How to Grow an Online Fitness Business?

The common question on most personal training business minds is: How to grow an online fitness business?

You have all the relevant experience, and your fitness training business offers the personalized attention your clients need Whether they are just beginning their fitness journey or planning to revamp their workout routine, being a personal trainer, it’s upon you to help them reach their personal fitness goals.

You are all set running an online fitness business, but is that enough? If you are looking for how to grow an online fitness business, keep reading we have got some valuable information for you.

Growing your Online Fitness Business Decoded

Running a thriving fitness business online requires a consistent flow of both new and ongoing clients. Yes, that means you got to invest in effective approaches that attract new clients and retain old ones.

Well, thanks to the digital world we now live in, bringing clients in for your fitness business is easier now than ever before. 

Here are effective tips (proven ones from experts) to grow your fitness training client list.

Get super specific on a targeted niche

When exploring how to grow an online fitness business, the biggest mistake most trainers make is working with anyone and everyone to expand their client base. Yes, you got your fittest step wrong there!

Instead, narrow down your fitness niche and focus on a smaller subset of clients to grow your client base.

Most clients who are looking for personal fitness trainers online will have a specific goal, preference, or lifestyle they are after.

For example, you could brand yourself as the go-to-personal trainer for pre-pregnancy and post-partum women who want to take care of their health, recover after pregnancy, work out to heal their diastasis recti etc. 

You could also brand your business as a personal trainer for older people. 

When identifying what type of fitness training to offer, consider the following aspects:

• What do you have experience with?
• Are you confident about bringing real results in this niche?
• Have you identified prospects in this category of fitness?
• Do you have specialized knowledge so that you can help your clients reach their goals?

Here are some of the common and target fitness business niches you can offer.

• Muscle building for men 
• Weight loss for women.
• Healthy eating and workout regime for teens.
• Functional movement training.
• Nutritional plans for better health.
• At-home workout for men and women over 60+.
• Custom nutrition plans for women nearing menopause
• Special workout regime and nutrition plan for people who want to increase weight.
• And more and more!

Streamline booking and communication

When offering online booking for your fitness sessions, make sure you implement a seamless booking process. A quick and smooth online booking process is the first step to converting your audience to clients. 

You must also set up tech in a way you can receive and get back to messages to your clients on Facebook Messenger and your website through chat functionality. 

Provide a personal experience that keeps clients motivated

More than ever, clients are seeking personal connections during fitness sessions. Offering personalized experiences even virtually is the key to developing a long-term client-personal trainer relationship.

With your own training platform for clients, you can:

• Schedule client sessions.
• Store client schedule and date.
• Deliver custom services.

Retain existing clients 

A significant part of online fitness training is building a personal connection between trainers and members. Being in constant touch with clients will help in maintaining client retention, which is critical if you are looking for how to grow an online fitness business. 

With integrated tools in your online training platform, you can stay in touch with your clients. 

Revamp your business model- Road to success

The online fitness business models have shaped up to be one of the most lucrative and luring models. Yes, it paves your road to success. If you are starting your fitness business, you have the freedom to choose the revenue model that contributes to your business goals. But if you have already established your online fitness business, it is time to revamp your business model if you are looking for how to grow your online fitness business.

Here are the online fitness business models you can follow to differentiate your offerings from your competitors.

• Membership model

Running your online training business based on this online fitness business model allows clients to enjoy the services and classes for a recurring subscription fee. Yes, it is the same as a subscription service when they stop getting access to videos once they stop paying. 

The membership model is popular for the following reasons:

• It brings consistent revenue.
• Subscription service promotes commitment.
• Predictable and stable income

• Pay as you train

If you are looking for how to build an personal training business, pay as you train is a straightforward business model where your clients pay a one-time fee every time to access the sessions. You can charge your clients for the products and services they use. 

Here are the advantages of the pay-as-you-train model:

• You can get more clients as members don’t have to commit themselves to subscriptions. 
• Eliminate the pressure to sell subscriptions.
• Clients don’t have to pay for the sessions or services that they don’t use. 

Give off one free session

If you are new to the online fitness training space and want to sell fitness programs online, advertise free sessions for your clients. This helps them to get to know you in person and experience your workout classes before you can begin to charge them. 

If you already have an established business, you can provide offers like “refer a friend and get a free session.

When advertising free sessions, give specific deadlines so existing clients understand the sense of urgency.

Deliver results

Results are one thing your clients expect from you, and that’s why they choose you. 

When communicating and interacting with your clients, talk about delivering results. Create and discuss plans to help them achieve results and bring big changes.

During the personal training sessions, explain to your clients what type of exercises you will be covering and the reasons for the same. Try to stay healthy on the fitness journey during the initial stages.

Nailing down your ideal clients

Picturizing how your client base looks is another important factor to consider when you are thinking about how to build an online fitness business. The members you choose will depend on your niche and the people who you want to work with. 

What type of clients is a fit for online fitness businesses?

So who are the type of clients who work with personal fitness trainers? The most common groups who work with fitness trainers are young athletes, elderly ones who want to keep fit and lead a pain-free life, and new mothers who want to stay in shape. When starting a fitness business, you will benefit from narrowing down within these demographics. 

When starting out, it is safe to focus on one of two types of clients without going too broad.

What kind of virtual fitness training to offer?

When it comes to the type of fitness training you can offer, there are plenty of options to choose from. 

And consider these when you choose the type of training:

• Your target clients, their gender, demographics, lifestyle and even diet. 
• Your preferences of class size and the workout style.
• The amount of time you can spend training your clients.
• The niche of services you offer like Cross fit, yoga, Pilates, MMA, etc. 

Now here are some of the most popular types of fitness sessions you can conduct online.

One-to-one live classes

This type of fitness session is just like personal training sessions, where you focus on one client at a time through video conferencing. 

Group live stream classes

This type of fitness session is where you train a group of clients through exercises on live stream sessions. The number of clients you train in a group depends on the video streaming service you choose to use and your preferences. 

Pre-recorded classes

With this type of online session, you can provide pre-recorded workout videos for clients to buy individually. This can include a written training program, workout videos, meal planning, etc. 

So what are the best training sessions that fit your clients? Each class type comes with its own pros and cons.

Some fitness trainers prefer offering pre-recorded classes so that they have control over the type of fitness they focus on. Once made, the pre-recorded classes can be used to adapt to new clients, which is great. But pre-recorded classes don’t generate much income as live classes, and it takes a lot of online promotion to get started. 

Instead of following a single approach, you can combine different types of classes to provide something for everyone seeking fitness classes. 

For example, you can provide live personal sessions and downloadable meal plans, which clients can buy individually or as a part of a training program.

The hybrid approach opens up a wide range of opportunities for both you and your clients, an important thing to consider when exploring how to start an online fitness business.

Conclusion

The online fitness industry is growing at a great speed,  making it the perfect time for personal fitness trainers and new entrepreneurs to enter the industry. Following a thorough business plan, you can build and grow your online fitness business to new heights.

Selecting to niche down and marketing to a small and target audience will help you distinguish yourself from the fierce competition. Take the first step towards becoming an online fitness trainer by building your online training platform by contacting us.