My name is Kevin Harkin, I’m the owner of Synergy Personal Training in Derry, where we specialise in semi private personal training for females.

I wanted to talk today about just how valuable – or rather – invaluable, Martin’s work has been in assisting the growth of my business.

To date, I honestly couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve shot with Martin. It started off with a physique shoot of my own after a bodybuilding show almost three years ago. I was a personal trainer, struggling to keep my diary full. My social media content at that time ranged from amateur shots of myself prepping for the show, to training videos etc, all with the usual Instagram filters and validation seeking captions. Let’s say that my inbox wasn’t exactly saturated with leads. After the initial shoot, I noticed that as the quality of the photos I was using improved, the number of enquiries also made a marked increase.

My business and the purpose of my shoots with Martin have changed dramatically since then, but his work has never been more crucial for me. As a man, running a female specific training facility isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Stage photos or physique photos of myself aren’t at all relevant or useful anymore – so it’s essential that I use high quality images for my content that are relevant to my business, especially given my target audience.

Let me tell you how Martin’s work benefits me.

Every three to four months, I’ll have Martin come down and shoot a tonne of images in the gym of my members. Ladies who’ve completed a transformation, or general group training images. This does many things for me, to name a few

1. Gives my members something to push for with their training.

   

   It gives them a deadline to get excited for, and tends to lock people into more secure, long term memberships, as opposed to simply paying “month to month”. I offer a group photoshoot package which gives my members a great community feeling. They train together, keep eachother motivated, and each person wants the other to do their best. The social accountability that this gives the girls is fantastic, and honestly as a coach makes keeping the girls motivated a breeze.

2. The members have a great day.

   

   Just last week, Martin was in the gym shooting 12 girls. They all got their hair and make up done, they were both excited and nervous – but it was amazing to see them all still be so supportive of one another. Anyone who was a little more nervous was calmed down by their peers and fed an extra handful of haribo, then the surprise glass of Prosecco they got from the gym sorted any other nerves. They were delighted with themselves, and for each other. Their hard work was being rewarded and they were going to have something special to mark the occasion – the fitness model treatment with their shoot.

3. Here’s the big one as a coach or gym owner. Off the back of this shoot – the social proof on social media is astronomical.

   

   My page views on Instagram literally double the week after a group shoot with Martin, due to 12 people all posting their pictures and Instagram stories of the day. Sweets, prosecco, hair and makeup, and usually a night out after – rest assured anyone who’s not currently a member is asking themselves questions as to why they’re not. Without fail, I’m waking up the next day to more leads.

4. When I receive the finished photos from Martin and I can drip feed individual case studies of the ladies, again the social proof from this is enough to convince anyone who was on the fence about enquiring to jump at the chance to drop us a message or sign straight up.

If you’re wondering about the return of investment when it comes to having a shoot for members or in the gym, consider this. A shoot with Martin costs £250. Within 1 day of advertising my next Group Transformation off the back of the last shoot, I filled all 12 spaces within 24 hours. Honestly, I didn’t even have to advertise as most of the spaces came from referrals from the girls who had just completed the program.

I can give my members that special day to train for and enjoy, spend £250 on it and not have to worry about filling up spaces in my programs – or just take the usual before/after mugshot style photos against a wall in the gym, and spend weeks posting “Last few spaces, DM now!” Honestly, it’s a no brainer.

When Martin launched his social media accelerator package, I jumped straight on it.

As I mentioned, my own shoots with Martin have changed over the years from being physique based, to lifestyle shoots. Showing me as the person, the coach, not a “bodybuilder”. This keeps my content interesting and relevant, and means I can post pictures of myself without worrying about it conflicting with my gyms message.

I tend to do roughly three of these a year, alongside the group shoots I mentioned every 12-16 weeks, so on average 6-7 shoots per year.

Usually this would cost £1500-£1750 over a year. Now with Martin’s Social Media Accelerator package, I pay £100 per month and have a shoot every 12 weeks – for whatever I need. Transformations, lifestyle, you name it. Again, no brainer.

So guys, If you’re a coach or a gym owner, struggling with content, struggling with speaking to your target audience online – if you’re serious about taking your business to a new level of professionalism, I’d strongly suggest jumping at this opportunity. Again, to underline the return of investment on this – for £100 per month, I can fill spaces on a program worth £6,000 total without even trying. Not to mention having quality images to use all year round on my social media.

After what was a very busy weekend, it made me realise that what would normally have been my off season or quiet period has now come to end and I am preparing to get back into my busiest time of the year.

