The Niche Problem Every Fitness Coach Gets Wrong (And How to Fix It)
Marketing For Fitness Coaches Podcast with Kandace Dickson | CoachRx Podcast Network
If your content feels like it should be working, but it keeps getting ignored, you might not have a "content problem." You might have a niche problem.
Most fitness coaches get into coaching because they want to help everyone. I get it. You can see the potential in almost anyone, and you know your coaching could improve a lot of lives. Still, your coaching could help everyone, but everyone is not your ideal client.
When you try to talk to everyone, your message turns generic. Then it blends in with every other post that says "get fit," "be consistent," and "eat more protein." In a crowded feed, generic content doesn't land. It doesn't build trust, and it doesn't help the right person think, "This coach is for me."
In this post, I'm going to lay out why you need a niche, why you are not the niche (you're the niche's hero), and how to define your ideal client so your content connects and helps people decide.
The biggest marketing challenge for fitness coaches is trying to help everyone
A lot of coaches think their biggest problem is reach, the algorithm, or posting frequency. Those things matter, but they're not the root issue most of the time. The real issue is that the message is too broad, so it doesn't feel personal to anyone.
When your content tries to be for all people, it usually becomes a list of safe tips that no one disagrees with. The problem is that no one feels seen by it either. People scroll past because it sounds like something they've heard a hundred times.
On the other hand, when you speak to one clear person, your content gets sharper. Your examples get real. Your "before and after" stories sound familiar to the reader. Even your simple tips feel different because they're anchored to a specific situation.
That's why niching isn't some trendy marketing tactic. It's how you create clarity. It's also how you stop wasting time making content that earns polite likes but no real conversations.
When my message is clear, my marketing stops feeling like marketing. It starts feeling like coaching in public.
This is also where trust starts. Trust doesn't come from being the most inspirational. It comes from showing someone you understand their problem, you've solved it before, and you have a plan to solve it again.
Messaging is the foundation, and fuzzy messaging gets ignored
Most coaches struggle with messaging, even if their coaching skills are solid. Messaging is the foundation of marketing because it shapes everything else. It impacts your bio, your offer, your content topics, and the words you choose in every post.
When you lack clarity and focus, your content gets lost in the sea of sameness. You end up sounding like every other coach, even if you're better than most of them. As a result, your ideal client either never sees your content, or they see it and think, "Seems fine," then keep scrolling.
To help with this, I created something I call the Coaching Content Signature custom GPT. It's built to guide you through creating your content strategy and messaging, almost like we're doing a one-on-one consult.
If you want it, DM me on Instagram and I'll send it to you.
Here's what it helps with (without you staring at a blank Notes app for an hour):
Messaging prompts that create clarity so you stop posting vague content.
A focused content strategy that connects your expertise to a real client need.
Once messaging is handled, the niche conversation gets a lot simpler, because you stop thinking of a niche as a limitation. You start seeing it as the thing that makes your work easier to explain.
The "do I need a niche?" debate misses what coaching is
Scroll any marketing feed and you'll see the debate:
"Do I need a niche?"
"Am I the niche?"
"Is niching ridiculous?"
So let me break down how I see it, as a professional coach and marketer.
Why coaches resist defining a niche
The resistance usually comes from a good place. Coaches want to help. They don't want to exclude people. They also don't want to pick the "wrong" niche and get stuck.
Still, mastery requires focus. In coaching, you don't master everything at once. You put in reps, refine what works, and pay attention to details over years. Marketing works the same way. When you try to market to everyone, you spread your attention so thin that you never get known for anything.
Focus is what allows you to become great, and to be seen as great.
Being known as an expert is how people find and trust you
Being known as the coach who does something specific makes you easier to find, easier to refer, and easier to trust. If someone has a certain problem and they keep hearing your name attached to that problem, they start to assume you can solve it.
Take me as an example. I'm the CMO of OPEX and CoachRx. I've been in senior marketing roles for over 20 years, and 12 of those years have been focused on brand and growth strategy for fitness businesses.
My expertise is trusted in those leadership roles because I've put in the reps. I've generated results. I have proof and lived experience in this industry. James Fitzgerald (founder) and Carl Hardwick (CEO) trust me to deliver through growth obstacles because I've delivered over and over again.
This matters because the show I'm building and the content I teach is for one clear person: the fitness coach trying to grow their practice. If I spoke to "everyone who wants marketing advice," you probably wouldn't be reading this, because it wouldn't feel like it was meant for you.
Why "coaching anyone to anything" doesn't work
Here's the hard truth. Coaching anyone to anything is not a viable business model, and it's not a content strategy that breaks through.
It's too broad to be believable, so trust is slower to build.
It's too generic to stand out, so your content blends in.
It's too hard to refer, because people can't easily describe what you do.
Growth needs connection and trust. Without those, you're stuck grinding for attention.
