How To Stand Out As A Personal Trainer

When starting out in the fitness industry, it is important to know how to stand out as a personal trainer as you’re entering a competitive, yet rewarding career. To become the best personal trainer that you can be, read our tips on how to stand out from the crowd and find your loyal clients.

In this article we will cover 12 tips to help you to stand out as a personal trainer so you can prepare yourself and your business and build a healthy client list.

If you’re still waiting to become a qualified personal trainer, head over to our personal training course page to find which course best suits you. If you're already qualified, check out our level 5 personal training courses to see how you can progress in your career.

Or, you can download our course prospectus here to browse through all of our PT courses and further advancement opportunities.

12 Tips On How To Stand Out As A Personal Trainer

#1 Find Your Niche

When starting out as a personal trainer, it is always a good idea to find a niche. For personal trainers, a niche is a particular area of fitness that you either specialise in, are more educated in (i.e. you have a specific qualification), or simply an area that the marketing of your business is targeted towards.

Finding the right niche is really important as it plays a huge role in what makes a personal trainer stand out as a health professional, and what makes clients come to you as opposed to your competitors.

A good recommendation for finding your niche is to ensure that it is an area that interests you, and one that resonates and aligns with your motives. 

To understand this more clearly, we’re going to refer to the popular niche of pre and post-natal personal training as an example.

So, our example niche is often pursued by female personal trainers who have had children or struggled with pelvic floor issues. A lot of women pursue this niche after benefiting from personal training pre or post-pregnancy, or after realising that their struggles with pelvic floor issues could have been resolved, had they been assisted by a personal trainer.

For these personal trainers, training women throughout their pregnancy and helping them through the months after, is something that they are truly passionate about and enjoy doing.

Not to mention, having a niche and being a ‘specialist’ in this area (or any other area of the industry) means that you can charge more for your services, boosting your income.

Having a niche is also one of the most effective ways to stand out as a personal trainer due to the authenticity that becomes apparent. A personal trainer with a clear goal, story, and motive is going to stand out from the crowd and be the perfect pick for anybody looking to find a trainer with their special interest in mind. 

Some other examples of a popular niche are: triathlete training, physique competition coaching, becoming a nutritionist, and rehabilitation training - these are typically GP referral clients. 

Find out more about our exercise referral course here.

#2 Be Authentic

If you’re looking at inspirational personal trainers, and asking the question - how do you make your personal trainer service stand out? You may find that they have taken the time to build transparent authenticity, allowing them to create a trustworthy brand image.

It is vital that you show that you care about your clients wellbeing and that they are not simply a money making mechanism for you. This way, you will find that clients become loyal, you will build great relationships with them, leading to positive word of mouth - a brilliant way to grow your business! 

With so many personal trainers looking to be successful, you must go the extra mile and have a sociable, approachable attitude on the gym floor.  

Many people who are looking for ways to stand out as a personal trainer begin their journey in a commercial gym. If this is the position you are currently in, be sure to approach gym goers and be confident, this allows your authenticity to shine through and helps you to create a client base. 

This kind of behaviour promotes authenticity by the potential clients being able to see the persona behind the brand, which is particularly helpful if you lack in areas of online marketing. With so many personal trainers to choose from, you must give a potential client reason to trust you, the only way to do this is by being transparent and confirming if you can help them reach their goals.

If you’re wondering how does your personal trainer service stand out when you’re just beginning your journey, authenticity is especially vital at this stage. For example, you need to ensure that your price point reflects your experience, clients will only be disappointed if they pay for a service you simply cannot provide yet, in turn circulating bad word of mouth and overall negative brand awareness.

#3 Tell Your Story

Keeping authenticity in mind, one way to achieve this, as well as credibility, is by telling your story. Explain why you became a personal trainer, what motivates you - for example, is there a particular instance that made you want to help others?

For some, there might not be a turning point that pushed their decision to become a personal trainer, however there are always things to talk about in terms of why you want to help others. That can be down to a related feeling of losing a certain amount of weight and wanting to help others do the same, or just always feeling the drive to work with people in a sociable setting. 

Whatever it may be, let it be known, whether you write it on a webpage, social media platform, or even your own blog. Telling a back story not only helps your authenticity, but also allows for potential clients to feel relatable and think if you can reach goals, so can they.

If you’re still unsure about a career as a PT, read our article ‘should I become a personal trainer?’ here for all the reasons why you should take the first step. 

#4 Never Stop Learning

Becoming a personal trainer means hard work and determination, even if that means just taking the personal training qualification.

However, to get the edge on your competition, you can take advanced courses that enhance your knowledge in the fitness field. They will also show clients your dedication to your professional development, and therefore your commitment to being at the top of your game for them.   

What are some of these courses? Some of the most popular include:

• Level 4 Sports Massage Therapy
• Level 5 Obesity & Weight Management 
• Level 5 Advanced Sport Nutrition 

Moreover, you can take advantage of having further qualifications by being able to offer more services and thus, make more money to reinvest into your business and make it stand out from the rest. For example, you could create offers for clients to receive a sports massage with the booking of a personal training session, an attractive offer for you, and the client. 