The last few years I would have used this quieter time at the start of the year to kick back and chill a bit but as this is my first year of running my own business, I don’t have that luxury or the desire to slow down. I am more driven than ever to grow my business and assist those I work with to scale theirs.

Going into this ‘quiet period’ I had set a number of goals I wanted to complete that would help me continue to improve my service.

The popularity of the lifestyle shoots with Personal trainers has continued to grow and there has been a substantial demand over the winter months which offered me the chance to get outdoors and make the most of the mild winter.

Content does not have an off season!

I also wanted to get my website redesigned and updated with additional features such as this blog and an online booking service making it easier than ever to check availability and book in with myself.

As I have discussed in my recent posts, I have been focusing quite a bit on content creation and helping personal trainers realise the impact good engagement can have on their business. This meant going out of my own comfort zone and delivering a number of seminars on social media creation which have been a fantastic success. Launching these seminars has allowed me to learn so much about launching and promoting a new product, and also how to maximise platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and websites.

The final task I had set myself was to launch my Social Media Accelerator package specifically designed to help personal trainers take the fear and procrastination out of content creation, enabling them to create a steady flow of valuable content that will drive up the engagement on their social media platforms and in turn increase their revenues.

In reflection it has been a very productive ‘off season’ and based on the bookings coming in from both individuals and personal trainers to date it looks like it is going to be a very exciting year. I have so much planned in regards to shoots over the next months, bringing a whole host of new and creative ideas to my work. I also look forward to continuing to work with my current personal trainers’ clients and new ones interested in improving their social media content. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has worked with me over the last few months, those who have already signed up to my retainer package, everyone who joined me on my Social Media Content seminars and everyone who has engaged with me on social media. As always, I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for you all.

So here is to our continued growth for the rest of the year.

“You need to step up your game.”

Wise words from Phil Graham at day one of a 12 month Mastermind. -My name is Kyle Reain and I’m the owner of Attitude Fitness, I coach high end clients in Northern Ireland in the comfort of their own home for weight loss, strength and conditioning and improving their confidence.

Looking at my target demographic: high end, home gyms, stay at home females, fast paced businesses types and their friend circle I knew he was right. I followed Martin Irvine Photography for years and seeing his transformation shoots, lifestyle photography and quality of work I got in touch.

“Kyle I want to show everyone how you come across naturally, non threatening, A big friendly giant, funny and most of all that you have a great service to offer and that you are a true professional.”

“Let’s do it.” – I booked in and in a couple of weeks I was so convinced I didn’t just get the Home Coaching shoot, we done a gym shoot and lifestyle too in the locations I’m known and serve in.

I opted to upgrade early and purchase 40 extra images, Martin was professional, guiding me and my clients on how to stand where to look, and had his kit set up in no time. It was relaxed fun and he knew exactly what I wanted.5 months on I’ve been using these images on my social media accounts, have attracted loads more enquiries, redesigned my website with new imagery, made ebooks with the imagery and now I’m able to showcase my business the way it deserves to be to my potential customers.I’d HIGHLY recommend you get onboard with Martin and invest in yourself.

Book your Photoshoot with Martin Irvine Photography

We all know the impact social media has had on the fitness industry the last five years. From creating insta celebrities to providing fitness professionals with a platform to impact lives all over the world.

It has been used to demonstrate some of the most ridiculous exercises ever conceived to providing powerful, inspiring and informative posts.
Beyond the fitness celebrities, the humpday posts, the double tap addictions there lies there a platform that can transform someone’s fitness business, when used correctly.

Of course there are the big success stories like Gymshark and many more companies that have started from next to nothing and went on to take over the fitness world through marketing on social media, but what about the small businesses like individual person trainers.

Before social media if you were a fitness professional looking to have a national or international impact you had to rely heavily on featuring in Magazines, websites or Expos.

But now with social media you have the ability to create your audience right at your finger tips, you no longer have to wait to get featured in a magazine or on a fitness related site. You can create an audience that has opted to follow you based on the value of the content you produce.

Although social media has created a culture where people believe their value and status is defined by the number of likes or followers they have it does not remove how valuable social media can be to a small company or individual fitness professional.

“Just because people abuse it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it”

Social media is saturated with fitness related content, but the vast majority of it is designed to create status for the person posting it rather than provide true value to the viewer.

So how does an fitness individual set themselves apart on social media??

Be Real!! Provide true value!! Have a clear message!!

