15 Best Personal Training Marketing Ideas To Get New Clients In 2023

There’s no question: personal trainers are ambassadors of health and fitness. Though their fitness skills are rarely in doubt, most aren't aware that they need to up their marketing game. After all, the art of personal training isn't only about pushing someone to get that PB; it's about finding valuable clients and keeping them engaged. Without smart strategies, a personal trainer won't have visibility in the marketplace and could struggle to find new paying customers. Therefore, it's important to invest in tried and tested marketing tactics to ensure people are aware of their skills and services. With an effective marketing plan, personal trainers will quickly build a strong name for themselves in fitness circles, leading to a stronger brand and more clients.

How do you brand yourself as a personal trainer?

Personal training is an ever-evolving industry, so it’s essential PT's position themselves in a way that enables them to expand their skill set and showcase what they have to offer. One of the best ways to do this is by crafting a distinct and effective brand identity; one that sticks in the minds of potential clients. To do this successfully, first consider who you are as a trainer, then identify the key features that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Use these elements as core values for your brand—come up with an eye-catching logo along with a memorable name, and promote your brand through various channels: social media, your website, and one-on-one conversations. That way, when people hear the words “personal trainer” their minds will immediately gravitate toward your unique brand.

Some tools we recommend for creating a brand on a budget are: Canva - for easy design and Looka for light speed branding and logo generation.

The top 15 best personal training marketing ideas in 2023 are: 

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1. Hone in on your target market
2. Boost your branding
3. Create a fully branded booking website
4. Leverage social media
5. Implement local SEO 
6. Ensure your listed on directories
7. Start a blog and post regularly
8. Start guest blogging
9. Gather and display awesome testimonials
10. Provide freebies
11. Focus on growing your mailing list
12. Promote shared experiences
13. Offer free trials
14. Offer discounts
15. Get referral marketing setup

1. Hone in on your target market

One of the first steps in implementing an effective marketing strategy is to work out who you’re actually recommending your services to. For example, your strategy will change depending on whether you’re based in an area with a high population of elderly people as opposed to a younger, more athletic community. Here are several key questions you can ask:

• What’s their rough age range?
• What are their genders?
• How fit and healthy are they?
• Is the local area affluent or poor?
• What are their interests and pastimes?
• Are they working adults, parents who stay at home, students, or retirees?

Following the completion of these inquiries, you can create your ideal client profile. This will be a useful guide on how you provide your services. For instance, it could be a good idea to change the training times you provide to weekday evenings and weekends if many of your clients have regular jobs.

2. Give your branding a boost

‍Branding can make the difference between a PT business that fails and one that succeeds. It’s really that important. After all, your personal brand is the first impression you make and what people associate with you. Therefore it should do this quickly and memorably. It should convey what makes you stand out from the competition along with who would benefit the most from your services. Furthermore, personal training is…well, personal, so make sure your brand truly reflects your personality. 

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An example of how to enhance your brand is, if you have a one-of-a-kind exercise technique or plan, you can market it as a branded program. Give it a catchy name that will appeal to your intended audience. Then the emphasis shifts: you’re not just a personal trainer but the personal trainer who created a signature workout—it will help you stand out from the crowd.

3. Create a fully branded booking website

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Fortunately, PTs no longer have to rely entirely on fliers, print advertising, and word-of-mouth. Making a slick, user-friendly website that can take bookings will streamline your workload, raise your profile, and present new marketing opportunities. 

However, if you feel a bit daunted by all the pricey platforms out there and overwhelmed by the prospect of coding, we have the answer for you. Baluu is an out-of-the-box booking solution for small businesses. What makes it unique (aside from its value for money and user-friendly interface) is the fact it’s an all-in-one system that comes with a website builder, a booking system, and payment processing.

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Not only does Baluu let you take bookings on the move, but also provides many useful features including analytics, marketing tools, and custom intake forms. If you already have an existing site, you can easily integrate Baluu’s one-of-a-kind booking system—save 1 day a week in admin, see a 30% uplift in conversions, and 3x your revenue in a year!

Why not book a free demo or give the 14-day free trial a spin? There’s a good reason many PTs have started using Baluu over other systems, so why not see for yourself? 

4. Leverage social media

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If you’re a modern business and you’re not squeezing social media for all its worth, you’re missing out on a huge amount of potential reach. With all the different platforms now available (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn) the prospect of regularly producing across the board is admittedly daunting, especially given that PTs often don’t get a lot of free time. This is why you have to be strategic about which platforms you focus on and why, as well as the kind of content you make.