You're not the niche, you're the niche's hero
If you're a lifestyle creator trying to go viral, maybe you can build around "I am the niche." People follow for your personality, your day, your style, your vibe.
That's not what professional coaching is.
As a coach, you serve a specific client avatar and help them get real results. That's why you need a niche, and it's why you are not the niche. You are the niche's hero.
You are the expert guide from Point A to Point B.
You might choose a niche that matches your personal passion or your own transformation, and that's common. Still, the niche is not your identity. The niche is the person you help and the problem you solve.
The faster you decide who you're for, the faster you can build "hero status" in their mind. When someone can put you, your promise, and your results into a simple box, you become memorable. It also becomes easy for them to say, "This is the coach I need," and just as important, "This is the coach my friend needs."
Clarity in your marketing looks like this:
One ideal client avatar, one core message, one clear offer.
In a noisy app culture with short attention spans, that focus needs to sit at the center of your content.
What a niche actually is (it's simpler than people make it)
A niche is the overlap of two things:
Your ideal client avatar (who you coach)
The problem you solve (what you help them with)
That overlap becomes the foundation of your messaging. I like to think of it as the three Ps:
Person, Problem, Promise
This is the clarity filter. It's what you run every content idea through. It's also a core input for building your coaching content signature, because it keeps you from drifting into random topics that don't support your offer.
If you ever wonder, "Should I post about this?" the three Ps usually answer it fast.
10 questions that help you define your niche (with real clarity)
If you want to get serious about your niche, don't start by staring at your bio and trying to "pick a target market." Start with real evidence: who you've coached, what you've solved, and what you can confidently repeat.
Grab a pen, or come back when you have a quiet moment, and answer these honestly:
Who do you already coach or who have you coached in the past? Be specific.
What was the outcome they were trying to achieve?
What is the real and specific fitness related problem that you can coach confidently?
Whose specific fitness challenges do you understand inside and out?
What type of client could you talk to 10 times a day without getting bored or losing interest?
What type of client do you know is actively investing in getting the results that you deliver?
If you scroll your DMs or comments on your existing posts, what kind of questions are people already asking you?
Where do you have an unfair advantage when it comes to credibility and proof?
What type of clients are already getting results and they want more?
If you could only get paid to deliver one result, what would it be?
If you take time with those questions, your ideal client is in there. You don't need to invent them. You need to notice the patterns and choose with confidence.
After that, the real work begins. Once you define your niche, your aim for mastery takes over. Your daily focus becomes solving that specific problem better and better. Over time, that focus compounds, both in your coaching results and in how your market sees you.
How I think about "knowing your ideal client" (it's deeper than demographics)
Defining a niche isn't just picking a label like "busy moms" or "men over 40." That's a start, but it's not enough to create content that feels personal.
My job is to know my ideal client better than they know themselves. That means I pay attention to the full picture, not just their macros and workouts. I want to understand what they're dealing with day-to-day, and what keeps pulling them away from the result they want.
I think about the small stuff and the heavy stuff. I think about the thoughts they replay on a loop. I think about what they've tried before, and what made them quit.
A few areas I focus on:
Big and small struggles: What's stressing them out at work, at home, or in their own head? What feels "too hard" right now?
Motivators and demotivators: What lights them up, and what shuts them down fast?
I also want to know what they consume and what shapes their beliefs. What content are they watching? What are they searching for late at night? What inspires them? What annoys them? Even things like music, hobbies, and interests can help you write in a way that sounds like you're talking to a real person.
When you build this level of understanding, your content stops sounding like "tips." It starts sounding like, "I know what you're dealing with, and I have a plan." That's where shared belief forms. That's where trust grows, and trust is what helps people decide and take action.
This week's challenge: define your niche with confidence
If you want something practical to do right now, here it is. No rebrand, no website overhaul, no new logo.
Answer the 10 questions above.
Define your niche in one line: who you coach, the problem you solve, the promise you deliver.
It's simple, but it's not effortless. It takes rigor. Still, that's the work. Your aim is mastery, both in your practice and in your marketing.
Once you lock this in, content gets lighter. You can make an endless list of topics, all tied to solving one specific problem. Referrals also get easier because people can explain what you do in one sentence.
The bottom line: you need a niche, and your content should prove you're the guide
Here's the recap I want you to keep: You need a niche. You are not the niche. You are the niche's hero.
When you show up with focus and deep understanding of your client, your marketing starts to feel like coaching. It becomes magnetic because it's clear who you help, what you fix, and what result you drive.
If you want the Coaching Content Signature custom GPT I mentioned, DM me on Instagram and I'll send it to you. Also, tell me what you get out of it. Those messages from coaches who gain clarity and start posting with confidence are my favorite.
In the end, the goal isn't to narrow your impact. It's to earn the right to be chosen by the people you can help most, and to build trust fast enough that they stop scrolling and start acting.
Next Steps
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