Welcome to the Ignite Fitness chit-chat! We're excited to announce an incredible event happening in Melbourne on August 2nd and 3rd, catering to fitness business owners and women's health enthusiasts. Join us to learn from top industry experts and get inspired to grow your fitness and wellness business.
On Friday, our fitness business event is tailored for club and gym owners, featuring in-depth discussions on marketing strategies and industry trends. Richard from COM Marketing shares his decade-long experience and insights on leveraging social media to enhance your business presence.
Saturday is dedicated to the Women's Health Summit, focusing on crucial topics like pre-postnatal care, menopause, and effective community engagement. Learn from experts such as Tracy Minnoch, Jen Dugard, and Edwina Griffin, who will provide valuable resources and tools to help you become a go-to person in your community.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to network with like-minded professionals and gain actionable insights. Register now at ignitefitness.com.au and use the code ALM before July 15th for a 10% discount. We look forward to seeing you in Melbourne!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Well, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our Ignite Fitness chit-chat.
As you all know, we're running an incredible event in Melbourne,
August the 2nd and August the 3rd, Friday and Saturday.
Now, if you want to register or you want to know more about the event,
do jump onto ignitefitness.com.au.
There you'll see a list of all of our speakers and the content they'll be speaking
(00:21):
and delivering about over the two-day period.
Just a reminder that Friday is our fitness business event for club owners and
gym owners, And then on the Saturday is our Women's Health Summit,
which is why I'm speaking to Richard from Comm Marketing today.
How are you going, Richard?
Great. Thanks, Mel. Going good. Great to have you on the show.
(00:42):
Yeah, first time on the show, Mel, so I'm really excited.
Are you? Look, and you know what? I love your slogan in the back,
grow your fitness and wellness studio.
And that's what Comm Marketing has been doing for many, many operators over
a decade now. Is that right?
Yeah, we got into the market, yeah, probably in different formats,
(01:03):
but comm marketing has been around for 10 years.
There's always a need why things come in the marketplace for,
and it's interesting having an over 10-year period, a lot of different,
I guess, ways to market your business have come up and left and come up and left.
So it's been an interesting journey over the last decade.
So you will see a lot of changes, obviously, in the fitness industry over the
(01:26):
last decade and how we market and how we communicate to our consumers.
Some of the stories that you can tell me just briefly about what you have seen.
Where do we sit now in comparison to 10 years ago?
Yeah. Well, that's a great question. I'll just take you back 10 years ago for a second, right?
10 years ago, actually before 10 years ago, we created this website called Meet
(01:47):
Your Personal Trainer, Australia's first video marketing directory for personal
trainers because the The big problem was I felt that we're an amazing industry,
what we do, and we all know that.
We do a lot of extra courses to be excellent trainers and fitness professionals,
wellness professionals.
And going back when I launched this directory, Meet Your Personal Trainer,
(02:08):
the whole concept was to showcase somebody's skills on camera so people would
see them and know them and understand who they are.
And I remember turning up to, we filmed over a thousand personal trainers in
the space of about a month to get them all on this platform,
to introduce them to the platform, the biggest question I got asked.
Um, why do I have to put myself on camera for? And when you had to explain that
(02:32):
and explain that, and now it's like, yes, there's a camera on the phone.
We all expect cameras, but the biggest problem today still is,
is that we don't want to be out there in the, in the front.
Uh, we don't think we need to, we think we, we don't need that extra publicity
or we don't want to learn the new tools and the technology.
So even though we have the tools, the technology, we have the know-how how people know how we do it.
(02:54):
We still struggle to put ourself out on social media. We still struggle to put ourself on videos.
And I think the ones that are winning in the marketplace at the moment,
Mel, are the ones that decided to say, hey, I've got a good business.
I just don't want to get left behind.
And they're turning up now wanting to grow their business.
I think that's the only difference, Mel. It's that you need to want to grow
(03:16):
your business because if you don't grow, you've heard the saying, you're going to die.
And it's true because Because competitors, other people that were in the industry are coming up.
People are generally going to leave your business or your studio.
So if you're not marketing, you're not actually growing.
You may maintain, as you know, Mel, you've had a club for many years.
You've got to be active in it. Otherwise, it doesn't grow. And that's the only
(03:38):
thing that's different.
I just think there's people who understand they have to be on all the platforms
now. Where before it was like, oh, maybe. It'd be nice to.
But it wasn't necessary. Yeah, but Richard, look, you know, we've got a great
business. there's trainers out there and they're going, I've got a great business,
I know I've got a great business.
The moment you put me in front of a camera, I freeze.
I don't like the way I look. I don't know if I sound good. I sound bad.
(04:03):
How do you overcome that? Because that's something that's very personal because
when you're on camera and you're looking at yourself, it's different than being
on the stage and teaching.
It's different than having that one-on-one conversation.
You're not critiquing yourself until you get that camera in front of you.
Yeah, totally. Well, I think it's good to do that.
(04:25):
And the way to do that with the technology is to practice. Now,
the best way to practice is we've been doing this for years.
If anybody wants to take up a 30-day challenge, raise your hands now because
this is the third challenge. And I'm going to put you to this challenge too, Mel, if I can.
I know it's early in the podcast, but anyway, this is how you do it, Mel.
It's basically, I know you don't have an issue with camera, but what you want
to do is on your Instagram stories, our challenge is to do four 15-second stories
(04:50):
a day over 30 days, right?
What happens if you're doing the story, it disappears over 24 hours. so
really it's like uh start practicing
that way daily and you'll be better at
this whole system um and the
reason why i say i'm that because it's like you want to only do a maximum 15
seconds and back when instagram can only take telling it was 10 seconds initially
(05:13):
you had to be faster camera and so to get a message across you've got to be
fast today one two three seconds and so if If you can't deliver your elevator pitch,
your messaging in the first few seconds,
nobody's even going to watch you on camera.
