Not that long ago no one had a marketing plan… there wasn’t any real need. The industry was set up for bodybuilders, strength enthusiasts, athletes, and wannabes.
They knew who they were and they knew what they wanted… open a gym and they would beat a path to your door.
Ahhhhhh, those were the days.
Eventually, bodybuilders, strength enthusiasts, athletes, and wannabes (who made up almost the entire market) were joined by “regular” people (women, youth, families) as the industry continued to push for expansion and gyms became known as “fitness centers” and eventually “health clubs”.
Of course, this new diversity of interests required a more considered marketing approach… hard body images that dominated the industry were now offensive to “real” people.
And as competition increased and marketing ROI began to diminish the call went out to develop a marketing plan.
It made perfect sense… organize all marketing activities into a consolidated 12 month plan. Allocate a budget and… cha ching!
Consultants positioned themselves as marketing “experts” because they had a marketing plan and they spent a lot of time trying to convince owners and managers that they needed it.
I do agree that a marketing plan is a good idea, mostly because it focuses attention, encourages review, and informs decision making. However, most marketing plans are simply a schedule of ad hoc tactics conveniently placed into a list… and a list of ad hoc tactics isn’t a plan.
Sure it gives a kind of false confidence but those few owners and managers who have a marketing plan rarely do significantly better than those who don’t on a dollar for dollar basis.
Why?
Well… it’s because ad hoc tactics are ad hoc tactics whether they are scheduled or not.
If you ask many of these marketing “experts” why they do newspaper advertising in May and postcards in September the usual response is something like… “We like to keep it fresh, mix it up a little, and see what happens”.
With respect this isn’t a satisfactory response. If your consultant or advisor is telling you to try everything (even if it is in a marketing plan) my advice is find someone else.
Your consultant or advisor (whether they are internal or external) needs to bring a strategy, not just tactics, to the table and while a marketing plan appears to be strategic often it is just a bunch of tactics made to look more substantial than they really are.
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