How to become an online personal trainer

Becoming an online
personal trainer is markedly different from being a personal trainer who
operates in a gym or client’s home.

Online personal
trainers have the entire Internet in front of them and aren’t as limited as
gym-based personal trainers in terms of geography, price range, and working
hours.

So, if you’re an
online personal trainer, the world is your oyster in terms of potential
clients. The issue is that it is for many other online personal trainers too.

They won’t all be reading this article, though! Here are our tips on how to become a successful online personal trainer, including insights from those who have made a career out of it.

Define your unique selling point

All personal
trainers, online or otherwise, must define their unique selling point. 

The difference is
in-house trainers can’t be too specific because they rely on local clients.
They might be the sole authority on a given subject in their area, but there might
not be enough people to make it commercially viable.

However, the
reverse is true when it comes to marketing yourself as an online personal
trainer. The Internet is limitless, which means there are far more prospective
client types than you would have access to in person.

Therefore, you
should be much more specific about how you target clients to stand out. If your
professional identity is too vague, you’ll be lost in a sea of competing
trainers, and clients are spoilt for choice already.

The best way to
distinguish yourself is through the services you offer, and for whom. 

You don’t just have
to be a fat-burning expert – you can be a fat-burning expert specialising in
clients with type 2 diabetes. In the grand scheme of things, you’re reaching
out to a very small sample of people with a specific demand, meaning it’s
easier to convert them into paying customers.

To decide on the
niche you wish to target, you should:

research your competitors identify a gap in the market do your research establish and market yourself as the go-to expert on that topic 

Dr Aishah Muhammad, an online personal trainer and founder of The Way To Weight Loss: “Have a niche and know who you are targeting. This allows you to create great content that speaks to the people you want to be training. It makes you an authority of knowledge, so people are more likely to pick you as a trainer than someone else.”

Related: The best niche fitness markets personal trainers can take advantage of

Earn client trust

As you’ll know, the
Internet is a minefield of scams and multi-level marketing schemes.

With online
personal training being mostly unregulated, prospective clients may be more
careful about investing in your programme. That’s why it’s vital to earn their
trust from the get-go.

Considering they’re
browsing your website looking for red flags, it’s a good idea to have your
credentials, reviews, and education front and centre to give them peace of
mind.

Take this testimonials
page from Sheffield PT Nick Screeton’s website as an example. There are
multiple testimonials from both in-person and online clients, alongside
progress photos that demonstrate the value of his services. 

Try to place
yourself in their position to pre-empt and dispel potential doubts. You’re only
telling the truth; the hard part is getting across your sincerity and passion
for your area of personal training. Make this implicit in your fitness programmes,
website, and social media channels.

The greatest
obstacle to enrolment is the impersonal nature of the online business model, so
do anything you can to reduce the gap. It’s worth integrating a live chat
feature on your website or offering free consultancies via Skype.

Related: How do I become a certified personal trainer online?

Understand client motive

Between Fitbit,
MyFitnessPal, Strava, and many other apps, there’s a wealth of technology
available to fitness professionals in the present day.. 

Even people’s
grandparents are keeping an eye on the number of steps they’ve taken each day.
You can see why online personal training is such a rapidly expanding industry.

What was an
analogue, face-to-face experience has gone digital, and this needs to be
reflected in the services you provide.

People could opt
for online personal training because they travel for work or work unsociable
hours, are short on time, or are socially anxious. They will have different
motives for using an online personal trainer, so you need to do your research
and show you understand them.

Affordability is
often another motivating factor for clients. Online personal trainers tend to
be better value for money than their in-house counterparts and usually provide
a wealth of additional resources.

Dr Aishah
Muhammad: “The traditional face-to-face way of training someone is
great and has its benefits, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Some can’t afford
a gym membership and a personal trainer, others may not have access to a gym
they feel comfortable in. Online personal training makes it much easier for
people to access fitness professionals who can help them with their
goals.”

Related: SEO tips for personal trainers

Play to the strengths of the format

Online personal
training offers a client much more flexibility and convenience than traditional
in-house gym training. Moreover, online personal trainers can provide a range
of online-accessible materials for their clients that in-house personal
trainers simply can’t.

While you might not
be with your client at the gym or in their home, there are advantages to going
digital. 

