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Low Cost Marketing Strategies for Personal Trainers that Actually Work!

by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, CSPN

It seems that one of the biggest challenges personal trainers face is getting enough clients. In a recent survey, over 78% of the trainers said that generating leads was their biggest challenge.

The problem is most trainers know very little about marketing and the little they do know is the conventional/corporate type, which just doesn’t work.

Part of the problem also lies in the misconception that if you are a good trainer the clients will come... while occasionally this may happen, it certainly isn’t guaranteed and I sure wouldn’t sit around and wait for it to happen.

Professionalism is the big talk right now in the industry and while I agree it is important, you can’t let marketing take a back seat. You can be the most professional trainer in your area and it too, doesn’t matter to your potential client... all they truly care about is how can you help them solve their problem.

It’s funny, some trainers say “I’m a trainer... not a salesman.” Unfortunately they are dead wrong! You have two options... you can be a trainer who sells his service to clients or you can be a trainer who has few or no clients.

Many trainers will also say “I shouldn’t have to sell my service... they need me” and while this may be true, it just doesn’t work that way. Personal training is a service business just like carpet cleaning or landscaping... you are trading your time and knowledge for dollars and if you want clients you have to do some marketing.

The purpose of this article is to give you some powerful marketing strategies that cost little but can deliver big results.

While there are many low cost marketing strategies out there, the ones I chose to cover in this article tend to deliver more bang than others.

Low Cost Marketing Strategy #1 - Business cards

You think I’m joking right?

No... one of the most effective, low cost marketing strategies you can use is a business card. Not just any business card, but a lead generating card.

For example, most trainers have traditional cards that say who they’re certified by and maybe a picture of them posing. These types of general business cards are not only boring and tacky, but they mean nothing to your potential client.

If you want your business card to work for you, it needs to say what it is you do, how it can help them, and give them a reason to take action. You want people to keep your business and even better, take some sort of action like call you, visit your website, etc.

So be creative and make sure your card tells people how you can solve their problems. I like to offer a freebie like a free session or book to get them to contact you and so you can capture their contact info... this is critical. If they are interested but don’t sign up right away you need to be able to continue to market to them in the future... you never know when they might be ready.

Here’s an example of a lead generating business card so you can see what I’m talking about...

Here’s the front of the card:

Here’s what the back of the card looks like:

As you can see, this card stands out. Not only does it get your attention, it also gives an outrageous offer that anyone interested in personal training would have to be crazy to turn down... and if you think that offering a free session doesn’t work I challenge you to read my article “Should you really offer a FREE consultation?” here: http://www.profitmax-marketing.com/freeconsultations.htm

Low Cost Marketing Strategy #2 - Pay for Referrals

I bet you are wondering how that counts as low cost... well, it’s pretty much NO cost as you only pay out for referrals who sign up.

For example, you could offer to pay $25 or $50 for every referral who signs up for your large package of sessions. I do this currently and it works extremely well.

You can use a business card, post card, letter, fax, or a phone call to spread the word that you “pay for referrals”. You should contact massage therapists, chiropractors, dieticians, health food stores, fitness equipment retailers, etc and don’t give up after one try... if they don’t respond the first time to your letter, call them personally, and if that doesn’t work send them a postcard.

The point is these people can be great sources of referrals so the more relationships like this you can set up the better... you may find that just one will double or triple your business!

The key thing to remember is people look out for themselves so by offering a payment or reward, you make it worth their time and energy to recommend you.

Below is a sample business card using this technique.

Just like the other example, this card stands out. Who isn’t interested in earning money each month?

Again, a business card is just one way you can use this strategy and I highly recommend you use this strategy to help spread the word about your business.

Low Cost Marketing Strategy #3 - the Internet

Now before you say that the internet isn’t low cost or that you can’t afford a website, let me say that the internet is by far the most effective marketing tool there has ever been and will likely ever be... and it is dirt cheap!

You can have your own website built by a professional designer for under $500 and you can even use website templates which you can even get for FREE! What about web hosting, that’s expensive isn’t it? NO... you can host your website for $10 a month or less!

The point is, you can use the internet to generate leads and grow your business and it doesn’t matter how broke you are now you CAN afford to get started and take advantage of all it has to offer.

Here are just a few of the many ways you can use the internet to market and grow your personal training business:

You can use a website to generate leads, educate and pre-sell potential clients, sell fitness products, even have them pay for their training online. I personally recommend you do as much of this as you can and it’s ok to start out just having an information site... you don’t have to sell products on your site to generate leads! It’s actually the opposite... the more stuff you have on the site other than info about your programs the more easily they can be distracted.

How great would it be if you had someone send you leads every day and you look at them to see if you are interested or not, and only have to pay if you were? Well, guess what, there are several lead services out there that will deliver qualified leads to you for about a dollar! Would you pay $1 for a lead that signs up for $1000 worth of training?

There are several companies that offer this type of service, but the one that I am most impressed with and currently use is www.respond.com.

Email is great because it’s fast, can be personalized, can go anywhere in the world, and best of all it’s just about FREE! Your only real cost is your internet service... you can use email to market your business without even having a website (although it will be much more effective if you do).

You can send out an email newsletter that educates potential clients about fitness AND how you can help them reach their goals AND why you are the best choice. You can see an example of my newsletter here: http://www.achieve-fitness.com/fitness_success_news.htm

Low Cost Marketing Strategy #4 - FREE Samples

There’s always a big debate about whether or not it’s a good idea to offer free samples (workshops, consultations, books, videos, reports, etc).  Some so-called experts are saying that by giving away your time/service, or product, you decrease the perceived value.

Free Workshops have proven to be extremely effective for both myself and hundreds of other trainers.  The thing is, as with everything in life, there’s a right way and a wrong way. 

In order for this system to work for you there are a few things you must understand.  What we are really talking about here is people and how they think.  Let me give you a few examples…

There are many products and services that you sample before you buy, and your perception of the value doesn’t change.

For instance, we test drive cars before we buy and after a test drive you don’t feel like the car is worthless because they let you drive it for free.  Most people want to buy after they test drive a car, and it’s this way with just about anything in life!

Let me ask you this, would you send me a check today for $1,200 for personal training after finding my card on a bulletin board?  Probably not. However, if I offered you a free “trial” session at no charge and you were able to experience the service, would you feel more comfortable making the purchase?  Of course you would!

Your number one business goal should be to make your prospects feel as comfortable as possible with making a buying decision. So how do you do that?  By letting them experience your service, feel the benefits, see how knowledgeable you are, and showing them how bad they need you.  You can’t do that with a newspaper ad.

Granted, by offering free sessions and workshops, you are bound to get the occasional “freebie junkie” but so what – you’ll also be getting dozens of other people who may not have contacted you if you didn’t offer them some sort of sample.

Remember, people love to “try before they buy” so let them see how much you can help them and you’ll have more business than you can handle.

Conclusion

If you find that you don’t fully understand these strategies or want a better understanding of marketing, I recommend you learn as much as you can from people who are actually out there doing it.

These strategies and systems are covered in great detail in my manuals, and I even give you ready-to-use marketing pieces on CD when you become a member... so get started now.

I wish you the best,

Jesse Cannone

P.S. Be sure to also sign up for my free email course, "Personal Trainer Business Success Secrets". I'll even give you a copy of an audio interview Ryan Lee and I did a while back about how to use the internet to generate leads and sign up clients. Complete the form below to grab your free copy: