I was listening to an owner/manager in a discussion with his marketing person the other day. After she presented her marketing piece (a small newspaper advertisement) he made the following comment…
‘Yeah I can see what you are trying to accomplish… but what about the overweight couch potato who smokes, drinks, and has never set foot in a health club before in their life… how do we attract them?’
Here’s the secret… you don’t want to market to them.
You are wasting your money even trying. You won’t convince them with a small advertising piece… you won’t convince them with a double page colour editorial… and you won’t even convince them with a 6 month 60 second television ad campaign during prime time.
Health promotion agencies have been struggling with this kind of behaviour change failure for decades, so don’t expect your 2x2 monochrome ad in you local paper to convince them. Better people than you have tried and failed.
You don’t want to market to people who don’t want to exercise… you’re not going to change their mind. It’s a very low percentage play.
You want to convince the people who already do want to exercise and/or are already exercising (to get fit, lose weight, tone up, increase muscle mass…) that you are their best option…
…and guess what even that takes more than mere marketing.
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