Identifying your brand identity and target market, along with researching what your competitors are doing, will give you a good idea of what content will work and what won’t. Though social media isn’t just a means to generate leads; it’s a way to build your fitness community. 

You can prompt and maintain social media conversations with your followers to learn more about them, increase your visibility, and build long-term relationships. Furthermore, you can encourage your clients to interact with one another, share success stories, and motivate one another to succeed.  Consider setting up business pages on social media that can keep your community updated.

“Squeezing” (repurposing content across platforms) is a great way to greatly increase your reach with little effort, Just ensure you’re consistent and keep your brand at the forefront of people’s minds.

5. Implement local SEO 

‍Search engine optimization can seem overwhelming to learn at first, but you can harness much of its potential with just a rudimentary understanding. As you’ll most likely be training clients in your immediate area, it’s essential your local SEO is on point. The goal will be that when a user writes “personal trainer near me”, or “personal trainer *location*”, Google will show your business on the first page. There are several ways you can foster the conditions to rank highly in local searches. 

By registering your business with Google My Business you increase the likelihood of it appearing as one of the top search results under “Businesses”. Ask your clients to leave good reviews on your listing, as a higher rating will increase your legitimacy. 

Another great way to improve your local SEO is to add location pages on your website and make sure your site has your phone number, address, phone number, store hours, promotions, and testimonials from satisfied customers.

While content designed to reach a wide audience has enormous applications for SEO, creating local-oriented content like promoting local industry gatherings, fitness news, employees, and other educational content will help to make you an authority in your area. All these highly relevant local signals will help you perform better in searches.

Local SEO is a big subject, and we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, so make sure you research the topic thoroughly as it’s hugely important for your future success.

6. Ensure you’re listed in directories

We recommend signing your company up with 40 to 60 directories. These should be websites or directories that are dedicated to personal training, like the NRPT in the UK, or Angie's List and the personal trainer section of Thumbtack in the States. 

Although these citations may not have a big effect on how you rank for certain search terms online, in Google’s eyes, they frequently offer free inbound links that raise your website's trustworthiness. Additionally, as you boost your general SEO, it will increase traffic to your web pages like blog entries.

7. Start a blog and post regularly ‍

While many keywords in the fitness world are highly competitive, and therefore more difficult to rank for, blogging is still an underrated method for attracting clients. Not only could there be longtail (lower competition) keywords within your niche you could rank for, but by showcasing your knowledge and expertise in personal training, you’ll boost your authority and credibility in your field. 

So consider keeping a regular schedule for publishing blog posts (1-4 a month). You can either write these yourself or outsource them to another writer. Don’t get too wrapped up in short-term results; every piece of high-quality, optimized content you produce is a building block for your brand.

8. Start guest-blogging

‍Guest blogging refers to when you write an article for another blog or publisher, thereby increasing your reach, getting a healthy backlink, and tapping into a larger client pool. 

When you pitch a guest blog topic to a fitness blog or another publisher, it’s likely they’ll look you up to judge the caliber of your writing and get a sense of your social following. However, even if your social media presence is only in its early stages, having a few well-written blog posts will convince readers that you can build something similar for their website.

By showcasing your knowledge through guest posting, you draw readers from other websites' attention. This will often result in potential new clients can visiting your website to learn more about you. Just make sure you request that the publisher include a link to it in your guest post. High-quality backlinks can be extremely valuable for improving the authority of your site and generating more traffic. Change your competitive mindset to a collaborative one!

9. Gather and display awesome testimonials

Testimonials are perhaps the most powerful means of attracting new clients. 88% of customers report that reviews influence their online purchasing decisions, and, amazingly, 88% trust online testimonials and reviews as much as recommendations from family or friends. As soon as you get your first client, you should be looking to acquire positive reviews you can leverage throughout your online profile. Video testimonials especially are one of the best ways to quickly convey reliability to prospective clients. To make the most of these, make sure to use a video to text converter to repurpose the content for various platforms without losing its impact. While you don’t necessarily want to spam up your website with dozens of them, even a small number can work wonders. This is because most people are more likely to watch a video than read text, and visual testimonials aren’t just more engaging, but the sight of a real person recommending your services makes clients much more likely to trust in the quality of your services. 

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So make sure you always ask your clients for a review (many booking systems like Baluu can automate this process for you) and maybe ask a few of your longstanding clients for video testimonials.   

