Hi Everyone
I hope all is well
This is a the next post of 2020, focusing on how to better promote yourself come the end of COVID - 19 for your profession.
Hope all my readers you find this useful :)
Enjoy!
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Diving right into this one!
These points are in no particular order but are made to help you better prepare yourself for the lock down lifting soon. Making you the highly sought out coach or trainer in your area.
Lets start;
Using your PC for promoting You!
They are the following;
1. Client Contact Info: Ensure you have a mailing and call list of all your clients - better to be organised and easy to pull a clients details when you need them. The amount of coaches I know that do not have a tidy call book or contact spreadsheet will surprise you. Takes a bit of time but easy to do.
2. Client Social Media Info: Ensure you have client social media accounts (Instagram or Facebook) - same rationale as the above point but it means you can target directly to them or to similar populations.
Lets use Instagram as an example, search with the #"insert your town" followed by PT. e.g. #MiddlesbroughPT. You will probably find, it has fewer than 100 posts. This is a good thing, it means you can establish your foothold on that tag and conquer the market. Now, you won't just be tagging with one hashtag. There will be multiple but you get the idea, the more tags you can put under your picture or post. The greater the chances it will be seen by those who want to see your content.
3. Create multiple Social Media Accounts:
Use the following sites;
- LinkedIn: for the professional side to connect with other similar professionals. Good way to share out content and your best work. View it as a living breathing CV. You could even build upon this and alongside your personal LinkedIn account make a business LinkedIn page. Bonus points, there are tonnes of free information from the profession to help others and open forums to discuss with other coaches too. Nice way to network and help share ideas.
- YouTube: To show your coaching skills and your knowledge base from a video format. People can connect with you visually, see how you operate, motivate and help others. Stands out more than just reading an online article. Long term, if your client base increases, you may even develop a following from a subscriber base. This means you may be able to monetize your videos to make some additional profit.
- Twitter: Use this for fitness, sport or educational news. Follow brands, companies that you like so you can see what is going on. Some people use this to post quick links or update from their space to their guidance which is fine. However, there isn't a lot of discussion due to the limited characters per tweet. Hence Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube is better.
- Facebook: Use a business page to advertise your products and services, so when they click on it they can either be taken directly to a site to pay or they can communicate with you to book in for a session. Benefit of Facebook page is you can run a live video anytime, anywhere with little effort or technical proficiency. Just enter a title and bio then hit start! You are good to go, another great feature to get more content out there for your business.
- TikTok: the new kid (big new kid) on the block. New territory for everyone, may as well hop on the bandwagon and get it as it opens another portal to potential clients. Can use their short video options to advertise and promote your work. Even fire on some quick fire exercise tips. Doesn't need to be complicated.
4. Make a Host Website:
This is for your services, products you offer, testimonials from previous clients, teams you have worked with. View this has your home base, this is your aircraft carrier. Your brand operates from your website, your social media accounts, blog sites and videos are the aircraft and destroyers which circle the website. Anything you post on the website should end up on all your other channels. Same when the aircraft carrier moves right, the entire battle group moves with it.
WordPress offer creating new sites at £9 a month. Which is dirt cheap and a professional layout to help your brand stand out. There are plenty of YouTube videos or online guides on how to use websites. Take some time to get familiar with using them. You will reap the benefits int he long run.
5. Make a Blog site or Blog outlet.
You can from here share in depth article or discussions on topics that interest you or your members/clients. Then add a widget option to your website that shows any recent blog posts or set up automatic publishing from the blog to another social media site. Alternatively, this may not be an option but you can schedule posts to hit peak traffic times. This simply means it will receive better exposure.
6. Get a logo for your Brand: Adds a sense of professionalism
This is just my personal view, I think having a logo makes you more identifiable and it associates you to a product, narrative or service. They don't cost too much, best way is get a graphics designer or illustrator to make you one. Probably costs around £100 for a good one.
Coaching and Facility Access to Train Clients
Obviously gyms are currently closed, it will take time for them to open. Even then, gyms may have reduced personal within the facility due to reducing the spread or risk of COVID - 19. Here are a few ways you can over come this and make profit.
1. Use Publicly Accessible Parks - massive green spaces, free to use, quiet in the mornings and nights so good for small group training such as;
- Beginner running group - running through trails in green spaces is always a nice feeling and is fun.
