gain your clients’ respect – as well as their referrals.

Market with “customer lifetime value” in mind.

Some professional trainers are afraid of offering discounts, free services, and special rates because these seem like guaranteed ways to lose money. Which is true – if you’re only thinking about immediate income. But if you give a free training session to a client who ends up sticking with you for five years, how many times will you regain that initial loss? I’ll let you do the math.

Always consider long-term earning potential when you market. A client who pays a discounted price for a month is worth far more than a client who pays full price once and then vanishes.

And if that’s not enough, remember this: lifelong customers are likely to buy additional services from you over the course of your relationship, boosting your income even higher.

Make every client feel like a million bucks.

Speaking of long-term customers: you have to give them a reason to stick around.

Your clients are people with busy schedules and stressful lives. They put up with cranky bosses, rude coworkers, road-raged drivers, whiny children, and spouses who won’t stop bickering about who left the cap off the toothpaste. Believe it or not, you may be one of the only people in your clients’ lives who can make them feel truly appreciated.

So seize the opportunity. Greet your clients with excitement and enthusiasm. Ask them about their lives. Congratulate them on their progress. Thank them for their hard work. Send them a card and a gift certificate on their birthday. Do whatever it takes to show them you care.

Just think: if your clients feel deeply valued every time they walk in for a training session, what will they be telling their friends, families, and colleagues about you? A happy client is an eager referrer.

Along with these tips, don’t miss the other essential strategies I reveal on the Fitness Marking hub page.

Read them, practice them, and watch your marketing success shoot through the roof.

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