Entering the health and fitness industry can be daunting, but ultimately inspiring. The industry does however bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “a competitive market place”. Starting your business in this environment can be tough, it will take some balls and it will take time to establish yourself. However, don’t let that dampen your entrepreneurial spirit. Follow our tips below and you could find yourself running a successful, profitable business.

User experience

Having an online presence will have, possibly, the greatest impact on your business. Customers will use the internet to find you, compare you to the competition, contact you, make a purchase and generally find out more about you. You will have to think about optimising your online presence with the above in mind.

Make sure your social media talks about you and your product. Work to get reviews and testimonials. Make sure your website is clean, efficient and working. You don’t have to spend a fortune putting it all together, but some investment will go a long way.

User experience is crucial. If you don’t know how to put it all together, hire someone to help you out. Put your online presence and an optimised user experience at the heart of your business and other things will fall into place.

Marketing ideas to power your PT Business

Follow the right people

The internet and social media is full of “experts”, there is a myriad of information out there, most of it unfounded, made up and utter rubbish. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good resource for you.

There are a host of real experts out there who use social media to talk about the latest developments in health and fitness. While some posts might be more motivational than informative, dig around and you will find some really interesting, scientific and proven trends, information and studies. Follow those guys and you have accessed a free resource that can help you inform your business.

Not only are you getting free information, you are also getting a free template to help shape your own social presence. Use the good accounts as a model. Use them to learn how to engage followers and spread information that is useful and actionable.

Once you’ve mastered that you can leverage it to subtly inform your followers about your product and what you can offer them, all from a position of knowledge and authority. No talk of “slimming” or “detox” teas please!

Network and connect

The fitness industry is the same as any other. Being well connected and having a wide network is crucial. Any business person will tell you that having good community links and good rapport with others in the industry will give you an edge over the competition.

Get out there and talk to as many freelancers, self employed PTs and business owners in the industry as possible. Try to gather as much information as you can from the people who are already established in the industry. Find out what worked for them, what troubles they encountered and what their tips for success are. Use that information and employ it in your own business. You will find that people are most often quite happy to give you tips to help you out.

Consider networking events as well. These can be large scale fitness events or smaller panels and talks. Any information you can gather, and use is going to go a long way to helping you create a successful business.

Know your Industry and Continue Learning

Understanding your potential customers in your industry is crucial to your success. How they behave, what makes them tick, what trends they like and how they are most likely to spend their money. Understand your customer and you can build an offering that they want.

Industry trends and statistics are helpful too. How many gym members are there, what’s the size of the industry, what class is the most popular, what do these stats mean to your business. Utilise data to help you shape your offering.

You can further use this information to guide you to CPD courses. Olympic lifting is increasing in popularity thanks to Crossfit, perhaps you should take the Olympic Lifting CPD course so that you can offer that training to clients. Are customers becoming more interested in sport specific training, perhaps a CPD in Sports Conditioning would be useful.

Understand the industry, understand consumers and their habits and let the knowledge guide you and your business planning.

Have a Unique Selling Point

It’s a competitive marketplace, what are you offering that’s different? Are there gaps in the market that you have identified and can fill? What will make you the preferred choice over the competition?

Identify the competition, look at what they are offering and find out a method of offering more without compromising your own financial position. Look at where you might be able to offer something truly unique to consumers, something they need, something they can’t get anywhere else.

Add additional value, learn how to identify gaps in the market and start positioning yourself within that gap!

People care more about their health and fitness now than ever before. We are becoming more conscience of what it means to be fit and healthy. The time has never been better to enter the world of health and fitness. Be brave, bold, tenacious, disciplined and hard working and the rewards can be yours.

Further Reading

Personal Training, the Perfect Side Hustle

Career Change, a Guide

How to – Study From Home

The post Tips for Starting your Health and Fitness Business appeared first on TRAINFITNESS.