How Marketers Can Dominate The Fitness Industry

Author: Catherine Howell October 15 | Blog

In this article, we’ll share with you how marketers can dominate the fitness industry with a proven solution that the likes of Josef Rakich, Ulisses JR, and Llados have tapped into.

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There’s no hiding from the fact that the fitness industry, like many others, has undergone a massive shake-up and gold rush this year.  

With gyms and studios forced to shut and adhere to strict COVID-19 protocols, gym-goers have turned to home-based solutions provided by Fitness Professionals (FitPros) who’ve shifted online. 

All of this has resulted in a spike in demand for agencies that can help businesses in the fitness industry (yoga studios, gyms, fitness influencers, nutritionists, etc.) market themselves digitally.

But, as with any gold rush, the demand comes with pitfalls and the industry is not without its challenges. 

The most obvious pitfall is that many FitPro businesses have had their revenue streams cut-off, and are now pinching their pennies.  

And because of that, they’re hard-pressed to find the funds to justify marketing their services while knowing they need to shift online quickly to survive.

… Causing potential issues with your client retention and revenue yo-yos because you’ve sold one-time service offers or your clients have chosen to take things in-house.

Other challenges of working in the fitness industry include…

Gold rushes attract lots of cowboys and when every man and his dog is suddenly a marketing expert, it makes it difficult to stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself.  

Likewise, some FitPro businesses have previously been burned by agencies which makes it harder to create and build trust with new prospects.  

The objection you may be facing on sales calls could follow something along the lines of; “let me speak to three previous clients.” 

Lots of supply means the market begins to compete on price, and this results in you lowering your prices or not being able to charge what you’d like because leads have been quoted cheaper elsewhere.

Competing on price is never a good idea in the agency space simply as this tends to lead to going over scope with clients and burnout. 

At the end of the day, you want to not only have a solid roster of clients but clients who…

• Are thriving and high-quality… 
• Don’t just stay around for a one-time service offer (but stay no matter what economic conditions arise)…
• You can establish long-standing relationships with and yield profits for (and say bye to your revenue yo-yos)…
• You can charge the right prices you deserve because of your strategic input and talent (no undercutting, no going over scope)…

Marketers can dominate the fitness industry by:

• Creating A Point of Difference 

We recently sat down with Ken Brickly, founder of a software company that services thousands of worldwide professionals in the fitness industry, and discussed strategies to create differentiation in a busy market.

Ken explained; “One of the keys to standing out is to first and foremost take time to understand your client’s pain points. Ask what are they going through, what issues are they facing, what kind of people are they and how do they operate?”

For example, he clarifies, many fitness professionals have high EQ’s – they love talking to people and are used to being in a face-to-face setting. 

Except for influencers who, for the most part, aren’t very tech-savvy, and find gaining traction and marketing themselves online a daunting task. 

But this is a given for any industry – knowing your customer should be the foundation and cornerstone to everything that you do.  

So how do we take this a step further?

Let’s explore this in more detail by looking at how to:

• Buffer Against Revenue Yo-Yos

So we know that fitness professionals need to be selling online, they aren’t very tech-savvy, and most of them (like all business owners) are time-strapped.  

So how do you create a point of difference, buffer yourself, and your clients against revenue yo-yos? (see next point)

• Provide your prospects/clients with a solution no one else is offering

Ken’s software (that was developed with one of the world’s top fitness influencers, Josef Rakich) creates automated online workout and meal plans for FitPro influencers and businesses that can be completely customized and white-labeled. 

Allowing you to provide a complete online solution to your clients that doesn’t require massive set-up or time.

“The biggest issue most FitPros have with trying to take things online is it takes a lot of time to create meal plans that they trust. Most clients don’t have the scope or the money to spend building this or the delivery system for these meal plans. If they’re doing it already it’s usually a one-size-fits-all PDF or 1:1 coaching which limits their growth.” – Ken Brickley, CEO at MacroActive

Through the platform, Fitpros can sell monthly memberships to clients (clients can choose how much they sell these for) creating a steady monthly recurring revenue stream. 

So now, imagine hopping onto a call with a lead and the conversion suddenly shifting from “hey let’s build you a funnel and some ads” to… 

“Hey, let’s create a revenue stream that isn’t dependant on lockdowns, is completely scalable, automated, customizable, and only takes about two weeks to set up.”

All of a sudden, you are showing leads that you are thinking strategically about their business, offering them a solution to protect them against uncertainty, and to build a recurring monthly revenue stream that grows and grows without requiring them to invest more time or effort. 

To sum up how marketers can dominate the fitness industry…

Whether you’re currently working with or thinking of niching into the fitness professional industry, we’ve established that the key to dominating comes down to creating growth for your clients.

The kind of growth that’s strategic and leads to passive monthly recurring revenue. 

The kind of growth that’s unlike any other offer that an average agency would put forward. 

The kind of growth that helps you create a point of difference, buffer revenue yo-yo’s, and retain clients for longer!

Find Out More About Ken’s Software 

If you would like to find out more about offering this solution to your clients then watch the full interview with Cat Howell and Ken Brickly here.