Marketing Your Personal Training Business
Marketing and promoting a personal training business is not very different from marketing any other kind of business in terms of the tools available to you. However, it is certainly true that some marketing tools work better than others in the fitness industry.
QUICK LINKS:
Image and the Personal Trainer
The Power of The Business Card
The Personal Trainer's Website
Image and the Personal Trainer
YOU are the most important marketing tool available to your personal training business. How you look, act, speak and even smell will affect your image and consequently your business. It is imperative therefore, that you are constantly aware of the image you are portraying to your clients and potential clients. And remember, everyone is a potential client.
In the previous section we discussed the required level of fitness of a personal trainer, and this is a critical part of your overall image. However, how you portray that fitness, even if it is of a very high standard can work for or against you.
I have seen many inexperieneced personal trainers, particularly young men, make the mistake of flaunting their fitness with their choice of clothes. Snug shorts and tight fitting vests have their place, e.g. in the gym, or in a circuit class, but they do not belong in a personal training one to one session. Equally, unless in a class situation girls should avoid bare mid-drifts and too much leg.
Why? Well because many clients have chosen to go to a freelance personal trainer rather than a gym to avoid being intimidated by fit bodies. Also, some people are just not comfortable with too much flesh on display. This may seem overly conservative to you, but do you want the business or not?
The trick is to strike a balance between functionality, professionalism and a sporty, fit look. The following are some suggestions based on what I found worked for me:
Fitness Consultations - Dark sports full length trousers, with white
polo shirt and hooded sweatshirt on top for colder days.
1-2-1 Personal Training Sessions (Winter) - Dark sports full length trousers, with dark polo shirt and hooded sweatshirt on top for colder days.
1-2-1 Personal Training Sessions (Summer) - Dark sports standard length shorts (just above the knee), with dark polo shirt and hooded sweatshirt on top for colder days.
1-2-1 Combat Training/Self Defence (Winter) - Dark and plain kickboxing trousers with dark sleeveless tee, with sleeveless hooded sweatshirt.
1-2-1 Combat Training/Self Defence (Summer) - Dark loose fitting shorts with dark sleeveless tee, with sleeveless hooded sweatshirt for colder days.
Sports/Relaxation Massage - Dark sports full length trousers, with white polo shirt. If you are massaging in the field (e.g. post event) during colder months then a tight fitting body warmer or something similar may be worn but it is important not to have garments than can flap against the client and to leave your arms uncovered.
Beyond the style, functionality and colouring of your chosen "uniform", it is also a very good idea to have your clothing printed or embroidered with your business name/role, telephone number and logo. This immediately presents a much more professional image to your clients.
However, always check with your new clients that they are happy for you to wear your branded clothing when you are out and about with them. Occasionally you will have a client who does not want anyone to know that they are using a personal trainer, in which case you will need to dress down a bit.
Also, it is important to remember that how you look isn't just about what you wear. How you carry yourself is equally important. If you slouch or hunch over, this imemdiately gives the impression of someone who is unfit, has low self esteem or is lacking in confidence. So get used to walking tall and feeling tall.
The following may sound obvious but is never the less important, and too many seem to get lazy in this respect. Look after your personal hygiene! It will make you feel better, look better and smell better. Don't forget that you are in a very active and physically demanding job, so shower regularly. Men should be clean shaven and if you must have a beard then keep it very short (grade 3 max). Men and women should consider trimming, if not shaving completely, armpit and pubic hair. This will help to keep body odour to a minimum and will make you feel a lot more comfortable in hot workout conditions.
Also, keep your nails filed and short, hair clean and tidy and your breath smelling fresh. Use deoderants, anti-perspirants, perfumes and after shaves by all means but don't go overboard. Furthermore, it is always a good idea to carry a shower in a can, a mouth freshening spray, and a change of clothes for those occasions where you are rushing from one appointment straight to the next without the opportunity of a shower.
How you act and speak is also part of your image. For example, when you are loading and unloading equipment from your car or van, make sure you maintain correct posture. This is not only important to prevent injury, but chances are your clients will be watching you from behind the curtains. When you talk, speak clearly and confidently on all matters. If you don't know the answer to something then say so, but say so clearly and confidently, e.g. "I'm sorry but I just don't know the answer to that. But I WILL look it up and telephone you with an answer as soon as I get home."
You have to convince the client and the potential client that you live, eat, sleep and breathe the fitness lifestyle. Then and only then will you be successful in inspiring them to do the same. The easiest way to do this, is to do exactly that. If it's an act, sooner or later you will get caught out.
The Power of the Business Card
The business card is without question the second most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. This is true of any business, not just personal training, but so many personal trainers don't have them. They see them as something that only the "suits" should have.
