Marketing in the Fitness World

What can you do to make your fitness facility stand out in a class by itself? Taking a page from the sports marketing playbook, you can disqualify the competition and redefine the standards in order to transform the fitness game by hitting these main focal points.

Equipment – No one likes walking into a gym and seeing chipped paint, torn upholstery, and dirty floors. As it relates to fitness facilities, strive to make all of the equipment, exterior and interior, top of the line. Providing a facility that houses state-of-the-art equipment will generate respect as well as serve as a means of recruiting and retaining clientele. Try to outfitting your gym with equipment brands that project quality and professionalism. Brands such as Life Fitness and Iron Grip are among the top fitness products in the industry.

Staff – When I walk into a gym, the last thing I want is to be greeted by a rude employee. As a professional, it is imperative to take the time and effort needed to hire the right person for the job. Hiring the most qualified person who possesses relevant certifications or other relevant credentials is essential to creating a quality staff.  It is also important to look for individuals with a customer-friendly personality.  Physical appearance is crucial; in-shape, fit employees will give you the upper hand in the fitness world where image is key. The right staff will make people feel comfortable and make them choose your fitness facility over the competitors. A quality staff will generate happy customers who will 'spread the word' about your facility which in turn will increase your membership potential dramatically.

Apparel – Plain, gray, cotton t-shirts are not what people want to see in the Pro-Shop. Provide an inventory of nice, branded clothing for people to purchase, such as Nike or Under Armour.  When customers are wearing your branded clothing (your fitness logo), it serves as a secondary form of advertising.

These are a few ideas that you can incorporate into your fitness facility to make the opposition irrelevant and dominate the game of marketing in the fitness world.

Marketing to Create Marketable Athletes

In an industry focused on preparing amateur athletes for becoming professional public figures and competitors, marketing will be crucial to my career success. In order to set myself apart from others striving to break into the role of improvisation and leadership coach or director of player personnel I will be required to distinguish my techniques of teaching. As collegiate and amateur athletes transition to professional athletics, they will need trusted individuals who will advise them in maintaining a public image, interacting positively with the media, and securing their own style of brand management.

Photo courtesy of sportingnews.com. 

The core product I’ll offer my clients (amateur or newly-professional athletes) is a set of skills, tactics, and considerations to aid the athlete in any number of situations that he or she might encounter in the professional world. These will facilitate a level of control and poise in the face of the ever-aggressive world of media and public attention. I will distinguish myself from the crowd as an improvisation and leadership coach by establishing key concepts and lessons that resonate with the client in dealing with media and the public. These media lessons are part of a developing curriculum that I will teach my clients; the athletes should develop a professional mindset from which to speak.  Ultimately, it is not ’what to say’ but ‘how to say it’ in a professional, deliberate manner.

As a director of player personnel teaching a client to be media savvy, it will be equally important to create an environment of trust for the athlete. Just as critical as what is being taught is the style in which the message is delivered. Creating a sense of ease with the athlete and the athletic administration will be paramount in the success of my career. With the proper curriculum comes learning, with learning comes practice, practice leads to success, and success will build trust.

PE Crusade

‘A sound mind in a sound body’ – Greek philosopher Thales (Miletus, 624 – 546 BC). This quote demonstrates that a healthy body promotes a healthy mind. To grow mentally, we must also grow physically.

Current studies in early childhood development indicate that Thales’ wise words still stand true for modern society. Science proves that physical activity promotes a great number of benefits for the human brain. For students that have learning difficulties or ADHD, Physical Education is key to success in the classroom. These are great things about PE, but the public does not put a high value on what we do.

We have to change the way PE is viewed by the public, but more specifically, the parents of the children. At home, the parents are the biggest influence on their children. If we can change the mindset of our parents, by marketing to them the importance in their child being physically active, we can change the health of our school children.

To achieve this goal we can offer the following PE events throughout the school year:

·         Fitness events with students and parents that may consist of: Greek Games, Field Day, Workout talent shows, Jump Rope for Heat, etc.

·         Have students write about their favorite PE game or activity.

·         Have students work on creativity by assigning groups to develop workout routines.

·         Have students log and track their own fitness assessment stats and to develop short term goals.

·         Create a Twitter account to promote PE events to the parents and community.

