Starting your own online personal trainer business is a great way to stay in shape and set yourself up as an entrepreneur. Just like any workout, you need to warm up and stretch before jumping in. So, before you get started, take a look at our 7 tips to help ensure your business won’t pull a muscle at the very beginning.
1. Stick To One Niche
You may be tempted to spread your wings as far as possible at the beginning and market yourself as a ‘jack of all trades’ trainer. But doing so may harm your business in the long-term. Many successful online trainers stick to one niche. By being specific, they can brand themselves as experts in that niche and not run the risk of spreading themselves too thin.
By sticking to one niche, you’re also able to target a specific audience and ensure you don’t come across as an amateur or non-professional trainer. Newcomers may not be able to tell the difference between proper execution and poor form, but those with more experience may be able to pick up on it, which will harm your reputation, especially if they leave negative reviews.
Stick to one niche, and become an expert at it. If you can turn yourself into an authority figure, you’ll have more potential clients contact you, and as a professional, you can also charge more for your services. The more targeted your niche, the better chance you’ll have at becoming a specialist who’s sought-after.
2. Develop Your USP
Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is that ‘thing’ that sets you apart from your competition, which is every other online personal trainer targeting your audience. Before starting your business, you’ll want to identify your USP to ensure it’s relevant and resonates with your future customers.
If your USP is your experience keeping in shape as a mother with 4 kids, it’s doubtful that middle-aged businessmen will be interested. If, however, your business USP promises to keep working professionals fit and healthy with 20 minutes of high-powered workouts, you’ll find more success with that demographic.
Identify your strong points and align them with your target audience. The key to creating a USP that grabs attention is to make sure it adds value to your customers.
3. Build Your Brand From Day One
If you don’t start building your brand from day one, you’ll be fighting to catch up afterward. It can be time-consuming once your business is launched to strategize your branding. Instead, ensure that all of your branding materials and plans are in place before beginning.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Create an eye-catching fitness logo. A logo allows your audience to instantly recognize what your business is without having to ask questions.
- Create a brand identity that resonates with your target audience. Your messaging, tone of voice, and brand colors need to be attractive to your clients.
- Create a website that includes all of the above and makes it easy for people to see your services and contact you.
4. Focus on Social Media Marketing
To help find new clients and get them to sign up for your business, you need to get out there and advertise your business proactively. One of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to accomplish this is to focus on social media marketing.
With your brand identity already established from the previous tip, you already know how to communicate, have a logo, and have identified your brand colors. All you need to do now is find your target audience and market towards them. Two of the most popular platforms for personal trainers are Facebook and Instagram.
You can post free content such as videos and blogs or pay for advertising to help put your business in front of more faces.
5. Connect With Other Personal Trainers
As an online personal trainer, you’ll be entering a very competitive space, but that doesn’t mean you have to be cutthroat with your competition. You may find it beneficial to extend a hand in friendship and work together with other people to expand your customer base.
Doing so will help others refer clients your way if they don’t have time for them. Suppose they’re an authority figure. After striking up a friendly relationship, you can ask them to provide you with a strong recommendation message of some kind, which you can add to your website and social media marketing.
Your goal is to create as much positive exposure as possible. Don’t feel like you have to do it alone. Get your brand up and sprinting off the starting line by connecting with other personal trainers.
6. Treat Your Clients Like Gold
Gaining new clients is often an uphill battle. It’s challenging and time-consuming, but once you’ve got clients onboard, don’t let them get away. You’ll want to go above and beyond to help them reach their fitness goals, especially as you want them to continue with you as long as possible and recommend you to other people. Once you start to gain new clients, don’t focus all of your attention on continuing to attract even more. It’s your responsibility to keep your current ones happy as well. Treat your customers well and retain them, so they don’t leave after a short time.
7. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail
Don’t let your fear of failure stop you at any step of the way. When you’re first starting out, it’s perfectly fine to worry you won’t succeed or feel like an imposter. But those feelings are natural, and the best way to get over your fear is to prepare everything beforehand, so when you cut the ribbon and start your online personal trainer business, you can hit the ground running.
Final Words
To get the most out of your online personal trainer business, you need to stand out from your competition (in a positive way) and showcase your unique, value-bringing USP. Narrow down your selected niche and turn yourself into an expert and authority figure. Remember, finding and onboarding new clients is only half the battle. If you don’t treat them like gold and retain them, you’ll always be on the lookout for new customers.
Finally, don’t forget to create a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience, and layout a clear marketing strategy to use on social media.
