Jim Labadie is a fitness entrepreneur, sales expert and speaker. You can download a free copy of his new E-book “63 Must-Have Sales Tips for Personal Trainers” at www.ptsalestips.com.

Personal training is big business. It’s a proven revenue stream. It’s a service your clients want.

However, your clients also want to know they are working with credible experts. Promoting the trainers on your staff isn’t a daunting task. In fact, it is about as easy a marketing task as you’ll find. Nothing builds credibility in the mind of the prospective personal training client faster than public speaking and writing.

Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to the personal training profession. For years, many club owners have treated personal trainers as a necessary evil. And many of your members may believe fitness professionals are nothing more than a jock who isn’t smart enough to get a real job. High-quality articles written by your staff will immediately change their perception.

Below are tips on using fitness articles to build credibility, educate your members and sell more personal training sessions.

1. Have your trainers ask members what topics they would like for them to write about. This is a great way for your staff to interact and bond with members without having them feel like they are being pressured to buy something.

2. Pick topics that people are really interested in. This seems obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how businesses ignore what their customers want. The vast majority of people who are willing to pay the money to hire a personal trainer want to lose weight. So are you going to write articles about six-pack abs, or will you bore your members with yet another series of tips on lowering blood pressure? Write about what they want to know.

3. Pre-select a few titles for your staff to talk about with the members. For instance, a trainer can ask a woman which article she would be more interested in reading. Would they prefer an article on fitting into their skinny jeans or one on sculpting a tighter butt?

4. Titles are key. Major magazines pay copywriters thousands and thousands of dollars to come up with the headlines you see on newsstands. If you want your members to actually read the articles, you need to come up with great titles. If you need ideas or are looking for inspiration, go to your local grocery store and look through the magazines at the checkout counter.

5. Use the magic formula. Start with an introductory paragraph that explains the problem you are about to solve. Next, list the simple step-by-step tips (people love tips, by the way) to follow. Then end your article with an author bio and a strong call-to-action.

6. Have your trainers personally distribute the articles to members, especially to the people whose opinions you’ve asked. Have the articles strategically placed in high-traffic areas in your facility. Use the articles in your club’s newsletter and on your Web site. Take the articles with you to networking events. Leave them at doctors’ offices. See if some of your more active members would be willing to distribute them at their place of business.

7. One of the best parts of writing how-to articles is you can recycle the tips. Take one or two tips from different articles and combine them to create a new article. When you have enough tips, you can offer them as a “tip of the day” via your clubs’ e-mail marketing system. You could also compile all of the tips into one large e-book or special report and use it as a viral marketing tool.

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