Personal Trainer Marketing: Where to Start & How to Grow

✍️ Author: Sinead O'Connor

Table of Contents:

• What’s Unique About Personal Trainer Marketing?
• How to Get Started with Marketing
• Digital Marketing Strategies for Fitness Professionals
• Offline Marketing Strategies for Personal Trainers
• Leveraging Tech to Grow Your Personal Training Business
• Client Retention Tactics for Personal Trainers
• Measure the Efficacy of Your Marketing Efforts

What’s Unique About Personal Trainer Marketing?

While marketing is important for any business, it’s even more critical for a personal trainer since you’re offering a personalized, intimate service. Your potential clients will likely be more selective when searching for a personal trainer. Understanding the following differences will be crucial before building your marketing strategy:

• It’s Personal: You’re marketing yourself and personalized training programs, which can be even more intimate than other wellness businesses. Take extra care to provide customized messaging for different target audiences.
• It’s Visual: While not necessarily a tangible product, you offer tangible benefits, and you can showcase your offerings and their results by sharing video demonstrations, testimonials, Q&A sessions, and more.
• It’s Local: While you can offer training online and on-demand content options, your services are often best in person, so local marketing is essential.

How to Get Started with Marketing

If you’re overwhelmed by the prospect of building your personal trainer marketing strategy, you’re not alone. The point of this guide is to help you understand the steps ahead and break them down into bite-sized pieces. Let’s start at the beginning.

Understand Your Audience

To build an effective marketing strategy, start by understanding your target audience through thorough research and engagement. Identify your potential clients’ demographics, preferences, goals, and pain points.

Conduct surveys, engage in social media interactions, and analyze feedback from existing clients to gather insights. Understanding their fitness levels, lifestyle habits, and motivations helps tailor marketing messages that resonate.

Additionally, trainers should pay attention to where their audience spends time online and offline, ensuring they choose the right platforms and methods to reach them.

By comprehensively understanding their audience, personal trainers can create personalized, compelling marketing campaigns that effectively attract and retain clients. To recap, consider the following as you research your audience:

• Identify Demographics and Preferences: Research and engage with your audience to understand their demographics, fitness goals, and pain points.
• Analyze Feedback and Interactions: Use surveys, social media interactions, and client feedback to gather insights and tailor your marketing messages.
• Choose the Right Platforms: Determine where your audience spends time online and offline to effectively reach them with personalized marketing campaigns.

Develop Your Personal Training Brand

Developing your personal training brand is a strategic way to position yourself as a positive presence in your community, which will help you gain and retain personal training clients. Simply put, your brand is your reputation – follow these steps to strengthen yours:

• Define Your Brand Position & Voice: Once you’ve determined your focus or niche, decide on the tone you want to share. Is your personal training business playful or more serious? While infusing humor into content works for others, it may not work for you.
• Create Marketing Collateral: Use our recommended free tools to create a logo and business cards for your digital and offline promotions.
• Create Consistent Content: Whether posting videos on social media or writing blog posts, use a consistent style and language that matches your brand position.
• Build & Maintain Digital Presence: Your brand will naturally develop over time as you post on social media and update your website regularly. Always snap photos and build content for later use.
• Engage Your Community: This includes responding to social media comments, getting out in your community, and participating in local events. All of this will give you credibility and trust.
• Collaborate: Work with like brands to expand your brand – offer a combined package with a local massage therapist or teach a workshop with a healthy eating coach.
• Highlight Client Success Stories: After you’ve gained new clients, ask them to share testimonials and promote user-generated content. Create a hashtag and encourage your clients to use it in their own social media posts.

Digital Marketing Strategies for Fitness Professionals

Let’s explore digital marketing strategies that will provide various methods to get more clients for your personal training business.

Critical Content Marketing Considerations 

Content marketing must be a key strategy in your efforts if you’re looking to attract and retain new clients. It will help you build credibility while highlighting your experience in the fitness industry. 

