Internet Marketing for Trainers

ssdark1 · Aug 30, 2012

OK, so I thought I'd post up a little marketing advice specifically for personal trainers. I know for a lot of you, being able to get paid to train people is ideal to say the least.

The problem is, with the economy being the way it is, it just isn't as lucrative as it once was. Many times, it's almost a complete waste of effort unless you really build up to a certain level.

One thing that I think a lot of trainers misunderstand is this: It absolutely does not matter that you are the biggest, leanest mofo around... or that you know your shit far more than any other douche bag trainer in your town. It just doesn't matter in the slightest, unfortunately.

The only thing that matters is how capable you are at marketing yourself. With that said, I thought I'd share just one simple marketing tactic that helped me stand out from all of the other trainers in my moderate to small sized town.

No big secrets here, and some of you may already be doing similar things, but I thought it might be helpful to a few.

Step 1. Sign up for a Twitter account.

When filling out the name field, use the name of your training service if you have one.
In the description field, write about how your training services help other people. Do not write about yourself, nobody gives a shit about you. Example of a bad one: "I'm John Smith and I'm a personal trainer at Meat Headz Gym" Example of a good one: "Hey guys, I've been a Personal Trainer for 5 years and would love to help you meet your weight loss goals. So don't hesitate to hit me up at (email or phone number)"

Step 2 Generate a QR code

In case you are unaware, these are the little square bar codes that smart phones can scan
When generating your code, have it link to your newly created Twitter accout

Step 3 Use **broken link removed** to have a logo for your services designed for $5

Yes, $5 is cheap as hell and many times it will show. You may have to purchase 3-5 just to get one that doesn't suck.
Even the ones that suck are better than nothing
A good logo can be had for about $200 if you're serious

Step 4 Use **broken link removed** to get business cards on the cheap

Obviously, put your new logo on there
Put your new QR code linking to your Twitter account on there
You need to spell it out for people exactly what the hell to do with that QR code. Example: "Get training tips! Follow me on Twitter here: (just use your smart phones to scan). Have an arrow pointing to the QR code. This all might be difficult to fit on a card, but you get the idea. Get creative.

That's it. Just give these out to existing or potential clients. Don't underestimate the value of being able to stay in contact with clients. Here are just a few ways that you could use it, most of which I have done myself.

Use it as a selling point. People love that they can stay in touch with you and ask different questions about what they can and can't eat, random questions, and other related questions.
Get people to "retweet" you. If you have branded your profile correctly, your clients friends (who knows who they might be) will see that your're her/his trainer and you may just get a referral. All kinds of ways to get them to retweet you. Having solid input, being friendly, and simply asking for retweets are the basics, but you could offer pricing breaks for someone to retweet specific tweets (especially if their friends/followers seem like your perfect target market.
Suggest products for them by linking them to those products in Tweets. Have those links lead to your own site that lists all of the different products you recommend. Your site will link from said products to Amazon or where ever via your affiliate links (a link that you get a cut of the sale from, easy to sign up for Amazon affiliate program). This probably won't make you a ton of money, but hell, I needed all the help I could get.

Like I said, no super secret marketing tactics or anything like that, but it helped me out, and wasn't entirely obvious to me at first, so I can only assume there are others out there that could also benefit. Not mention, that all this would cost less than $50 and a few hours of your time. It's the very least amount of marketing you should do IMO.

I hope that's the case.

P.S. One final tip: Don't talk about yourself too much. Like I said above, nobody gives a shit about you, only what you can do for them. Now, if there will be times you need to show that you are qualified, and so be it. I'm just saying.. keep your bench press and daily scale numbers for the guys at the gym or the bros on PM.