Personal training careers 1 | Page 19

Chapter 4: Networking –Marketing Yourself & Your Business Success in the fitness industry takes time and a lot of hard work (a lot!). Do your best to not get discouraged even if your book has not developed as fast as you were hoping. Achieving a full book can take up to a year so be patient and keep doing your marketing. Always present a positive attitude and be an example of health to your clients and potential prospects. By doing so you are sure to gain a significant amount of clients and develop a long lasting, lucrative business. Although it’s a little easier to do marketing when you are in an established gym, studio or spa, you still have to get out there and make yourself known. Personal Trainers have all different types of networking and drumming up business. Here are a few suggestions for you to try and see what works best for you. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) If you are starting off as an Independent Personal Trainer, this would be the best place to start. Search Engine Optimization may well be the strongest marketing tool you could have. Even if you are a brand new gym with absolutely no contacts or marketing material out to the public yet, you can still have a website that ranks #1 for various phrases that relate to your business. For example, “Personal Trainer Chicago” or “Personal Trainer Tallahassee” or wherever you may be. If your site ranks at the top, you are more likely to attract clientele simply by them clicking on your site after doing a simple search. The good news is, it does not take a lot make this happens. If you have a medium sized budget and either web design skills or hire someone to do the work for you, you can create an attractive website. Your contact information, credentials and services on the website are a great place for potential clients to start to get to know you and eventually reach out. You may also want to create a blog and put it on your site. The more SEO you have in your blog the more traffic you will get to your site. Besides referrals and word-of-mouth, SEO is definitely your best option. Workshops, Fairs and Trade Shows As an employee of a gym, studio or spa you may be invited to attend local fairs or trade shows. Typically these