Here's Why Your Marketing Isn't Working & What To Do About It
In our Clientmax High-Ticket Client Acquisition System coaching program clients know how I beat Positioning & Differentiation Strategy to death.
I commonly refer to Planet Fitness (love them or hate them) because they are an example of a company that effectively positioned one of the biggest commodity businesses in the industry (big-box gyms and memberships) and therefore reaped the rewards of rapid growth.
How Commoditization is Killing CrossFit & Fitness Businesses
I recently had this discussion with a group of CrossFit owners because this niche has become commoditized. When something becomes commoditized, then how do they typically compete?
PRICE.
It's not a good place to be because it's a discount and promotion fest, which becomes a race to the bottom!
The whole 6 Week Challenge craze didn't help. It actually accelerated this commoditization of not only CrossFit, other large group training facilities and personal training studios.
In fact, I've found some markets have been so saturated with this challenge stuff, that when someone runs marketing for let's say a "12 Week Transformation" or something similar people assume it's "Free" (even when it's not) and it kills the quality of their leads too.
This goes for all the other generic Facebook ad templates fitness business owners are copying from other gurus of ad agencies. If you just copy this stuff, then you just become part of the noise and clutter. You look the same as your competition and don't give your prospects a reason to pick you over anyone else regardless of price.
Therefore, you give prospects no choice, but to pick a business based on price and/or convenience.
I hope that's sinking in. If you struggle getting quality leads and people who can afford your services than I hope you are starting to see why. It's not the boogeyman. It's your marketing (or lack of in some cases).
It's why it's a critical piece of our high-ticket client acquisition system we teach our clients because you can't sell high-ticket easily if you are competing on price.
So how do I get out of this mess? Effectively Position & Differentiation Your Fitness Business.
It starts by TRULY picking a niche, then messaging effectively to this niche. Now hold on before you take off because you think you've heard this before. In working with hundreds of business owners I've found they conceptually understand the idea of a niche, but have no idea how to practically apply it to their marketing and business effectively. Most owners I meet think they have picked a niche, but really haven't.
For example, fitness businesses are in the Health Market, but what is your Sub-market (weight loss, fitness, etc.)? Most, unfortunately, make the mistake of stopping at the sub-market level and think they are in a niche.
No, we have to take it a step further, so we are not swimming in the "red ocean" of a generic sub-market. As authors, Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne coined in their book Blue Ocean Strategy. We want to swim in a blue ocean, not in the bloody waters where all the competition is.
Below is a link to an article written by The Motley Fool, a personal finance/stock-picking company. It has picked Planet Fitness as a stock to watch. I want you to pay special attention to the second paragraph titled First Time Gym Goers. Go ahead, read it, and come on back:
You Need to Find a True Niche (not Sub-market) and Position Your Business FOR IT.
Do you see how Planet Fitness has picked a niche First-Time Gym Goers and created a positioning strategy and messaging to talk to this niche ("no judgment zone," "you belong," etc.)?
Don't think you can't do this because "Pete, there's nothing special about what we do." We're a personal training studio."
Don't just settle for; we go after affluent people 45-65, that's not going to get you tremendous growth more easily. It is just a Demographic, not a target market for your ideal client or what we call CPM (Central Psychographic Model). For example, there is a slice of people in this demographic you can create niche around, then create your Positioning Strategy FOR.
Do this right, and you become a magnet, and all your marketing becomes "magically" more effective!
The more people dive into the "boutique fitness" trend, studios, gyms, and Crossfit facilities, the tougher it is to compete for clients. And if you're using the same marketing tactics as everyone else, then attracting the clients you want can become a nightmare.
Also, checkout my article on creating a New Opportunity, which makes differentiating your business even easier and more powerful!
Contrary to what you've been told, YouTubing, tweeting, content marketing, 14-day trials, 21-day trials, challenges, low-price boot camps, and trying to build your social media following is what the 99% of personal training studios who are failing are doing.
Meanwhile, our clients are dominating their markets. They're creating programs that sell for $3,000-$16,000 and building recurring revenue at the same time. They're creating a self-sustaining systems-based business that provides the income, freedom, and impact they dreamed about when starting their business, but just could figure out on their own. AND they're doing this while creating transformational results for their clients.
If you want to get more detail on how to do this and the EXACT 4-step strategy our clients are using to differentiate their business and command high-ticket fees while creating amazing levels of success and freedom and get better results for their clients than ever before.
Join me for a Breakthrough Strategy Session where we'll discuss your business, goals, and how we can help you get there faster and easier!
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Take the first step and schedule a complimentary coaching call with Pete Piranio & his team. You'll discuss your biggest challenges you face in your businesses and get our recommendations to solve them. Finally, if it sounds like we can help and we’re a good fit, we’ll explain what path is best for you and how it works. Then, at the end, if it makes sense, you can make a decision whether you want to be a part our community of serious fitness entrepreneurs.