So you just got to get confident and delivering your message really fast on
camera to get that across.
So Instagram stories, just practice every day for 30 days and by the 30th day, you're
(05:37):
You will be a master on getting yourself on camera really fast and not thinking
anything of it because essentially, nobody knows.
And I think the biggest thing for trainers to realize that if you don't put
yourself out there, it's just going to cost you more money in paid ads.
And that's the other flip side. To a small business who's listening to this,
let's say you're a PT, a small studio, there's two options of advertising.
(05:59):
You can be a Pepsi and Calder out there and you put a lot of money in brand,
brand, brand equity. But if you
don't have that revenue to put into brand equity, your face is the brand.
And so a lot of people know, like, and trust you. And so then you can use other
strategies to acquire a client and say, yes, you know me, send a message out
and people respond back because they already know, like, and trust you.
(06:21):
So a lot of the time it's like to answer your questions, practice.
And I think if your vision is higher and your purpose is higher than, oh,
how do I sound on camera you'll get over yourself but if
it's not it may take a bit longer well
yeah it could take a bit longer for some and i think i could be uh one of them
(06:42):
now i've got a couple of questions based on what you've just said the first
thing is uh instagram stories okay you're saying you know 15 seconds now there's
a older demographic of fitness professionals out there they go oh.
Instagrams for the young ones i don't really want to get on there and part of
that is that they may may not know what their elevator pitch is.
(07:03):
How do we overcome that?
Is there an older demographic on Instagram? Should we be on Facebook stories?
Yeah, listen, the reason why I say Instagram, first and foremost,
right, if you prefer to be on Facebook and your market's on Facebook,
let's call it meta, is Facebook and Instagram, that's what it's now called.
So it's a very similar platform.
(07:25):
But what I would initially do, Mel, is just connect your Instagram to your Facebook.
So, if your story goes on Instagram, it will automatically go onto Facebook.
That means you're getting two platforms for the price of one,
for the time of one, and you only have to do that set up once.
So, you might Google that and say, how do I connect my Instagram?
So, when I do an Instagram story, it goes into Facebook. You can do it on Facebook
(07:48):
and it goes to Instagram, I believe.
But I think asking the question like, where are my customers?
I actually think that's the stupidest question sometimes to ask yourself because I think
this day and age is that you want to be really good at
one or two platforms max right you don't want to go into a thousand platforms
you can't even figure out how to use facebook but essentially speaking facebook
instagram is one you probably got tiktoks out
(08:10):
there in the marketplace and go what's that um and so if you're going to be
on facebook be on instagram right if you want to start to experiment more video
content you could do youtube then you could do tiktok but i actually think that
by asking yourself you know that where my platform is i think is the wrong way look at,
I think we need to say, hey, let's start on Facebook,
(08:31):
Let me start on Instagram. Let me feel confident to get on another platform, another platform.
But it's most importantly, it's getting your message out to market.
And at the moment, are your people on Instagram, on Facebook?
I think that it doesn't matter what platform you're on, your person will be
there. 100% your person will be there.
Even if you're on TikTok and you say, oh, my generation's older.
(08:53):
Well, their kids could be on TikTok and sharing that data.
Remember, if your content is great and your video content is great,
that's going to be shareable content.
I share a lot of content with my wife, who I speak to every day, but I share content.
You always share content with the people around you the closest,
because generally speaking, you'll see a theme or rule on Facebook,
(09:15):
Instagram, and you'll share that. That's really cool.
And so an older demographic too, by the way, Mel, is awesome because they're
really great people to share and tag people in, where younger demographics don't
share and don't tag as much.
So yeah, I think we need to destroy that thought that my people aren't there.
Your people are everywhere.
Your people are everywhere. All right, Rich, before I move into the next question,
(09:37):
give everybody your elevator pitch.
Well, we help health and fitness businesses to grow your online presence using
your own story or your client's stories. That's one of the elevator pitches.
And the reason why I say that That is because, Mel, the only way that your business,
your person who's listening, your gym, your healthcare business,
(09:58):
your NDIS company, the only way that you can be different in the marketplace,
and the reason why I say different is because we can market the same studio. We've seen that.
You can market the franchise over and over and over again, but it's the ones
that are different, that have a different community, that have different content,
that get in the marketplace. place.
So we teach you how to use your clients to market for you to generate way better
(10:22):
quality leads, leads that are coming in through the same quality as referrals.
And you can only do that through referral marketing. But we want to take referral
marketing to new heights using what we call storytelling.
And the storytelling comes from your own clients. So that's what we essentially
do is we get people confident, not to be on camera, but to understand that your
(10:44):
business is run more than just one marketing leg on your table.
It's when you implement five funnels, then we can actually start to see these results happen.
Twelve months ago, I interviewed Glenn Taylor on my podcast.
It was his very first podcast he'd ever done. He was as nervous as anything.
He won't mind me saying that.
(11:06):
Go forward 12 months to today. Glenn Taylor is a rock star in the fitness industry
now, all thanks to aligning himself with you guys.
You've taken Glenn and you've just created this person that has an incredible
confidence now in front of the camera and delivering his message.
(11:28):
Quickly, what did you do with Glenn so our audience can understand?
Yeah, okay. So Glenn Taylor is a service provider of the fitness industry,
for those who don't know Glenn, and he sells fitness equipment.
He has multiple. He has his own company.
He's also an exclusive supplier for Asia Pacific region as well.
And so what we're going to do with Glenn, And because he's known the marketplace,
(11:50):
Mel, over many, many years, a lot of people know him.
