Building a membership area on your fitness website is one of the easiest ways to offer a scalable and professional service inside your personal training business. Once you have built the membership area, you will need to promote it in order to grow your online community.
Bringing in new members can increase revenue that you can reinvest into providing a better service, and allow you to have a positive impact on more people’s health and fitness goals. So here are our top 6 ways to do just that.
1. Content Creation
Using your own social media channels, and the blog on your website, you can mention the membership part of your service, and draw attention to what benefits people are getting when they sign up for it.
You can include a link to your sign up page on your social media profile, in the bio, or in the comments thread of relevant discussions with a call to action, inviting people to check it out. Try to keep links out of the main post as most social networks will bury a post for doing that and practically no one will see it.
You can include a link to your sign up page on your social media profile, in the bio, or in the comments thread of relevant discussions with a call to action, inviting people to check it out. Try to keep links out of the main post as most social networks will bury a post for doing that and practically no one will see it.
Remember that social media is designed to be social, so interaction is key. Once you know where your ideal client spends their time online, you should prioritise those sites. You don’t need to be everywhere.
If you work with busy professionals, LinkedIn may be a good option for you. If you work with a younger audience, TikTok or Instagram may be better choices for you. If you’re marketing to a slightly older audience, perhaps Facebook would suit you better.
2. Content Outreach
This is a way to make use of similar audiences who may not yet be aware of you or the personal training service you provide. Remember, the most important thing about using other people’s platforms to promote your business is that you’re not being spammy, and you’re genuinely providing valuable help for people in their audience.
You can market on other profiles by pitching to write for other people’s blogs, get the support of an industry influencer or use email to share valuable content and then invite people to visit your site. If you’re involved in Reddit, or forums related to your specific niche, these would be a great place to promote - but always be sure to follow the guidelines of the group. Don’t go breaking the rules and getting kicked out.
3. Collaborations with Partner Fields
Working with someone can be a great way to increase exposure to each other’s audiences and can help you both to grow. This could be someone in the same industry, but who serves a different type of client. Or it could be someone in a related profession, such as a physiotherapist or nutritionist. Like Catherine from our community did with a mindfulness coach here:
Between you, you’ll be able to find content that appeals to both your audiences and will boost sign-ups across both your membership sites and fitness coaching offers. These collaborations could be performed live on social media, promoted as a podcast, or even create content for the membership site itself.
4. Running Paid Ads
Paid searches, and paid social media ads are becoming increasingly popular in the fitness community. There are a number of ways to get started, but people usually begin with Facebook ads, or Google Adwords. Using paid ads can be a fantastic return on investment once you really understand your audience, and you’ve crafted a perfect offer.
The trick to getting ads on the cheap is to use them to expand your audience, not look for a sale. This is usually the promotional content that’s already working organically. To do this, simply head to your Facebook page, find a post you'd like to boost and click on boost post.
The trick to getting ads on the cheap is to use them to expand your audience, not look for a sale. This is usually the promotional content that’s already working organically. To do this, simply head to your Facebook page, find a post you'd like to boost and click on boost post.
Set an audience and budget per day, and monitor it carefully for profitability. You can always stop a Facebook ad from running before the finish date if it’s under performing, and on Facebook you can set highly targeted custom audiences to show the advert to so you can save some money through being strategic in who you show the ad to.
5. Your Email List
If you have been using email marketing for a while, you probably already recognise how powerful it can be. The chances are, people on your email list opted in for a lead magnet, and not everyone is a current client getting one to one personal training services from you.
Your email list will be a list of “warm” leads, that know who you are, that like your personality and who trust your professional guidance. Maybe they’re ex-clients, or simply enjoy learning from you for free.
An easy way to generate leads from this list is to simply ask. We like to use the 9 word email:
Your email list will be a list of “warm” leads, that know who you are, that like your personality and who trust your professional guidance. Maybe they’re ex-clients, or simply enjoy learning from you for free.
An easy way to generate leads from this list is to simply ask. We like to use the 9 word email:
Hey [FIRST NAME],
Are you still interested in [GOAL]?
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR BUSINESS NAME]
The reason this works so well is because it's so direct and very simple to answer. You've initiated one half of a social contract by asking a question and a lot of people feel compelled to complete the other half of that social contract by replying.
6. Limited Time Trials
Free access for a short period of time, or very low-cost access for a limited time (e.g. £7 for 7 days) for people to have a look around your membership site and give it a “test drive” before committing to a longer-term membership with you is one of the easiest way to bring in new clients for your online personal training business ASAP.
This can be a great way to really show off the best features of the site such as videos and resources that can be used from inside the site itself. However, if you have a lot of downloadable content, be careful that people don’t simply log in and save all the content before stopping their membership.
Summing Up
Online fitness memberships are an asset in your fitness business. They continue to add value for your clients as your online personal training business grows. But the commitment doesn’t end at building the site and creating incredible content for your clients.
Promoting it, and securing new memberships is a key aspect in having a viable online fitness membership site. The money you earn from the site can be put back into the business, to help it continue to grow.
Promoting it, and securing new memberships is a key aspect in having a viable online fitness membership site. The money you earn from the site can be put back into the business, to help it continue to grow.