Overall consistent learning is a good way to stand out as a personal trainer and boast more knowledge, ultimately making your business more valuable and reliable. 

Want to know more about what makes a personal trainer stand out? Once we’re done here, read all about what makes a good personal trainer in this article.

#5 Show Results

When considering how to stand out as a personal trainer, it is important to recognise that result galleries are a driving factor for clients to want to get on board. Clients typically look for people who they can relate to, in order to see if they can achieve similar results. 

It is for this reason that results galleries make you stand out from the crowd by displaying your expertise and showing what can be achieved with your help, particularly if you have long-term clientele. 

It is a good idea to ask clients if they would like to have their fitness journey documented from the first day. This way, you can show the speed in which they reached their goal, the diets they used and show how you can help anybody reach their goals.

However, those wondering how to stand out as a personal trainer are likely to be people who are starting out in the industry. That's why it is helpful and important for your business to work on a results gallery from the minute you are able to start operating as a personal trainer.

This could mean working on family members, friends, even working for free or at a heavily discounted price in order to build up results galleries and in turn, stand out from other personal trainers in your area. 

#6 Be Professional

Professionalism is key to understanding the various ways to stand out as a personal trainer. You are the face of a brand, and therefore you must act professionally in the gym environment, online and socially. 

Being professional isn't just a facade, you must behave this way with clients and keep relationships with colleagues and clients at a happy medium. This means being sociable, friendly and helpful, without crossing boundaries. 

Keeping your business professional means that you can build a brand, it opens doors to the likes of partnerships and sponsors, particularly if you have a professional social media presence. This takes investment, such as commissioning a logo or hiring a marketing professional to help grow your business.

Learning how to stand out as a personal trainer means practicing business etiquette in order to show potential clients that you are organised, professional, reliable, and trustworthy.

For example, ensure that your consultation process is seamless, by being punctual, having the correct documents, and making the client feel at ease. Afterall, it's during this process that they may share sensitive data like medical conditions, therefore they need to be confident that you can keep the information safe and confidential.

#7 Learn About Business

Getting business savvy is among the most important ways to stand out as a personal trainer. Many personal trainers overlook the importance of marketing themselves well, however, it is an absolute necessity in a field where there is so much competition. 

Displaying your success is a great way of standing out, and the only way to achieve this is by learning the ins and outs of business and how to make yours prosper. 

Learning about business can also help you to avoid tax mishaps or marketing flops, instead, you can stand out as an individual who can market professionally and be trusted to provide an exceptional personal training experience.

After you’ve researched which of the above is best for you, the next step is to create a well structured price bracket. Clients will appreciate a confirmed structure and it will make you stand out if they don’t have to search for hours for a price. 

Having good business practice also circulates positive word of mouth; the last thing you want when trying everything to find out how to stand out as a personal trainer is potential clients hearing negative comments about your business. So, get business savvy and allow for your business to stand out from PT’s who lack in this area. 

For more personal training career resources, read our articles below:

• How to Write a Personal Trainer Bio
• Skills of a Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Guide
• How to Become an Online Personal Trainer

#8 Formulate Branding 

You may be wondering why you need to consider branding when trying to discover what makes a personal trainer stand out as a health professional, but we’re here to tell you that this is a vital step that can help you succeed.

Branding is exactly what leaves a memorable impression on a potential client. It reflects all of the aforementioned areas such as professionalism, business etiquette and authenticity. Most of all, it is a chance to design how you want to be perceived by the public.

Though branding can seem like a broad term, it collectively encompasses key areas that make you stand out. Moreover, it includes the visual identity of the brand, which is typically the most memorable aspect.

Assets such as logos, webpages, and adverts for your business are all aspects that make your personal training business stand out. However, it must be done correctly, as if done incorrectly, can pose more damage to your brand than not formulating it at all. 

It is a good recommendation to hire an external service to help brand your business if you feel unable to do so otherwise. This ensures that your branding does not look lazy or unprofessional, as after all, this is reflecting your service and the first thing potential clients will find. 

#9 Utilise Social Media

As we all know, social media is a great catalyst for driving a business to success. A good social media presence makes you look present, contactable and professional. 

Not only this, but you can share engagement with clients, display their progress and congratulate new comers to your service. Social media allows for exclusivity for clients, they can be a part of the team and even get involved in friendly competition between other clients.

Social media features are also what makes personal trainer service stand out, examples include story highlights, grid posts and even live streams. All of these and more ensure that you can have vital information on your social media page such as prices, location and FAQs for anybody interested.

Social media platforms also allow for reviews, so people can see how past clients respond to your service. This is a great way to get honest reflection and create a trustworthy rapport with potential clients.

Moreover, you can stand out with tailored content, directed at your target audience. Through business tools on popular social media platforms, you can identify your demographic audience profile and see the kinds of people who interact with your page. Therefore, you can make tailored content to really make yourself stand out to the people who matter most.