But with Glenn, he's a smart business operator because he said,
Richard, I've seen your content.
I've seen people's content that aren't necessarily has as much experience as
me or not necessarily we all think it.
They're not as good as me or they haven't been in the game for long enough or
(12:12):
haven't had many clients.
And he got frustrated with that.
He got frustrated that he'd been in every single expo and supplies expo,
but essentially that sometimes people just wouldn't remember him when they want
to make that next order of fitness equipment, you know, because it's the ones
that are around you remember.
And so what we decided to do is we decided to kind of like on the day in the
(12:33):
life of Glenn, he was never going to feel himself like we don't do like boom yourself.
Nobody wants to do that. So we followed him around through Philippine because
he travels a lot to the Asia regions. We traveled in Brisbane,
Sydney, went all around Australia with him and the world with different videographers.
And we filmed him in his day-to-day life.
Glenn's a pretty funny guy, but we wanted to catch that on camera as well.
(12:58):
So we want to take his personality and we just created a storytelling.
He wasn't selling anything. We weren't selling anything at all because we know
that when we market ourself in the marketplace, that's brand.
And then when Glenn's at a conference on a stand...
People don't now come up and say to him, hey, Glenn, I want to buy your equipment.
(13:19):
They say, hey, Glenn, I loved your episode you just released.
What have you been up to, Glenn? And they have that conversation,
that natural conversation. That's the referral conversation.
So I guess what we did is we made it really easy for him to do social media.
And then we posted on his platforms every single day on Instagram,
TikTok, LinkedIn, all the platforms. Who knows which one's going to work?
(13:39):
But it doesn't really matter because he's getting views and it's not so much
even the views, Mel, but it's the quality of views.
And that's what we're talking about with social media, is that we don't need a million views.
We need a quality, a small amount of views because that equals the client.
Even if you're at a gym or for Glenn's situation, he's selling equipment into gyms.
(14:00):
Yeah, I love that. And it's about quality and it's about conversion.
It's not a thousand likes versus 10 likes on the popularity list.
I've learned that over the years. Let's take a big leap forward and let's talk
about the women of the fitness industry.
Now, as you know, I'm running our women's event on Saturday,
(14:22):
the 3rd of August, and we have ran these in the past.
And then that little thing called COVID got in the way and we jumped on and
we ran our women's events on our digital platform.
Now, a couple of topics that are really popular at the moment,
and so they should be, is pre-postnatal, menopause.
(14:42):
Women getting their businesses online, tapping into their communities,
but also knowing how to socially sell.
Those products in their community so that they become the go-to person.
Women in the fitness industry, they are everywhere. They have the biggest spend as consumers.
The over 45 market want to look good, feel good. They're not afraid to spend.
(15:08):
Women fitness professionals, group fitness instructors, personal trainers,
running businesses, running women's only franchisees, they're everywhere.
They're in high demand. and your thoughts on women in the fitness industry.
Well, my thoughts are, you know, I like to work with people who want to get stuff done, Mel.
Now, just a bit of backstory here. I started comm marketing with my wife and,
(15:34):
you know, we've always done business together.
So I've always thought that a small business owner, because we work with a lot
of independents, a lot of independents run it with their other half,
their couple, right? It's a small business.
And so our business comm, in fact, we probably employ the highest amount of females.
So we're always a 90, 85% plus female ratio people that work in our company than males.
(15:59):
And then if I look at our clients, our clients broken up to around 70% female
business owners versus males when we teach marketing education or marketing services.
And I say that not to say that I am speaking at the Saturday event, Mel,
and I am enjoying that, but I'm used to being one of the only females in the
(16:22):
room when it comes to marketing, when it comes to growing people's business,
because we're always around females.
And I don't know why, Mel, it's not like we just have female pink advertising,
obviously work with Firmwood.
I know they're sponsoring the event and work a lot of operators who are females.
And we We only do that because I'm telling you, Mel, females want to learn.
(16:44):
Females want to grow. I find females have less –.
Less ego, and they can take directions and they can get it done.
And I think that's the people we attract at Comm.
We don't have advertisements. You can go and drive your Lamborghini if you run
this Facebook ad. We don't do that.
(17:06):
We don't have a lot of bros on the front end on our sales team saying,
hey, bro, do you want to jump in? We don't do that as well.
We generally want to market to real business owners who have a dying need.
For example, Kylie Rae, one of our amazing clients, been with us for four years.
She She started with us at around 90 members, Mel.
She'd been in the game for 10 years. She could not get past 100 to save herself.
(17:26):
She has a facility out at Wollongong.
And she was sitting on the edge for so long because with females as well,
they don't want to spend too much money with WeFound because they want to waste it.
They're very good operators in money management, right?
But once they understand the value equation, where if I study this or do this
course or do this program or do this marketing piece, I'm going to generate XN.
(17:49):
They they're very good at thinking that way right very
good at following plans and frameworks that's what we've found
we have a lot of plans and frameworks and strategy right and
so that's why we attract a lot of females and so what what we're finding at
the moment mel and a few other things you mentioned menopause right all our
clients our female clients that are um going for that 40 45 50 55 plus market
(18:13):
of females when we run menopause ads they're getting ads that they've have never
seen the price of before they're so cheap, right?
We can see ads in regional areas versus city areas, what people,
what the demographic wants. And we're seeing that all the time.
And so it's just a matter of knowing that it's not like we even have to market differently.
Like with we're not marketing pink or red brand, but it's the wording that you
(18:36):
use with your creatives.
It's do you want to be a soft brand or a strong brand?
