Running a successful business as an online personal trainer takes a lot of hard work. It takes sacrifice and is no different when it comes to running an online fitness business.
So you’ve just finished your online personal training course. You’re ready to take on the business world and start your own fitness business as an online personal trainer. Well, luckily for you it is much easier and quicker to start a business today than it was 10 or 15 years ago thanks to the developments and advances in technology and social media. However, you will still need to put in a lot of hard work in to get the personal training clients you need. You’ll need to be smart about the way you acquire your online clients. Here are 11 tips to pick up clients as an online personal trainer.
Online Fitness Business Tips
1. Build A Brand
From the get-go, right when you first start building your business you need to construct a brand too. You will need to strategise about where to position yourself in the market. You will need to develop a brand identity. It’s vital that you make this the centre of your communications and marketing to the public so that people can get to know and trust you.
2. Social Media Marketing
One of the most useful marketing tools at your disposal today – as a personal trainer – is social media. After building and setting up your business website, you will need to invest in a social media strategy to ensure you get the best out of the various platforms and so you can advertise your business to the right audience. (Want to know more about marketing your fitness business? Sign up for Trifocus Fitness Academy’s Fundamentals of a Fitness Business Course today!)
3. Advertising For the Online Personal Trainer
Besides spending money on social media advertising, you will need to invest in digital marketing like SEO and Google Adwords. The great thing about these forms of advertising is that they are relatively inexpensive which makes them great for personal trainers just starting out in the fitness industry.
4. Networking
Getting yourself into the industry and networking with the industry leaders is extremely important. Reach out to various industry leaders, athletes and other online personal trainers, and link up with them. There’s no harm in learning from those who have been where you are and are willing to lend a helping hand or give a tip or two. Networking will also help get your new brand the credibility you need to start getting referred.
5. Referrals And Recommendations
As mentioned above, once you’ve set up a brand that people know and trust – and has some credibility in the fitness industry – you should look at asking for recommendations and referrals.
6. Events
Making yourself and your brand present at industry and sporting events is a sure-fire way to speak directly to the client you are trying to attract. An example of a fitness-related event that you can exhibit at, in South Africa, are the Arnolds Classic Africa.
7. Running Specials
Launch specials and discounts always work well. This is because these give clients the opportunity to try your services before investing in full packages. Running regular specials and discounts will ensure great word-of-mouth marketing, which means you will always have fresh clients knocking on your door.
8. Affiliating With Other Online Personal Trainers And Fitness Brands
There are hundreds of great fitness brands in the industry. These will not necessarily be competitors. Linking up and affiliating yourself with some of the biggest brands in the industry will help you increase your brand’s credibility. Through this you will definitely get additional exposure, too.
9. Giving Away Free Trials
People are very reluctant to try a new brand or online personal trainer’s service without knowing about the services and what kind of results people have reached with this online personal trainer. Offering one-month trials is a great way for people to get to know your brand and your services.
10. Knowing Where To Find Your Clients
Knowing your audience and target market are two of the most important factors of a successful fitness business. As a part of your strategising, you need to figure out who you are targeting as well as how and where you will reach them.
11. Influencers
Influencer marketing is one of the most powerful and effective ways of reaching new clients. Your job as a business owner and personal trainer is to tell people how great your business is and services are. Linking up with influencers will give you access to powerful word-of-mouth marketing. When you find the right influencers who are looking for a mutually beneficial relationship with you, there is a lot more opportunity and marketing scope lying ahead for both brands.
Starting a business is not easy. Finding clients is even harder. However, there are a few things you can do to make it a bit easier. Start with what you have and what is most important. After this you will be running a successful fitness business in no time.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
If you want to learn more, take a look at Trifocus Fitness Academy’s Entrepreneurship course as well as their Fundamentals of a Fitness Business short course to build your knowledge to make a success in your fitness business.