Personal trainers how do you Market your service?

[jamesbondc]

Fellows spill your guts out when it comes to marketing for your personal training service and don't worry there is enough for all of us. We will not steal all your clients and make you bankrupt. By telling some of your secrets might help some of us ametures make a few bill payments. I'll be honest I am failing miserably online and offline when it comes to marketing and getting clients even with a college degree in fitness. Thanks in Advance.

[gibfen51]

I struggled like crazy the first few months but after really analyzing who lived around me and catering to that, my client list grew like crazy.

Bridal expos: This was a goldmine for me. As long as you work with their budget and skip the normal $60 an hour routine, you will have a bunch of women dying to lose weight. I had a 5 foot booth that was basically a chair and a tv tray set up and I got 14 clients in one day.

Mega-churches: I'm not religious in the least, but taking a simple flyer and adding a "Jesus Fish" in the corner got me both a corporate account with the church (parking lot boot camps. Ugh, but still good money) and at-home clients.

Gimmicky names. I am surrounded by Cougars looking to get in shape. Offering training to women of a certain age brought in clients, too. Why fight it? Women want to look good. Be honest and offer them training to get younger guys.

This stuff sound cheesy as hell and I would have doubted it myself, but I'm a strictly private trainer and I could not be happier with my success.

[kserajuddin]

Fellows spill your guts out when it comes to marketing for your personal training service and don't worry there is enough for all of us. We will not steal all your clients and make you bankrupt. By telling some of your secrets might help some of us ametures make a few bill payments. I'll be honest I am failing miserably online and offline when it comes to marketing and getting clients even with a college degree in fitness. Thanks in Advance.

No offense man, but you have kind of a negative attitude -

Invest in some good products on personal training marketing - research, learn, and apply -

If you're just combing for free info, going on common sense, or even using stuff that works in other industries but doesn't apply specifically to PT, you're going to be floundering for a while -

[MateusMcClay]

No offense man, but you have kind of a negative attitude -

Invest in some good products on personal training marketing - research, learn, and apply -

If you're just combing for free info, going on common sense, or even using stuff that works in other industries but doesn't apply specifically to PT, you're going to be floundering for a while -

Yeah, I said the same thing in other posts but i don't think he quite gets it.

[jamesbondc]

Fellows I asked for some tips/tricks/secrets NOT bashing about how I am some lazy or negative bum. Also, to the cocky guy from ECU: just because you got the job and your life is going smooth don't get over confident. Just remember you can be laid off anytime and then you'll be in the same boat as me.

If you can't share any good advice please don't even bother.

[Pact_kev]

I stand on the street corner flexing and yelling "I can preform services for you!"

Hmm.. I wonder if that would work.

[broad.stance]

Fellows I asked for some tips/tricks/secrets NOT bashing about how I am some lazy or negative bum. Also, to the cocky guy from ECU: just because you got the job and your life is going smooth don't get over confident. Just remember you can be laid off anytime and then you'll be in the same boat as me.

If you can't share any good advice please don't even bother.

Okay...

What marketing and research have you done so far?

[jamesbondc]

I have posted ads on craigslist, local news paper and put flyers on my car windows but no luck. I talked with some older people at my apt gym here in Sarasota, FL. They get all interested when I feed them science jargon but when they hear the price of $15 a session they give me that look YOU GOT CANCER. Sarasota is majority old people 60+.

Now how in the hell some of you trainers charge ridiculously prices of $60 for one session and not get that same look. Most of these trainers don't even have any reputable cert like ACSM, CSCS, NASM or etc yet they are raking money and I am barely making student loan payments.

[geoff.lu]

I have posted ads on craigslist, local news paper and put flyers on my car windows but no luck. I talked with some older people at my apt gym here in Sarasota, FL. They get all interested when I feed them science jargon but when they hear the price of $15 a session they give me that look YOU GOT CANCER. Sarasota is majority old people 60+.

Now how in the hell some of you trainers charge ridiculously prices of $60 for one session and not get that same look. Most of these trainers don't even have any reputable cert like ACSM, CSCS, NASM or etc yet they are raking money and I am barely making student loan payments.

$15 is way too cheap, might as will go work in a gym.... charge more... talk to them about the services you provide and make them feel that they'll be getting a premium service. Just tell them that you rate for in-home training are 100/hr... but since you in the same building you'll give them a little discount.

[broad.stance]

I have posted ads on craigslist, local news paper and put flyers on my car windows but no luck. I talked with some older people at my apt gym here in Sarasota, FL. They get all interested when I feed them science jargon but when they hear the price of $15 a session they give me that look YOU GOT CANCER. Sarasota is majority old people 60+.

Now how in the hell some of you trainers charge ridiculously prices of $60 for one session and not get that same look. Most of these trainers don't even have any reputable cert like ACSM, CSCS, NASM or etc yet they are raking money and I am barely making student loan payments.

I read the similar thread you created last month called Successful Trainers Give Me Advice (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=119160031) so I wouldn't rehash information already given. There was some good advice offered in that thread, as well as this.