But essentially, women have a huge uh you
know dent in this marketplace because i honestly believe that um
they're probably not out there enough um versus the amount of ads you see with
male operators on as well and so there's a huge space in the marketplace i can
(18:57):
tell you right now mel if i put my event so we got an event coming up it's an
ai social media event i had me on the pictures on the creatives and i had
joey on the pictures and creators and guess who converted better
mel joey joey converted yeah um
and i'm okay with that i don't have an ego mel here because i want to make sure
(19:20):
and it just it just proves the concept that um females really want to learn
and they actually don't mind learning off a male but they when they see a female
teaching as well that proven that the dollar
amount is less than we're paying. So a lot of people want it.
So do you think that women have more care factor and appreciate being healthy
(19:43):
and fit as opposed to men?
Well, that's a broad question, but overall, yes, there's a lot of pressure put on females to look good.
And that's still the way it is with media out there.
But I actually think women can organize better than a male, generally speaking, by the way.
(20:08):
And so they'll always start that fitness journey, then bring their husband or
their partner along with them.
And they will will then stick around so that they
turn their head all of the time so they
say i want to get fit let's get fit together so um yeah
to answer your question it's um it really it does come down to the individual
(20:28):
but generally speaking they'll make decisions if it's the right one all right
so let's talk about let's talk about saturday's event we've got tracy minnock
they're speaking about menopause.
She's going to set up everybody with resources and tools so that they can go
out into their community and derive an income from that, set up business models.
(20:50):
She's going to educate them, obviously, along the way with the changes that occur with women.
And then we've got Jen Dugard speaking about pre- and postnatal,
another subject that needs to be spoken about in our industry.
And there's a lot of opportunities for gym owners, managers,
personal trainers, group fitness instructors to be setting up their own business
(21:11):
models under larger commercial clubs, or perhaps they run their own small independence.
And then we've got, of course, Edwina Griffin is going to be our main keynote speaker on the morning.
She's going to be speaking about bullying in the workplace, because this is
another area that we need to be talking about.
Richard, once they've got the the menopause resources and tools,
(21:34):
and they've got the pre- and postnatal stuff.
What are you going to do for them so that they can go back, irrespective of
whether they've got a small business or a big business,
what are you going to create for them so that they can start to derive an income
from the education that they've just picked up on set date?
Yeah, well, I'm going to show them the best hooks that are really working well in that space.
(22:01):
So I'm just going to show them how to test some great headline hooks.
Once you do that, then your hook and your bit of creative are going to be a
bit stronger in the marketplace.
Now, when I say a bit, it's because it depends on where you put those platforms.
I'm basically going to show them some of our funnels that you can put them and
I'm going to give them frameworks and pretty much a framework they can copy and paste.
(22:25):
And then if it's menopause, that is the action, the service they're doing,
I'll show you how how to flip the ads for menopause or
it might be something else they want to target but but really it
comes down to if you can if they can learn
how to target um the need
in the marketplace that's when they're going to generate the best
(22:46):
quality paid ads and organic data
as well so it really comes down to what you know
teaching that whole and also i'm going to give you a one page uh one
one-page marketing plan for the entire month so you
know exactly what to do and when to post it because when we
are talking about menopause for example mel and this is where a lot of
people do go wrong a bit of a tip here we think we can run menopause just to
(23:10):
get some cheap leads but then if we don't have a programming that's set around
that people will find out very very soon that your product is not what you've
been selling so a lot of the time it's that belief of okay now i I understand what I'm teaching,
if somebody's happy to teach that, I'll show them exactly how to market that correctly.
(23:33):
So, they're the go-to, not the, oh, we're just running a quick promotion on
menopause and we're going to go back to normal viewing the next week.
People know what you're about and that comes from the brand equity piece as
well. So, it's not just about a one offer.
We've been told to think over the last two, three years when Facebook's been
so good, Those days are gone, Mel. They really are.
(23:55):
I can do a Facebook ad and my business will be resolved and chat. It won't be.
And unfortunately, that's been a bad three years that we've all had really after COVID.
Anything that you put out there online was amazing. It went through the roof and everything.
People would pay $50 for whatever. That's all gone now.
And so, it's really important that your messaging is correct messaging on the front.
(24:19):
So, if you have been experiencing bad Facebook ads or really bad engagement
in your organics, a lot of the time we're following old strategies that used to work in COVID land.
And I know I say COVID land is 2024, but honestly, Mel, nobody's really changed
the way they're marketing and the consumers are buying different as we know.
Yeah, I mean, I can say, yeah, most definitely nobody's changed the way that they're marketing.
(24:43):
And what we have to appreciate is that during that, you know,
that let's say three-year lockdown, our consumers became more educated because
there was a supermarket, a supermarket on a global scale of education.
And they had the time to sit down because they weren't going anywhere to educate
themselves on the pre and the post and the menopause and the weight loss and
(25:06):
everything else that we as an industry have been pushing in their faces since day dot.
So if you go out there with, you know, 25-cent marketing thinking that you're
going to get all of these women over 45,
they're going to enlist for menopause because you've used the word menopause,
it's highly likely that you'll probably be confronted
(25:27):
with somebody that knows a hell of a lot more than what you
know um so you know get along to the
event get the education the resources and tools so that
you can go back into your community and set up you know four six eight twelve
week uh programs and challenges for these people because they are out there
the biggest thing that i noticed in my own club and i am going to rehash that
(25:49):
word covid and no people say i'll I'll stop talking about it,
but sorry. You know, it's something that's happened.
The biggest thing, biggest change in my own club is the amount of people over
35 and 40 looking for somewhere inclusive and non-intimidating to work out, both males and females.
(26:10):
We have, we've actually stopped doing Facebook ads for the 18 to 25 year age
bracket. Yep. You know what?