Those that do have them, often do so on a meagre budget by printing some from a template on a machine in the motorway services or by knocking them up at home. This is a huge mistake. You may be willing to spend hundreds of pounds on signwriting a van, or on advertising in the Yellow Pages, or maybe even thousands advertising in a glossy magazine. But I'm telling you, a good quality business card handed over in the right way to the right people will bring you more business than any of these other media. So don't be tight with your business cards. If you have a limited marketing budget then spend it all on your business cards. Have them designed by a professional graphic designer and professionally printed. It wil be a worthwhile investment. I recommend Four Seasons Design Services.
Once you have your business cards, always carry them with you. Have some on your person, some in your kit bag and some in your vehicle. Make an effort to talk to as many people as you can. Make it a goal to talk to four strangers a day and to handout 10 business cards per day. Leave business cards wherever you go. If you eat at a restaurant leave them in the condiment tray. If you go to a gym, leave a couple in the changing room (the gym won't like it but you can always say someone else must have dropped them). Leave some under the windshields of cars at your loacl shopping centre. Hand some out the mums at the local school. Leave some with the magazines in your doctors surgery...and so on.
The Personal Trainer's Website
In these modern times a business without a website is like a sprinter without spikes. You simply have to have them if you want to be standing on the winners podium at the end of the race.
As with the business cards, it is possible to create a website on a budget. There are an increasing number or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software applications built for just this purpose. However, unless you have no budget whatsoever, or have direct experience in website design and development, and inernet marketing, then I would recommend against this route, as you could find yourself wasting an awful lot of time. Furthermore, home made websites stand out like a sore thumb.
Again, seek professional services to give you a professional image. We recommend BizGen Website Design and Development Services who specailise in websites for the small to medium business and have direct experience of working in the fitness industry.
Leaflets and Documentation
This area is a relatively cheap aspect to your marketing campaign, which can make a big difference to how you are perceived by your clients and others.
A lot of personal trainers don't seem to go to much effort in terms of client paperwork. Personally, following the initial consultation and booking, I think it is very important to give the client their own, professional looking, training portfolio. In this portfolio, you should include the following:
- A welcome letter explaining how you work and an acknowledgment of their goals.
- Sales literature detailing all the packages and services you offer, special offers, fees and any products that you sell, e.g. supplements.
- A list of all your fitness classes.
- Copies of all the paperwork they signed at the consultation e.g. PAR-Q, Lifestyle Questionaire, Client Agreement.
- Some nutritional guidance and recommendations.
- Their detailed fitness programme.
- Anything else you feel would be of interest and make it personal to the client.
The portfolio folder itself should look smart, with a firm cover. Don't be tempted just to shove it in a thin plastic wallet. You can buy nice portfolio covers for under £5 at most major stationers. If you get it right, those clients who like to show off the fact that they have a personal trainer (which is most) will leave it lying around for their friends to see. That's why you include details of your services and fees inside. Furthermore, it is a good idea to also include a few spare business cards and a special offer for both the client and potential client if they refer a friend. e.g. a free massage for the client and a 10% discount for their friend on booking.
As with the business cards make the effort to have all your documentation printed on professionally designed and printed headed paper.
Fitness Classes
One of the easiest ways to meet potential new personal training clients is to run fitness and exercise classes. It doesn't really matter what they are as long as you are qualified, insured and confident enough to run them. Circuit classes are always popular, as are boxercise, dancercise and step. But there are loads of others you could choose from such as yoga, pilates, Bosu, gym ball, core and so on.
If you run three classes per week and each of those classes has 20
attendees, then that's 60 people per week that you have the opportunity
to demonstrate your skills to. Make sure that there are plenty
of business cards and leaflets at each class. You could even do
a weekly newsletter or fitness guide.
Classes are hard work and are sometimes difficult to build up to a profitable level but if you want to be a succesful personal trainer, look at the bigger picture. If you pick up one new personal training client per month from a class it makes it worthwhile.
Good ways of marketing the classes themselves is through local community centres, giving leaflets to the mums at the local school, listing your classes on your website and submitting your classes to www.fit2bfit.co.uk, which is a directory of fitness, dance and martial arts classes throughout the UK.
Signage
Under signage I include clothing (discussed above), vehicle graphics and premsises signage.
Unless you have a lot of spare capital then you probably don't have
to worry about premises signage. However, if you can afford it
it is a good idea to have your clothing printed and your vehicle signwritten
with your business logo, name, purpose and telephone number and website.
I mention business purpose because it is not always possible to include all information, and with clothing in particular where space is limited, mentioning the business purpose is particulaly important. For example, suppose you call your business after your name and set up a company called "J Smith Ltd". Having "J Smith Ltd - 01203 456789" written on the back of your shirt is not going to attract many personal training clients. Far better to have "Personal Trainer - 01202 456789".
However, it is worth noting that while these are good investments for your overall image, which helps to secure and retain business, neither are likely to bring you many first enquiries, so they are fairly low down the list when prioritising your marketing budget.