We are the voices of Physical Education. Our children’s future health depends on us. Let’s change the world by changing the way people look at PE in school.

CrossFit: Stronger, Faster, Healthier

In the fitness industry, there are various exercise programs that range in quality and sound professional standards.  One program that separates itself from the pack is CrossFit.  CrossFit was founded by former gymnast Greg Glassman. The first CrossFit affiliated gym opened in Santa Cruz in 1995. CrossFit itself is a strength and conditioning fitness program that promotes broad, general and inclusive fitness using a combination of weightlifting, gymnastics and elements of track and field. CrossFit strives to teach functional movement patterns that will better the participant in their everyday life rather than only in the gym. These movement modalities include pushing, pulling, squatting, jumping, throwing, carrying, and sprinting at high intensity for short combined intervals.

As a CrossFit Level 1 certified trainer, I promote CrossFit to my clients as the superior training technique for achieving total functional fitness. CrossFit is a very marketable service due to its universal adaptability and superior results. CrossFit maintains its popularity by creating a community of friends who work together in a family-like atmosphere to achieve optimal health and fitness goals. We call ourselves “CrossFitters.”  

TSU Football – Random Acts of Kindness

The Tarleton State University (TSU) football team separates themselves from the competition through extremely hard work on the field and in the classroom as well as by giving back to the community. Since 2011, the TSU Texan football players have accumulated over 2,700 community service hours by volunteering to work with organizations such as Angle League, Tarleton Round-up, Tri-Star games, Fantastic Field Day, Meals on Wheels, Ronald McDonald House, Tarleton track meets, foster home cookouts, power lifting meets, and other random acts of kindness. In 2012, TSU President Dr. Dominic Dottavio presented the Texan football team with the Organization of the Year Award for community service.  The team exceeded the second-place student organization nominee by over 1,000 hours.

 

By giving back to others, the Texan football team gains an understanding of how blessed they are to play college football. Most of the community service is geared towards children with disabilities or a bad home life; serving others allows these college athletes to become role models and advocates for those who need support.

Taking time out of a busy in-season and off-season football schedule to touch others around the community is a selfless act that develops leadership traits and great men of character. They are not required  to wear their TSU Football gear for program recognition; it is something the athletes do out of the kindness of their hearts. Every player on the TSU Football team is a true champion in the game of life!

Uniforms are Pushing Sports Marketing

An important marketing tool for sports teams is using a creative logo and color scheme in advertising their product.  One of these areas of marketing in which these concepts can be readily seen in is team uniforms and apparel.  Whether it is collegiate or high school teams, uniforms are becoming more complex and important to team marketability.  Brands and uniforms are now becoming a huge recruiting tool for most collegiate programs.  Oregon has used the uniform and color schemes to the schools advantage to help gain national recognition for its athletic programs. 

High school athletes are now having an influence on what brand and style uniforms are being purchased for their teams.  As an aspiring athletic director, I think it is important for the athletic director, to not only focus on the budget of the teams but to also provide the players and coaches with apparel and uniforms that they can take pride in wearing.  These creative uniform choices can speak volumes for an athletic program.  When a football team travels to a rival town for a Friday night game, the entire town is represented by what is put out on the field.  A clean, sleek uniform can help represent the image of a community.

Look good ... feel good ... play good!

Tarleton State University: Golf Logo

The product and logos are fundamental to the success of any sports marketing effort. The product lets the customer know what you represent (team or apparel or service) while the logo is what catches the eye and lets the customer know who you are (brand identity). The logo is often what people recognize even before they purchase the product.  The customer wants to associate themselves with a ‘winning’ product and the logo often indicates quality. 

 

As a former player and assistant golf coach at Tarleton State University, one of my favorite apparel items was our hats. A white hat with purple writing and purple hat with white writing were used in competition and practice, respectively. The front of the hat showcased the team name “Tarleton”; however, the “T” was monogramed to resemble the “T” in Titleist, a premier golf company.  The side of the hat was stitched with TSU Golf.

 

Taking a page from the Titleist playbook was a great marketing idea for the golf team because the hats were immediately identified with golf. It was also a great fundraising idea because supporters who play golf are fanatics for Titleist products and readily bought them to show support for the program.

 

Consider product and logo when marketing your program…it’s a hole-in-one strategy!