And take this any way you want, anybody who's listening. Every time Dick and
Harry is opening up a facility where I live and they're all targeting the same
age groups and they all have the best HIIT classes, the best spin classes,
(26:33):
you know, 110 degrees, come and do cycling, and then we've got the best crew
down here because we're all cool and we're on Instagram. Well, you know what?
Go for it, people, because I'm tapping into an age group that nobody else wants
to because you think that they're uncool and you know what?
They're payers, loyal and they stay and they refer.
(26:54):
So think about who you really want to be chasing. Do you want to be same,
same or do you want to niche and be different and do you want longevity with your business? Yes.
Yeah, that's very true. And I think everybody knows who those clients are, that's for sure.
We were down at the Healthy Active Aging Summit about a month ago,
(27:14):
and I loved that audience because everybody there realized that what a great audience they need.
It turns into that need versus want product, Mel, when you're trying to market
the 18, 19, 20, 21-year-old.
It's interesting, actually. I went to Virgin Active the other day,
and their prices for under to 23s is something like 30% to 40% off their main prices,
(27:37):
showing that some brands just want the younger audience in there,
the volume model and Instagram model.
However, there is another audience there that are the best clients ever.
I think we can all can agree that because it's a need, not a want.
An 18-year-old doesn't need to train.
They want to train where someone who's in the other end of the spectrum,
(28:00):
they need to train because their doctor's told them to train It's very different.
I know people would disagree with that. Oh, I need to train.
I'm 18 for mental health. Yes, yes, yes, you do. You do.
But essentially, need versus want. Are you on your deathbed?
Has someone told you that you need to train? Otherwise, you're not going to
live this long, that kind of stuff.
And that's the level that our marketing needs to take place.
(28:20):
And it may be harsh, but we've got to get our level of marketing to a need.
And you only do that when you know who your client is identifying.
That's why I love your event, because you've got all these different collaborators
on small small group tables, and they're listening, they're learning in different ways.
They're listening from the front, they're listening in small groups,
and then they can get their aha moment.
(28:41):
They walk out and they go, boom, that's what I'm looking for.
That's what I came for, which is quite unique at the event coming up.
Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously you're speaking at the Friday event as well,
obviously, as the women's event.
And I just want to just say to the female trainers and club owners and whoever
you are out there as a fitness pro, do come along to the Saturday event and
(29:02):
get those education resources and tools to go out there and to help the women in your community.
I will never be a menopause coach. I will never be a pre and postnatal coach.
It's not what I do. but I do know that there's a lot of talented fitness professionals
out there that can do an amazing job to help women like myself and those that do come to my club.
(29:22):
So grab yourself a ticket and get along because I really do believe that's going
to make a big difference to your business model.
Richard, just quickly on the Friday, what's happening on Friday with you at our Friday event?
Well, I'll be there front row center mill. I believe that I've got a round table
you put me at. I think you put me like right at the back because I was loudest before.
So I'm at the back um and oh not true
(29:45):
and uh i'm i'm bringing actually at com
we have about over 60 cheat sheets
google doc cheat sheets which basically i'm talking about five marketing funnels
and so i'm gonna bring up i'm gonna print out a whole bunch of cheat sheets
most likely the top six cheat sheets that work well without any paid ad spend
(30:06):
as well so things you can copy and paste on your emails.
And I'm going to bring a social media plan as well that you can literally take and copy.
And this is not just like cheat sheets that we haven't used.
This is stuff that's used every day that we know works to generate a lot of
business in this sector.
So these are things that have been used for a long time.
So I'm just going to like, let me just give it to you so you can actually see
(30:30):
it happening versus just also just telling and showing. Cool.
Now, Richard, just before we head off from our chat today, give our listeners
just a short story of success with one of your clients in the last 12 months.
Um there's a lot there um i've got a client recently um that,
(30:55):
i've got a one client recently i've just pulled up a um,
there they had they'd sent a message to me just two days ago that's why they're
top of my head and um she's a client that's again a female fitness business
owner in melbourne actually and she goes.
(31:17):
Thank you so much for your support over the years.
She's so thankful because she started with us coming from a corporate job.
She moved into her own franchise facility and sometimes people require just,
(31:37):
more, like they don't require more help, but they ask better questions, Mel.
When someone asks a better question consistently, every time that you work with
her, she's asking a better question.
And so you naturally want to give more and more and more and more.
And so long story short, she 3 or 4X'd her business growth in those few years through COVID.
(31:59):
And then now she's rebranded to a new brand and she's way more equipped than she's ever been.
And so at this point now, it's almost like the education she's had is not just
like, oh, can you do it for me?
She's like, well and truly straight to market, knows what she needs to do.
And so, it's not just you do it once, but it's a skill for life.
And that's essentially what myself and Joey, she comes from a PD health teaching background.
(32:24):
I'm coming from the fitness background. We essentially want to teach skills for life.
And when someone can then transition, and do something successful,
move to a new brand equity and have such great success fast,
that's awesome because they've got this skill. They can just duplicate all the way through.
But like that, I like when somebody goes from zero to 100, they open up a new studio.
(32:44):
I met Liana recently, do that to a Pilates studio. I was like,
wow, all her skills that she taught.
I've got another guy who's been in the game for 30 plus years.
Biggest world's best kept secret in his town he's in.
Um now people are coming
up to him because we've been in market leader program we come out and
film post on every single platform known to man every single day
(33:06):
and people are now coming to him and say oh you're still
in the game you know i'm keen to train with you you know what i mean so he's
all the people that are coming out of the woodwork and we haven't even explored
facebook ads to that point yet because people buy from people and essentially
we are in the people's game and so when somebody has confident to put themselves
out there or ask for a client to put themselves out there. That is essentially the game that we're in.
