When it comes to personal training marketing, most personal trainers these days only focus on online marketing strategies while ignoring offline methods. But, to market your personal training business effectively, it’s advisable to combine both online and offline marketing strategies.
Combining both online and offline personal training marketing strategies will help you to reach a wider audience. And this translates to more leads for your fitness business. So, if you have been ignoring offline marketing strategies, you may have been missing out on hundreds of potential clients.
In this article, we will walk you through 9 innovative and effective offline marketing strategies, which can help you to reach a wider audience, connect with more prospects and acquire more personal training clients.
1. Distribute Business Cards
Distributing business cards is one of the most cost-effective ways of getting your name out there. They allow you to efficiently and quickly provide a potential client with a compact means of getting in touch with you.
You should remember that a business card is more of an extension of your brand. So, when choosing the design, make sure it aligns or is consistent with the rest of your brand. Avoid using a different color scheme, logo, style or font than the ones on your website or social media pages.
Once you printed enough business cards, you then distribute them in various places like malls and food courts, public bulletin boards, waiting rooms, ATMs and banks, yoga studios, municipal buildings, and community centers, among others. If you also happen to meet an old college friend, don’t forget to leave them with your card.
Also, make sure you distribute them to your friends, family, or other close associates. An opportunity may arise when they may need to share your business details with a potential client.
2. Distribute Flyers and Pamphlets
Another offline method that you can use to increase exposure for your personal training business is by giving out printed marketing material such as flyers and pamphlets. While this method may appear like a traditional one or outdated, it still gets the job done. Also, it has a high return on investment.
However, it’s worth mentioning that the presentation of your flyers has a considerable impact on their effectiveness. So, if your flyers are poorly done or unattractive, it’s highly likely no one will bother reading them. On the other hand, if they are visually appealing, they may entice someone to read and keep them.
Therefore, it will be highly advisable to go the extra mile and ensure your flyers and pamphlets look great. Also, make sure they also align with other brand elements. They should also key details about your business, including the services you offer, your location and your contact information.
After you’ve printed a good set of flyers and pamphlets, you should then leave them in places where your target client is likely to see them.
Some of the places you can distribute your flyers include public parks, coffee shops, laundromats, municipal buildings, seniors centers, beauty parlors, supermarkets, non-competing fitness centers, libraries, and bus stops, among others.
3. Participate in Industry Events
Participating in industry events is yet another means of getting more exposure for your personal training business. During such events, you will have an opportunity to network with other personal trainers.
You may also manage to generate a couple of high-quality leads, within a few days. And for every lead that you collect, make sure you offer them a discount or even a free personal training trial session.
Once the event is over, ensure you follow up with all the leads that gave you their contact information.
4. Offer Expert Advice
As a fitness expert, there are plenty of opportunities where you can offer expert advice and help people while increasing visibility for your brand. For example, you can approach a local radio station, and ask whether you can become a guest for a morning or evening show.
Also, you can check with a local newspaper whether you can get a regular column, where you can be sharing health, nutrition, wellness and fitness tips or other relevant information.
You can also host a free educational workshop, where you can take your audience through a particular fitness-related or health-related topic. Regardless of the approach you use, ensure you always provide your audience with your contact details so that anyone interested in your services can get in touch with you afterward.
5. Rent a Billboard
While a billboard may appear like a huge expense, the exposure your personal training business will get will be worth it – especially if it’s located in a high-traffic area. But, don’t go for an ordinary billboard.
Make sure you work with the billboard rental company to come up with a unique and innovative design, which will help you to stand out. If your billboard is one of its kind, some people who come across it may even share it online, which translates to greater reach.
You should also remember to include your call to action and contact details on the billboard. This information should be clearly displayed, to ensure you get maximum returns on your investment.
In case you can’t afford a conventional billboard, you can also explore other alternatives like wrapping your vehicle in your branding and turning it into a mobile billboard. You can also approach buses or other public transit vehicles and enquire about placing your banners there.
6. Be Active In Your Community
Getting involved in your community is yet another effective way of getting more people to know about your fitness business. And, there are various ways that you can become involved in your community.
For instance, you can sponsor a non-profit organization in your area. Most sponsorship opportunities usually come with some form of promotion or brand awareness opportunities.
And, in case your budget can’t allow it, you can volunteer whenever such a non-profit is holding community events. For example, if there’s a soup kitchen in your community, you can be spending some of your free time there volunteering and helping the staff.
If you can be an active member of your community and genuinely support local non-profits, your name will spread around. And, whenever a member of your community is looking for a personal trainer, your name will be among the first that come to mind. So, ensure you find ways of engaging, helping and supporting your local community.
7. Leverage Branded Promotional Items
The chances are, you’ve probably come across a business name printed on a calendar, side of a pen. It’s one of the oldest methods of promoting and marketing a business. And, it has always been effective.
When done right, this offline personal training marketing method can be a great advertisement for your business. Besides a pen, you can also emblazon your business on water bottles, coffee mugs, reusable shopping bags, calendars, and food containers.
Also, remember to include a means for potential clients to reach you such as your phone number, email address or social media handles. You can also include a link to your website. Furthermore, you should include a short description of the services you offer.
As for where to place them, it will depend on the promotional item that you settle for. For instance, if you decide to settle for pens and notebooks, you can distribute them in local educational institutions.
8. Place Newspaper and Magazine Ads
As much as most ads these days revolve around digital ads, newspaper ads remain relevant and effective. According to print marketing statistics, 85% of consumers trust print advertisements. Also, the same statistics show that print readers spend approximately 20 minutes with the publication. On the other hand, a visitor to a digital news website will only spend around five minutes or even less.
Going by these statistics, it’s safe to conclude that print ads are still effective. Hence, you should be using them to promote your personal training business.
So, reach out to local newspapers and run an ad. Also, you should reach out to local health, fitness and wellness magazines and place an ad.
9. Launch TV Ads
Most people shy from TV ads, based on the assumption that they are extremely expensive. However, they are not as costly as you may think. For a local TV station, you can expect to pay around $5 for a 30-second commercial per 1,000 viewers. And with the right placement on local TV stations, TV ads can also help to generate more leads for your business. So, if you can afford one, then you should go for it.
The trick is to ensure that your TV commercial is as captivating as possible. So, don’t rush over it. Instead, take your time to come up with a clever, funny, or unique idea of selling your fitness business to TV audiences.
10. Wrapping It Up
While online channels may be your preferred method of promoting, marketing and advertising your business, you shouldn’t neglect offline methods. By incorporating offline marketing methods into your overall marketing strategy, you will reach a wider target audience, set yourself apart and stand out in an industry that has massively migrated to the online world.