The fitness industry is a fairly simple business at its very essence: Get members of your club to perform activities that are uncomfortable to most people. Getting results is simple: Take in the correct amount of calories for the activities you perform, while challenging the body’s muscular system. Easy right?
To fitness professionals and workout enthusiasts, it IS easy. While redundant and boring, sometimes we perform those strenuous tasks to make our bodies better, while restricting calories to just what we need and little more.
But that is not true for the general population. They think fitness is a mysterious and ambiguous thing that they only wish they could attain. They also get bored easily and tire very quickly of the same routine (even if they are seeing results). This is what makes our business much more complicated. How do we entertain and retain those people long enough to get them the results they want?
This is where new marketing of programming comes into play. Whether it is a promotion, short-term program, or special package, fitness managers need to find ways to repackage fitness in different ways, to make it appear to members as if they are offering something new.
Simply changing venues in a club, changing the modalities of exercise or repackaging successful long-term training methods can grab the attention of members who are looking for something new to keep them interested in exercise.
We should always be looking for new modalities and methods of activity that are safe and effective and offer it to our members. But sometimes you can take a successful modality and put a fresh coat of paint on it, to make it look totally new and attractive to members.
This should be done on a quarterly basis, where you are offering a new program/package to your members to keep them motivated and engaged all year long.
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Vic Spatola is the director of personal training at Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club. He also does personal training business consulting. Contact him at: v4victoryconsult@gmail.com.
