How to Set up an Online Personal Training Business
Personal training has now stepped into the online space, encouraging more and more personal trainers to offer their services online. The following is an exhaustive guide for personal trainers who want to set up an online personal training business.
Online personal training is a lucrative niche, allowing online trainers to not only make money but also help people from different parts of the world. However, getting started is easier said than done as there is a lot to do and a long way to go.
Buyer Persona
Who will benefit the most from your services? A buyer persona represents your ideal client. Create a buyer persona so that you can understand your prospective clients and create packages and content tailored to the requirements of your buyer persona.
Creating a buyer persona is important because it is the first step to set up an online personal training business. Your buyer persona determines the name of your online business, and the name of your online casino determines your domain name. To publish a successful online personal training website, you must have a domain name.
Before setting up an online personal training business, you must understand that there is a difference between face-to-face clients and online clients. The needs of a face-to-face client are different from the needs of an online client. While face-to-face clients look for exercise instruction and accountability, online clients need to be self-motivated with prior experience with physical fitness so that they can effectively make use of your systems, knowledge, and expertise.
Avoid taking in all types of clients. Instead, set up a business that caters to one or two types of clients. Your business stands a better chance of becoming a success if you cater only to a few types of clients. For example, you may choose to target males in the age group of 21 – 35 who want to build muscle or women in the age group of 21 – 35 who want to lose weight.
Getting Started
Once you have created a buyer persona, you can easily set up an online training business. This involves the following steps:
- Purchase a domain name.
- Hire a professional to design a good website for your business.
- Register for the services of an email management system.
- Purchase online personal training software, preferably those that include free trials.
- Prepare your business documents.
- Create an account with payment providers like PayPal.
- Obtain your online personal training insurance.
That may seem like a lot to do, but it gets stressful if you think too much about it. Don’t waste too much time thinking about your domain name. Anything that matches your buyer persona will do.
As online selling is tougher than face-to-face selling, avoid DIY as much as you can. Invest some money in a professional who can create a good personal training website for your business. This is important as your website is the face of your online personal training business, and not you. Make sure that your website can capture prospective clients’ attention and retain it.
Marketing
Although the last step, it is the most important. As the owner of an online personal training business, content is your best friend. It helps you connect with prospective clients, give them valuable information free of cost, and turn them into your loyal customers. You can post your content on blogs and Facebook posts. If you have an excellent voice, you can create podcasts, and if you enjoy creating videos, you can post videos to promote your business.
Promoting the content you created, however, is more important than actually creating the content. You have to spend more than double the content creation time on content promotion. What’s more, you have to promote your content every single day.
There are several ways to promote your content, as follows—tweets on Twitter, posts on Facebook and Instagram, paid ad campaigns on Facebook, email marketing, SEO, and partnerships with other online training businesses.
Create Effective Online Personal Training Packages
Create online personal training packages that promise an outcome, leaving you and your client accountable for achieving that outcome. Clients are least likely to cancel training sessions with a definite outcome. Selling outcomes ensures guaranteed income, engaged clients, and better odds that clients will achieve their fitness goals.
So what exactly is an outcome? It is a fitness goal that you can achieve within a given period. As a personal trainer, you have to choose outcomes that match your niche.
When you create a personal online training package, you have to include all the features your client needs to achieve his/her fitness goal in the package. This rule applies even to the low-tier package.
Many online personal trainers exclude important services from the low-tier package. This creates frustration in the client and results in a cancelled session. An example of a bad low-tier package is one that excludes support or nutrition information. A client who has signed up for that package will be prompted to upgrade if he/she needs nutrition information. A good low-tier package includes everything that a client needs to succeed and achieve the outcome that the package promises.
If you fail to do the above, your client will simply cancel his/her session and spread the word that your services did not work for him/her. However, you reserve the right to change your packages, features, and pricing whenever you wish.
Remember to receive feedback from every client you interact with, irrespective of whether they sign up for your business or not. You can use this valuable information to tweak your packages, features, or pricing and create the online training package that clients are looking for. However, don’t expect this to happen overnight. You just have to give your business the time to grow and prosper.
Connect with Other Online Personal Trainers
Take the time to connect with personal trainers who have decided to launch an online personal training business. When you share stories, views, and experiences, you will learn and grow. When you reach out to others and offer them your help and support, you can expect the same from others when you need it the most.
If you don’t have the time to take on a new client, you can always refer to the other online personal trainers in your network. They will return the favour when you are short of clients and in need of them.
When you create an affiliate bond with other personal trainers who are running their business online, you will get the exposure and support you need to grow your brand and build your business.