As a personal trainer, your clients will likely see a lot of your content before they make a decision to invest in your services. Your content is everywhere you post; your website, your social media, even the comments you leave and the emails you send to your mailing list. This exposure is called a sales funnel.
People in your audience will be at different stages of their own buyer journey. The job of your fitness website content is to encourage your potential clients at whichever stage they are along the sales funnel to take their NEXT logical step, move onto the next stage of their journey and eventually, when they are ready, make an investment in your personal training services. So, in brief, a good content marketer has the skill to create the right content to speak to the right people at the right time.
Understanding your audience will be key at every stage. If you are already working with personal training clients, you can make a note of the language they use to talk about their problem, and use it in your content creation. This is a very powerful way to let your reader know that you’re speaking directly to them.
Stage 1: Awareness
At this stage, your prospective client is aware that they have a problem, and want to find the solution. They are gathering information, and may be aware of your services but before investing money, they'd like to invest some time to solve it themselves. People in this stage are looking for answers, opinions, data and insights. In other words, a lot of free content.
Members of your audience at this stage are looking for information that can help with their problem. They might consider a personal trainer, but they could also be looking at other options - such as gym memberships, group fitness or streaming services like Peloton. They might consume blog articles, eBooks, and social media content.
Members of your audience at this stage are looking for information that can help with their problem. They might consider a personal trainer, but they could also be looking at other options - such as gym memberships, group fitness or streaming services like Peloton. They might consume blog articles, eBooks, and social media content.
Your content that is created to target people in the Awareness stage would include helpful articles on specific problems, like the one we wrote to one of our Content Writing clients, Zach Pello.
Other type of content, like lead magnets that provide actionable steps towards a solution for a specific problem will belong in this category. Any resources should be freely given (or in exchange of an email address) and should aim only to provide genuine help and support. This stage is when you’re building your reputation as a personal training that the prospect knows, likes and trusts and encourage them to join your tribe and stay updated on all you offer via email or social media marketing.
Stage 2: Consideration
At this stage, your prospect is no longer passively collecting information. They are in an analytical stage where they are actively collecting information and considering their options.
They recognise that they have a problem (they need to lose fat, or gain muscle, or get fit for an event) and they recognise that they would benefit from some help. They have probably already decided they would benefit from a personal trainer. Now they are focused on which personal trainer is right for them.
At this stage, you’ve already caught their attention with your helpful and supportive informational content, and they are considering whether you are the right person to help them with their goals - or if some other personal trainer is. You’re competing in a less crowded market than before. The objective with your content will be building a trusted relationship with that client and nurturing them as a lead.
There are many ways to achieve that via content. One is to provide them with help on how to find the right personal trainer, like we did for one of our Email Marketing clients, Tom Waite with this white label guide that we customised for Tom's niche.
They recognise that they have a problem (they need to lose fat, or gain muscle, or get fit for an event) and they recognise that they would benefit from some help. They have probably already decided they would benefit from a personal trainer. Now they are focused on which personal trainer is right for them.
At this stage, you’ve already caught their attention with your helpful and supportive informational content, and they are considering whether you are the right person to help them with their goals - or if some other personal trainer is. You’re competing in a less crowded market than before. The objective with your content will be building a trusted relationship with that client and nurturing them as a lead.
There are many ways to achieve that via content. One is to provide them with help on how to find the right personal trainer, like we did for one of our Email Marketing clients, Tom Waite with this white label guide that we customised for Tom's niche.
The CTA is hooked up with a dedicated email list, so Tom knows that people who download this guide are very close to making a decision on getting help with their fitness goals and he'll be able to target them with email content tailored to their specific needs.
In other words, your content here is aimed at showing your prospect why you are the best choice for their needs. At the same time, your content is aimed at turning some people off your services too. This may seem counter-intuitive, but a good fit at this stage means that you have a high client retention rate. That means you can keep clients longer, know them better and provide a better service for their needs.
Examples of other specific content here could be “alignment content”, where you make social media posts about your focus as a trainer, who you help and how, and choose mediums that express your personality.
Some trainers that are happy on camera might choose live video to build that relationship. Others that prefer to communicate with written words might use their email list or other written content positioning themselves as a experts.
Stage 3: Decision
At this stage, the prospect recognises that they want to invest in help with their health and fitness goals. They may not have completely decided that you’re the right person to help them yet, but research suggests that they’re about 60% sure. Your content at this stage should be aiming to nudge your prospect off the fence. This could be as simple as the right offer and the right call to action, where you invite the person to take the action you want them to take.
Content at this stage could include a free trial if it's easy to on-board new members. Check out Brett's Home page decision stage CTA above! Depending on the type of fitness services you offer, you can create a free limited time training or consultation offer, “free forever” downloads of sample meal plans or pared-down offerings such as access to a Facebook group, or even a free 7-day challenge where they get real results before committing to a paid personal training programme.
On their own, this content is unlikely to convert prospects into paying clients but taken alongside the other value you’ve provided in the sales funnel, it can be highly effective. Not to mention you'll get the chance to wow these prospects while they are taking that low-barrier offer and if they are the right fit, there will be no reason for them not to follow through with hiring you.
Wrapping Up
Your personal training sales funnel will be unique to your business. It’s something that can be used to great effect once you already know and understand your ideal client and their particular pain points.
Developing your funnel around your intent at that given stage, whether it’s to establish the client’s trust of you, to mark your training expertise and interests, or just to get them to take action. You’ll be able to create a content strategy which maps your prospect to their own journey - and speak to them directly through your content.
Content marketing can be one of the most efficient ways to improve the relationship with your existing clients, as well as boosting conversions so that more people to become paying clients.
Developing your funnel around your intent at that given stage, whether it’s to establish the client’s trust of you, to mark your training expertise and interests, or just to get them to take action. You’ll be able to create a content strategy which maps your prospect to their own journey - and speak to them directly through your content.
Content marketing can be one of the most efficient ways to improve the relationship with your existing clients, as well as boosting conversions so that more people to become paying clients.
