Since starting Refire Fitness, I have been told that the best marketing for my business was transformation pictures. (You know those side by sides you see in every infomercial for any fitness/health product ever).
That in order to get people to “buy” into my services, I had to market pictures of my client’s success with weight loss and body transformations.
And that always made me feel…icky.
It just didn’t feel right to me.
I mean, I’m super proud when client’s transform their bodies and feel great about the changes. But that isn’t what I want to sell. Those exterior changes were never what I wanted people to “buy” into.
To me, Refire Fitness didn’t mean bikini bodies, wedding shreds or even fat loss…(which I know is so odd for a personal trainer to say).
To me, Refire Fitness meant a real, no bull-crap, passionate purpose.
I wanted to help people get real change. Like... life altering, mind blowing, real life changes. Big, scary changes that make you love yourself harder and better.
I didn’t want to sell quick fixes or rapid weight loss. I wanted people to buy into the idea that this is about lifestyle changes for long term success (But I get that isn’t pretty or flashy or part of a fun jingle).
I wanted to get clients to get stupid excited for feeling strong and capable.
For getting rid of the 2:00pm slump and brain fog because they feel more energized.
I wanted to get clients to “buy” into their ability to actually to the things they tell themselves they couldn’t do and see how amazing their bodies are – because of what they can do, not because of how they looked.
And I get that a bikini body or losing weight are goals for a lot of people – and that’s perfectly fine. But I don’t believe that is the deeper motivation. Those are the surface goals and the fitness buzzwords we have been fed.
I believe that our true motivations run so much deeper and are connected to a lot more meaningful things. Like the grandmother who wants to be able to run and play with her grandchild. Or feeling physically strong to be independent. Or to age with mobility and capability.
So, I still have not followed the advice to market my business by showcasing body transformations – at least very often.
I still would rather market the silly text messages of how proud they are to squat their babies.
Or the emails where they detail how their mental health has improved.
Or the testimonials of how they started because they wanted to lose weight but they continue to work hard because of how freaking great it makes them feel everyday! (Those are my personal faves).
And if that means I don’t get hundreds of clients every month well….. ....I’m okay with that.
What's your why? Have you asked yourself what truly motivates you?