Marketing

Submitted by ally.price@up… on Fri, 10/28/2022 - 11:28

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Branding is a crucial aspect of marketing that helps businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors and establish a unique identity in the minds of their customers. In simple terms, branding is the process of creating a recognisable and memorable name, logo, design, or symbol that represents your business and its values.

In the fitness industry, branding is especially important because it can help you stand out from the numerous other trainers and gyms out there. To create a strong brand, you need to consider various elements such as your target audience, your unique selling proposition, and your overall image.

One important aspect of branding is consistency. This means that all of your marketing materials, from your website to your business cards, should have a cohesive look and feel that aligns with your brand's values and personality. Consistency is key in building trust and recognition with your customers.

Another key element of branding is storytelling. Your brand should tell a compelling story about who you are, what you stand for, and why you're passionate about helping people achieve their fitness goals. By sharing your personal journey, your values, and your mission, you can connect with potential clients on a deeper level and create a loyal following.

Ultimately, a strong brand can help you attract and retain clients, differentiate yourself from your competitors, and build a positive reputation in your industry. So, take the time to develop a brand that truly represents you and your business, and you'll be well on your way to success in the fitness industry.

Have a look at the following slide of images to view some very well-known brands that may resonate with you. What comes to mind when you think of these brands?

Coca Cola
Air New Zealand
Sony PlayStation
McDonald's
Disney

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When a business is building its brand, it should focus on attracting the right kind of customers who will benefit from its services. Your brand is basically what people think about when they hear your business's name - it's like a promise of what you offer and what you stand for. To build a strong brand, you need to make sure you're promoting it consistently and with high quality, so people can recognise your business at a glance and feel connected to it.

Here are a considerations required when developing your own brand:

What will be the brand name?
What will the logo look like?
Will the brand have a slogan?
Will the brand need a website?
What are my advertising options for the brand?
Should my brand be trademarked?
What do I wish to convey to my target market?

Be mindful that a brand is a lot more than simply just the product you sell.

Characteristics of world-class brands

Here are the ten common characteristics of the world’s top brands.

Excels at delivering the benefits which customer’s desire
It stays relevant
It's pricing strategy is based on consumer’s perceptions of value
Is properly positioned in the marketplace
It is consistent and remains so
It's portfolio and hierarchy make sense
It coordinates a full repertoire of marketing activities to build equity
It's managers understand what the brand means to consumers
It is given proper consumer support that is sustained for a long time
The company monitors sources of equity (Keller, 2000)

Finding your own brand can be a challenging but rewarding process.

To start, consider what makes you unique and what sets you apart from others in your industry or field. Consider your values, strengths, passions, and expertise, and how they can be incorporated into your brand.

Conduct market research to better understand your target audience and what they seek in a brand. Use this information to develop a brand personality that resonates with your audience and aligns with your values.

Create a clear and concise message that communicates your brand's value proposition, and use it consistently across all your marketing channels.

Finally, be authentic and true to yourself throughout the branding process. Your brand should be a reflection of who you are and what you stand for, so don't be afraid to let your personality shine through. Remember that building a brand is an ongoing process, and it may take time to refine and evolve your brand over time.

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Create a brand that is unique to you!

The decisions you make about your brand are critical in shaping how consumers perceive your product or service. To attract the right customers, you need to make branding decisions that address the needs of your target market. This means that the choices you make for your brand should appeal to the clients you want to attract. Some branding considerations include the following:

Name
Logo
Slogan
Pictures
Colours
Fonts
Information

The following image illustrates the familiar signage of Snap Fitness brand logo. Below the logo, it contains simple information that encourages the need to use the gym as it has flexible hours which suits many with busy lifestyles. What other things might you think of when you see the Snap Fitness logo? Quality? Easily accessible? Economical? These thoughts are not by accident! Snap Fitness have given themselves a fantastic reputation by building their brand to meet the needs of their clients.

Other competing gyms that have a similar offering of flexible hours and convenience include places such as Jetts and Anytime Fitness. After reading the names “Jetts” and ”Anytime Fitness”, did you associate these gyms with their brand? Did you visualise their logo or setup of their gym? If so, their marketing of their brands has connected with you as a consumer. You may, or may not find the brand and gym appealing.

What can be noted from the above observations is that strong brands forge lasting connections with customers based on brand meaning.

