Marketing your fitness business is key to getting more clients and increasing your revenue. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Over the years, marketing has changed quite drastically, partially due to the change in marketing channels and the changes in consumer behavior. Previously, services were first introduced, and customers would bend to them. But these days, clients are much more aware and want transparent campaigns that highlight the services.
As a result, fitness trainers are now required to think outside the box and determine what their customers would like before offering their services. We’ve listed some expert-approved marketing tactics to help you grow your business.
If you’re interested in learning more about fitness marketing and management, check out the fitness management course offered by W.I.T.S Education, designed to equip you with key skills that’ll help boost your business.
What is Fitness Marketing?
Fitness marketing is the process of marketing your fitness services to prospective clients through various marketing channels. The marketing channels you use will depend on various factors such as the demographic of clients, your mode of service, and your budget. No matter which channel you pick, they all have three elements: the value for services, the target audience, and the right message.
Another main element of fitness marketing is being creative. You’ll be competing against several other trainers to capture clients in a niche, so you need to utilize techniques that’ll get your client’s attention. Here are a few marketing techniques to boost your fitness business.
What Marketing Techniques You Can Use?
Social Media Marketing
Undoubtedly, social media is the most significant driving force for consumer behavior and business exposure. It takes a single moment to go viral on the internet and become an overnight sensation. However, you don’t need to aim for that for your fitness business. You have to get your message across to enough clients to boost your business.
You also need to keep in mind to pick the right social media platform for your campaigns. Most marketing campaigns can be run on all social media platforms, but one platform might be more valuable than the others for targeted campaigns. For example, if you’re marketing to the youth and young adults, it’s better to use Instagram as your main platform because that’s where all the youngsters are.
On the other hand, if you’re marketing to adults and senior citizens, Facebook is your best option. That’s because Facebook is popular among the older population compared to the youngsters.
Content Marketing
Fitness has a lot of layers and requires consideration of different factors to help your clients reach their desired results. That’s why it’ll be quite helpful if you could give your clients a breakdown of your different training services. That way, your services will be more transparent, and your clients will get a chance to understand what they’re signing up for.
Content marketing is a great way to do that. If you’re a good writer, you can draft your content yourself. If not, you can hire a content marketing agency that’ll help you create captivating content marketing pieces that are informative and get your clients to signup for your services.
Event Marketing
Besides the common digital marketing tactics, you can also use some old-school methods. The best among them is event marketing. You have to arrange a special fitness event like a Bootcamp or a gym training session and get people to sign up for your services.
This, however, needs some motivation. So you can also throw in a discounted price in the package to get people to sign up. But keep in mind that these events cost more than digital marketing techniques.
Special Discounts
Introductory offers and discounts are tried and tested methods to get more clients interested in your services. There are several ways to offer discounts. You can offer a 10% discount on your first session or first 5 sessions, or even the entire training. Moreover, you can also offer combo deals by partnering with other fitness businesses.
For example, you can partner with an athleisure brand that offers your clients a specific discount if they sign up for your services. Similarly, you can partner with a nutritional brand or any other brand affiliated with the fitness industry. Other than that, you can even offer referral discounts to your clients if they get more people to sign up for your services.
Free Training Sessions
Free training sessions are hard to do because they require a lot of effort, and you don’t get paid for it. However, these sessions are probably one of the most effective marketing methods, especially fitness training. Prospective clients learn how you work, what training method you use, and whether you’re a good fit for them.
Besides, clients also get to see your dedication to your business. As a result, you’re more likely to get clients to sign up for your training sessions. You can even combine these free sessions with discounts. For example, whoever signs up for your services after the free session would get a certain discount percentage. It may seem like a waste, but it’ll boost your sales in the long run.
Targeted Ads
Targeted ads work in two ways; one is online, and the other is offline. Online ads are typically run through digital channels, and social media platforms are the most popular. That’s because platforms like Instagram and Facebook use algorithms to predict user engagement and then use these predictions to show them specific ads. That way, you’re more likely to get your message across effectively.
Moreover, you can even run ads within a specific domain. For example, among the people interested in exercise and fitness, you can show ads to only those who belong to a certain age demographic such as youth or working moms. These algorithms and patterns allow you to streamline your marketing process.
For offline marketing, you’ll have to rely on traditional methods of posting flyers, using billboards, and relying on word-of-mouth marketing. Still, unlike online marketing, you can’t track user engagement with offline marketing.
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are everywhere on social media selling all kinds of things. You, too, can take advantage of the influencer craze and hire them to get your word across. Generally, the more popular an influencer is, the more chance they get clients for you. But things aren’t that straightforward anymore.
