If you’re like most personal fitness trainers, after getting certified, you’ll be eager to start making money and become financially stable as soon as possible. Since there’s been a surge in demand for online fitness trainers, there are new opportunities for trainers to generate revenue.
But if you’re new to the world of online fitness training, you might have trouble building momentum for your online fitness brand. If you’re having trouble generating a sufficient stream of income for your brand, there are several steps you can take.
Differentiate Your Brand
First, understand that you’re facing a lot of competition. Not only will you be competing directly with online fitness trainers who have been active for years, you’ll also be competing with the surge of new online fitness trainers who are trying to adapt to the pandemic environment. If you want any hope of attracting new clients, you’ll need some way to stand out.
The idea here is to differentiate your brand. What is it that makes your brand unique in this otherwise saturated industry?
There are many potential ways to differentiate yourself:
- Workouts and techniques. You could try to specialize in a niche style of working out. You could master certain exercises, or even start your own discipline.
- Philosophy and approach. You could also differentiate yourself with your overall philosophy and approach. Is fitness a way of life, or is it just something to casually add to your routine? Should you go hard for hours, or simply commit to 10-minute sessions whenever you can?
- Attitude and tone. Your brand is also characterized by your attitude and tone. Are you like a meditation instructor, gently guiding your audience through exercises? Or are you more like a drill sergeant, demanding the best from your recruits?
- Target audience. Who is your target audience? Choosing a different audience than your competitors is an easy way to distinguish yourself immediately.
- Pricing, products, and services. You can also differentiate your brand by offering lower prices, or by providing products and services that other trainers aren’t willing to provide.
Try to find a niche that isn’t already occupied, or one with limited competition.
Improve Your Quality
Your next job is improving the quality of your work. You probably already have the “fitness” angle down, but you need to improve how you communicate with others online, with things like:
- Better cameras. You need high video quality if you’re going to compete, and people will pay more to see it.
- Better microphones. Similarly, people aren’t going to watch you or listen to you if your voice is murky or hard to understand.
- Better internet. If you’re uploading videos and streaming regularly, you need to upgrade your internet.
Additionally, if you’re publishing videos, you’ll want to invest in the editing process so you provide your viewers with the best possible content.
Set Up Multiple Streams of Income
If you rely on only one stream of income as an online fitness trainer, you’re making a mistake. For most online fitness trainers, it’s better to capitalize on multiple streams of income simultaneously, including things like:
- Streaming subscriptions and donations. If you stream on a platform like Twitch on a regular basis, you can build an audience who watches you regularly. Throughout the course of the stream, your most loyal viewers can send you donations, or subscribe to your channel to watch ad-free. It’s a primary source of income for many streamers, but it doesn’t have to be your only option. You can also set up a separate donation channel using a platform like Patreon.
- Monetized videos. You can also try to monetize the videos you publish on platforms like YouTube. Assuming you get enough views on a regular basis, advertisers will pay you to feature their content before yours. Just make sure you keep building your channel with subscriptions and likes.
- Individual training sessions. Even more commonly, online fitness trainers attempt to generate income with individual training sessions online. This is highly similar to being a fitness trainer in real life, pre-pandemic. The difference is you’ll be meeting with clients virtually, guiding them through exercises over video chat and other digital mediums.
- Other products. There’s no shortage of other products and services you can offer, especially once you grow your brand. For example, you could design and sell your own line of fitness equipment.
After implementing these new strategies and approaches, you probably won’t see an immediate turnaround in your results. Instead, you’ll need to continue nurturing your audience and making tweaks to your strategy, gradually building the online presence you want. Keep measuring your results and experimenting; the more you learn and the more you’re willing to improve, the closer you’ll get to your goals.
Interesting related article: “What is Online Marketing?“