I received another great question from a small gym owner the other day.
In the course of our conversation we were talking about the competitors a small gym owner faces every day in today’s marketplace.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart that I spend a fair amount of time investigating. I routinely visit other gyms to keep in contact with my customers, my potential customers and to keep a pulse on marketing trends.
He wanted to know which competitors had the best marketing programs. More specifically, he wanted to know which competitors have the marketing programs that are the biggest challenge to the small gym owner.
This is a great question with a somewhat counter intuitive answer.
The first thing we are most likely to believe is that effective fitness marketing programs will resemble big business. For example, lots of brand awareness, billboard advertising and general awareness campaigns. We believe this is marketing because we have been inundated with these messages for years.
The big business model is a disaster for the typical small business owners. There are simply too many channels and opportunities to waste money.
The most effective small businesses across all industries are those that employ direct response marketing tactics.
Direct response marketing involves several factors, and in its purest form is simply marketing directly to the consumer. Most importantly, for every dollar you spend on marketing you can, and need to track the revenue you produce from that tactic.
This means that rather than having a billboard campaign the small business will employ more specific, highly targeted tactics directed to the ideal customer in a very personal and specific way.
Now let’s go back to the strategy of me visiting various gyms and fitness centers. When I visit the facility, I happily give them my contact information in exchange for a free trial visit.
The value of this contact information represents a huge opportunity for those that know how to use it.
Having this information and knowing what to do with it, allows a business owner to contact me directly and market to me directly.
I am pleased to report some of the facilities I visit use my information very effectively. Others, to my amazement do almost nothing with my information
Equally perplexing is there seems to be an inverse ratio operating here. The facilities that do a lot of mass market advertising seem to do very little personal marketing to me specifically.
The exploding organizations that I see little national advertising from, are the ones that use my personal information most effectively.
You are likely wondering what this direct marketing looks like. The most prominent components consist of limited and specifically targeted advertising. Next, routine personalized use of the mobile phone.
This is the secret weapon of the exploding fitness business. It’s an advantage the big corporations don’t have.
Remember – I willfully gave all my contact information to the fitness business owner. I was inviting a continued conversation. I don’t do that with the big corporations.
At 6 Figure Trainers this is exactly how we approach marketing. We save you the time and energy of visiting different gyms in your area and bring all the proven techniques to you for immediate implementation.
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