Sure, you’ve got the standard amenities… You have weights and cardio equipment. Your website provides an online nutrition tracker to guide your members to success through proper nutrition. You’ve got a swimming pool and spinning classes. You offer extras like tanning and yoga. But having all of these amenities and programs is not enough. To drive significant growth for your club, you need to know how to effectively market your amenities. The foundation of successful marketing is understanding the needs of your potential clientele, and delivering messages that offer clear and simple solutions through compelling promotions that create urgency for immediate action.
So, successful marketing involves understanding needs, delivering simple compelling messages, and setting up promotions that create urgency. To create a simple compelling message, you must understand the needs of your potential members. A common phrase in marketing is “Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak”. What this means is that you need to focus on how your amenities will revolutionize their lives, not just the detail and quality of the amenities themselves. Show how your amenities will answer their needs and desires. Show how your classes will provide them with more energy, a positive outlook, and new friends. Show how your online nutrition program will help them lose weight and significantly improve their health and appearance.
Promotional programs can be created by tying various amenities together into packages. For example, many clubs are now offering a program called “Coach Assisted Nutrition”. In this program, the personal trainer will use their online nutrition program to routinely monitor the eating habits of their clientele. By taking this very straightforward combination, and providing the name “Coach Assisted Nutrition”, you create the basics for a promotional program. Once you’ve created your program, you need to create urgency. Urgency is created by creating a compelling reason to act now. Effective promotions should create the feeling that “If I don’t take advantage of this offer today, I’m really going to miss out”.
Your messages may be delivered through a range of channels. The Human Resources Director at a corporate office provides a direct channel to the employees of these companies. For example, you could get the HR director to email an offer of “Coach Assisted Nutrition at a Special Rate for Employees… Valid This Week Only”. To promote your other amenities, you can tie in a free yoga class, or free tanning. The possibilities are nearly endless. Marketing is really just learning how to effectively influence human behavior. Learning to master the basics of successful marketing can change your business forever.
For more information call 301-864-3886, or email jpeters@vitabot.com, or visit www.vitabot.com.