However do note, to stand out, you want to have top content. Make people want to follow you and opt for you as a personal trainer, share results often and keep up to date with any direct messages, as this is one of the first points of contact for many potential clients.

#10 Give Back To Clients

Conducting competitions and giving back to clients are both great ways to encourage loyalty and conversion. Most of all, it makes you stand out from the rest as you have the incentive of reward when clients join your team.

One of the great ways to stand out as a personal trainer is to run competitions. You can set monthly challenges for clients to compete for a prize. An example of this could be challenging clients on who can do the most steps in the month, and this is where your further educational courses could come in handy.

You could advertise that whoever wins would be granted with a free sports massage session - you can find our sports massage course here. This is a great way to give back to clients for simple daily tasks, ones that aren't strenuous but still drive that extra motivation, all the while creating a community between clients.

Displaying appreciation for clientele doesn't need to be costly either, social media is a great way to advertise successions and simply give back to clients with words. It helps to make you stand out as a personal trainer who is invested in the clients’ health and wellbeing, and somebody who cares about helping people make progress. 

#11 Make A Website

Many personal trainers miss out on gaining more recognition and thus more clients through having a website. A professional web page is a great solution to trying to find out how to stand out as a personal trainer, it can grant you traffic from other locations other than just your local area.

Webpages are a great way to stand out from other personal trainers due to the plethora of information you can put on your page. This can be a hub for information such as your location and price points, and it can also be a place to run a blog or have an area that is all about you.

The personality that comes with being a personal trainer must be of a certain standard. Clients want to know the type of person they are hiring and therefore, it is important to show them who you are on a profile and what your story is.

Ultimately, a web page is the perfect place for selling yourself on why they should choose you to help them on their fitness journey. It also makes you stand out by demonstrating professionalism and dedication to your brand through features, such as a booking system that makes clients' experience seamless.

Finally, you can reach many more people with a successful website. Hiring an SEO partner could help you to be found on Google so you can be found by those who may not have social media, making you stand out from the rest who may not have thought about this route to success.

#12 Be Accessible

Being a personal trainer means being accessible for clients, or potential clients, so that they can easily get in touch. It is a factor that is one of the most important ways to stand out as a personal trainer as clients, new or loyal, should be able to reach you whenever they need to.

Stand out by having a readily available phone number that can be contacted or an email address. You can even make it abundantly clear that you can be contacted through social media direct messages. 

To really make a stance and show how you are the best personal trainer to opt for, you could even set up a live chat box on your webpage that makes getting back to a client's query as prompt as possible.

So, being able to stand out as a personal trainer who gets back to clients promptly, and has readily available contact information will certainly be a great tip to get you standing out as the personal trainer to opt for!

#13 Promote Wellness 

What makes a personal trainer stand out as a health professional is the level of wellness guidance that must come with the physical training. This may sound broad, but a great way to stand out from the rest is to show that you don’t just train your clients, but you promote a lifestyle change that is worth their investment.

Training is one thing, however, influencing a healthier diet and wellness routine is something that clients will want to take away from their sessions and embed into their life. Therefore, you should take into consideration things such as a sports nutrition course that can help you advance in your field, so you can promote wellness coaching with the correct education behind you. 

Overall, promoting wellness is a great selling point, it helps you stand out by displaying your dedication to the lifestyle change, and revealing your motive behind wellness guidance can be a unique way to stand out from the crowd.

FAQs

How Do I Find My First Personal Training Client?

Finding your first personal training client can seem daunting at first, especially trying to find out how to stand out as a personal trainer with little or no experience. So to find your first personal training client, a good tip is to begin your journey in a commercial gym.

Many big brand gyms hire personal trainers to either be on an employed or self employed basis. This means that you could be exposed to thousands of gym goers and come across potential clients daily. 

You should make use of this environment and make yourself known, take classes and get to know the regular gym goers. While starting out, invest in things like business cards or flyers and leave them in the changing rooms of the gym or simply hand them out. First impressions are everything so be positive and make yourself approachable in the gym.

How Do I Start A Personal Training Business?

Starting a personal training business is a big step, however it is one that is going to be incredibly rewarding. The starting point is taking a personal training course, typically a personal training diploma, which is a great way to start if you have no prior qualifications.

This course gets you industry ready, so you can begin working in a gym the minute you complete the course, so long as you have everything you need such as insurance.  After you have completed your course, apply to start in your first gym, build up an online presence and begin to put yourself out there as a brand. 

Before You Go…

Now, you should have everything you need to become a successful personal trainer and stand out from the masses. We have granted you with the tools from qualifications you should take, to the marketing tips that will help you be the one that clients flock to. 

So, don’t forget to take our tips on board whether you are a current PT with a lack of clientele or a newbie trying to dive into the industry. If you’re already a personal trainer looking to stand out, take a look at our level 4 personal training course where you can up your game in the fitness sector. Or, download our prospectus here to browse through all of our courses.