(33:27):
And that always is the biggest success for me. When somebody can ask a better
question than I saw them yesterday, that means they're learning.
That means they're growing.
Love it, love it, love it. Everyone, Richard will be at the Ignite Fitness event
Friday, August the 2nd, and of course the Women's Health Summit on Saturday, the 3rd of August.
AusActive CEC points do apply to both the events, but both events are limited
(33:51):
in numbers to allow for personalization so that you can speak one-on-one with
the speakers and of course get the best networking opportunities happening for you.
So do jump on to ignitefitness.com.au. If you use the code ALM,
I'll repeat that, ALM, before the 15th of July, you get 10% off.
(34:12):
Richard, I hope that people get in touch with you before the Ignite event and
can catch up with you, make some time and have a chit-chat with you.
You've done some amazing work.
I love what you do. What you've done with Glenn Taylor is absolutely amazing.
And I'm looking forward to seeing you in Melbourne on Friday,
August the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd. And if not, Thursday, the 18th of July,
(34:35):
Rich will be in Melbourne for his own little summit event.
So maybe inbox him and find out some more details. Thanks for joining me today, Richard.
Thanks, Mel. And thanks for hosting these amazing events. We're looking forward to it.
It was such a great event last year. It's good to connect that face-to-face,
which you cannot do online, that's for sure.
And there's always the happy hour drinks at the end.
Well, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our Ignite Fitness chit-chat.
As you all know, we're running an incredible event in Melbourne,
August the 2nd and August the 3rd, Friday and Saturday.
Now, if you want to register or you want to know more about the event,
do jump onto ignitefitness.com.au.
There you'll see a list of all of our speakers and the content they'll be speaking
(00:21):
and delivering about over the two-day period.
Just a reminder that Friday is our fitness business event for club owners and
gym owners, And then on the Saturday is our Women's Health Summit,
which is why I'm speaking to Richard from Comm Marketing today.
How are you going, Richard?
Great. Thanks, Mel. Going good. Great to have you on the show.
(00:42):
Yeah, first time on the show, Mel, so I'm really excited.
Are you? Look, and you know what? I love your slogan in the back,
grow your fitness and wellness studio.
And that's what Comm Marketing has been doing for many, many operators over
a decade now. Is that right?
Yeah, we got into the market, yeah, probably in different formats,
(01:03):
but comm marketing has been around for 10 years.
There's always a need why things come in the marketplace for,
and it's interesting having an over 10-year period, a lot of different,
I guess, ways to market your business have come up and left and come up and left.
So it's been an interesting journey over the last decade.
So you will see a lot of changes, obviously, in the fitness industry over the
(01:26):
last decade and how we market and how we communicate to our consumers.
Some of the stories that you can tell me just briefly about what you have seen.
Where do we sit now in comparison to 10 years ago?
Yeah. Well, that's a great question. I'll just take you back 10 years ago for a second, right?
10 years ago, actually before 10 years ago, we created this website called Meet
(01:47):
Your Personal Trainer, Australia's first video marketing directory for personal
trainers because the The big problem was I felt that we're an amazing industry,
what we do, and we all know that.
We do a lot of extra courses to be excellent trainers and fitness professionals,
wellness professionals.
And going back when I launched this directory, Meet Your Personal Trainer,
(02:08):
the whole concept was to showcase somebody's skills on camera so people would
see them and know them and understand who they are.
And I remember turning up to, we filmed over a thousand personal trainers in
the space of about a month to get them all on this platform,
to introduce them to the platform, the biggest question I got asked.
Um, why do I have to put myself on camera for? And when you had to explain that
(02:32):
and explain that, and now it's like, yes, there's a camera on the phone.
We all expect cameras, but the biggest problem today still is,
is that we don't want to be out there in the, in the front.
Uh, we don't think we need to, we think we, we don't need that extra publicity
or we don't want to learn the new tools and the technology.
So even though we have the tools, the technology, we have the know-how how people know how we do it.
(02:54):
We still struggle to put ourself out on social media. We still struggle to put ourself on videos.
And I think the ones that are winning in the marketplace at the moment,
Mel, are the ones that decided to say, hey, I've got a good business.
I just don't want to get left behind.
And they're turning up now wanting to grow their business.
I think that's the only difference, Mel. It's that you need to want to grow
(03:16):
your business because if you don't grow, you've heard the saying, you're going to die.
And it's true because Because competitors, other people that were in the industry are coming up.
People are generally going to leave your business or your studio.
So if you're not marketing, you're not actually growing.
You may maintain, as you know, Mel, you've had a club for many years.
You've got to be active in it. Otherwise, it doesn't grow. And that's the only
(03:38):
thing that's different.
I just think there's people who understand they have to be on all the platforms
now. Where before it was like, oh, maybe. It'd be nice to.
But it wasn't necessary. Yeah, but Richard, look, you know, we've got a great
business. there's trainers out there and they're going, I've got a great business,
I know I've got a great business.
The moment you put me in front of a camera, I freeze.
I don't like the way I look. I don't know if I sound good. I sound bad.
(04:03):
How do you overcome that? Because that's something that's very personal because
when you're on camera and you're looking at yourself, it's different than being
on the stage and teaching.
It's different than having that one-on-one conversation.
You're not critiquing yourself until you get that camera in front of you.
Yeah, totally. Well, I think it's good to do that.
(04:25):
And the way to do that with the technology is to practice. Now,
the best way to practice is we've been doing this for years.
If anybody wants to take up a 30-day challenge, raise your hands now because
this is the third challenge. And I'm going to put you to this challenge too, Mel, if I can.
I know it's early in the podcast, but anyway, this is how you do it, Mel.