These days, people are more skeptical of the influencers, and influencer marketing only works if the influencer is genuinely invested in the product or service instead of just promoting them once. As a result, it’s better to hire a fitness influencer with a genuine following and one that doesn’t put an extremely manufactured lifestyle.
This means you need to look for a human factor that people could relate to. For example, an influencer highlighting their weight loss journey is more likely to bring you clients than one with a generic social media page.
Video marketing
In simple terms, video marketing means creating short videos that highlight how a product works to build up interest from customers. In the case of fitness, you can’t show a product, but you can create a short and easy workout video to grab the attention of prospective clients.
These videos can be a compilation of beginner workouts. Once the clients go through these videos, they’ll be compelled to take it up a notch and sign up for your premium services.
What Is A Fitness Niche?
A fitness niche, in simple terms, is a specialized area of fitness that utilizes a special kind of training for the clients. The training can be unique in terms of its techniques or the people involved. Fitness niches generally start as an additional part of a particular training method, but they transform into a specialization of their own over time.
Moreover, most fitness niches are variations of general exercises tailored to fit a specific demographic. However, personal trainers can also develop new ways to train their clients. One example of this would be interval training. Fitness niches help clients find fitness trainers that would help them train their bodies in a specific way instead of using the commonly used exercise methods.
Which Fitness Niches Are Popular Right Now?
Here’s a list of the most popular fitness niches in the market right now.
Senior Fitness
Many communities run senior fitness programs to keep the aging population happy, healthy, and less reliant on secondary care. However, these days, these programs have turned into lifestyles where senior citizens participate in regular exercise and other fitness training to keep their minds and body healthy and functional.
The main problem with senior fitness is that it requires more research and care. Because the bodies of the elderly aren’t as strong or energized anymore, they can’t do most conventional exercises. The trainers need to design lightweight versions of commonly recommended exercises or come up with new ones that don’t harm the frail bones of these people.
That’s why many personal trainers get certification in senior fitness to better train the elderly population.
Group Fitness
Group fitness training is when several people interested in the same workout routines and have similar fitness goals train together. Group fitness training is an interesting niche for trainers because it allows them to train several people at once, which reduces their training time while increasing their income.
Another great thing about group fitness is that the niche is quite versatile, meaning you can offer group classes for different forms of fitness training. For example, you can conduct group fitness classes for senior citizens, yoga, aerobics, and many different forms of exercise. This means that you don’t need any special certifications to start group training.
Online Fitness
Online fitness has been around since the 90s, but the covid lockdowns helped it become a mainstream niche. Just like group training, online training is versatile as well. Trainers can choose from several different training methods, granted that they can be translated into online training.
This again saves time and allows trainers to teach multiple clients simultaneously. Online fitness training has two types; live and recorded training. Most trainers prefer to record the sessions, edit them, and then upload them for their clients to use. However, it’s found that live sessions are more effective in getting clients and helping them achieve their fitness goals faster.
Non-Traditional Fitness Training
Instead of sticking to common fitness training methods, some trainers gain clients by thinking out of the box and offering non-traditional training methods. For example, some trainers use cycling, running, and sports as a form of HIIT training that allows clients to get faster results without working out in a gym.
The problem with these non-traditional workouts is that they don’t follow a specific exercise structure, and that’s why the trainers need to develop plans to ensure that their client’s body isn’t strained because that can lead to muscle fatigue or injuries. Moreover, the workouts need to be chosen to complement each other and effectively achieve the client’s fitness goals.
Athletic Training
Athletic training is becoming popular among the young generation and is a lucrative fitness niche for trainers. The training involves picking workout routines and methods used by professional athletes and gymnasts to maintain their physique.
However, the biggest downside of this is that the trainers need to properly evaluate the physical abilities of their clients before making the training plan because the workouts are quite demanding and require high endurance. Athletes develop this endurance after years of training, so it’s quite difficult for regular people to achieve.
That’s why trainers usually mix the athletic training exercises with standard workouts to create a balance. On the other hand, the upside of athletic training is that it allows trainers to charge a premium rate for their services.
Are you interested in learning new skills to advance your fitness career? Take a look at the fitness training courses offered by W.I.T.S. Education. W.I.T.S. is a training institute that offers a personal fitness trainer course, medical fitness trainer course, and group exercise instructor course.
In addition to that, the institute is accredited by the American Council on Education and N.C.C.A. and allows college students to claim course credits upon completion. The institute uses a hybrid teaching model with online classes and practical labs.
These labs are located all over North America and allow students to learn practical skills instead of just being book smart. So hurry up, visit the website and enroll today!