An Update to an Old Idea to Become the Local Expert

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have all the complimentary businesses in your area acknowledge you as a local expert when it comes to personal training? Wouldn’t it be great if you could borrow their credibility to quickly enhance your own?

Maybe you can. With a little persistence this tidbit of personal trainer marketing Kung Fu might allow you to be elevated to expert status in no time, even in a brand new market.

Step 1: Ask yourself who has my customers? Make a list.

Start by jotting down all the different types of businesses that have customers who might likely also use your services. Some examples might be chiropractors, hair stylists, massage therapists, maybe coffee shops, spas, estheticians and so on.

Step 2: Google these businesses in your area.

For example I might Google ‘Red Deer spa.’ In large cities make sure to narrow it down to your suburb or urban area. You might even ask your list as direct referrals are always easier to work with or approach.

Step 3: Create an interview.

That’s right, we’re going to contact these people and if all goes well we’re going to interview them. Choose only 3-4 meaningful questions and the more these questions allow them to toot their own horn the more successful your interview is going to be. For example if I were interviewing a chiropractor I might ask:

• What are the biggest benefits of chiropractic for a person just starting to exercise?
• Why do you feel chiropractic enhances exercise?

You see where I’m going? These questions not only make the chiropractor sound great but they also lead him to endorse you without even likely realizing it.

Step 4: Contact the community leaders.

Remember the need for nice. Contact the top ranked local businesses for all the categories you’ve chosen. Explain to them how you are a local fitness professional, how you’ve heard great things about them and ask if they could spare 5-10 minutes for a brief interview that you are going to share with many local individuals.

Now a few people may say no, but many will say yes.

The ideal situation is to interview them on camera, a simple Flipcam or even a newer smartphone will do. Make sure and introduce yourself and at the end of the interview I’d mention their website and finally to also check out your website for more information.

If they won’t make time for a video interview see if they’ll do a phone interview and use a conference line like www.FreeConferenceCall.com or a Skype app to record the call. You can have the audio easily transcribed for the next step at places like www.elance.com or www.odesk.com.

Step 5: Post the interview on YouTube.

Make sure to name the video file on your computer the same as the keywords you searched to find the business. (ex. Red_Deer_Chiropractor.flv) In the description include a link to your website and a description of the video using the keyword string. Enter the keyword string again in the tag field.

If they wouldn’t make time for the video interview but you were able to complete a phone interview or an email interview post this interview on your website with meta tags for the keyword string as mentioned above.

Videos will quickly appear in the search results.

The Big Bang!

So here’s the deal, videos should appear in the search results very quickly, try to send as many people as you can from your Facebook friends and your mailing lists to watch and like the videos so they rise even faster.

Now hopefully in days to a few short weeks when someone searches ‘Red Deer Chiropractor’ your video will appear above, below or near the link for the business you interviewed. Most people will watch a video first and you’ve now done that business a huge favor (and naturally one for yourself also.)

By interviewing them and posting it as a fitness professional you’ve effectively provided them a third party endorsement that should enhance their image with their customers, and at the same time you’ve created an introduction for yourself, and a link to your website for all of their customers to see.

Do this for enough different businesses and soon you will be the talk of the town. Common sense personal trainer marketing domination at it’s finest!