It's basically, I know you don't have an issue with camera, but what you want
to do is on your Instagram stories, our challenge is to do four 15-second stories
(04:50):
a day over 30 days, right?
What happens if you're doing the story, it disappears over 24 hours. so
really it's like uh start practicing
that way daily and you'll be better at
this whole system um and the
reason why i say i'm that because it's like you want to only do a maximum 15
seconds and back when instagram can only take telling it was 10 seconds initially
(05:13):
you had to be faster camera and so to get a message across you've got to be
fast today one two three seconds and so if If you can't deliver your elevator pitch,
your messaging in the first few seconds,
nobody's even going to watch you on camera.
So you just got to get confident and delivering your message really fast on
camera to get that across.
So Instagram stories, just practice every day for 30 days and by the 30th day, you're
(05:37):
You will be a master on getting yourself on camera really fast and not thinking
anything of it because essentially, nobody knows.
And I think the biggest thing for trainers to realize that if you don't put
yourself out there, it's just going to cost you more money in paid ads.
And that's the other flip side. To a small business who's listening to this,
let's say you're a PT, a small studio, there's two options of advertising.
(05:59):
You can be a Pepsi and Calder out there and you put a lot of money in brand,
brand, brand equity. But if you
don't have that revenue to put into brand equity, your face is the brand.
And so a lot of people know, like, and trust you. And so then you can use other
strategies to acquire a client and say, yes, you know me, send a message out
and people respond back because they already know, like, and trust you.
(06:21):
So a lot of the time it's like to answer your questions, practice.
And I think if your vision is higher and your purpose is higher than, oh,
how do I sound on camera you'll get over yourself but if
it's not it may take a bit longer well
yeah it could take a bit longer for some and i think i could be uh one of them
(06:42):
now i've got a couple of questions based on what you've just said the first
thing is uh instagram stories okay you're saying you know 15 seconds now there's
a older demographic of fitness professionals out there they go oh.
Instagrams for the young ones i don't really want to get on there and part of
that is that they may may not know what their elevator pitch is.
(07:03):
How do we overcome that?
Is there an older demographic on Instagram? Should we be on Facebook stories?
Yeah, listen, the reason why I say Instagram, first and foremost,
right, if you prefer to be on Facebook and your market's on Facebook,
let's call it meta, is Facebook and Instagram, that's what it's now called.
So it's a very similar platform.
(07:25):
But what I would initially do, Mel, is just connect your Instagram to your Facebook.
So, if your story goes on Instagram, it will automatically go onto Facebook.
That means you're getting two platforms for the price of one,
for the time of one, and you only have to do that set up once.
So, you might Google that and say, how do I connect my Instagram?
So, when I do an Instagram story, it goes into Facebook. You can do it on Facebook
(07:48):
and it goes to Instagram, I believe.
But I think asking the question like, where are my customers?
I actually think that's the stupidest question sometimes to ask yourself because I think
this day and age is that you want to be really good at
one or two platforms max right you don't want to go into a thousand platforms
you can't even figure out how to use facebook but essentially speaking facebook
instagram is one you probably got tiktoks out
(08:10):
there in the marketplace and go what's that um and so if you're going to be
on facebook be on instagram right if you want to start to experiment more video
content you could do youtube then you could do tiktok but i actually think that
by asking yourself you know that where my platform is i think is the wrong way look at,
I think we need to say, hey, let's start on Facebook,
(08:31):
Let me start on Instagram. Let me feel confident to get on another platform, another platform.
But it's most importantly, it's getting your message out to market.
And at the moment, are your people on Instagram, on Facebook?
I think that it doesn't matter what platform you're on, your person will be
there. 100% your person will be there.
Even if you're on TikTok and you say, oh, my generation's older.
(08:53):
Well, their kids could be on TikTok and sharing that data.
Remember, if your content is great and your video content is great,
that's going to be shareable content.
I share a lot of content with my wife, who I speak to every day, but I share content.
You always share content with the people around you the closest,
because generally speaking, you'll see a theme or rule on Facebook,
(09:15):
Instagram, and you'll share that. That's really cool.
And so an older demographic too, by the way, Mel, is awesome because they're
really great people to share and tag people in, where younger demographics don't
share and don't tag as much.
So yeah, I think we need to destroy that thought that my people aren't there.
Your people are everywhere.
Your people are everywhere. All right, Rich, before I move into the next question,
(09:37):
give everybody your elevator pitch.
Well, we help health and fitness businesses to grow your online presence using
your own story or your client's stories. That's one of the elevator pitches.
And the reason why I say that That is because, Mel, the only way that your business,
your person who's listening, your gym, your healthcare business,
(09:58):
your NDIS company, the only way that you can be different in the marketplace,
and the reason why I say different is because we can market the same studio. We've seen that.
You can market the franchise over and over and over again, but it's the ones
that are different, that have a different community, that have different content,
that get in the marketplace. place.
So we teach you how to use your clients to market for you to generate way better
(10:22):
quality leads, leads that are coming in through the same quality as referrals.
And you can only do that through referral marketing. But we want to take referral
marketing to new heights using what we call storytelling.
And the storytelling comes from your own clients. So that's what we essentially
do is we get people confident, not to be on camera, but to understand that your
(10:44):
business is run more than just one marketing leg on your table.
It's when you implement five funnels, then we can actually start to see these results happen.
Twelve months ago, I interviewed Glenn Taylor on my podcast.
It was his very first podcast he'd ever done. He was as nervous as anything.
He won't mind me saying that.
(11:06):
Go forward 12 months to today. Glenn Taylor is a rock star in the fitness industry
now, all thanks to aligning himself with you guys.
You've taken Glenn and you've just created this person that has an incredible
confidence now in front of the camera and delivering his message.
