How to Grow a Fitness Business

Perhaps you are just starting out in the fitness industry. Or perhaps you are already established but looking to expand. Regardless, with the new year approaching, this is the perfect time to grow your fitness business. Whilst fitness is a year-round industry, January is often when people make a commitment to their health and fitness goals for the coming year. Meaning this is the perfect time for you to seize all those opportunities to grow your fitness business.

Here are some guaranteed ways to grow your fitness business:

 

Utilise your Existing Clients

To grow your fitness business, a great first step is to reach out to your existing clients.

After all, when someone is looking for a fitness coach, they’ll likely begin their search in one of two ways: either by searching online or by asking a friend.

Ask your existing clients for reviews and testimonials that you can post on your website and social media. Their followers, as well as yours, will see these. Let your existing clients know that you have space to take on new clients. Encourage them to spread the word. They’ll be more likely to recommend you if you’ve asked them to.

A great way to encourage word-of-mouth recommendations is to offer an incentive to current clients who refer new clients to you. For example, a discounted or free session for every new sign-up they refer.

Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful advertising tool. According to Nielsen, 92% of people believe recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising.  This demonstrates just how valuable a resource your existing clients are when it comes to growing your business.

 

Fine Tune your Online Presence

As an entrepreneur, you will already understand that an online business presence is non-negotiable. However, I am asking for you to take time to analyse what you are doing now and think about what you could do better.

Look at your social media business pages and website with a critical eye and try to view them as if you are a potential client coming to them for the first time. Are you easy to find online? How easy is it to find out what services you offer and how much you charge? How easy is it to find ways to contact you?

First impressions count when it comes to your online presence. What could you be doing better? Here are some points to consider:

 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

In a nutshell, SEO is a series of online activities you can do to get Google to rank your website higher in its search results. If a person is using google to search for a fitness coach in your area, ideally it will be your website that pops up near the top of the results and not your competitors.

Where is the best place to hide a body? On page 2 of Google Search results, because no one is going to look there. That is an old SEO joke, but the sentiment behind it is serious.

You must make it easy for potential clients to find you online, and they’re unlikely to do that if your website is languishing on page 2 or 3 of search results.

There are several things you can do to boost your ranking, from making sure your website is frequently updated, to using specific keywords and making sure your website speed is fast enough. Slow-to-load websites aren’t just annoying to use, they push you further down the google search rankings. To test your website’s speed score, visit Googles Page speed insights page.

With 97 per cent of consumers searching for businesses online, search engine optimisation is vital for all businesses. 

 

Your website

For many people seeking a new fitness trainer, their first action will be an online search.

Did you know that a staggering 84% of people think a website makes a business more credible than businesses that only have social media profiles? Having a professional-looking website is vital to your success.

If you don’t have a website, or you do but it’s so outdated that it’s basically redundant, fixing this is a priority. What do you think happens when a potential client lands on your website and it looks like it hasn’t been updated in months? It creates an immediate negative first impression. Perhaps you spent a great deal of money setting up your website years ago and thought that was “job done”. The truth is that a great website is never ‘finished’.

Your homepage is like your shop window: it is the first thing potential customers will see when they click on your website. If it’s cluttered or hard to navigate, they’ll go elsewhere. If the web copy is bad or the information outdated, they’ll go elsewhere.

 

Social Media

There were 53 million social media users in the UK in 2021. Around 1 in 3 people looking for a new service or business will search social media as their first port of call. These statistics speak for themselves. A social media presence is critical if you are to reach as many people as possible to grow your fitness business.

Your business should have pages on each of the top 5 social media platforms used in the fitness industry. With Facebook, it is important that you set up a business page rather than a personal one. This will equip you with some key tools to help grow your business.

Use Instagram Reels and your YouTube channel to share exercise tutorials. Always link to your website where possible.

Celebrate your clients’ fitness achievements on your social media pages. Be sure to tag them in the post so that all of their friends and followers will get to see what your coaching has helped them achieve.

Reach out to people in your network and invite them to like and share your social media content. This is an effective (and free!) way of marketing your fitness business to as many people as possible.

 

Work with a Business Coach

Succeeding as a fitness coach is not just about helping others achieve their fitness or health goals. It is making time to ensure you are setting – and reaching – your own professional goals. This is where a Business Coach will be invaluable.

Hiring a coach is an investment in yourself and in your business as it provides you with valuable insight that will help you develop long-term and short-term goals and strategies.

Working with a business coach will unlock your self-imposed limits. It helps you build a mindset that allows your fitness business to thrive.

No matter where you are in your professional career, there is always value in continuous learning and development. Successful people accept that they will need ongoing guidance and learning, no matter what stage they are at in their careers. The more support you get, the greater your chances of success. If you are aiming to grow your business, then working with a Business Coach will undoubtedly be a huge benefit to you.

I would be delighted to work with you on achieving your business goals in 2023. Get in Touch to book a free 30-minute telephone call