If we were to name today in the Carolinas, it would be suitable to call it “Black Ice Tuesday.”
The South continues to recover from the unusual snow storm over the weekend. There is not much snow left, but the piles remaining from the plowing and clearing melt during the day and runoff water on the streets and roads freezes at night. This creates a deceptively dangerous situation.
Lose your traction and you spin out of control. The same applies to business traction, getting and keeping new customers.
In his post for Forbes, Five Reasons 8 out of 10 Business Fail, Eric T Wagner says reason #3 that business fail: Failure to communicate value propositions in a clear, concise and compelling fashion.
Communication of value comes down to marketing. It’s the only way your customers and potential customers know what your business is all about. Your marketing message is one thing you have complete control over. Few fitness businesses do it successfully.
Most fitness business look to one, or more, of three sources for their ideas on marketing and all are ineffective at best.
First, they look at what other fitness businesses are doing. For example, if the gym down the street is offering price discounting as a marketing strategy, they think they must follow suite. This is a colossal mistake unless your value proposition is price discounting.
Second, they look at big corporations with deep pockets and start marketing with the intent of creating their brand. And usually the brand is essentially the same as the competitor down the street and all the money spent is wasted.
Third, they find someone, usually a friend, member, or even a salesman with a “marketing background” and put their faith in this person. They seek this “expert’s” advice and spend their hard-earned money on whatever this person recommends, and usually this “expert” is modeling their advice based on #1 and #2 above.
The fitness business owner should be strategically positioning their business to stand out in the market place, to showcase their uniqueness, which means to be different. Your value proposition must be unique, which is the whole point of having one.
Your uniqueness consistently expressed through every marketing channel will send a clear message to everyone and answer the question on their minds, “what’s in it for me?” Likewise, it will repel the people who are not your ideal clients and save you a ton of time.
Admittedly, these business and marketing skills are not skills most fitness people bring to their business. This is an area where those most serious about growing their business need to seek help.
Help can come from books, seminars, webinars, coaching or mentoring. But it must come from someone who understands the process and has been successful in this exact process.
Do the work to gain marketing traction now, or risk sliding across the black ice of most fitness marketing initiatives and wasting a tremendous amount of money in the process.
A great place to start is our free educational seminar here. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Remember you only get results if you take immediate action on your ideas!