Hammer home these
advantages by providing an active and exhaustive archive of:

video tutorials infographicsvlogstestimoniesnutritional adviceexercise routinesequipment recommendations

Providing a digital
service isn’t only of benefit to your clients, though. It’s also of benefit to
you. 

You’ll have access
to further marketing insights and opportunities via social media, mailing
lists, SEO and web traffic analytics by being based online. 

There are several
purpose-built personal trainer apps that you can use to monitor your client’s
progress, such as My
PT Hub or PT Distinction. Not only are these useful for managing your
business, but they’re also invaluable when scaling it. 

Software allows you
to handle an endless number of clients and automate your business, saving you
time and increasing your income tenfold when used alongside an effective
marketing strategy. 

There’s a logical
synergy between fitness technology and your online fitness service. Together,
this will provide a comprehensive personal trainer experience that sets you
apart from the others.

Dr Aishah
Muhammad: “My advice to online personal trainers is to create
plenty of free content, whether that is through a blog, podcast, YouTube or
social media, so your potential clients can see that you are serious and have
value to offer.”

Related: What is a typical personal trainer salary in 2022?

Market yourself effectively

Marketing is more
than gaining a huge following across your social media channels and signing up
tons of online clients. 

While this may work
for some, it’s certainly no way to market a sustainable business model. The
façade of those who use false information to snare more followers is crumbling,
thanks to the rise of a few online PTs who are honest and straight with their
audience. 

Transparency always
wins. If you want to become a successful online personal trainer, you should
adopt this in your marketing strategy. 

Aside from the
personality you wish to get across in your marketing strategy, you also want to
establish where your audience is and get your content in front of them. 

While SEO and blogging are great ways to market your services, they
could be less useful to you in comparison to platforms like TikTok and Instagram, if that’s
where your audience spends their time. 

So, you should
always keep your target client base in mind when creating your marketing
strategy, as this is the only way to make it effective. 

To make this easier for you, here’s a useful example of an online personal trainer who has structured his business around his online marketing strategy. 

As you can see, Sean Casey (@scaseyfitness on TikTok) uses a transparent, no-nonsense approach to relate to his audience. 

He shares free
fitness tips and macro-friendly recipes on the platform, which ticks the box of
offering genuine value to potential clients for free to introduce them to his business. 

He also regularly
calls out fitness influencers who lie to their followers, further building
rapport and trust with those who follow him. 

This extremely
effective marketing strategy has gained him 2.1m followers on TikTok
alone. 

He did this using
only his smartphone, the ingredients he uses to prepare his meals, and his own
knowledge and research. He’s a great example of an online PT with a successful
marketing strategy, as he built a huge client base without a ridiculous budget
or by hiring an agency to do it for him. 

It all boils down
to building a brand and persona that potential clients trust and doing so
within your niche. Casey targeted those who want to lose weight with a
macro-friendly diet and don’t want to follow advice from fitness influencers
trying to exploit them, which certainly worked!

Related: Biggest personal trainer marketing mistakes 

Know your stuff

Being thorough and
knowledgeable will only enhance your professional reputation and career
prospects in the long run.

Without this solid
foundation, no amount of marketing, online presence or reach will make you successful.
Clients will detect your level of knowledge and commitment and drop your
training service if they’re dissatisfied.

Go above and beyond
for them. Don’t cut corners—plan bespoke fitness routines that deliver tangible
results. Demonstrating that you know what you’re talking about is the simplest
way to give your clients confidence in your business.

Make sure they know
they’re valued as individuals and not being given a cookie-cutter training
programme. It would be best if you showed you’re as invested in their fitness
as they are, as they need to feel that.

It would help if
you kept up to date with your chosen area of focus by researching it in your
spare time and following any relevant channels on social media. If they’re
relevant to your niche, you could even take some personal trainer continued professional development courses. 

You can share
anything new you learn with your client base and establish yourself as the
go-to expert in your field. 

Becoming an online personal trainer can be risky without the right insurance. Why risk losing everything you’ve worked so hard to build? 

With Insure4Sport, you’ll
receive bespoke online personal trainer insurance that covers
you to teach up to 30 clients online in one-to-one sessions. Pre-recorded
sessions are also covered, which are important for scaling your online
business. 

We also offer
Public Liability and Professional Indemnity cover from just £38.49 per year to
protect you in the event a client injures themselves as a result of your advice
or instruction and goes on to make a claim. 

So, what are you waiting for? If you’re not already covered, click the button below to get an instant online quote.