Thursday, July 2, 2009

Casey Conrad tells "the word on the street" for club marketing

With the new eMarketing products that Smart Club Marketing is providing health clubs I have been speaking with quite a few club operators from around the US in the past couple of months. Two days ago I was on the line with a multi-club operator and his statement has still been stuck in my head because it's not the first time I've heard it recently: "I simply have stopped most traditional marketing efforts because they weren't giving me any results. Instead, I have our sales teams focus largely on guerrilla marketing while my efforts are on automating the eLeads from our website that are increasing in numbers."

Some club operators are still spending money on mediums that aren't giving an ROI but are doing so only becuase they feel they don't know what else to do and "I've got to do something; at least I know I'm out there." I say that is denial in the worst sense of the word!

The way people are buying has changed and therefore the way we market must change with the times.

If a medium isn't at least paying for itself STOP it. Try something new but don't throw good money after bad mediums just to do "something."

Start using more Internet mediums; opt-in's, auto responders, blogging, social networking, local SEO (search engine optimization), etc.

Casey Conrad

1 comment:

Davide Venturi said...

I have read your post right now, Casey, and what you write is really interesting. The Italian fitness marker is not as mature as the American one... anyway, what happens now in the US will happen in a few years (sometimes months) in Italy. The "e-world" revolution has started and no one can ignire it. In Italy, for example, Facebook is getting more and more popular, day by day. I'll keep on attending you blog.

All the best,

Davide (Il Nuovo Club magazine)