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Let's have a go at reflecting on how Les Mills branding may have impacted or influenced you as a consumer.

How has Les Mills marketing worked on you?

Let’s look a little deeper into ways to further engage our target market through branding.

When marketing your brand, it is crucial to consider:

Brand meaning

This refers to the beliefs and associations that consumers have about a brand, which businesses use to build brand loyalty. With the growing popularity of social networking and digital communication, brand meanings can spread rapidly through online sharing. To build on their brand meaning, business owners are turning to brand storytelling as an effective method to engage consumers and establish their identity. Marketers aim to create compelling stories that connect with consumers and reinforce the brand's identity.

One well-known personal trainer, Kayla Itsines, has built a successful brand by focusing on her target audience's needs and beliefs. Her brand meaning is centred around empowering women to feel confident and strong through fitness.

She achieved this by creating a workout programme that helps women achieve their fitness goals, sharing inspiring success stories on social media, and building a supportive community that encourages women to support each other.

By consistently reinforcing her brand meaning through her messaging and marketing, Kayla Itsines has developed a loyal following of women who resonate with her brand and its values.

Check out her website and take note of her brand.

Brand personality

Brand Personality, on the other hand, captures the distinctive image that represents the characteristics and benefits of a product or service. It closely relates to brand meaning and plays an essential role in developing the image and voice of a brand, supporting effective marketing efforts. By considering both brand meaning and personality, businesses can make informed decisions in developing their brand and appealing to their target market.

A personal trainer named Tony Horton has built a brand around his unique personality traits. His brand personality is energetic, positive, and motivational. He achieved this by creating a workout programme called P90X, which is known for its high-intensity workouts and challenging routines. Tony's energetic and motivational personality is reflected in the marketing of his programme through catchy slogans, bold graphics, and upbeat music. By consistently reinforcing his brand personality through his messaging and marketing, Tony Horton has created a brand that is closely associated with his unique personality traits, which has helped him stand out in a crowded market of personal trainers.

Check out his website and get a feel of the use of brand personality throughout.

Watch

Watch the following video where Personal Trainer Tash, talks about her brand and her considerations when designing her logo.

Brand Transcript

Alright, so when it came to kicking your business off Tell us a little bit about how that came to be. Talk to us a little bit about your brand name, Health High and what that's all about. Oh, so I guess for me, the PT as a business module that was really helpful. The way that that assessment was put together, that really helped me to think about what it was that I wanted to focus on, what I wanted my business to be all about. You know, when people talk about Health High, and they, you know, they're a part of it and they go to someone and they tell them about it, what it is I want them to be saying about the business. So that was really, really helpful. And I guess for me, it's about fitness for everyone. It's about people who I'll often have people approach me and say, I'm not really fit enough to do a boot camp. But for me, it's about it being a really supportive environment that people feel comfortable to come along to there's options for everyone. So you don't have to perform a movement in a certain way. You know, if you've got an injury, we can give you alternatives, it's about meeting people where they are in their fitness journey and just helping them to make a start and move towards where they want to be. And it's you know, I think that a lot of the fitness industry is focussed on aesthetics. And for me I exercise because I want to feel good and you know, it really helps me with my mental health. I want to be strong, I want to be out there running around with my kids and all those sorts of things. So I wanted Health High to be about all of the other benefits of exercise that are a little bit outside of the aesthetic focus. And so those are some really important things, alongside the connectedness. So, you know, people meeting new people and getting out there and doing things that they didn't think they could do. So like, the adventure races that I coordinate teams for, that sort of thing. So I guess like the boot camps, and the PT are sort of a starting point for people to be able to do all these other things and the name Health High. So it's really difficult deciding on a name for your business. It's really hard. Obviously, you know, you'll think of things and then there's someone else with that name or it sounds cliche, but I came up with I think around four or five names that I liked the sound of and then I put them out there to people who were my target audience and I asked for feedback on them. And Health High came out as the one that people liked most. I wanted to get health in there because as I just said, it's all about health for me and then I think the high is just about, you know, that feeling you get when you've done a really great workout, you know, you feel high, you feel really energised. So yeah, that was where the name Health High came from. Oh good, so it came with a bit of thought and obviously the logo which we will be able to pop across the screen. Can you talk to us a little bit about the colouring and the font that you used and even the the squiggly arrow at the bottom. Okay, so the colouring, so the green. So obviously it's a really bright green. I think when you're choosing a logo, it's important that you choose a colour that's going, it's going stand out and catch people's attention. But also I wanted to get green in there, just that connection with outdoors and nature. And, you know, a lot of the social events that we organise are outdoorsy things. So that's an important part of the brand. The squiggly arrow. So the arrow is supposed to reflect the sentiment that, you know, when you start on this health or fitness journey, that it's not just like an upward trajectory that, you know, it's going to come with ups and downs. And so, yeah, so that's what the arrow, the squiggly arrow is about. I thought that when I said it to the students, it's not always a linear Yeah, health and fitness is not always a linear. But you got to keep going. You know, we're all going to have setbacks and you know, there's different seasons of life, like training through having three children is, you know, you're going to have to dial things down and change things up. And so it's about being adaptable. Yeah, awesome.