Content marketing includes video, audio, written, and image-based information that’s informational, educational, or inspiring to your target audience. You can share these across many platforms, including social media, websites, and paid ads. Below are some commonly used tactics to try:

• Social Media Content: Commit to regular posts across the platforms most relevant to your business and encourage engagement by offering polls, quizzes, and fitness tips.
• Email Content: In addition to sharing critical updates with your community, have you considered a monthly newsletter? How about a nurture email sequence?
• Website Content: Try starting a weekly blog to keep people returning to your site. Include a form to sign up for your email list and personal training offerings to increase your chances of conversion.

Master Social Media

It’s no secret that most brands use social media as a central strategy for their marketing efforts. Still, it’s even more important for personal trainers since you’re offering such a personalized service. 

And don’t worry—you don’t need to be an expert on all of them, but you’ll want to understand which platform your potential and current clients are most active on so your efforts have the most reach possible. 

Many personal trainers prefer Instagram as their top platform for sharing visual content, which can be used for engagement and community building. YouTube is a great place to share long-form content. 

But, depending on your target audience, Facebook and TikTok can also provide consistent value. Facebook is more popular with older adults, while TikTok attracts a younger demographic. In addition to sharing your personal training offerings, here are some other creative social media content ideas for you to try:

• Workout & Exercise Tips: Have you noticed that new clients sometimes lack the best form? Share a quick video to help people learn and improve.
• Educational Content: There are countless ways to share your knowledge. Start with what you’re most passionate about, including your niche.
• Client Success Stories: If you have a current group of clients who’ve experienced success over time, ask them if they’d be willing to share via video or perhaps an interview on your blog.

Email Marketing Tactics for Growth

Email remains an effective way to connect with potential and current clients, and by growing your email list, you can get more clients as a personal trainer. In addition to sending session registration and other logistical messages, try incorporating these tactics and watch your email list grow:

• Newsletters: Sending a monthly or quarterly newsletter can help you share workout tips, recipes, and other valuable content to keep your subscribers engaged. 

• Promote New Offerings & Events: Email is a great way to keep your personal training offerings top of mind and build hype for upcoming events.

• List Segmentation: By creating different groups, you can send a series of messages over time. Try sending a series of messages to new clients, starting with a welcome when they sign up and then a ‘thank you’ after they complete their first session. 

Website Optimization and SEO Strategies

Using website optimization and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies and tools is another way to grow your personal training business while setting yourself apart. Website optimization is about how your website performs, including the user experience.

SEO is all about visibility when your target audience searches for services and topics related to your expertise on search engines, with Google being the most popular. In addition to creating a website, these strategies will help you increase your visibility and traffic:

• Keyword Research: Spend time learning what keywords are most relevant to your personal training business and include relevant keywords in relevant content across your website.
• Google Business Account: Create a profile for your business using local keywords to increase your visibility and encourage your clients to write reviews. Include your contact details so potential clients can easily reach you.
• Quality Content: Consistently share blog posts, success stories, and workout tips to increase visibility and engagement.

Offline Marketing Strategies for Personal Trainers

By combining your digital marketing efforts with offline marketing strategies, you’ll be able to grow your overall brand and business by building visibility. And, going offline is a more personalized way to share your offerings while building your credibility with a more local audience. There are almost countless ways to do this, keep reading to learn about some of our favorites.

Participate in Local Events 

Being out and about in your local community is another way to grow your personal training business, and you can have a lot of fun with this, too.

Try participating in one of the following, and later, you can enjoy the results of your efforts when new clients sign up for personal training sessions:

• Charity Runs and Walks: Try volunteering or participating in a 5k. You could invite current clients to join you – what a great way to nurture those relationships!
• Community Classes: Offering a free or donation-based class at a local park is a great way to gain new clients – just be sure to get permission and understand any ordinances you’ll need to follow.
• Seasonal Events: Is there a Farmer’s Market in your area? Partner up by sharing a post-workout recovery drink or smoothie made with ingredients from the market.