- Walking group - casual, easy exercise for those who are starting their exercise journey. Parks are great way to help keep people moving. Not too taking or invasive to those who are nervous about making the first steps in a positive lifestyle change.
- Training for 5 km runs - always a popular avenue for people to get into fitness. Training for a 5 km is linked to a charity event. One could approach the charity and offer your services at a discounted rate to the Charity to train its runners. Then a percentage of your profits go to the Charity itself. Don't expect to make a larger profit, use it as a great way to market you and the business.
2. Use Publicly Accessible Running Tracks: unsure to the readers in the States or other nations, over here in the UK, a lot of the running tracks are open to the public. This again adds a great way to train your clients. Group training involving circuits could be the following session;
- 2 teams of 5 clients all 2 meters apart from each other.
- Jog the bends of the track, sprint the straights - some farltek training (Swedish Word meaning speed play)
- As they run round the track there could be different stations which they do an exercise for x amount of reps then run again.
- Alternatively, on the bends the coach could blow his/her whistle to indicate a speed change or an exercise change. e.g. 1 whistle blow = high knees, 2 whistle blows = squats, 3 whistle blows = press ups, 4 whistle blows = heel flicks etc
The same would go for the following places as well;
- Publicly Accessibly Beaches
- Publicly accessible Gyms in Parks (these are the purpose built exercise machines in parks)
- Publicly Accessible Forests
Doesn't cost you anything to use the if they are free and opens an array of venues for you train at for you and your clients.
Personal development for you the Trainer/Coach
Now I am not talking about how good your forearm strength has gotten over the last 10 weeks. I am talking about, what have you learned, what are you currently learning, what are you trying to learn and why are you learning it?
Here is my suggestions;
1. Do some Online Courses
Can always challenge and test yourself on new topics to be better!
2. Watch or Read content that will help you!
Same as before, never too old to pick up a book and ingest information.
3. Write new workout plans for New and Existing Clients
This is a great time to re brand your programming layout and educational side of delivering your sessions. How is your workouts laid out? Piece of paper? Move to Word? If you have been using Word, try Excel. Reflecting on your presentation skills is a good way be more professional and keeps you on your toes.
From an exercise perspective you can always go back and see where you can make improvements. This may be;
- How can the warm up be better
- How the cool down be better
- How can the mobility/yoga session be more challenging
- How can the rugby team fitness session be more challenging
- How can I be a better communicator
Ask yourself these questions ^^^^^
4. Think Long Term not Short Term
Best example I can think of is, instead of clients paying for one off sessions or programs. Sign them up to 6 or 9 or 12 month programs. They are making an investment in you, you are also making an investment into them. The more time you spend coaching/working with them, the quicker they are going to hit their goals and see progress.
One off sessions aren't going to be the bread and butter of your earnings. So why set up your earnings in the same way.
Do not just rely on 1-1, small group sessions or boot camps. Advertise yourself out to schools, colleges, universities or local sports teams. Create additional revenue for yourself.
5. Digitize your Business:
- Move from paper receipts to online receipts - PayPal have a free platform to operate this one as an example
- Use an online calendar for your appointments and book in sessions with your clients. Have this an option from your website/social media pages. E.g. you have 2-3 hours free on Friday, you make a post saying you will be able for 15 minute consultations during this time period (across your social media). Attached to the post is a "call to action button" or a booking button for people to book. Easy way to save time and be proactive in getting more clients.
- Adverts on Facebook for your business (or other social media platforms)
- Be present on other organisations such as local councils, local businesses or family social media accounts as well. Imagine viewing your community as a tree, try and be part of every branch of that tree.
- Google Ad Words, however these are extremely competitive and may be out of some price range.
- Get to grips with using video editing software so you can help promote yourself
- Same goes for cameras and picture editing
- Instead of using paper forms use Google Doc Questionnaires or Survey Monkey to collect data on clients such as Pre Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ)
- Offer more than just training to your clients, perhaps nutritional guidance, injury rehabilitation, sports massage, sports specific training etc Be the full package not half of what they wanted. Tell your story, don't let them ask you the question they need to know before they decide if you are the coach for you.
That is my advice for helping all the trainers and coaches out there come the end of the Lock-down
Hope you found this helpful and useful
Let me know what you think in the comments
Thanks!
Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog
I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.
Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.
I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.
My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.
My most recent publications:
My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.
Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.
I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.
I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.
I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,
in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.
Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)
Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness
Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting
Snapchat: @andypowerlifter
Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278