A gym goer accessing social media on a phone at an outdoor gym

Here are some common marketing methods that businesses use to promote their products or services:

Social media marketing

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer businesses a way to connect with their audience and promote their products or services through organic posts, paid advertising, and influencer partnerships.

Email marketing

Email marketing involves sending promotional emails to a list of subscribers who have opted in to receive communications from your business. This method can be highly effective for building relationships with customers and promoting sales or new products.

Content marketing

This involves creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and engage a target audience. This content can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and more, and is designed to educate, entertain, or inspire the audience while promoting your brand.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO is the process of optimising your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages. This can help increase visibility and attract more traffic to your website.

Promotions and incentives

Introductory offers, contests and giveaways, and other promotions that offer incentives to customers can be effective in attracting new customers and building brand awareness.

Product and service offerings

Upgrades and other variations of products or services can provide additional value to customers and increase revenue.

Social proof and reputation building

Customer reviews and testimonials can provide valuable feedback for businesses and build trust with potential customers. (McCormick, (2023)

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing involves partnering with influencers who have a large following on social media or other platforms to promote your products or services. This method can be highly effective for reaching new audiences and building trust with potential customers. These are just a few of the many marketing methods that businesses can use to promote their products or services. The most effective method(s) will depend on the business's goals, target audience, and budget.

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Let's enhance your marketing efforts to generate even more leads.

Head over to the forum and share 3 marketing methods that you see yourself using to attract potential clients and describe why you have chosen these.

Don't be afraid to get creative with your strategies. Whether it's leveraging social media, creating engaging content, or networking with local businesses, there are many ways to generate leads and grow your business.

Remember, with hard work, dedication, and a solid marketing plan, you can attract the right clients and build a thriving personal training business.
Go ahead and share your marketing ideas with your other students!

Traditionally, businesses would try to reach a big audience through different mediums such as television advertising or advertising within movies, celebrity endorsements and so on. However, in more recent years, there has been a shift in how customers receive their information. Business owners are now choosing to reach their target audience in more interactive and engaging ways. For instance, through the wide array of online, mobile and social media platforms, they can create, inspire and share brand messages.

If you take Adidas for example, a renowned sportswear brand, they have now chosen to abandon television altogether, opting to use only digital channels to reach their targeted younger consumers as Adidas’ CEO has acknowledged that their younger consumers engage with their brand predominantly over mobile devices.

A close view of a pair of classic Adidas shoes

Social media pages such as Instagram and Facebook are among the most utilised to help promote a brand. The message and vision of the business must be well communicated to an audience in order to not cause a negative reaction from the target market, as a poor reputation online is known to go “viral”. Other online methods to authenticate the business and brand whilst further promoting it, is to create a website or a blog. These marketing mediums will help create an image, a reputation, build the brand and assist in promoting the services the business provides. Things such as discounts, information on training sessions, contact details and trading hours can be some of the inclusions to the business online and social media pages.

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A post shared by PUMA Australia (@pumaau)

The use of online and/or social media presence for marketing the business brand is an effective way to promote what is on offer. Additionally, highly loyal customers can inadvertently promote the brand by sharing, tagging, linking and posting images to their personal social media pages. Advertising through social media takes a little bit of time, thinking and planning to ensure there is an active presence on the social media channels. Some of the considerations needed to be carefully planned out might include:

What images should be used?
Is the brand consistent throughout the content?
What discounts could be applied and when?
What is the preferred contact method to ensure all enquiries are attended to?
How often should be posted?
Are the messages promoted clearly to the ideal target audience?
Are the services the business provides clear and well highlighted in the content?
Will there be a theme for posts, for example, motivational posts, educational posts, monthly special posts or a particular colour scheme?
Who are the influencers in your niche?
What has been tried and tested already? Are there pitfalls you can avoid?

