O corpo do personal trainer como estratégia de marketing pessoal

Abstract

The search for the perfect body is an obsession of modern society, só the search for products and services that promise the individual to achieve this perfect body has grown a lot in recent years. Within this context, the figure of the personal trainer has become directly associated with this search, precisely because this professional offers a personalized service according to the specific characteristics of each individual. Since the 80’s, the search for these professionals has been increasing and nowadays it has become a service used by people of different ages and financial conditions. As in other areas, marketing for this professional is essential to selling your services, só there is a debate as to whether the personal trainer should be more concerned with their appearance as a form of marketing or with the technical knowledge gained. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate if the personal trainer uses his body image or his knowledge as a marketing approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 professionals who work as a personal trainer and are registered with the profession’s regional council. From the data obtained, we observed that the personal trainer uses both his image and his knowledge to perform his personal marketing. The study was based on a qualitative exploratory research, and in relation to data analysis, content analysis was used. Regarding social media marketing, there is no established strategy and there is no effective concern in this regard either. Moreover, most of them worry about the symbolic demand for “perfect body fitness” made by society, as they sell health and often the body idealized by students is unhealthy.