How to promote a personal training business
January 31, 2012 11:22 PM Subscribe
I'm going to help a friend promote his personal training business. 1) What's the cheapest and easiest website option, 2) Promo postcards, are they a good idea? Where should we get them? 3) What else?
For websites, this guy has zero money to spend and really only needs somewhere to put up some photos and his basic info. Should we just do a Wordpress? Something else? It needs to be easy and free.
For flyering around town, I'm thinking one of those online postcard deals would be good. Any suggestions of who to use? Can we design something like this ourselves assuming I have basic computer skills and am not totally incompetent at design but really, have no specialized ability or knowledge.
For more general - what should a personal trainer do to promote his business? This is a guy who trains at a very working-class boxing gym and it would be nice to get some crossover clients outside of that world in order to be able to make a bit more. He wants to start a boot camp style class on weekends. Any ideas for how to bring in people from a range of communities?
For websites, this guy has zero money to spend and really only needs somewhere to put up some photos and his basic info. Should we just do a Wordpress? Something else? It needs to be easy and free.
For flyering around town, I'm thinking one of those online postcard deals would be good. Any suggestions of who to use? Can we design something like this ourselves assuming I have basic computer skills and am not totally incompetent at design but really, have no specialized ability or knowledge.
For more general - what should a personal trainer do to promote his business? This is a guy who trains at a very working-class boxing gym and it would be nice to get some crossover clients outside of that world in order to be able to make a bit more. He wants to start a boot camp style class on weekends. Any ideas for how to bring in people from a range of communities?
Oh, as for a site, Wordpress.com is great. But be sure to pay for an easy to remember domain name that you can then redirect to a free site.
posted by Unsomnambulist at 11:53 PM on January 31, 2012
posted by Unsomnambulist at 11:53 PM on January 31, 2012
Flavors.me sounds like a good option here.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:02 AM on February 1, 2012
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:02 AM on February 1, 2012
Might as well just make a FB Business Page. Don't bother with the extra website stuff - people will be able to sense if he's cheap and/or neglectful of his website.
posted by unixrat at 5:36 AM on February 1, 2012
posted by unixrat at 5:36 AM on February 1, 2012
Does his gym have a t-shirt or hoodie with the name/logo -- especially one that says the name and also "Staff" or "Trainer"? I used to date a trainer and he wore his gym's hoodie/t-shirt most of the time when running errands. Without fail, every time we went to the grocery store, at least one person (usually a middle aged woman) approached him to ask if he was a trainer and to ask for his card.
posted by telegraph at 6:15 AM on February 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by telegraph at 6:15 AM on February 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
I second the Facebook business page. Free or quickly-done websites for local businesses always make me cringe and wonder if the service is worth it.
On the other hand, maybe he could advertise somewhere for a local webdesigner and barter his training services for their design services?
I like telegraph's idea, too, about the shirt or hoodie. It's a fantastic way to advertise, wherever he goes.
Does he have business cards already? If not, and your budget is limited, I'd suggest getting them printed before trying the postcards.
My friend started her own salon, and to get the word out and build a customer base, she offered a free haircut day, and half-price cuts for the rest of that week. Sure, she worked hard that week for little money, but it really helped her get started. She advertised the promotion on Facebook.
posted by ThisKindNepenthe at 6:59 AM on February 1, 2012
On the other hand, maybe he could advertise somewhere for a local webdesigner and barter his training services for their design services?
I like telegraph's idea, too, about the shirt or hoodie. It's a fantastic way to advertise, wherever he goes.
Does he have business cards already? If not, and your budget is limited, I'd suggest getting them printed before trying the postcards.
My friend started her own salon, and to get the word out and build a customer base, she offered a free haircut day, and half-price cuts for the rest of that week. Sure, she worked hard that week for little money, but it really helped her get started. She advertised the promotion on Facebook.
posted by ThisKindNepenthe at 6:59 AM on February 1, 2012
I third the facebook idea. It has the added bonus of allowing your friends to suggest him to their friends. He can offer a 'healthy tip of the day.'
The free boot camp idea is also a great one.
He should always have business cards on him. VistaPrint is super cheap. It would probably help him to establish a relationship with a local sports store owner or sales person. If there is one place that he always goes to get his work out clothes, shoes, whatever, that he could leave cards at, that would be great. He could even offer himself for an 'ask the expert day' at the store.
posted by myselfasme at 7:08 AM on February 1, 2012
The free boot camp idea is also a great one.
He should always have business cards on him. VistaPrint is super cheap. It would probably help him to establish a relationship with a local sports store owner or sales person. If there is one place that he always goes to get his work out clothes, shoes, whatever, that he could leave cards at, that would be great. He could even offer himself for an 'ask the expert day' at the store.
posted by myselfasme at 7:08 AM on February 1, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
As for cards, etc., I stumbled across this site recently and they seem to offer reasonable prices for good looking cards (just a long turnaround time).
posted by Unsomnambulist at 11:51 PM on January 31, 2012