Should You Hire a PR Agency?

When you’re starting your own fitness business, you will find yourself making decisions you probably thought you would never need to make. One of the biggest questions many personal trainers have is if it’s worth it to hire a PR agency. In my book Your Fitness Career, I go in-depth into the pros and cons of hiring a PR agency versus doing it yourself. Here are just a few of my thoughts on the topic!

Cost

Obviously, one of the first things you must consider when thinking about hiring professionals to take care of your public relations is cost. This is especially true if you’re hiring a PR firm to get your name out there on television, blogs, newspapers, and in magazines.

The real question here is: Do you have enough income to justify this cost? You’re hiring a PR firm not to make sales for you and bring in clients, but to help you build your brand. It’s not something you’re going to see results from right away, so really think long and hard about whether or not this is the right move for you at this point in your fitness career. My rule of thumb is that if you can’t pay for it out of your surplus cash flow, then you probably need to put it on the back burner for now. Don’t use your personal savings to cover this cost!

Finding a PR Agency

If you decide you’re at a good point in your career to hire a PR agency, then you need to find one. In my book, Your Fitness Career, I take a deep dive into finding PR professionals to help you move your business forward. Just understand that it will always pay to find an agency that specializes in branding in your industry. You wouldn’t hire a PR agency that specializes in technology to help you build brand awareness for personal training. Make sure you research professionals in your own industry to help.

Your Expectations

You help your clients temper their expectations when it comes to their health and fitness goals, so make sure you’re doing that for yourself when it comes to PR. Define your expectations so you’re clear in your own mind about what you’re trying to achieve. This will help you understand if investing in it at this point is valuable to your fitness career or not.

If you do decide to move forward and hire PR professionals to help you build your fitness brand, then make sure you hammer out clear expectations with them as well. If your goal is to be featured on a popular television show, then let them know. They should be able to tell you if you have realistic expectations or not – and you don’t want to work with someone who won’t help to keep your expectations grounded.

Deciding whether or not your fitness business can benefit from professional PR services is a big decision and not one that you enter into lightly. Luckily, educating yourself on this topic can help you to know when and if the time is right.

Looking to become a successful personal trainer? Make it possible with my book. Your Fitness Career