Online fitness programs have been around for many years. Even in the pre-COVID-19 era, many trainers and clients started to engage with it. But after transitioning to work and play from home during lockdowns, many more people found value in working out without needing to commute. And now, the online fitness training industry is booming.
Did you know that the online fitness market is projected to reach approximately $79 billion by 2026? It’s definitely the right market to be in as a trainer, especially with those numbers. And people love it too because they can be a part of live online classes or select the on-demand option where they can work out when and as they please. On-demand fitness offerings are a key trend for 2023, and it’s expected to grow and evolve as the years go by.
So, if you’re a trainer with an online fitness business, chances are you’re familiar with the rapid growth of your industry. But you’re also probably wondering how else you can sell online fitness workouts effectively. We’re going to be sharing five tips for that in this post, so read on!
But first, let’s begin with understanding the true value of online fitness programs for you and your clients.
How Online Fitness Programs Benefit You and Your Clients
The demand for online fitness content is high because clients want to train whenever they want from wherever they see fit (excuse the pun). But this type of training also allows clients to gain access to a digital library from trainers they believe in – trainers like yourself!
From a business owner’s point of view, selling online fitness programs can benefit you in so many ways. Selling online fitness workouts help you to:
- Grow your brand and expand your footprint.
- Work from anywhere.
- Increase your client base to a global one.
- Have a flexible schedule.
- Sell additional complementary merchandise.
- Grow your social following.
- Become a part of an online fitness community.
- Build relationships with customers from one-on-one interactions.
- Have a good work/life balance.
- Make more revenue.
There’s no doubt that selling online fitness workouts has its perks. Now let’s look at how to do that effectively and creatively.
5 Tips to Help You Sell Online Fitness Workouts in 2023
The truth is, selling online fitness classes isn’t really difficult. The most time-consuming part of it is the planning phase. You’ll notice that all five tips are related to planning for your training program, content, pricing, revenue, and customers.
The good news is that once you’ve followed these five tips, you would’ve set yourself up for success in the future too, no matter how much your business scales.
Sounds good? Let’s get into the details!
1. Start developing your online fitness workout plans
Once you’ve decided that online fitness classes are for you, try to determine which type of fitness classes you’ll be focusing on selling. Remember, selling everything isn’t a good idea. Pick one or two fitness niches and stick with them. People will come to you because you specialize in a niche, so they get the best wellness experience possible. If they want an “all-in-one” type of fitness experience, they would generally walk into a gym.
You’re probably a fitness instructor with years of experience in a particular area – now is the time to use that to your advantage! When people sign up for a class on a fitness online platform, they’re looking for a reputable and experienced instructor. Share your past experience and background on your website and let people know a bit about why you chose to go into the wellness industry. It humanizes the experience for them, urging them to learn more about you.
Your offering should also always be something people are searching for – this way, it’s easier to sell them naturally. Consider selling complementary products too. Some of these could be:
- Downloadable resources (PDF format) of meal plans and nutritional guides
- Branded workout apparel
- Branded products like water bottles, towels, and sweatbands
Another great tip is to look at launching and running your workouts on an online fitness studio platform. This way, you have control of all your content, customer data, and marketing efforts in one spot. But we’ll get to that a bit later.
2. Select the best fitness monetization model for you
Once you have your fitness products and courses outlined, it’s important to spend some time researching and planning which monetization models will be ideal for your business.
There are two monetization models that most trainers use:
TVOD: transactional video on demand
Your client pays a once-off fee for content. This fee could be for a single video or a fitness course bundle. You may have heard of it as pay-per-view. The TVOD model is ideal for selling digital products (such as downloadable resources) and physical products (like apparel).
SVOD: subscription video on demand
The more popular monetization model is SVOD. Similar to Netflix or Amazon Prime, a client pays you a fixed monthly or annual fee to access all your live and on-demand fitness content. This is a recurring fee (hence the favored choice among trainers) and is generally a low barrier to entry for consumers due to the flexibility it offers them.
Most online fitness streaming platforms allow you to create and manage memberships with minimal effort. All your client information is stored in the platform, too, so you can track how long members stay with you, if they renew their membership, or if they cancel early. This data is immensely valuable when planning marketing efforts for the next fiscal year.
3. Use an online fitness video platform
When you have your fitness niche and monetization models, the next step is to choose a premium online fitness platform that will help you build and sell online fitness workouts in no time.
Though, every online fitness teaching platform is different. So, you need to analyze all the capabilities you need before you sign up with a platform provider. There are a few core areas to focus on for fitness:
1. Video hosting: Fitness videos are where most of your revenue will come from, so ensure that the platform allows for advanced hosting. Some of the best online platforms for fitness classes allow you to have unlimited video hosting, so you don’t have to worry about file size and playback limitations.