There's a whole list of reasons why $60 is the standard in PT fees - read through this forum, you'll find them - and why if you offer to train for less people will think less of your services. By finding what other private trainers are charging in your area you can offer a competitive rate, but don't lowball yourself with $15-$20. Rates too far below the average won't get you more clients because the quality of your services will come off as deficient.

You are posting ads on craigslist. Stop it.

Reasons were given in the other thread why CL is not the best place to solicit clients, but for the fact you aren't getting any hits means you are wasting your time. Check on the visibility/readability of your paper advert, but also find the circulation numbers and demographics of the newspaper. You may do better with a smaller paper that reaches a higher percentage of your target age group.

Look at the local and online ads and websites of local PTs, and also discover where they are training individuals and groups. This part of your research will help assess the competition, and discover facility fees, contracts, and arrangements. Also you can see what niche isn't being served in your community.

Recommendations can come from many places. Visit the offices of doctors and R/Ns who wish their patients to manage their high blood pressure/diabetes/cholesterol/etc, through exercise. Talk with the manager of a sporting goods store and see if the company will offer your services to customers who purchase select equipment. You get a client out of the deal, and they don't get a return on a universal gym or a $500 set of dumbbells.

This may require a lot more research, but a foundation is a great way to go. Charity auctions is a nice way to get your name out there, but really a lot of the money goes to the organization and you never know what percentage of your normal rates you'll get paid.

Without getting too detailed into how grants work, local service oriented groups receive grants from larger foundations some of which cover general operations (rent, utilities, salaries) and other grants can only be used for specific services, such as community outreach or buying Crayola crayons for third graders. These are called restricted grants. If money from a specialized grant isn't used the local group will pass it to another organization who will use it in the same way. But the local group always wants to use all of the funds because it shows how effective they are in the community and allows them to request the same amount from the grant-giving organization next year.

Offer your services to an organization whose members can also greatly benefit from personal training. Let them know of your education, certifications and how you can help their special needs clientele - outlining sample training and nutrition programs will demonstrate you know where the industries cross. Obviously this should be a clientele you're comfortable working with, and your degree and certification will give you an advantage over high-school grads with a weekend cert.

Now, this may take a lot of work to even get off of the ground, and there will be plenty of meetings with members in the program department. This is because the organization won't be acting as a referral group, but instead will be taking you on as part of a fitness program being offered to its members on a group or individual basis. There will be plenty of contracts involved since you aren't being employed directly. But through all of these meetings you'll be building a relationship. Also, you'll be the go-to guy if the foundation has a running or biking event - once you sell yourself to the foundation they'll sell you.

What this arrangement does is allow the organization to reach people in a way that may have been previously restricted by their grants. You can offer a small reduction in your regular fees, but the good thing is you will be paid through the foundation, not the client. The hitch is you'll likely get paid at the end of the personal training program, but you can probably work out a partial payment midway in negotiations. Taking on two to four people a year like this isn't a bad way to add to your client base, and you can use this association in marketing towards other clients and companies. A breast cancer survivor organization in my area has a trainer who started off this way, and she trains members who otherwise would not have been able to afford her services. As far as the clients are concerned the trainer is a gift from the foundation and they work very hard. (There may be a grant report or two you'll be expected to contribute towards, but grant writers are generally nice people and will hold your hand through the process. You might even get a cookie.)

Overall, I think the above advice on personal training marketing is great and you should look into that. If you cannot shell out any money the bulk of you research should be in that area. You can be the best PT in your region, but if you are winging it no one is going to hire you.

Other ways you can get your name out is writing a short monthly fitness article for a local paper. City-wide papers will already have writers so target neighborhood rags. A block at the end of each article will state you are a PT and how to reach you. If you don't have a website, you can start writing a blog as a way to develop your voice, content (written/video), and a brand. Along with original entries you can echo printed articles and have notices of group classes you are teaching, just remember to remain professional and have a stock of articles on hand so you can update regularly.

[jamesbondc]

I read the similar thread you created last month called Successful Trainers Give Me Advice (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=119160031) so I wouldn't rehash information already given. There was some good advice offered in that thread, as well as this.

There's a whole list of reasons why $60 is the standard in PT fees - read through this forum, you'll find them - and why if you offer to train for less people will think less of your services. By finding what other private trainers are charging in your area you can offer a competitive rate, but don't lowball yourself with $15-$20. Rates too far below the average won't get you more clients because the quality of your services will come off as deficient.

You are posting ads on craigslist. Stop it.

Reasons were given in the other thread why CL is not the best place to solicit clients, but for the fact you aren't getting any hits means you are wasting your time. Check on the visibility/readability of your paper advert, but also find the circulation numbers and demographics of the newspaper. You may do better with a smaller paper that reaches a higher percentage of your target age group.

Look at the local and online ads and websites of local PTs, and also discover where they are training individuals and groups. This part of your research will help assess the competition, and discover facility fees, contracts, and arrangements. Also you can see what niche isn't being served in your community.

