Marketing for Personal Trainers

Starting with the Basics

Marketing yourself is vital to increase your training hours and drum up new business. But it's not always easy as a lot of trainer find out very quickly.

Having good qualifications, insurance and a solid training background is a fantastic start to positively promoting yourself (as well as being a member of the NRPT of course!),

Marketing yourself any further can sometimes cost money as well as time, so you will need to look at your budget as well as what you want to achieve.

Rather than being something to fear, marketing is something to embrace as it can make the difference between success & failure. In reality marketing is a term used to describe what we all do on a daily basis, ie. communicate.

Why Communication is So Important

Whether you are looking to develop your business as an individual personal trainer or launching a company, it is necessary to communicate the right message to the right people, at the right time.

Don't ever forget that first impressions count. People want to know they are buying a quality service, get this wrong and you don't get a second chance, get it right & your business will flourish.

Communicate Online

Communicating online is evermore important. From a website to social media, this is one area you cannot ignore. Development of your own website ranges froma few pounds for a cheap template, to a few hundred (or even a couple of thousand!) pounds. You also need to think about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - as otherwise no one will find you online unless they nkow your website address.

More Traditional Means of Communicating

Compare that to the cost of placing an ad in your local newsagents window, which will be just a few pounds per month. A case of you get what you pay for. Remember that your NRPT membership fee (amongst other things) provides you with your own web page on the site.

In Summary

There are plenty of things you can do in addition to this which cover many other options in between. You will almost certainly want to appeal to your local catchment area, potential clients living or working within a certain radius of your location or in the places that you are prepared to travel to in order to train them, and you will want to maximise your exposure there.

Have a look at the planning section to give you some ideas of how best to approach this and some of the other questions you might want to think about.

Planning Before You Commit

Before you do anything, think about putting together a marketing plan, it doesnt need to be fancy or complicated or take up much time and a lot of it is common sense. It could be the first step to establishing a successful business, so here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Know your product or service (Personal Training)

• What are its benefits to your customer
• What are its strengths & weaknesses
• How is your service different
• Consider its unique selling proposition, whats different about you

2. Plan how you want your business to grow

• Working on your own - how many hours can you effectively manage?
• Do you want to build a bigger company?
• How will you grow the business?
• What investment are you prepared to make?

3. Research your local market

• Who are your competitors gyms, sports clubs, other trainers?
• How much are they charging?
• What is their business catchment area?

4. Focus on the customer

• Understand what the customer needs
• Select more affluent areas to market your service
• Talk their language

5. What are the objectives of your campaign

• Identify & choose your target customer
• Position your business to serve your chosen market
• What results are you expecting? Short term or long term brand building

6. Networking

• Use existing customers as a potential base for business referral
• Promote your business wherever, whenever!
• Establish contacts with other complementary businesses in your area to develop joint marketing activity

7. Set a budget

• Know how much you want to spend
• Select the most appropriate medium, advertising, web, direct mail etc.
• Accept that you have to speculate to accumulate

And then monitor results....

• Track where business comes from - assists with future marketing activities
• Build a database
• Plan your next activity

Generating New Business

You probably know the old adage about the cheapest business comes from your existing business! But how do you get the business in the first place - not all of us have celeb friends or a ready make fat network that need training!

New Business Ideas

Below we have listed some suggestions and advice to help you get started, get your name out there and to establish networks with other organisations:-

• A direct leaflet drop, making sure the literature is well presented and explains what you do and how people can contact you.
  
  
• Postcards in the local newsagents, supermarket boards etc.
  
  
• An ad in the local papers.
  
  
• Link up with your local sports centre, some may already have PT's but not all do, they might welcome a useful contact, they may also allow you to advertise on their bulletin board.
  
  
• A leaflet/business card in the local GP's surgery & health centres (particularly if you have GP Referral certification).
  
  
• Leaflets in your local hair boutiques, nail bars, tanning salons, spas etc.... all good markets for Personal Trainers.
  
  
• Contact your local radio station to see if they'd like to do a short slot on Personal Training, (check costs first, as some might charge you).
  
  
• Check out the costs of a one page web site, far cheaper than a full blown multi level web site. Make sure you include all relevant information and contact details and that they are easy to find.
  
  
• Have some professional stationery printed, letter heads, business cards etc.... Include information like your NRPT & REP's status (you can use the logos at the foot of your stationery).
  
  
• Ask existing clients to recommend you to friends and neighbours, if you're good they'll do it anyway!!
  
  
• It's always a good idea to offer a no obligation consultation and maybe the first session free, with discounts for multi session bookings thereafter.
  
  
• Target your marketing during popular times of the year, eg Jan 1st to capture post Christmas revellers, before the summer holiday begins etc.

What About Networking?

Networking with other local practitioners is always really valuable and will provide you with good information for your clients. Here is a short list to get you thinking....

• Nutritionists (not all PT's are qualified or experienced in this area)
• Masseurs, Sports & Swedish etc...
• Chiropractors
• Chiropodists/Podiatrists
• Physiotherapists
• Therapists in NLP, Life Coaching etc....

Don't forget for B2B connections, LinkedIn is just about unbeatable on every level - especially as you can build up your network at no cost to start with.

In Summary

These are just some suggestions, and maybe obvious, but there's no harm reiterating successful & well proven methods.

A full marketing service is available to assist any NRPT member to develop their business plan. For full information and an initial consultation, please contact us with a brief overview about your particular business and what you wish to achieve from some professional marketing input.