5 Steps to Gain More Clients By Solving Niche Fitness Problems

You’re a fitness professional, and you know how to get people in really great shape. Once your clients are working with you, improving their fitness is rarely the problem.

However, the problem you may face in growing your business is finding people with the motivation to make that life change.

Does this sound like you?

This article is a quick 5-step guide to creating fitness programs that specifically target niche groups by solving problems unique to their lifestyle.

Step 1: Rebrand, Don’t Rebuild

I have two 4-week courses that I offer online: "Scrawny To Brawny" and "Female Strength and Fat Loss." The first targets people who go to the gym but can never seem to build muscle. The second is for women who want to lose weight more effectively.

The truth is, even thought these programs sound completely different, the content in each is very similar. There is no need to develop a completely new fitness schedule when you are building a course. If your base product is solid, just make a few tweaks so it's inline with your stated goal. Then, put all your effort into changing the way the course is presented.

These two programs look completely different, but in reality very similar content has simply been rebranded to solve different people's problems.

In this example, I found most women generally don’t train to put on a lot of muscle. Therefore, my "Scrawny to Brawny" course is solving a problem that 50% of my potential customers don’t have. They are more likely to want to lose weight and possibly increase their strength.

I know that I have put together a solid and effective 4-week course that will provide results. So, it makes more sense for me to tweak what I already have and change the presentation than start from scratch.

Step 2: Find Your Niche Problem

To fix a problem, you first have to identify it.

For a good portion of your client base, their impulse to get fit and start working out is going to be motivated by something specific.

Some people are motivated by upcoming events like getting in shape for their wedding. For others, it might be seasonal, looking to shed the winter kilos to get their body beach-ready. And some people just have a moment when they realize they can’t fit into their jeans anymore.

You can tap into these various client bases with courses that solve these exact problems.

The more niche you go, the more likely you are to find untapped potential. For example, a campaign to get fit in time for summer isn’t the most unique idea floating around. But how many people are developing courses to keep fit while you work hospitality?

Sure the scope for such a course might be a lot more narrow, but when you pay attention to a tribe that no one else is bothering with, your success rate will be a lot higher.

To find these opportunities, turn to Google. Type a leading phrase like "getting fit for" or "getting fit when" into your search bar and see what comes up. Uber Suggest is another great tool. It will give you the most common searches that begin with your search query.

Step 3: Understand the Problem

Once you have a few areas to focus on you need to know where the motivation for your target clients is coming from.

You know they want to get fit or lose weight, but until you understand why, you’ll never effectively convert them on a large scale. Nothing gets rejected by a group en masse more than something that doesn’t feel genuine.

Check out some forums and communities that relate to your area of focus. This will give you a good idea of the questions people are asking about the problems needing to be solved.

Facebook groups are a perfect place to learn about the problems of your target client. For example, an "Improve Your Golf" group will tell you what services avid golfers are most interested in. Join the conversation and take notes!

Doing this will help you understand the subtleties of an issue. You’ll also learn to speak the language of your target audience, which can go a long way in convincing them you know what you’re talking about.

Step 4: Spend Time on the Design

Returning to the original example of my two 4-week courses, you’ll see how different the presentation of the pages is.

Now, I’m not particularly gifted when it comes to web design, but I put in the time to consider everything: the pictures, the colors, the language, etc. Everything about the "Female Strength and Fat Loss" course—from the landing page to the material provided—is designed to cater to a different market than the "Scrawny to Brawny" page.

This again is a case of authenticity. A viewer uses visual cues to quickly form an opinion about your website (or poster, or flyer, or whatever) and part of that opinion will be whether it is "for them" or not. If you don’t take the time to make what you are pitching look instinctively “right” for your target group, you might lose them before they get a chance to go any further.

Step 5: Make it Scalable

Scalability makes your business work while you don't.

As I discussed in my last article, one of the best things about this strategy is: once you have it up and going, it is 100% scalable. Initially, you may want to run the program as an in-person class to understand what is needed and refine your approach. But once you have something that works, you can set it free and move onto the next thing.

When you get this final step down, the online fitness world is your oyster. You can jump from niche to niche, solving problems, helping people, and making money. And the more niches you cover, the better you will get at focusing on the essence of your target problem.

​Let us know what niches you are going to cover, and don't forget to share these tips!