This can be a strong part of your
marketing campaign. 6-8 week
commitment times seem to be the
industry norm, and taking breaks
between running the programs will
help keep it unique and fresh, and
give you the valuable time to make
adjustments. When creating your
proprietary program, make sure
that it is different from your regular
offerings. gives a member a free pass to the
program. Word of mouth is the best
way to spread interest and help
confirm that this new program is
worthy of participation.
Get results and shine Make a concerted effort to show
genuine care for the success
of each and every person who
participates. Your clients will
appreciate the attention to detail,
Reviews can be the most powerful
way to sell your program. People
want the assurance that it can
deliver on the experience you
are selling. Now, more than ever,
testimonials are considered to be
the gold standard in marketing
a successful program. Include
pictures, video, and compelling
stories.
A score system works well, and
using the five star method is most
recognisable. Create your own
unique T-shirts, or use a branded
piece of equipment in your
program. Try implementing fun
marketing teasers that will improve
awareness, like a fit challenge that
With so many clubs vying for
clientele, this is an opportunity to
shine. Be honest and sincere in the
delivery of your information and
selling your program.
If your clients
reap the rewards
of a well-planned
program, they will
be promotion
machines and the
most loyal fans.
added value, increased motivation,
and leadership enthusiasm.
It’s your responsibility to make them
feel special, valued, and part of
your fitness family.
Good Luck!
Aileen Sheron is president of Good
Natured Products Inc. and the
inventor of the patented OmniBall.
She has been an innovator and
fitness entrepreneur since 1979 and
has trained thousands of instructors.
She has been a top IDEA presenter
for 27 years and specialises in
equipment-based resistance
programming, choreography,
myofascial release and more.
Sheron writes for various fitness
publications and has starred in
several notable exercise video
productions. Her Weight Watchers
Low Impact Aerobics Workout was
rated No. 1 by Consumer Reports.
She consults on product and
program development for some of
the biggest names in fitness and
posts weekly on social media. You
can find out more at
www.aileensheron.com.
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34
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - WINTER 2019
THE
FUTURE
By Cuoco Black
OF GYM
DESIGN
I
f you approach the
development of a new
gym or the retrofitting
of an existing gym with an
“obsolete design-think”
you might save a few hours
(and a few dollars) but
you’re doing yourself no
favour. in time, energies, capital and
outcome; however, that’s precisely
a first principal problem which must
overcome in hyper-competitive
fitness marketplaces.
Contrarily—if you embrace the killer
instinct to create something entirely
unseen in the fitness industry—
your design effort must take an
innovative and exploratory new
trajectory, a 10X strategy. To their peril,
gym owners in
perpetuity, con-
tinue to disregard
this reality build-
ing gym brands
that blur, one-into-
the-other....
Obsolete design-think is the fitness-
industry-go-to-narrative which
consistently results in one of two
outcomes (always the same two
outcomes). A gym that looks
like another gym. Or a gym that
looks like another boutique hotel,
restaurant or condominium. That’s
fine (arguably) if that’s the limit
which you’re willing to invest forward
To their peril, gym owners in
perpetuity, continue to disregard
this reality building gym brands that
blur, one-into-the-other, glutting
fitness marketplaces with fitness
environments that consumers have
come to see as commonplace and
predictable.
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - WINTER 2019
Ahhh, but wait, our design agency
is giving us something different. No,
your design agency’s something
different is what Guy Kawasaki,
former Tech Evangelist for Steve Jobs
at Apple calls better-sameness. If
your gym (more or less) look like a
gym or a boutique hotel that IS gym-
better-sameness.
Following is the brand strategy
that is Apple. Study and adopt
in depth Apple’s marketing and
design philosophies — not strategies
—philosophies, prior to moving
forward with the creation of your
new gym brands.
Apple Philosophies
Nothing undermines a unique
branding platform than having
none and it’s the unique branding
platform that forms the nexus of
which the entirety of your marketing
efforts orbit. Your advertising
campaigns, print, social media,
in-house sales and offerings must all
unite in a common theme that not
only illustrates the pedigree of your
fitness offerings — but additionally
differentiates your brand
35