How the marketing agency MOTUS CI is using data to drive powerful outcomes for its clients.
Marketing today is complicated. There are a plethora of mediums to invest in, from social media and print to TV and programmatic. From there, operators must decide how much to invest in these mediums and what marketing message will best resonate with a target audience.
However, MOTUS Consumer Insights (MOTUS CI), a marketing agency in Nashville, Tennessee, doesn’t get bogged down by all the possibilities when consulting with a client on their marketing efforts. Instead, they let data drive the direction.
“We let the data drive the decisions, as our company is built to support whatever direction the data is saying we should go,” said Peter Stipher, the president of MOTUS CI.
MOTUS CI was founded in 2017 with a vision to use actionable data to drive decisions on top-of-funnel acquisitions. This has since expanded to the company being a valued asset for its partners in decision making regarding site selection and marketing.
With MOTUS CI, clubs are able to use analytics to gain critical insights into their customers and discover new audiences using the agency’s proprietary algorithms. From there, they leverage data-driven and hyper-targeted strategies to connect a club’s message with audiences on a household level. Last but not least, MOTUS CI works with its club partners to combine data and design for eye-catching, creative campaigns that build the club’s brand and engage audiences.
Each of these strategies provide MOTUS CI partners with a competitive advantage, an effective strategy for targeting consumers and insights into where changes need to be made to improve marketing ROI.
“What we have seen when analyzing top-of-funnel spend is most other agencies specialize in a specific channel and deploy heavily on that,” said Stipher. “We understand the needs of the customers and are able to communicate and visualize actions based on data.”
Exactly what data is MOTUS CI able to provide to its clients?
Through the MOTUS Core Customer Profile, the agency is able to identify the shared attributes of a club’s current customers to find new prospects in a trade area. It identifies the top 10 customer segment opportunities, and outlines the right messaging and media channels where customers are most likely to engage.
Next up is Household Level data, which allows gyms to market to a specific household based on their preferences. This doesn’t just provide segmentation data but personalization data as well.
“It’s 70,000 data points on a home encompassing behavioral, psychographic and demographic data,” explained Stipher. “They say pennies make pounds. You take a bunch of little data points, and now we can really figure out who the people are a club should be talking to.”
In addition, MOTUS CI is able to provide data on site selection, using its technology to analyze a club’s current customer base to garner insights on where a new club is most likely to succeed.
“I don’t know any other agency in the fitness industry that can do a revenue projection analysis of a potential location you want to buy or develop,” said Stipher. “We can say, ‘Here’s where all the targets are, and this is how much money this location should generate.’ As such, people are making decisions using our platform to buy locations and then also engage target customers.”
According to Stipher, many club operators have essentially taken the marketing approach of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. But in the current times, this approach is no longer effective. Today’s consumers expect personalized communication on the channel of their preference.
“Consumers want personalization in every facet of their lives,” said Stipher. “It’s no different than Amazon, Netflix or OpenTable knowing what they like. Having data that unlocks personalization is a major advantage for all of our customers so they can focus on who they should be speaking to, what channel the messaging will work best on and other nuances that help build that digital relationship.”
A marketing strategy should vary by location, as well. Stipher explained clubs are often using the same budgets across the same mediums at multiple locations, when a more tailored approach is required to be truly successful.
“Let’s say a client has five locations,” explained Stipher. “They’ll give us a total budget, and if we were another agency, we might evenly distribute that money across all locations and usually on the same channels. We don’t do that. Each location has a different strategy based on its unique data points.”
In addition, that strategy may change. According to Stipher, the agency is consistently running data for its clients to ensure the most up-to-date and effective strategy is being utilized.
“We re-run data every 30 days, and we’ll find these nuanced changes and then adjust the targeting list,” said Stipher. “Know who your customers are now, not pre-COVID. A 1% to 2% change in your customers’ DNA could represent thousands of new opportunities and serve as a guide in optimizing your offering.”
Coming off a tough couple years for the fitness industry, MOTUS CI feels confident in its ability to help partners take advantage of the industry’s resurgence and increased demand for fitness services.
And it’s fully equipped to do so, with enterprise-level technology and data that differentiates it from other agencies.
“The most common response our team gets when meeting with new customers is, ‘I had no idea this type of granular marketing and data was available,’” said Stipher. “We want the industry to feel comfortable to reach out and compare us to their current providers or to gain some new knowledge that will help them navigate this unique time. There’s a ton of inventory — and by that I mean customers — for clubs to go after, but that inventory is not all coming back at the same time. You better be really concise on who you want to go after with your spend, and we can certainly help with that.”
