Should a fitness copywriter have writing experience, fitness experience, or both?

The internetwebs – particularly social media – has flattened the landscape somewhat. It’s democratised things. Instagrammers with a good set of abs and a frisky amount of followers brand themselves “fitness models”. Clients no longer necessarily need to see their PT. And prefacing your online biography with the word “[aspiring]…” seems enough to do away with the need for a portfolio, qualifications, or real-life experience. In any sphere.

I feel I may have got off on the wrong foot with this one. So, before you all think I’ve got an axe to grind (I haven’t – if I had, I wouldn’t waste time grinding it, I use it to tackle my garden), I’ll explain the context for today’s post.

My client-now-friend Mike Samuels of Healthy Living Heavy Lifting recently posed a question to his Facebook followers: “do you need to actually train people to coach online and write about fitness?”

The video post prompted responses from trainers, coaches, PTs and PT clients. And from me. I responded as a copywriter. More than that, as a copywriter who specialises in writing about, and for, fitness businesses.

So, of course, my reply to the writing portion of the question was a resounding “no”. Although I do have extensive experience of training, being coached, and even competing in various sports, I don’t think this is a deal-breaker. After all, I also write for a funeral car company, and I’ve never designed a car, driven a hearse, or arranged a funeral. My fitness clients include businesses whose niche is running (I haven’t run properly for years) and post-partum yoga (I don’t have children, and corpse pose is my favourite because it involves lying down and having a nice sleep).

Now, granted, the context of Mike’s question was a PT who had approached him, asking about moving into exclusively online coaching and writing about fitness, rather than face-to-face PTing.

But it got me thinking.

In this online age, where boundaries get blurry and self-styled job roles merge, what do clients actually prefer?

A copywriter who can write about fitness?

Or a fitpro who can write?

Does it no longer matter? What’s more important: official training and experience in writing, or hands-on experience of the topic being written about?

Can a writer understand enough about a topic to be able to write about it with authority? And can a topic-expert know enough about how to get inside a reader’s head to write content which persuades and engages?

I don’t know. But I’d love to know your thoughts, particularly if you have ever commissioned anyone to write content for your business (or publication).

*No axes were ground during the composition of this blog post*

Should a fitness copywriter have writing experience, fitness experience, or both? is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

thefitwriter blog in 2014 (and looking ahead to 2015)

Hello! I was taking a look at my wordpress stats this morning and got to wondering: what do you lot want to see more of (and less of) on the blog over the coming year?

Product reviews always seem to be popular, but I’ll only do them if you really find them useful (and I do turn down more than I accept – one day I’ll have to tell you about the sort of products I turn down. You’ll LOL and possible ROFL, promise).

Competition reports go down well, too, but I am still undecided about my plans for 2015. I might compete in bodybuilding, or I may take a year out from competing (and dieting!) in order to give my body a chance to grow and develop before I next venture into a deficit. If I do take a year out, I will possibly do some other kind of comp (powerlifting?) – would you want to hear about those, too?

Do my training sessions interest you? Would you want to hear more about the ins and outs of off-season?

And what about my actual job – copywriting. Do blog posts about the business of writing, about writing for the fitness industry and about freelancing interest you? Or would you like my occasional advice for business owners who write their own content?

Do let me know! 🙂

Here’s a round up of how the blog did in 2014 (its fourth year… it’s positively elderly in blogging circles!)

Mentions!
It topped the list of top sport and fitness PR company Promote’s list of favourite fitness blogs.

Guest posts and interviews
– I was on the Katie Bulmer-Cooke podcast (yes, Katie who was in this year’s The Apprentice!) talking about copywriting for fitness businesses, PTs and fitpros, how to create content, what’s trending in marketing, why writing is so important for your business… and a bit of banter with Katie. You can listen to it here. I’m so pleased to have done this; being on a podcast was one of my goals for the year. Thank you for the opportunity, Katie (and thank you to those of you who have messaged me to say that you found my advice useful).

– I blogged twice for Karen Nadkarni-Ruffle at FitProClientRecipes (FPCR): this blog post gives fitpros and fitness businesses 10 easy-peasy ways to generate topics for their own blogs, and this blog post gives my advice about how to write press releases which get opened, read… and published!

– What else… I was featured on the blog of fellow Fitness Writers’ Association member “Fitcetera” (aka Georgina Spenceley) when she did a series called “Yeah, She Lifts”. Here’s my Yeah She Lifts interview (thanks, G!).

– And I was interviewed by Introvertology about my work as a freelancer and training and competing as a bodybuilder and former endurance athlete (thankfully, they let me send my replies in by email… haha 😉 ). You can read that interview here.

I set up thefitwriter’s own Facebook page in 2014 and I’d be delighted to see you there – come on over and like the page.

Views and visitors
It had 83,000 views in 2014, from 55,000 visitors, and now has 253 WordPress followers (hello, and thank you! 😀 )

The list of countries those visitors come from is fascinating. Here’s the top of the list….

…and here’s the bottom. Hollaaaaaah to the chap or chick in Honduras who had reason to read my ramblings once this year!

My most popular posts

– An old review post of ON whey
– An old review post of the protein powder Tesco launched in Jan 2012 (this post’s enduring popularity continues to amaze me!)
– My review of the Phil Learney Fat Loss & Performance Seminar I went to in 2013
– An old review of Monkey Nutrition whey isolate
– A review post of Bare Naked Noodles (this pings to the top every time they’re in the press or whenever Ross’s Dragons’ Den episode is shown)
– My blog post about my pal Julia Buckley’s Fat Burn Revolution book
– Show report of this year’s UKDFBA Open (the only post from 2014 which is in the 2014 top 10… I guess this shows my writing’s staying power and my blog’s SEO strength!)

Big thanks to all of you who read, share, like and comment on my posts. A happy, healthy and successful 2015 to you all 🙂

thefitwriter blog in 2014 (and looking ahead to 2015) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

The power of social media in under 24 hours

I just had to blog about this.

One of my local clients (not in the fitness business – he’s actually in the groundworks trade) asked me to help him with his social media a few weeks ago. He knows he should be blogging and on Twitter but doesn’t have time to learn how to set it up or manage it.

So I stepped in, built him a blog and set him up on Twitter. I did this yesterday at the end of the working day…so that’s less than 24 hours ago.

That detail is significant because, guess what: he just had a serious enquiry through Twitter direct message. I’ve added his account to my Tweetdeck and have been managing it for him so, when I saw that someone had DMed him to say that he’d just missed an opportunity with her patio but that she was doing an extension to her house this Summer and wanted him to quote for it, I jumped in with a friendly reply.

Of course, this could come to nothing but at the same time it could be a great job for my client.

All from a Twitter feed set up and managed by me…less than 24 hours ago.

So, if you’re thinking about social media, just do it. And if you don’t know where to start, or don’t have time to do it, ask me. I’ll be happy to help.