“I want to know what people I should focus on when offering my training programs, but I don't know how to define it”
We have already encountered this phrase or question several times and seeing that it is frequent, we decided to create a short article so that defining the profile of your ideal customer (buyer persona) is no longer a headache. Before going directly to the steps to define it, we must first understand what “the ideal customer of your fitness business” means or as in Marketing they usually call it, “buyer persona”. Which is not the same as “target audience” or “target”, since these are more generic concepts than the first.
“What do you mean by the ideal customer profile of a fitness business?”
Well, all the concepts that we have mentioned before, in the end, refer to the same thing... to the profile or profiles of potential buyers of your product or service. These people have similar characteristics, where they all point to a single focus... needing your product or service for some reason. We will discover the reasons as we move forward in the 4 steps to define the ideal customer for your fitness business (which we will show you below), but first, you should know the following. When we talk about designing it, we refer to creating fictitious customer profiles that represent the type of buyer you want for your fitness business. Working on the profile of your ideal customer has many advantages, however, the main ones are:
- You can predict the focus and the number of messages you'll have to plan when creating content for your social networks
- It will allow you to see what media you'll need to be present in to reach them.
Now, let's look at the steps to define the ideal customer for your fitness business...
Step 1 - Collect information to help you define it
For this first point, you will need to collect all the information that defines your ideal customer profile. Grab a pen and paper and start filling in the fields that we have left you here for example:
- Age
- Sex
- Country and city of residence
- Relationship status or marital status (i.e., single or married).
- Purchasing power or social class
- Formation
- Profession
- Hobbies
- Lifestyle
- Interests
- Mode of consumption (online, in-person, both)
- Blogs or media that you follow
- What do you look at or search for on Google?
- Others...
Add all that extra data that you can think of, that is, write everything that comes to your mind as if you were that person, in the end this is about even detecting their emotions to know how to propose our proposal or sales message.
Step 2 - What problem do you need to solve?
People seek to meet their needs through products or services that adapt to them and to that specific problem they have. Therefore, knowing exactly what you are looking to solve will help you to refine your sales actions and your communication and marketing strategy. Do you lack time to train? , are you overweight? , do you have specific pain? , are you looking for training adapted to the post-partum period? , do you want to improve your diet? , do you need to meditate to better manage your daily routine?... Now you're sure to ask yourself, “OK, and how do I know what your problem is?” You have two options.
- You can use tools to help you collect this data, such as those shown in the following image.
- As we said at the beginning of this article, try to place yourself in the shoes of the profile of your ideal training client, to define that or those problems. Some useful tools for this are online or telephone surveys, interviews and studies or reports that we can find on the internet.
As you can see, the second option, although just as valid for creating that first buyer persona profile for your fitness business, is not as successful if you are looking to design perfect messages to attract customers that you really can and know how to help. In fact, we can tell you that, if you are a fitness and health professional who has been doing your training and/or nutrition business for some time, the second option is automatically canceled for you. Create surveys or forms for those who are already your customers and get related information from them. The problem that is most repeated among that sample of people you selected, will be the problem you should attack when you sit down to create your messages and actions to attract customers.
Step 3 - What are your objectives, goals and dreams
These three concepts have something in common... to achieve something positive either in the short or long term. At first glance, it seems that this third step is the same as the previous one, however, the problems or needs are usually more generic (a lot of daily back pain), while the objectives are more specific (correcting posture with specific daily exercises and including moments to train in the daily routine) .For example, they will surely define their objectives in a way similar to this:
- Get stronger to feel more attractive
- Lose 10 kg to feel better about your body
- Eat the right way to improve your health
- Learn to have exercise as a habit to make your daily routine more bearable
In fact, we already told you that this is very common, so they must work as a team to take this third step, since it is usually easy to express their problem or need but not know what exactly they should do to achieve it, in the end that's what you are there for, to help him!
Step 4 - Detect the things that influence your decisions
We all have reasons to move forward or not with something. There can be a thousand reasons why a potential customer fails to become our customer. For example,
- He has seen an advertisement for another coach on Instagram, which has attracted more attention
- Now he doesn't have the money to hire your services
- He has a cousin who usually goes to the gym and has told him that he can help him train.
- A friend told her that she has seen nutrition plans online that are good
- An advertisement for a gym appeared on his mobile phone and it attracted more attention than an online personal trainer.
Like these, there are a thousand more. They can be excuses or real reasons, anyway, the point is that you know how to use them to your advantage to create messages with a good sales pitch. Think about it, if you get ahead of his problem, you'll know what actions to take to make him decide to train with you. Let me give you one last example, following one of the above: Suppose that the person can't afford a subscription plan right now... In this case, you can offer them a free 7-day or 15-day trial to try out part of your services. This will generate in the person a desire to discover the rest of your services and of course, you will have created a routine that they will want to continue if they are already used to it. Of course, it depends on you that the free service you are giving them for trial is so striking that it manages to generate this desire to continue with you. Here we have deviated a little from the initial topic, but if you notice, all this data helps you both to attract new customers and to keep those who are already loyal. In conclusion, having the profile of your buyer persona will be the key to completing the sales strategy of your training business. With all the data you collected in the previous steps, it's time to create the profile of your ideal customer.
To conclude this article, here are 5 reasons why you should not hesitate to sit down and define, today, the ideal customer for your fitness business.
#1 You can create or improve your marketing strategy focusing on a specific customer profile, which will make it much easier for you to plan and set goals and objectives for your online training business.#2 You won't waste resources (especially time and money) in actions aimed at people who will not hire your services.#3 Your work and what you offer in general as a fitness and health professional, will respond perfectly to what your potential customers are looking for. #4 The more you know your target audience, the easier it will be for you to meet their needs, due to the fact that you will know in more detail what really worries him (your problems).#5 You will be able to correctly choose the right channels or means of communication (social networks) to talk to your potential customers. Remember that You must be where your ideal customer is.In short, you have enough reason not to overlook the creation of your buyer persona. Remember that if you don't respond to what people are really looking for, others will take advantage and attract more customers than you (not to mention other consequences). We don't want that to happen, do we? Well go for it team!!!!
Oh, but wait! To stand out from other personal trainers, you'll also need to have a tool for personal trainers capable of saving you time and effort in procedures that do not allow you to dedicate yourself 100% to your customers.
And guess what?
Here you have it!