2. Limit to customers: When you pick a plan, you’ll see that the online fitness video platform often lists if there are any limits to the number of customers you’re allowed to have. You want to look for one that offers unlimited customers so that when your business starts to scale up, you don’t have to switch platforms.
3. Live streaming: This is a big one because many of your classes may be live. Most people assume that an online teaching platform will allow you to stream live, and that’s mostly true. But ensure that the platform integrates with one of the live streaming gurus like Zoom. This way, all your streams work seamlessly, and you can access all Zoom’s features.
4. On-demand libraries: You should have an on-demand library alongside your live classes. This library must be able to host all your on-demand content, and content should be divided into courses, programs, or standalone pieces as you desire.
5. Website: Getting content up and running on your fitness teaching platform is one thing. But you should also have a website where you can market your fitness business. Some online fitness studio platforms allow you to create a website within the same platform. This is great because all your marketing, sales, and training happen in one space.
6. eCommerce: Going back to TVOD, you should be able to sell merchandise in addition to your live and on-demand fitness courses. Try to get a platform that supports digital and physical product sales so you’re not limited when it comes to creating additional revenue streams.
7. Marketing: Your marketing efforts should be made on the same online fitness platform. Look for email and text marketing capabilities, and remember to check for templates within the software. Email templates help you save time and better understand which layouts work best for your audience.
8. Reporting: Last but not least, reporting and analytics. This is the most vital part of your online fitness video platform – get the results and analyze them! Once you have your dashboard set up, you should be able to view your data about your customers, memberships, sales, and content performance.
4. Upload and organize your content
Before selling online fitness classes, you have to consider creating them. Obviously, your content will need to be created, but for you to be scalable, you’ll need to create, upload, and organize your content efficiently.
Think about it – you may not need to upload too much fitness content each month when you have five clients. But when you have five hundred clients who want a range of fitness class options (yoga, spin, and aerobics sessions), you need to be prepared for that scale of work.
Some of the best online platforms for fitness classes allow you to manage your content quickly and easily. So, your time gets used for doing what you do best – recording those training sessions!
Your fitness classes online platform should help you do the following tasks when it comes to content:
- Upload videos, posts, and resources individually and in bulk
- Embed videos via a link
- Write video descriptions
- Add trainers to specific content pieces
- Categorize your content
- Auto-generate thumbnails
- Add permissions (accessible to everyone or only to paid customers)
- Analyze your content performance (e.g., top performing content last month)
5. Set your fitness pricing
Deciding how much to charge for your online fitness workouts can be tough. But there are a few steps you can take to get into a competitive but profitable rate:
1. Research what other instructors are charging their customers.
We know how large the online fitness industry is, and it means that there are many instructors that you can learn from. Take some time to research how much a trainer is charging. Be sure to look at a trainer offering similar classes with equivalent experience levels.
2. Break down your expenses and build them into your price.
Even though you’re training online, you still have costs you need to account for. These expenses could be anything from your certifications to equipment, marketing, taxes, and time. If you build these averages into your pricing, you’ll never feel like you’re underselling your fitness products and training services.
3. Try to make your pricing scalable.
By now, you would have established your target market. Each individual in your audience may have similar interests and hobbies. But they aren’t always the same type of spender. To cater to this, offer tiered subscription plans to consumers. So, no matter if they spend $50 or $250 a month, they can get a good training plan.
Now that you have your business planning done, you can take your messaging and begin distributing it across various channels. These can be anything from social media channels to your website blog, online fitness community forums, and good old word-of-mouth.
We suggest running social media ads and Google AdWords to help you boost the number of browsers to your website. Analyze each campaign and simply continue with the ones that were successful!
Are you ready to launch your online fitness business in 2023?
As you can see, there are many components to selling online fitness workouts. But it isn’t an impossible task!
All you have to do is take the time upfront to prepare your selling strategies. You can do this with a thorough content plan, monetization model, and pricing strategy. Once you have those three segments in place, the rest is about identifying your audience and marketing the right message to them at the right time.
Remember, people who want to work out online seek professionalism, flexibility, and support from their trainers. They’re actively looking to make their lives and health better. And they want you to help them along the way. So show them support through your content, pricing, community, and general demeanor.
But if you’re ready to get the ball rolling with a few bright and beautiful selling tactics, why not speak to us? Here at Mastera, we’re ready to get to know you better and help you succeed with your fitness journey. Simply schedule a demo with us, and we’ll walk you through how our premium online fitness platform can help you succeed in 2023.
Co-Founder, Gleantap & Mastera