No matter how long you have been in business or how successful your training or coaching business is, if you stop marketing your services, you will very quickly see the effects of lost profits and sales. In virtually every area of business, there will be pitfalls along the way. Marketing is no exception. By knowing how to market, you will save energy and disappointment.
Find Your Niche
You do not need thousands of followers on Instagram or a massive marketing budget to earn a decent income. What you need is to find a niche which will help you to stand out from your competitors.
Even if you are perfectly able to train all kind of people with all kind of fitness goals, it does not mean you have to be a ‘do-it-all’ personal coach. If you want to be truly successful, you have to select your niche – your area of expertise. Think about your past successes, clients your colleagues would send to you and what you feel the most comfortable helping with.
Another thing is to determine the characteristics of your ideal customers and target them first. Think of three main personas who will be your key source of income and a few more who will be your complimentary one. It could be a young mum, a professional athlete or someone willing to lose weight.
Your niche should be specific and narrow. Position yourself not just as someone who helps professional athletes, for example, but who helps male football players in college to become part of the national team. Although it will limit the number of your potential customers, this 1% uniqueness factor will help you to become the obvious choice for everyone in the industry.
Determine Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Find something that makes you and your services unique. Perhaps the products you are working with? Or the flexibility of your schedule? By identifying your unique selling proposition, you will be more confident in promoting your services. Share your story, don’t be just training expert – be a person that will attract customers at the first place.
Choose Your Promotional Strategies
The key here is to understand where your clients are, i.e. where do they go, what they read and watch, etc. Your decision to invest in a specific channel will also depend on your resources. But there are some more or less universal promotional methods that you can use: social media, partnerships, and referrals.
Social media
Having a few social media accounts is a must for the business nowadays. It is the simplest and perhaps the most effective way to promote your services and find clients. Be active on social media, post daily, write useful content and try to engage your audience by asking questions, publishing polls and commenting on other peoples’ posts.
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are good, but I would also recommend creating a profile on LinkedIn. There, you can target prospective clients who work in a particular professional field or attract company CEOs by creating a unique program for them.
Partnerships
Use your network to your advantage to create a larger pool of potential clients. Do not be shy about seeking partnerships with the people in your industry, make friends online and think about other services you can offer in exchange for their mention of yours.
Referrals
Do not forget about the power of the word of mouth. Be generous and give your services for free to some clients, especially the ones who have a larger network. You’ll be surprised by the positive impact that will have on your business.
Your Training / Coaching Career
Check out what it takes to start a career in personal fitness training. This is your most affordable and fastest way to become a highly qualified personal trainer.
There is always something exciting about earning a new training or coaching certification and applying that new knowledge of how you train your clients. This also helps you hit the reset button.
NESTA and Spencer Institute coaching programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
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