When you’re a personal trainer, your brand becomes a part of you. You are the face of your company, and your personal trainer brand is your company brand. Since being a personal trainer is such a social job, where you meet face to face with your clients most of the time, you’ll need to establish a personal brand that effectively conveys your personal training style to your audience.
But doing so in the internet age can be tricky. How do you build a strong personal brand when most of your brand will only exist in cyberspace? It’s not as impossible as you might think, but it does take persistence. Read on to learn more.
Design a killer website
Part of nailing your personal trainer brand is establishing trust with your audience. If someone searches for you online, you want the top result to be your sleek, professional website. It should be self-explanatory, but the nicer your website, the more likely people are to contact you. If your website looks and runs like it was built in 1997, people are going to be scared off.
Good websites will cost a bit of money. While you can design on your own, it is highly recommended that you hire someone from a reputable company to code your website and bring your visions to life. DIY website templates can carry you for a while, but people will recognize them as what they are: premade site designs used by thousands of small businesses. If you want to stand out, you’ll need to get creative.
And make sure your credentials are made very clear on your site. If you are a certified personal trainer, let everyone know where you got your training!
Logos and mission statements will help you stand out
Colourful image designs are very important marketing techniques. There’s a reason why yellow letters on a red backdrop remind us all immediately of McDonald’s. It’s because the stark, simple colour contrast has been associated with the restaurant for years.
You want to achieve this same effect with your own design. When you create your own logo, remember that it doesn’t have to be too intricate. In fact, simpler designs tend to be more effective. Try to limit yourself to two or maybe three main colours, as well. This will help make your brand instantly recognizable to your audience. The colours you choose should also enliven your website and any other promotional materials you create.
You may want to outsource your logo design to a professional if you don’t trust your own Photoshop skills. But it is important to have a symbol that is all your own. This will give you a recognizable identity as a personal trainer and will also lend legitimacy to your brand. Your logo should accomplish the following goals:
- Be memorable
- Be simple
- Be aesthetically appealing
- Elicit an emotional reaction
A concise, helpful mission statement is also a must-have. You don’t need to write a whole novel. Instead, give people a brief idea of what you do and why you love to do it. Your mission statement should appear on your promotional materials and be featured prominently on your website. A shortened, catchy version might make a good addition to your logo, as well.
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Cross-promote
Don’t limit your audience to just the people passing by your posted flyers. Get involved with organizations and activities that attract your kind of clientele. And think outside the box. People looking to get fit show up at more places than just the gym. Consider checking out health events at your local hospital or university. Partnering with fitness programs or even entire health clubs can bring in a lot of attention if you can manage to pull it off.
Social media is king
Just like having a stellar website, it is also vital to have a decent social media presence. People will probably do a little internet sleuthing on you before they contact you. Therefore, you need to make sure your social media presence is ready. Having a consistent stream of relevant content on your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will not only help people find you in online searches, but it will also serve to encourage people to contact you. If your last Tweet was three years ago, people looking you up are likely to think you’re no longer working and look for a personal trainer elsewhere.
Don’t forget the blogs
Blogs are a great culmination of social media, web presence, and cross-promoting. Running your own blog is ideal, but can be time-consuming to maintain. Outsourcing your written content to content creation sites can help you free up your time, but can cost you some cash and may be out of your reach if you’re just starting out.
A good compromise is to write guest posts on relevant health and fitness blogs. This increases your Personal Trainer Brand searchability and advertises your services to a whole new audience who might not otherwise have heard of you.
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