10. Provide freebies

Rather than producing content of a purely transactional nature, give your clients something free that will entice them to your business. This could be in the form of an e-book, downloads of your training programs, or nutrition plans. Don’t overlook the power of offering something with nothing in return! While ostensibly free, the value of attracting clients in the awareness stage will far outweigh the initial costs. 

11. Focus on growing your email list‍

There are fewer effective and less intrusive ways to stay in close communication with their clients than via email. An email list is a powerful tool that can help PTs gain more customers and provide more value for their existing ones. Not only can it be used for announcing the latest training program or special offer, but providing advice on nutrition, exercise techniques, and lifestyle hacks. It's quick, easy, and cost-effective and many platforms (including Baluu) offer a variety of smart unobtrusive ways to procure emails. 

Run promotions to reel in new clients

Think about the hysteria of Black Friday—a juicy deal can make the difference between a sale and a fail. Personal trainer businesses are no different. Here are a few examples of promotions you could run:

12. Offer a shared experience

You may reach more people and increase your exposure by letting your clients bring a friend to their session at no extra cost to themselves. This will allow your friend to see your expertise in action, which will inspire greater confidence in your personal training services.

Not only will this assist you attract new customers, but it may also encourage your current clientele to purchase from you again. If a customer has a positive encounter with your business, they are more likely to spread the word and recommend you to their friends and family. It's possible that the friend of one of your clients will end up signing up for a session themselves.

Taking use of this possibility requires a well-defined and widely disseminated referral scheme. If you want to get your current customers involved, you can incentivize referrals with discounts or bonuses. It's also important to give your best throughout the referral's session, as their opinion will influence both your present client and your brand as a whole.

13. Offer Free trials

Many service providers, including personal trainers, attract new clients by providing a no-cost consultation or discovery call. The thinking behind this tactic is that it allows prospective customers to test out your services without taking any chances. Those odds of keeping them as customers improve.

Offering a free trial or consultation to potential customers is a great way to gain their confidence and credibility. This gives them a chance to see your training methods firsthand and determine whether or not you are a good fit for them. Offering something of value right off the bat shows that you know what you're doing and have faith in your own abilities to carry out the promised work.

Furthermore, once a customer has tried your services, they are more likely to be a loyal one. They have made the effort to get to know you and your method, and they will recognise the value you bring to the table as a personal trainer. On top of that, if you impress them with your service and assistance at the preliminary meeting, they will be more inclined to keep working with you once the consultation is over.

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14. Offer Discounts

People love to save money. Any whiff of a discount can make new clients come flocking. Stay on top of seasonal events/holidays that make discounts more appealing (think Sober October or dry January). Also, offering discounts to disabled people or the elderly demonstrates your charitable nature, and makes you more attractive to clients across the board. 

In addition to displaying your altruistic attitude, this can also increase your marketability to a wider variety of customers. Customers and employees alike will respect your company for standing with those that are often overlooked.

You need to make sure your deals get over to your customers. Think about leveraging email marketing, social media, and other avenues to reach as many potential customers as possible with your promos. In addition, evaluate the efficacy of your advertising efforts and change your approach accordingly.

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15. Setup a referral campaign

For PTs especially, referral marketing can be a powerful tool and have the potential to bring in a sizable amount of revenue. It’s typically simpler to reach your clients by email than in person, so think about asking them to recommend you to their friends and relatives. Give your customers a discount or other incentive by doing so.

There are now hundreds of referral marketing software options available on the market, each of them with their own unique way of implementing a referral campaign into your existing tech stack.

Cross-referrals are also quite advantageous. Why not ask other nearby health-conscious practitioners, such as nutritionists, chiropractors, physical therapists, or complementary therapists, if they would be willing to recommend you to customers in need of a personal trainer?

You’ve got this far, so keep it up!

Being a PT is a tough, time-consuming business. Fortunately, they  happen to be some of the healthiest, most motivated people on the planet. While the beast of marketing can be difficult to grasp at first, if you apply that same dedication and focus you do to your clients, we’ve no doubt you’ll create a successful personal trainer business. While we’ve provided many useful tips, don’t base your marketing strategy on this article alone. Research heavily, and focus on the most viable ways you can attract new clients. Just keep up the consistency!

Need more tips for growing your pesonal trainer business? Take a look at some of our related guides below: 

• Top 6 Personal Trainer Business Templates on The Web
• Starting A Personal Trainer Business: A How To Guide
• Top 6 Best Booking Systems For Personal Trainers For 2023
• How To Open A Personal Trainer Studio: The Ultimate Guide
• 500 Name Ideas for a Personal Trainer Business (Free to Use)

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