This time of year brings about a wave of new fitness enthusiasts and business owners. The crowd in which you are sending out your message has grown drastically overnight and competition is high. Having a solid plan going forward in 2021 will set you apart from other fitness professionals advertising how they'll help clients get fit, stay fit, & live a healthy lifestyle.

CLIENT AVATAR

"If you're trying to talk to everyone, you're not going to have the quality connections.  You're going to waste resources, time and energy trying to scream out to the masses.  That's what happens when you don't visualize and create a very specific consumer avatar."

One of the most important things you can do for your business is to ID your ideal client (or consumer avatar.) Knowing my avatar helps create a foundation for everything I do in my business - from writing a social media post, producing this podcast, speaking at a public engagement, taking on a client, and more. When you do not identify your avatar, you'll find yourself screaming to an entire gym or online forum full of people wanting to learn about fitness - many of which are not your ideal client. You will spend countless extra dollars advertising to the wrong crowd. You need to be reaching the crowd that will be devoted past January - not those who will throw in the towel by the beginning of next month. Take a moment to dream up your avatar. This will serve as the base audience you're trying to reach and can be tailored for the different products/services you offer. What do they look like?  How old are they?  What do they do on the weekends?  Do they go to a gym or workout at home? Are they new fitness lovers or experienced gurus?  Go ahead and give them a name. I call mine "Jane." Your "Jane" will serve as your target audience. This doesn't mean you disregard anyone who doesn't fall into your perfect "Jane", but you are focusing on Jane, and if you catch an Erin while you're looking for Jane, that is okay!  Having a blueprint of your ideal consumer helps keep you focused on those who will want to hear what you have to say. One of my favorite ways to identify someone as my ideal client is to run ads including a photo of me in ripped jeans, a pair of heels, and a black blazer making a funny face. This is a visual representation of myself - creative lawyer and entrepreneur - it conveys emotion, but it also repels people that would not be interested in my type of personality. Do you see what I did there? I cut out the noise created by people who aren't interested in what I offer. This tactic has worked especially well when reaching fitness professionals on my social media by posting photos of runs with my pup, favorite gear, etc. Now that you have an example of my client avatar and a place to begin with your own, let's grab a pen, a notebook (you're going to need one for this journey we're on!) and your favorite drink.  Click here when you're ready to get started creating your consumer avatar.

UNIQUE SERVING PROPOSITION

"I’m all about serving over selling. The reason I got into entrepreneurship was so I could serve to help others. They could have real business, real life; have a real business to sustain and support the real life."

Once you've identified your consumer avatar it's time to take the next step of organizing your business: evaluating your unique serving proposition. Providing a service atmosphere instead of a selling one is critical, especially in the fitness world. It's easy to tell your clients how to workout - everyone on TikTok is willing to give out that information - but finding what sets you aside from all the other trainers/fitness pros is where you'll set your business apart from the rest.

SIMPLIFY

"Here’s the deal, yes, systems are great, strategy is awesome, but at the end of the day it’s all about really who you are, how you put yourself out there, what you put out, and how you package it."

Step 3 in setting your business up for success in 2021 is to simplify your business.  Yes, I said simplify. Your audience has a very specific goal in mind when they come to you, and you must provide it for them. It's really that SIMPLE. As fitness experts we often think we must cater to everyone in the industry - the mom just starting out, the body builder with years of experience and the professional athlete training - but you do not. Repeat after me:  I will not attract everyone.  I cannot offer everything. Your focus should be on the clients that you want to attract and not everyone in the fitness industry. Realistically, we can’t serve everyone and make everyone happy.  In the end, you must serve YOUR purpose, and by doing this, you’ll see your client list grow because you’re finally connecting with your ideal audience.

MARKETING

"You've got to have a runway with content, connection, messaging, branding, all that tie in and go through the lens of this formula."

Now that you've found your ideal client, how you'll serve clients in the best way possible, + simplified your business, you're ready to start marketing. Our instinct is to start hitting clients in the face with your new plan, but we need to take a breath and plan. Fitness enthusiasts are bombarded daily with offerings to buy new products, subscribe to new memberships, and hop on all the latest trends. You want your business to be different. Your clients need to be led down a methodical path to the ultimate destination of purchasing your product or hiring you as their fitness expert. Start with determining if you want to market in a monthly or quarterly basis. Once you've decided on your "touchpoints" you will use those to walk your clients through solutions to their fitness dilemmas, create branding touchpoints and share how you are going to serve them differently than other fitness experts. Grab a piece of paper, and write down a list of your months or quarters, then pick a theme for each, along with a product/service you want to feature, and what your call to action is going to be. Decide on the main message you wish to share. You're done!  Simple, right?  You've just completed the marketing path you're going to lead your client along as we move forward in 2021.