Once you have a grasp of the content you would like to use when promoting through social media, you can then research which of these marketing mediums will be pursued to better promote the business brand. After making a decision on which online or social media medium to use (it may be one, all or a combination of a few), it is time to get started. Click on each of the following to learn how to create a business page for Instagram, Facebook and also personalise your own website.

Please note, these are not the only providers for building a social media or online presence, further research can be conducted to see what other options and avenues the business would prefer to take.

See the following website from NASM, to learn how to get started when marketing your personal training business online.

Online personal training: learn how to build your business

Keep in mind, while social media is a fantastic tool that can be used for marketing, you shouldn't rely solely on this. Be sure that the marketing methods used suit your target audience. Be open to using more than one appropriate method for your business.

It's time to share some inspiration and give a shoutout to the fitness professionals who motivate and engage us online.

Watch

In the following video Personal Trainer Tash discusses her target market and which methods she uses to generate clients.

Marketing Transcript

Alright Tash, you mentioned about your offerings how you can offer to everybody and you've got, you want to create an ethos where regardless of your fitness level, you're able to join the Health High community. But within those parameters, you've also got a little bit of a target market. Talk to us a little bit about that. So I guess generally we specialise in training women. I have like the odd male client for PT, but yeah, on the whole, it's women really between the ages of like 30 to 60, give or take. We also have a specialism in pre and postnatal coaching. So when I, once I'd completed my certification with NZIS, I then went on to do the Girls Gone Strong pre and postnatal coaching certification. And yeah, from that I set up my postnatal group. So yeah. Yeah. So that's your, would you consider that a unique selling point, the fact that you specialise and you're qualified in that. Definitely. I think, you know, when lots of people first start out, you tend to be quite generalised because you're still, you're still learning lots of things. And you really and a lot of the time you don't necessarily know what it is that you want to focus on. So yeah, that's definitely a unique selling point for us. And as you mentioned before, I've recently had another trainer who started working for Health High as well. She's also, I'm putting her through her pre and postnatal Cert 2. So yeah, it's, it's, it's a really important part of what we do is making sure that we are able, we have the knowledge and the skills to support that population. Yeah. And I suppose that the empathy too, I think you know, being a mum of three under fives yourself, you understand that and that it can be difficult to get back into the swing of exercise, you know sleep deprived and time deprived And I mean, you know, even if you are not specialising in that area as a personal trainer, you know, so many women will go on to have babies, you are going to be working with pre and postnatal people. So yeah, I mean, I would say that it's important for everyone to have some of that knowledge. Absolutely. Okay. So you've built your brand and then you've got your business name. You've got your target market. Yes. Working in a studio from home, obviously it's got its pros in that, you know, you're close to home, you don't have to travel far to work. But it's got its cons in terms of, you know, your exposure, you know if you're at a large commercial gym If you've got a studio in the CBD, you're seen a lot. So how did you get your word out there? What methods have you used to market yourself and to build your business? So when I first started out, I was still working as a primary school teacher in a school in Lower Hutt. So the first thing I did is I started a boot camp there with the teachers. So they already knew me. They already had a level of trust. And I just did like a ten week pilot. They didn't have to pay to come along. And the idea was that, you know, at the end they would write a testimonial and they'd also give me some feedback, which I then could use to launch my boot camp. So that was how that was how it all started. And most of those people continued when it became a paid offering, which was really awesome. So that was that was the beginning. And then and since then, nowadays we tend to market in a whole variety of ways. So we have a face, we have a Facebook page which we market on. Sometimes I will also do paid ads through Facebook. We have a website. So we've been up and running for six years. It's only been the last two years I've had the website. I do get a lot of inquiries directed through the website. I just recently got on to Instagram. I have. I've been avoiding that. But so. Instagram influencer hey. Right, exactly. So yes. And now we have Instagram. But I would say that's the, my most powerful tool is word of mouth. Ofcourse. Yeah. So it's always going to be the number one. I think if you do a good job, word of mouth and referrals, do you proactively seek referrals? Yeah. So I think the thing is with word of mouth, you're going to get those people like I can think of a few clients who will just go and tell everybody about what you do and those clients are absolute gold. But I also think you shouldn't be afraid to go to your clients and ask. So for example, when I launched