Recommendations can come from many places. Visit the offices of doctors and R/Ns who wish their patients to manage their high blood pressure/diabetes/cholesterol/etc, through exercise. Talk with the manager of a sporting goods store and see if the company will offer your services to customers who purchase select equipment. You get a client out of the deal, and they don't get a return on a universal gym or a $500 set of dumbbells.

This may require a lot more research, but a foundation is a great way to go. Charity auctions is a nice way to get your name out there, but really a lot of the money goes to the organization and you never know what percentage of your normal rates you'll get paid.

Without getting too detailed into how grants work, local service oriented groups receive grants from larger foundations some of which cover general operations (rent, utilities, salaries) and other grants can only be used for specific services, such as community outreach or buying Crayola crayons for third graders. These are called restricted grants. If money from a specialized grant isn't used the local group will pass it to another organization who will use it in the same way. But the local group always wants to use all of the funds because it shows how effective they are in the community and allows them to request the same amount from the grant-giving organization next year.

Offer your services to an organization whose members can also greatly benefit from personal training. Let them know of your education, certifications and how you can help their special needs clientele - outlining sample training and nutrition programs will demonstrate you know where the industries cross. Obviously this should be a clientele you're comfortable working with, and your degree and certification will give you an advantage over high-school grads with a weekend cert.

Now, this may take a lot of work to even get off of the ground, and there will be plenty of meetings with members in the program department. This is because the organization won't be acting as a referral group, but instead will be taking you on as part of a fitness program being offered to its members on a group or individual basis. There will be plenty of contracts involved since you aren't being employed directly. But through all of these meetings you'll be building a relationship. Also, you'll be the go-to guy if the foundation has a running or biking event - once you sell yourself to the foundation they'll sell you.

What this arrangement does is allow the organization to reach people in a way that may have been previously restricted by their grants. You can offer a small reduction in your regular fees, but the good thing is you will be paid through the foundation, not the client. The hitch is you'll likely get paid at the end of the personal training program, but you can probably work out a partial payment midway in negotiations. Taking on two to four people a year like this isn't a bad way to add to your client base, and you can use this association in marketing towards other clients and companies. A breast cancer survivor organization in my area has a trainer who started off this way, and she trains members who otherwise would not have been able to afford her services. As far as the clients are concerned the trainer is a gift from the foundation and they work very hard. (There may be a grant report or two you'll be expected to contribute towards, but grant writers are generally nice people and will hold your hand through the process. You might even get a cookie.)

Overall, I think the above advice on personal training marketing is great and you should look into that. If you cannot shell out any money the bulk of you research should be in that area. You can be the best PT in your region, but if you are winging it no one is going to hire you.

Other ways you can get your name out is writing a short monthly fitness article for a local paper. City-wide papers will already have writers so target neighborhood rags. A block at the end of each article will state you are a PT and how to reach you. If you don't have a website, you can start writing a blog as a way to develop your voice, content (written/video), and a brand. Along with original entries you can echo printed articles and have notices of group classes you are teaching, just remember to remain professional and have a stock of articles on hand so you can update regularly.

Very good post. Thanks.

[FitWebDesign]

James, looks like you're short on cash so I'll give you a couple marketing methods which cost nothing. My specialty is online marketing so all these methods will utilize certain websites.

1.) Join a group at Meetup.com and go to meetups. You can learn more about what that site is about but basically it's a free site which allows members to join groups. These groups will schedule meetups once in a while to "meet up" somewhere in town and discuss interests. It's basically a good way to network. You join a few groups of people interested in losing weight and network to find clients.

2.) Record a video infomercial of yourself and upload to Youtube. A lot of times Youtube videos will show up high on search results but you have to learn how to properly optimize your videos. When you upload a video, there is a field for you to include "tags". These tags are keywords which relate to your video. If you choose the right tags, you will be able to rank high for those keywords.

Let's say that you're a personal trainer in Tucson Arizona. Here are some tags that you could use for example:

personal trainer tucson az
tucson az personal training
85701 personal trainer <--- zip code
fitness training in tucson

Then use a site such as Tubemogul.com to submit your videos to video sharing sites other than Youtube. The service is free.

==========================

Once you get a few clients, you'll have some results to help you market yourself further. Things will just snowball because people who get results will be asked by their friends what they did to look so good. Their answer will refer their friends to you.

When it comes to marketing your PT business, you'll get more results by thinking outside the box. Try to target different niches such as soon to be brides as mentioned in a previous post. You really have to know the market well and think of ways to find these people online and offline.

Best of luck,
Gary

p.s.


Get yourself a business card with your website url on it. You NEED a website. You should treat PT as your business and every business needs a storefront. Your website is your digital storefront.

If you don't have money to pay for the design and hosting then save up some money until you have it. In the meantime, at least have some type of web presence such as a blog at blogger.com or a simple one page site at weebly.com (both free)

[thehaas84]

All good advice so far. I myself have started uploading videos to youtube to show people my new method. I'm just getting into the business but it seems like this is a good step to show people what I'm really about.

[jamesbondc]

Very good posts they are helpful. Thanks for sharing some ideas.