The Fitness Marketing Landscape
Over the past 10 years fitness marketing has gone through many changes. 10 years ago, generating foot traffic and attracting new members was a much more turnkey process. Come up with a good promotion, target the areas around your club with a mailer and some flyers, then hope that the leads came in.
Needless to say, fitness marketing has become much more complicated, much more targeted, and much more competitive! With the data now available to marketers, we have the capability to tightly target prospects in your surrounding neighborhoods by standard demographics such as age, income, and household, as well many more personal traits such as buying habits, traffic patterns, etc…
What is Your Competition Doing?
Even with all of this data at our disposal to create highly targeted promotions, as a business owner, I know what question still keeps you up at night; What is my competition doing? Are they doing something different or better than me?
Let’s face it, no matter how much success your club may be having, you still cannot stand losing even one member to the competition. Every dollar spent with the competition is one less spent at your health club, right? From membership purchased to every bottle of water sold at the front desk, that’s revenue lost.
So what do you do? You can’t stop your competition from marketing to your local area just as they cannot stop you. No matter how good your health club marketing is, or how successful your fitness SEO is, the competition is bound to get to some local prospects before you do. The odds of your marketing getting seen first 100% of the time is a statistical improbability. So if you can’t get to EVERYONE first, you better make sure you get to them second. And quickly!!!
Yes! Get to everyone that is responding to your competition’s local promotions immediately. This is Competitive Remarketing, and when done right, it is very powerful!
Put Some Thought Into Your Promos
Have custom created ads with messaging directed to turning your competition’s hottest prospects into your own and have these ads follow them throughout their online journey. It is important to understand that Over 80% of consumers research a product or service online via a Google search before making a buying decision. So you have chance, but you need to make sure you get them during this process.
For example, let’s say your biggest competition is running a “free trial” fitness advertising promotion and they are spending a lot on digital ads and a direct mail promotion to drive prospects to their website. A good strategy for your health might be to create a digital ad campaign with messaging about how “free trials are trap” or a “high pressure trick”. Have the ads drive your competition’s prospects to a landing page that drives home that point, and also supports it by explaining the value of joining your health club.
When done right, it is a very effective way to get your brand into the mind of the target prospect and make them aware that they have purchasing options. Now the process begins of driving home that value and converting them into YOUR new members!
FAQ
Competitive remarketing is a technique used by online retailers to target potential customers who have recently visited other websites in the same industry. It involves placing targeted ads on the websites of competitors or industry-related sites that a customer might visit after leaving the retailer’s website. The ads are designed to entice the customer to return to the retailer’s website, where they can be offered a special deal or discount. This strategy is effective because it takes advantage of a customer’s existing interest in a product or service, and it allows a retailer to capitalize on a potential sale that may have otherwise been lost. Competitive remarketing is a great way to increase sales and boost customer loyalty, but it should be used judiciously to ensure that customers are not bombarded with ads.
Creating a good ad promotion requires a lot of thought and planning. First, you need to decide what message you want to communicate and who your target audience is. Once you have this information, you can start to create a plan for your promotion. This can include deciding on the medium of your ad (print, radio, television, etc.), the type of content you will use (text, images, videos, etc.), and the timing of your ad campaign. You also need to consider how you will track the success of your promotion and measure its effectiveness. Finally, it’s important to make sure that your ad is compliant with any laws or regulations that may apply. With careful planning and consideration, you can create an effective ad promotion that reaches your target audience and delivers your message.