my mum's postnatal class, I sent out an email to all of my clients, followed up with a text message about what it was and if they could recommend it to people. So I've done, I've done things like that before as well, and that's been really successful and also things like the local community Facebook groups. I get a lot of clients coming through those as well. So I think that's really helpful to find the groups that are within your area and marketing on there too. Yeah, and I suppose the other thing that I've had a little bit of involvement with is that and it's not just solely for marketing, it's obviously for the community side of things as you mentioned before, as you're quite active in the events. Like we've done, I think A Tough Mudder, we did the adventure race, you do the what's the ladies one called So we've done Spirited Women Adventure Race and this year we/re doing Spring Challenge. Okay, great. So I guess, you know, that is a way of marketing, but it's also a way of keeping people within the business as well because you know, like bootcamp is a great way for them to stay fit and strong leading up to events like that. So yeah, so it's been really, really helpful for that too. Yeah. Something else I haven't touched on yet is building connections within the community. So obviously within the pre and postnatal space like midwives, women health, physios. So thinking about what it is that your area is and thinking so who can I connect with within the community that might refer on to me but also that you might need to refer to them as well. Fantastic. Okay. So a lot of marketing methods there. So you've got obviously a website, you've got a strong social media presence, you've got your referral system or you can obviously they're going to happen organically, ah you've been involved in a lot of events and a lot of community outreach as well. Yeah, let's just quickly touch on the social media because I feel it's done poorly by a lot of personal trainers, you know, the selfie in the mirror and expecting people to, you know, flood to you after that. Tell us some of your findings when it comes to social media marketing. What works well for you? Yeah. So I think firstly you need to have a bit of a, you need to have a bit of a plan. Yeah. So I tend to so I'll think about what I've got coming up. So if I've got one of my postnatal courses starting or we also run yoga courses as well, I'll kind of look ahead and I'll say, okay, that starts in five weeks time and I'll have a plan in terms of posts that I'm going to do around that. I, I don't, I'm very conscious of not just putting out posts that are selling to people. So around those things I will have some content based posts, maybe inform, you know, something that's informative around questions that people have come to me with or key things that come up. I tend to find that my most successful posts or the ones that get the most engagement, are things that are about me and my family. So I think that people, people really like to get to know you and who you are and what you're about and just get a little bit of an insight into your life. So, you know, sometimes I can spend a long time writing something that's heavily content based and think it's the most amazing post. And then I can put a photo of me out with the kids and talk a little bit about that. And that one will get, yeah. So, but what I would say is it's good to play around with different things. And then you can look at, on Facebook in on the inside and see what it is that is getting most engagement. But it also doesn't necessarily mean those other things aren't worthwhile, you know the content based. So people will be reading and looking at they may just not be commenting on that. They may just kind of be in the background. I agree. Yeah. And obviously you've got your offerings that you advertise but if you just advertise your offerings, yeah your promos, you kind of come across as like the Briscoes of personal training, always with your offerings. So you know I think it's about having a bit of inspiration and you do a lot of client testimonials or client journeys, which is great. You know, education obviously with information and educating clients and inspiration as well you know, engaging them I suppose by posting a little bit about your family and you. Yeah. So having a good mix I think in some of those different areas for you. Yeah. And I think you know when you're posting about clients, whether it's through a testimonial or you know meet this client here's a little bit about them that just gives people who may want to join what it is that you're offering a chance to see someone and relate to them and say are, you know, they're a little bit like me. I could do this too, for sure. I 100% agree with that. Great.

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Head over to the forum and name someone in the fitness world who you follow and explain why you admire them.

Maybe they have a killer workout routine, or they share valuable fitness tips that have helped you achieve your goals. Perhaps they have a charismatic personality that keeps you engaged and motivated. Whatever the reason, be sure to share what they do well and how they inspire you to live a healthier and more active lifestyle.

By recognising and celebrating the individuals who have made a positive impact on our fitness journeys, we can spread positivity and inspire others to achieve their own fitness goals. Share your fitness role models with your fellow peers, and let's continue to motivate and support each other by dropping a like or by commenting on other students' forum posts!

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