Celebrity Athletes & Coaches can Give Health Clubs a Boost
By
Joe Lorenz Health clubs and fitness trainers must recruit new customers on a regular basis to be successful and those who don't will not be in business long. The best time to go after new customers is during the winter months when prospects are more interested in personal training than in the summer when there are too many conflicting activities you will be competing with for attention.
From a marketing standpoint, one of the best tools you can use to gain attention is athlete endorsements. Since you likely don't have the big bucks to sign LeBron James or Phil Mickelson, you will want to concentrate on local or regional names that your prospective local or regional clients will recognize – a popular high school coach, a newspaper sports columnist or television sports celebrity, a well-known athlete from a nearby university, etc.
Sports marketing as a business includes merchandising, sponsorships, and TV rights as well as endorsements. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that the global sports industry will rise in value from $114 billion in 2010 to $133 billion by 2013. Furthermore, American companies spend about $1 billion each year on athlete endorsements alone. Endorsements are such an important marketing vehicle that the highest-paid athletes now make far more from endorsements than from salary.
The marketing value of any athlete can be fairly short-lived, declining significantly after a major injury, after retirement or after the athlete is traded to a losing team, or if the endorsee becomes involved in a major scandal, such as Michael Vick or Tiger Woods.
While the major corporate players sign long-term contracts with star athletes, health clubs and fitness trainers will want to consider a one-time appearance because the cost will more likely be within budget constraints. You can have a fitness guru author appear to sign autographs, have a local team's MVP appear for a customer appreciation day or a well-known local coach be very visible in your grand opening or grand re-opening ceremony, or any well-known athlete for an anniversary celebration. Again, plan your event for winter and gain maximum payback from your investment.
If you are a personal trainer at an Ann Arbor, MI, fitness club you would do well to sign up former U-M head coach Lloyd Carr to appear for an open house and offer an autograph for everyone who signs a commitment to work with you or who takes out a club membership. Heavy foot traffic is fine, but you want contracts and memberships.
Another financially reasonable approach to take is to identify six sports celebrities who can help your business and contact each one for a 50-word endorsement of your business and then place those statements on your website. This way you get year-round benefit from a one-time investment.
If you don't have the personal contacts with sports celebrities, hire an agency or marketing company that has the right contacts to assist you. Take advantage of the contacts of others.
After deciding how much you want to spend, set up a method of tracking your return on investment so you will know whether to continue down the same path next year or whether to change direction. Return on investment is critical when evaluating whether an endorsement from an athlete is what you really need to do to expand your client base.
If return on investment does not meet your expectations or goals, then analyze what worked and what didn't and what could be done differently. For most fitness trainers and health clubs an athlete endorsement can work wonders, but not for all. Only you can determine the true value for you.
About the Author
Joe Lorenz is the founder of Real Sports Labs which produces The Real Deal, a powerful
pre-workout supplement that helps improve endurance, energy, strength and mental focus whether biking, swimming, running,
body building or
weight training. The Real Deal is available at Health Clubs and Gyms as well as from personal fitness trainers or online at
http://www.TheNewRealDeal.com