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It’s-Not-About-You!

/ Mark A Nutting / 1 Comment

Once again, I feel the need to remind fitness professionals that Facebook and IG pics and videos that show themselves in their intense, half naked glory is not driving new members to their business. “Look at me! Look at how good I look! Look how driven I am. Train with me if you want to look as phenomenal as I do.” (That’s only a little bit exaggerated.)

I’m not saying they don’t get a lot of likes and comments. People like to look at great bodies and insane workouts (while sitting on their sofas at home). However, do they think, “Yeah, I want that person to be my trainer.”? It’s not as likely as you may think.

First, a spectacular body can be very intimidating. It can make people feel that unless they reach that pinnacle, they are losers. The thoughts of, “I could never reach that.” is constantly at play in their head.

Second, photos or videos of intense workouts makes viewers think, “That’s just too hard!” and “I can’t do that!” Let’s face it, people were fascinated watching The Biggest Loser, but the images of overweight individuals working out so hard that they were sick or crying or both did not inspire that many people to start working out. Remember, 80% of the US population doesn’t get the prescribed amount of exercise and 70% are overweight or obese.

What inspires people are pictures of caring, kind personal trainers and people similar to them working out with doable exercises and intensities. In selecting photos or videos, think about your target market. Who are they? What do they want? Use media that represents them, not you. Because it’s just not about you.

Make Your Marketing Reflect Your Target Market

/ Mark A Nutting / Leave a comment

If you have a specific niche market (and you should), your marketing should reflect that market. There are two types of pictures that I see used in personal training, health club, and fitness studio marketing pieces that got me started on this topic.

Gym equipment

  1. Pictures of empty equipment. A picture of just equipment may show what you have for features, but doesn’t show who you serve. (How will people looking for a place to exercise determine that “people like me work out here”?) In fact, a photo of equipment only can be confusing and intimidating to those not familiar with the pieces.
  2. Inappropriate stock photos There’s a great deal of stock photos that, while they may be attractive photos with attractive models, do not reflect your target market.  Always ask yourself, “Are these people someone my target market will relate to?” young women lifting weights in class

boomer

Use your own staff and clients if you can, because, (of course) that would be the most representative. However, if that isn’t possible, be very selective when choosing a stock photo. Make sure it will allow your target market to make a connection with the people in the picture. (Note: all photos are stock from Canva.com)