Your social media content should demonstrate who you are and your values. It should be tailored to the exact clientele you are aiming to work with. It should be easy to tell from your content who you are and what you do!!

“I help middle aged women drop fat and feel more confident in their own skin!”
“I am a strength and conditioning coach who helps athletes perform better at their given pursuit!”
“I am a fitness photographer that helps fitness professionals create content that attracts paying customers and grows their business!”

To avoid time wasting enquiries from clients you do not want to work with it must be clear from your content who your target demographic is. If your preferred demographic is males looking to add lean muscle, post about muscle building topics, exercises that pack on mass, how much protein someone should take to gain lb of muscle a month.

Although it is vital that a fitness professional or coach be visible in their content, as most consumers like to see what they are buying before they hand over any money, your service should always be at the centre of your content not your ego.

“Service before Status!”

Your clients and their results are your service! As coach you will always be judged by your clients results and that rings true on social media. If you all you do it post images of yourself on your social media all you are doing is proving you can get or stay in good shape yourself. You have to be able to prove to potential clients that you can provide them with the results they desire and they will be paying you for.

Social provides an incredible opportunity for fitness individuals to scale their business but it is not as simple as merely posting a tonne of MEMEs or infographics, banging on a hashtags, or a few topless pics of yourself. The will only get lost in the ether.

Decide who your ideal clientele is, figure out what their needs and desires are and then demonstrate how you can help fulfil them through your content.

As important as growing an audience is, if you become too fixated on growing your followers you miss out on providing true value to the audience you already have!!

Martin

P.S. This might interest you… but be quick!

As mentioned in my first blog (thanks for all the comments/messages on that) I wanted to talked about one of the newer aspects to my business, the transformation shoot.

Transformation shoots have gotten some bad press recently using before and after images and they can be abused by many people especially to make sales and transformation shoots are not for everyone, either coaches or clients. However in all shoots I have carried out in this area, a transformation shoot is the culmination of a journey and I am a firm believer that the journey is often more important than the destination. Every journey will have it’s up and downs but having that accountability will spur you on to the end.

There are so many reasons why someone will chose to embark on a transformation and all of them I believe are positive:

• Build confidence
• Set a challenge
• Learning to love your body in all aspects (body confidence)
• Sense of achievement

As with anything the harder you work at something, the prouder you are of it, regardless of the outcome. Dedicating everything you have towards a goal can be very rewarding and will often be a journey of self-discovery. “Wow! I didn’t know I could do that!”

“Often the reason we set out upon a journey is not the same reason that encourages us to finish it.”

Of course the reason you set out on a transformation might not be the one you achieve at the end, it could be that you set out to overcome something from your past or to prove people wrong but you end up with a love for the process and the industry and chose to pursue that as a career. One thing I learnt from my own transformation was that people’s opinions of looked weren’t of any value to me anymore, it was how I felt about myself.

Transformations are about routines, sticking to things when they are hard to gain that sense of achievement.  You may have to track foods, which leads you learn more about nutrition which can potentially change your outset for life and not just the transformation period. You will try new foods, learn to prep food, writing food lists which will make you more efficient with your time and money.

A transformation shoot acts as the social and financial accountability that you may need to get you over that final hurdle. You will want to look as good as you can in those images, you have paid for that shoot and you will want them to show how hard you have worked. To show your friends and family that this was the reason you couldn’t make that night out or have that take away. Transformation shoots take weeks and weeks of hard work, dedication and sacrifice, getting those professional images at the end is a well-earned reward (the icing on that cake you have been eyeing up!).

The truth is most people’s condition at a photoshoot is not sustainable but people most transformation clients develop a better relationship and understanding of food.  They discover what they are capable of when they set their minds to something, a sense of achievement when they complete something they never thought was possible of themselves. They uncover a balance between food, training, work and social life that they can apply to their lives going forward. Many clients don’t train or track food as much following a transformation but know what can be achieved when they really want it.

So for me a transformation is a journey of self-discovery and the photoshoot at the end is that final fear, like jumping out of a plane.  You have worked relentlessly for weeks but standing in a gym with your top off or in a sports bra is the final challenge to overcome. That final moment to prove to yourself you have done everything you could, here is the result of all my hard work and I am proud of it. Have one of your proudest moments captured through the lens of a professional photographer.

The photos you get back from the shoot act as social proof and maybe inspire others to embark on their own journey. They will also act as a lasting reminder of what you are capable of or be a marker for the first step of a longer journey

Often the reason we set out upon a journey is not the same reason that encourages us to finish it.