UFC President, Dana White recently described Conor McGregor as a marketing dream, and he isn’t wrong. In a mere 5 years, McGregor has gone from being unemployed and struggling to make ends meet – to being one of the most highest paid athletes in the last 2 years.
Sounds crazy doesn’t it? I mean, obviously Conor is a great fighter and has amazing skills and attributes, but let’s look at the whole situation for a second – before Conor McGregor, what other professional MMA fighter was a household name? Anderson Silva was one of the all-time greats, as was Chuck Liddell, and Ronda Rousey. But neither of these can be classed as ‘Household Names’. When I say household names…I mean, my mum – who has never even watched or heard of the UFC – knows of Conor McGregor!
With this being said, his rise to the top cannot be put down to fighting skills alone – a huge part of it comes down to his marketing strategy. He has established his target audience, he has created controversy and got his face out there – he’s building a successful brand; The Conor McGregor brand.
So how do you self-market yourself successfully? In this article I’m going to give you the essentials – many of which McGregor does, too.
If you incorporate these ten easy methods of quiet self-promotion into your marketing strategies, you’ll have all of your bases covered.
===
Create your elevator pitch.
To be successful in your market you have to understand what you are selling in order to be able to market yourself successfully. An elevator pitch is a summary of your best qualities as a business. It should be concise and to the point, but also be interesting and tell people about your skills. Ask yourself, what makes you unique in your field? What is your speciality that separates you from your competition? When you know the answer to this, you will have your elevator pitch.
Write this down and keep it somewhere safe, as this will be the core of your self-marketing strategy and what everything else stems from.
Identify your target audience
Just like McGregor knows that his target audience of MMA/Boxing watchers (as well as the whole of the Irish population!), you need to define to whom you are aiming yourself at.
This will not only help you hone your message, it will help you deliver it to the right places.
Build a relationship with other people in your industry
I’m sure you’re not the first personal trainer or nutritionist, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing – more people in your field can actually be good! Begin connecting and building relationships with other people in your industry that are local to you. A personal trainer recently told me how he had good connections with a number of other local PTs and told me how – if they haven’t got space for new clients – they recommend them to try each other, based on their specific services.
That’s when I realised – other industry members, who are local, don’t have to be competition, they can be great referrals too!
Build connections and relationships and start working together. It may be more beneficial than you think.
Project confidence
Conor McGregor’s confidence is arguably one of his biggest selling points, from his mic skills during interviews and press conferences, all the way to his Instagram captions. He has confidence by the bucket-load!
Being confident in your skills will make others confident in your skills. If you’re a PT who focuses on helping clients burn fat, ask yourself why you’re so damn good at it and then shout it from the rooftops. If you helped a client lose 20lbs, don’t just think to yourself job done – tell others about it too!
Boast about your strengths and your accomplishments and people will believe in you as a business.
Get your face out there!
When I work with fitness professionals, especially PTs, one of the first things I look at is their branding. From their Facebook page to their website and email marketing. One of the first things I’m looking for is their face.
If your business and services are based around you and you only then YOU should be the brand. Putting your face to your brand will not only show that you’re a legit business, it will add trust and credibility.
Create Vlogs
Following from the last pointer, a great way of getting yourself out there is with Vlogs. Wondering what the heck a Vlog is? It’s basically a video blog – so instead of writing articles, you use video instead.
Video content is huge this year and will be for a long while to come. So, if you’re looking to write blog articles on how to perform certain workout routines – scrap that. Get your camera or iphone and video them.
Once again, this will help build trust in your brand and help for potential clients build a relationship with you before they have even contacted you.
Everything you do ultimately contributes to your personal brand.
Rather than a tip, this is more something to keep aware of. Once your brand has been defined, make sure that the little things – the way you dress, your body language, how you behave with clients and industry professionals, the emails you write, the tweets you send – are all consistent with your brand message.
When everything fits, it works.
Go offline
Be sure to promote your brand in person, too. Join and participate in expo events, write articles for magazines, run free classes to generate awareness, visit conferences etc.
Your self marketing doesn’t just stop at online, it’s offline too.
Final thought
Being a one-man-band can be tough to market. But when you nail that aspect, you will see a huge influx in engagement and leads. If you are a PT, or any other fitness one-man-band, feel free to comment below – let us know any tips you have or any questions and we will be happy to chat!