Strategic Partnerships 

Strategic partnerships can help you gain clients as a personal trainer and bring continued value to your current clients by keeping things fresh. You can also form great relationships with your partners over time. These examples will help you figure out what’s possible for your business:

• Health & Wellness Professionals: Partner with a local wellness influencer or peer on blog posts, workout classes, and workshops. For example – how about a restorative yoga class after a challenging workout?
• Corporate Wellness: Corporations are always looking for team-building ideas. Gain new clients by teaching a short desk workout or how to make a healthy smoothie. Be sure they know how to reach you afterward.
• Adjacent Businesses: Reach out to businesses with a similar target audience, like massage therapy or acupuncture. You could collaborate on workshops or offer discounts to shared clients.

Leveraging Tech to Grow Your Personal Training Business

If these tactics seem like a lot of work, you’re right! Give yourself the gift of time by using business management software so you can focus more time with your clients.

At Offering Tree, we can help your business run more efficiently with key marketing tools. Reduce your stress by using these tools that are already built-in:

• Email Marketing and Automated Sequences: Use this tool to engage and share information with your target audience easily. You can automate these processes so you can focus on your personal training efforts.
• Built-In SEO Tools: These allow you to effortlessly create search-engine-friendly page titles and descriptions, as well as alternative text for images, so folks who use a screen reader can understand them, too.
• Blog: Share your expertise while providing valuable information to attract your target audience from organic search results.
• Website with Booking & Payment: As a personal trainer, having a website where clients can book services and pay in advance is absolutely critical.
• On-Demand Video Hosting: Some business software doesn’t include Zoom integration or on-demand video hosting. OfferingTree has it all!
• Client Management (CMS): Monitor and track your clients’ behavior. Create tags and custom fields to create audience segments that let you craft more targeted messaging.
• Memberships and Packages: Create unlimited memberships and packages to offer clients various levels of commitment.

Client Retention Tactics for Personal Trainers

Take care of your current clients, and they’ll take care of you. In addition to providing personalized personal training, be sure to include the following to retain your current clients and maximize your hard work:

• Show Your Appreciation: A thank you card or even sending a happy birthday text to your clients will go a long way – the little things make a difference.
• Ask for Feedback: If you’re already working with clients, ask for feedback or consider an anonymous survey. Feedback is a gift – it allows you to adapt your business to best serve your clients.
• Rewards or Incentives: Offer a free session for every ten sessions a client completes or offer discounts or perks for referrals.

Measure the Efficacy of Your Marketing Efforts

After you’ve created and implemented your overall personal training marketing strategy, you’ll want to measure your results so you can assess your success and adapt over time. This is another area that business management software can help with.

At Offering Tree, we have analytics built into our software and can provide reporting, performance monitoring, and optional integration with Google Analytics. Below are some of the benefits that measuring your results will provide:

• Leverage Data to Make Decisions: Perhaps you notice that organic Instagram posts outperform paid Facebook ads. This will let you know to increase your Instagram content while perhaps dialing back on Facebook.
• Gain a Better Understanding of your Target Audience: By analyzing your audience’s behavior, you’ll be able to create more personalized content and personal training offerings, which will lead to happy clients and overall retention
• Competitive Edge: By analyzing your efforts over time, you’ll be able to more easily identify market trends and your target audience, allowing you to evolve your business over time.

Grow Your Personal Training Business and Save Time + Money with OfferingTree 

Marketing your personal training business is a multifaceted endeavor that requires a blend of digital and offline strategies tailored to your unique services and target audience. 

By understanding the personal nature of your offerings, developing a strong brand, and leveraging both modern technology and community engagement, you can effectively attract and retain clients. Remember, consistency and personalization in your marketing efforts are key. With dedication and the right approach, you’ll see your personal training business thrive. 

Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge you need to grow your personal training business, watch a demo to see Offering Tree’s business management software in action. Or, dive right in by signing up for a free trial – no credit card required.