Tips for Marketing a Fitness Business Better
Posted by Steve Hochman on Tue. Feb. 18th, 2014
Ahh… marketing. Often called the “lifeblood” of any business- and it’s completely and totally true. Without marketing, clients don’t know you exist and how can you grow your personal training business if your potential clients don’t even know you’re out there?
But for a lot of us, the marketing gene just doesn’t come naturally. We’ve spent most of our time on learning the best techniques to help our clients lose weight and look great, which is exactly what we should be doing, but owning and operating your own business means that there are other skills you need to learn and master. Marketing is definitely one of them.
Marketing a fitness business doesn’t have to be complex or that expensive (there are tons of free and low cost marketing strategies for you to roll out here on this site). It does, however, have to work in order for you to see a return on your investment so learning the ins and outs- the do’s and don'ts of marketing is incredibly important for growing your business.
Taking the time to learn more about marketing is what will help you grow your fitness business into the six or seven figure business that it was meant to be. The business that you, as a hard working fitness entrepreneur, deserve.
So, if you’re in need of a little fitness marketing boost to get more clients in the door then listen up! These five tips will have your business booming in no time.
Specialize, Specialize, Specialize
Okay, so if I could only give you one single piece of advice for marketing it would be this: pick a target market and stick to it. That’s it. This one little thing will help you harness more earning power because you’re not generalizing- you’re specializing and those who specialize in a specific market are able to charge more without having their clients bat an eyelash.
Another reason why you’d want to specialize and pick a target market is because your marketing message will come across a whole lot clearer, allowing you to speak directly to those you are trying to serve. And that is what will get you more clients. Clients who are excited to give your boot camp or personal training a try because you were able to speak their language.
Sometimes deciding what niche to serve is tough because, as a personal trainer, you know you can help just about anybody lose weight, tone muscle, and improve their overall strength. So picking just one group to market to seems like you’re shutting everyone else out, but in order to earn the big bucks- you got to find the one market that you can help the most.
One way to figure out what market you might serve best is to take the time to really think about your style of training. What interests you the most when it comes to training people? Who would be your ideal client? When you’re able to narrow it down, think about the problems that your program would solve for this market and make that your message.
For instance, busy moms have a tough time getting their workout in so if you have a program that whips them into shape without making them spend hours upon hours working out then that’s your market and your message.
Get Online
Get your business online and do it now if you haven’t already done so. Having a web presence is so important for growing your business nowadays that if you’re not online and using all of the social media sites that are available to you, then you’re probably leaving thousands upon thousands of dollars on the table and who knows how many clients out in the cold.
If you don’t have a website yet, then that’s okay. You can still utilize Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google+, and any other social site you can think of as a placeholder until your site it set.
Make it a point to take before and after photos of your clients, photos of people just working out, and photos
of your facility when you upgrade or add in new equipment. That way you have things to write about and things to share with your current and potential clients. Reach out to those who like and comment on photos and offer them a free week of training. This is an easy way to suck out leads from Facebook- and the best part is that they come to you already knowing who you are and what you’re about, which makes selling to them much easier and the likelihood of them signing on as a client much higher.
You still want to have a good looking website with opt-ins here and there. And you’re going to want to build an email list of current and potential clients so you can start email marketing, which is one of the most costs effective ways to market a fitness business.
Name Your Programs
This is probably this simplest and quickest marketing trick that will help you with selling personal training programs. Giving your programs a name will help set your fitness business apart from all the other gyms out there that just offer monthly plans.
No one wants to sign up for the “15 session package”- they want the “Rapid Fat Loss and Booty Sculpting Program” or the “Muscle Toning Fat Blaster Program” (these are just off the top of my head). But you get the point. Make your programs as sexy as you want your clients to be.
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