The fitness industry is huge, rapidly growing, and constantly changing with plenty of personal trainers competing for clients and trying to carve out their business identities. It’s no surprise then—being in the midst of such a fast-paced industry—that differentiating yourself is of paramount importance.
That’s why knowing what your niche is and leveraging this smaller subset of the fitness industry is so fundamental to the growth and success of your business. Identifying your niche is the easy part, dominating your niche is the more difficult (but extremely fun) part.
Captivating your niches’s attention requires a number of different strategies. We dive into the key ones with pararescueman and fitness personality and trainer Brian Silva.
Become a thought leader
One of the most effective ways of raising awareness of your offering and building your brand is to put out free information. It helps show people you’re an expert and gives you instant credibility. It can also allow you to build a community amongst your following. By nature, we all want to fit in; if you build a stream of content and information that resonates with a particular group, they will rally around your business.
Create valuable content
In the fitness industry, video is one of the best forms of content to truly engage your audience.
The best platforms to do this on are Instagram Live and YouTube. You want to make sure that you use eye-catching titles that are going to clickbait your audience, and then more importantly, you’ll want to ensure that you deliver the content to match the headline so that you build value and trust.
⚡️ TZ Tip: Don’t forget about Instagram Reels, either! We’ve got 3 tips from a fellow fitpro!
By posting videos and showing your authentic self, you can really can get people to buy into who you are as a person, and once they do that, it’ll be much easier to get them to buy into your business.
Be consistent
The goal is to not to get discouraged. The clients and the views will come: Not everyone is going to subscribe to your YouTube channel or follow you on Instagram after seeing one video. That’s why introducing yourself in every video is extremely important! Your 50th video is probably being watched by some people who have never heard of you or your business before so you’ll want to make sure you always get in the habit of emphasizing who you are and what you do. All in all, building a following takes time and it requires putting out a large volume of targeted, high-value content.
Use your network
One thing that really helps build a following is engaging with other fitpros! See if you can get on a fitness podcast, speak at a conference, or do a video collaboration with a fitness influencer. If people see that you’re working with lots of other people within the fitness industry it helps build that foundation of trust for you and your brand.
Develop a strong brand image
Developing a consistent brand image is key to attracting people to your fitness business and relating to your niche. You want to make sure everything from your logo to your website is set up to mirror who you are as a person and a fitness professional. This involves using consistent colour themes and imagery across all your social media platforms and web pages. Whatever your mantra is for life, match that with your branding and your workouts.
Offer merch
If you have a brand that people are drawn to, it presents the opportunity to create and sell merchandise. Things like t-shirts, hoodies, gym bags, water bottles, and supplements with your logo on them. If someone is in the gym and they see another person that’s wearing your merchandise if gives them something to talk about immediately and helps foster that sense of being part of the same community
Deliver programs made for your niche
The final key to dominating your niche is delivering programs that will help your target audience reach their specific goal. When they believe in the person you are and the brand you’ve built, the programs will sell themselves, but in order to retain clients you’ll want to make sure you’re meeting their needs. Be results-driven and ensure you’re delivering a program that’s going to help them achieve their goal. For example, if your niche was soccer players, you would want to build programs that focus on improving endurance and foot speed.
Offer personalization
Lastly, deliver personalized programs. Make sure you have set programs that you run people through and then tailor the program specifically to them based on their fitness level and comfortability. This will also help you make sure they’re a good fit for your offering.
Niche down
Last but not least, focus on the area you’re an expert in and continue to build your expertise in that area! The more experience you have within a specific area of fitness, the better you’ll be able to help the people you’re targeting with that offering.
🖥 Learn more about building your fanbase in our on-demand webinar How to Dominate Your Niche and Get 10,000 Fans with Brian Silva
In order to truly dominate your niche, you need to love what you do and be dedicated to serving your clients; whether it’s through hands-on training or providing them with valuable information. It’s key to always put your clients at the forefront of your priorities if you want to be successful and grow your business.
As you grow and scale your business it’s important to maintain that personal connection you have with your audience. Keep answering every message, email, and comment on your social channels and really integrate your personality into your brand image. Stay true to who you are and the business will come!