5 Tips on How to Grow a Personal Training Business

When considering how to grow a personal training business one of the most important things is finding ways to stand out from the competition. Which is easier said than done. Networking, using social media, sharing success stories, creating online projects, and offering deals are five ways you can beat your competitors and build a larger client base.

To help you learn how to grow your personal training business and find innovative ways to capture your audience’s attention we put together an actionable list of 5 tips below:

Network to Grow Your Fitness Business

You’re probably well aware that you have to get out there and start meeting people. You have your business cards ready, your qualifications up to date, and a calendar that you need to fill. Of course you can become a trainer at a gym and gain clients that way, but why follow the crowd?

Join networking events around your local area, especially ones that fit with your niche. Websites like Eventbrite always have great events going on. Sign up for their alerts, you can even separate them by area of interest.

Partner with local experts in the field

Take the time to find out who is already doing what you want to do in your area. You can do this through social media, a Google search or simply just asking those closest to you (who are in the same field). If they have events coming up or are involved in organisations, see if you can get involved.

Use Meetup

This is a great way to reach out to your local community. Meetup allows you to create your own group or organisation in your area to connect with like minded people or even people who are in need of expert advice.

Or, if you want to see what’s already out there, have a search what groups are going on in your area. The categories range from entrepreneurship, to nutrition, to creative thinking.

Utilise Social Media to Reach Your Audience

Social media has become the perfect place to show your audience that you’re the go-to person for your niche. Don’t use your social channels to sell your services directly, that will come later once people can see that you’re an expert and you know what you’re talking about. How can you do this?

  • Provide daily tips and information that will help educate your followers. Learn how to adapt the information to your chosen target audience by using relevant hashtags and keywords.
  • Follow social media trends, like hashtags (e.g. #MondayMotivation, #TransformationTuesday, etc.) or national social holidays (e.g. national desert day, world smile day, clean your refrigerator day, etc.), and tailor them to your niche. This works especially well for Twitter and Instagram. Here’s a website that can show you all the bizarre national holidays throughout 2016: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/
  • Join conversations that are already happening. There’s a social media saying: “fish where the fish are”. It means to contribute your knowledge where there’s already a buzz around the topic your an expert on. Twitter chats, Linkedin Groups and Facebook groups are a great place to start.
  • Keep an eye on Twitter hashtag trends:
    Twitter Trends

Tip: Don’t feel like you need to use every single social platform out there. It can get overwhelming trying to figure out how best to utilise all of them!

Share Your Success to Motivate New Clients

You had to work hard to achieve your physique and fitness knowledge, so become an inspiration and show your audience how you got where you are today. It’s important to create a personal connection with them. Anyone can get fit, but not everyone has the motivation to stick it out or achieve the results you have.

Create a blog

If you have a website share your journey by telling your story, and mix in some tips and advice in how your audience can follow a similar successful fitness journey.

Share relevant information not your life story

Just to clear things up, yes you may have an amazing success story that you want to share, so stick to that. To be blunt, no one really cares about your day-to-day life, they care about information that will add value to their lives.

If your audience wants to tone up or lose weight, then show this type of information through your digital space. Tying in a story about a past client or even yourself is a great way to show how successful it was and personalises the advice, but don’t deviate from your point.

Create Engaging Online Fitness Projects

People want to see quick results there and then. You and I both know that this is fantasy, but your potential clients don’t. Of course 1-1 training is better, however people are so tight on time these days, that they turn to the internet to combat their weight issues.

Be the voice of reason. Provide them with bespoke workout projects that allows them to track their own progress. Give them your tips and tricks along the way to help motivate and keep them on track!

A great way to monitor their progress is through My PT Hub. Our platform allows you to create bespoke training and nutrition plans, that your clients can log on the go through our iOS and Android apps. An additional bonus to My PT Hub is our in-app messaging system, this creates an immediate and clear line of communication between you and your client. Learn more about our client management features here. 

Offer Amazing Deals to Grow Your Personal Training Business

Everyone likes a good deal! But before you go ahead and give away your services for free. Take into account your skill level, your certifications and achievements. Don’t sell yourself short.

The next step is to look at what your competition offers. Do your research and discover the various ways they attract and retain clients. It will be importat to create deals that can compete with their offers.

typing on the computer

After you complete evaluating your own skills and doing competitor research it is time to put together your deals. Here are some different types of deals you can offer:

  • Offer package deals. If your client buys a block of classes, give them a discount on the overall price.
  • Keep up with the holidays and seasons and offer deals to optimise sales.
  • Create incentives for your clients to stay on with you.

By doing these five things you are sure to grow your personal training business. But these tips are not the only ways you can grow. What ideas do you have to expand your PT business? Tweet us your idea at @mypthub.