The number of people using online workout programs to improve their health and fitness is increasing exponentially. Online fitness training has been around for a while, but its fame boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has slowed down since then.
The fitness industry is embracing the online fitness training market through technology. Selling online training content allows you to invade the crowded marketplace beyond your immediate locale and makes your service accessible to a global client base.
The fitness industry is incredibly competitive, with countless people trying to break into it.
Which might leave you wondering how to sell fitness programs online.
This blog is a guide on how to sell fitness programs online for fitness enthusiasts or influencers.
Table of Contents
Can you sell personal training online without being certified?
Becoming an online fitness influencer doesn’t require a special qualification. In the digital era, where the creator economy is booming, a creator who works in the fitness niche has a lot of scope to build a career and make a living.
But do you need certifications to sell workout plans?
While it isn’t mandatory, if you are looking for how to make money as a fitness influencer, you definitely want to boost your capabilities and trustworthiness by earning a valid certification.
Here are some of the qualifications you can earn to boost your profile as a fitness influencer or an online fitness coach.
National academy of sports Medicine (NASM)
NASM is one of the popular fitness qualifications worldwide. Over 1.4 million fitness professionals around the world hold the qualification from NASM, which offers relevant education in science-based fitness training and nutrition.
International Sports Science Association (ISSA)
ISSA is the training course that awards a personal training certificate and an Associate degree in exercise science to the participants.
American Council on Exercise (ACE)
ACE offers certification for medical exercise specialists, personal trainers and group fitness instructors.
How do you sell fitness programs online?
It can be a fantastic way for personal trainers, fitness bloggers, or even fitness influencers to earn extra income or even run a full-time business.
But how does it actually work, and where should you begin?
Let’s explore the steps of creating an online personal training business.
Come up with an idea
The first step of selling fitness programs online is to develop a great idea, including your fitness niche and offerings.
When starting out, you need to have an idea of what you want to create.
But if you don’t know, here are some prompts to help you come up with one:
- What is your specialty in fitness?
- What do you have experience in?
- Which types of clients do you get the best results?
- What do you love coaching?
- What do clients ask you about most?
- Identify a gap in the market or clients who are underserved.
- Can you offer better services than your competitors?
- Which fitness trends are you most interested in?
Finding answers to these questions will help you come up with initial program ideas.
You will have to develop them further into something more defined. For that, think about the following.
- What are the goals of your fitness programs?
- What results your clients will achieve by completing it?
- Who is your target audience?
- How much time will it take?
What are all the benefits associated with it?
Often, the best-selling fitness plans target a very niche audience with specific goals like improving performance in a specific sport or attaining a designated goal. The niche you select must be the one in which you have a lot of experience training people. Perhaps you are already training clients for these goals in one-to-one sessions or group sessions.
Determine your business model
At this point, you must already know what type of programs you would be selling. Now, coming to your monetization strategy, you must decide whether you are going to offer fitness training on a per-purchase or as a subscription service.
Selling fitness programs as a one-time purchase
Selling fitness programs online as a one-time purchase is a simple business model you can adopt. When you follow this model, customers know exactly what they are signing up for and can make a one-time payment to access the program. You can also sell your training programs online on an hourly payment basis.
But the business model also holds some cons like limited customer engagement, limited revenue stream and limited upselling opportunities.
Selling fitness programs as a subscription
Selling fitness programs online offers an ongoing revenue stream for the business. Clients pay a recurring fee to access the program, which can provide a more stable income over time.
This business model also encourages ongoing customer engagement and interaction, which can lead to a stronger relationship with clients and build a loyal customer base.
A subscription model offers opportunities to upsell customers on additional products and services like personal training or fitness coaching.
That said, the subscription business model also has some cons like difficulty retaining customers, pressure for regular content updates, cancellation and refund etc.
So, what business model to choose when selling fitness programs online? Well, you can either choose between one or offer both of these options in your online training platform.
Create your fitness program
So, how do you sell personal training online and make it really sell? How do personal trainers make workout plans?
To begin with, create an outline of your fitness plan that elaborates on the program’s content.
Think about which format would be the best for delivering your content to your clients. There are different options to choose from, which are as follows.
- Email course.
- Video workouts.
- Training program in PDF or eBook guide.
- Online course as pre-recorded or live content.
The format of your training programs comes down to your personal needs and the needs of your audience.
The most significant part of a workout plan is its programs. Ultimately, this is for what clients are buying your training program for.
Besides main content, you must also offer additional content to your workout plans to build extra value to your plans and set them apart from other training programs available in the market.
Here’s how you can add more value to your training programs:
- Nutritional plans.
- Meal plans, shopping lists, etc.
- Fitness calculators.
- Progress tracking charts.
- FAQ section.
Here are some of the approaches you can adopt to create your program content:
Workout videos: Use your smartphone or a camera and a tripod to record workout videos in landscape mode.
Fitness courses: Create a training program presentation in Google Slides or PowerPoint to record yourself presenting it and save the file as a video.
Fitness eBooks: Draft your text-based courses in Google Docs or Microsoft Word with pictures. If required, you can add relevant images and diagrams and save the file as PDF.
Set up an online training website
It’s time to make your workout programs available online. The best way to sell personal training online is to sell it through your own online training website.
If you set up your own platform, you can sell directly to your audience and enjoy more control this way.
Fanso makes it really easy to do this, even if you aren’t tech–savvy.
You can build an online training website to sell fitness programs online; it simplifies scheduling one-to-one training sessions and group classes, handling customer payments and automatically delivering the program to your clients.
Branding is one of the most important aspects of your fitness training website. Your brand differentiates you from your competitors and gives you your individual identity.
Fanso helps you customize your fitness training platform in your own branding as you get to own the source code.
Promote and sell fitness programs online
The final step is to promote and sell your online workout programs.
Here are some of the most effective methods you can follow:
Google ads
Target relevant keywords, and your ads will come up when your target audience looks up for keywords associated with your training programs.
Blog posts
Use blogs to educate your target clients about the advantages of your fitness training, create interest in it, and give answers to common questions and concerns.
Social media reels and live videos
Leverage reels and live videos to boost engagement, and this is an effective way to promote your fitness programs.
Email funnels
Provide freebies with your welcome emailers to generate the best quality leads and convert them to your clients.
Social media advertising
Leverage social media to find your target audience by running targeted ads on relevant keywords.
Testimonials
Use client reviews and testimonials on your website, social media, sales page and wherever you promote your fitness training business.
Conclusion
Online fitness coaching remains a profitable and growing industry. So, there is no better time than now to start building your fitness business. Help your clients reach their fitness goals with the help of Fanso. If you would like to sell your online workout plans, contact us to get started.