(11:28):
Quickly, what did you do with Glenn so our audience can understand?
Yeah, okay. So Glenn Taylor is a service provider of the fitness industry,
for those who don't know Glenn, and he sells fitness equipment.
He has multiple. He has his own company.
He's also an exclusive supplier for Asia Pacific region as well.
And so what we're going to do with Glenn, And because he's known the marketplace,
(11:50):
Mel, over many, many years, a lot of people know him.
But with Glenn, he's a smart business operator because he said,
Richard, I've seen your content.
I've seen people's content that aren't necessarily has as much experience as
me or not necessarily we all think it.
They're not as good as me or they haven't been in the game for long enough or
(12:12):
haven't had many clients.
And he got frustrated with that.
He got frustrated that he'd been in every single expo and supplies expo,
but essentially that sometimes people just wouldn't remember him when they want
to make that next order of fitness equipment, you know, because it's the ones
that are around you remember.
And so what we decided to do is we decided to kind of like on the day in the
(12:33):
life of Glenn, he was never going to feel himself like we don't do like boom yourself.
Nobody wants to do that. So we followed him around through Philippine because
he travels a lot to the Asia regions. We traveled in Brisbane,
Sydney, went all around Australia with him and the world with different videographers.
And we filmed him in his day-to-day life.
Glenn's a pretty funny guy, but we wanted to catch that on camera as well.
(12:58):
So we want to take his personality and we just created a storytelling.
He wasn't selling anything. We weren't selling anything at all because we know
that when we market ourself in the marketplace, that's brand.
And then when Glenn's at a conference on a stand...
People don't now come up and say to him, hey, Glenn, I want to buy your equipment.
(13:19):
They say, hey, Glenn, I loved your episode you just released.
What have you been up to, Glenn? And they have that conversation,
that natural conversation. That's the referral conversation.
So I guess what we did is we made it really easy for him to do social media.
And then we posted on his platforms every single day on Instagram,
TikTok, LinkedIn, all the platforms. Who knows which one's going to work?
(13:39):
But it doesn't really matter because he's getting views and it's not so much
even the views, Mel, but it's the quality of views.
And that's what we're talking about with social media, is that we don't need a million views.
We need a quality, a small amount of views because that equals the client.
Even if you're at a gym or for Glenn's situation, he's selling equipment into gyms.
(14:00):
Yeah, I love that. And it's about quality and it's about conversion.
It's not a thousand likes versus 10 likes on the popularity list.
I've learned that over the years. Let's take a big leap forward and let's talk
about the women of the fitness industry.
Now, as you know, I'm running our women's event on Saturday,
(14:22):
the 3rd of August, and we have ran these in the past.
And then that little thing called COVID got in the way and we jumped on and
we ran our women's events on our digital platform.
Now, a couple of topics that are really popular at the moment,
and so they should be, is pre-postnatal, menopause.
(14:42):
Women getting their businesses online, tapping into their communities,
but also knowing how to socially sell.
Those products in their community so that they become the go-to person.
Women in the fitness industry, they are everywhere. They have the biggest spend as consumers.
The over 45 market want to look good, feel good. They're not afraid to spend.
(15:08):
Women fitness professionals, group fitness instructors, personal trainers,
running businesses, running women's only franchisees, they're everywhere.
They're in high demand. and your thoughts on women in the fitness industry.
Well, my thoughts are, you know, I like to work with people who want to get stuff done, Mel.
Now, just a bit of backstory here. I started comm marketing with my wife and,
(15:34):
you know, we've always done business together.
So I've always thought that a small business owner, because we work with a lot
of independents, a lot of independents run it with their other half,
their couple, right? It's a small business.
And so our business comm, in fact, we probably employ the highest amount of females.
So we're always a 90, 85% plus female ratio people that work in our company than males.
(15:59):
And then if I look at our clients, our clients broken up to around 70% female
business owners versus males when we teach marketing education or marketing services.
And I say that not to say that I am speaking at the Saturday event, Mel,
and I am enjoying that, but I'm used to being one of the only females in the
(16:22):
room when it comes to marketing, when it comes to growing people's business,
because we're always around females.
And I don't know why, Mel, it's not like we just have female pink advertising,
obviously work with Firmwood.
I know they're sponsoring the event and work a lot of operators who are females.
And we We only do that because I'm telling you, Mel, females want to learn.
(16:44):
Females want to grow. I find females have less –.
Less ego, and they can take directions and they can get it done.
And I think that's the people we attract at Comm.
We don't have advertisements. You can go and drive your Lamborghini if you run
this Facebook ad. We don't do that.
(17:06):
We don't have a lot of bros on the front end on our sales team saying,
hey, bro, do you want to jump in? We don't do that as well.
We generally want to market to real business owners who have a dying need.
For example, Kylie Rae, one of our amazing clients, been with us for four years.
She She started with us at around 90 members, Mel.
She'd been in the game for 10 years. She could not get past 100 to save herself.
(17:26):
She has a facility out at Wollongong.
And she was sitting on the edge for so long because with females as well,
they don't want to spend too much money with WeFound because they want to waste it.
They're very good operators in money management, right?
But once they understand the value equation, where if I study this or do this
course or do this program or do this marketing piece, I'm going to generate XN.
(17:49):
They they're very good at thinking that way right very
good at following plans and frameworks that's what we've found
we have a lot of plans and frameworks and strategy right and
so that's why we attract a lot of females and so what what we're finding at
the moment mel and a few other things you mentioned menopause right all our
clients our female clients that are um going for that 40 45 50 55 plus market
(18:13):
of females when we run menopause ads they're getting ads that they've have never
seen the price of before they're so cheap, right?
We can see ads in regional areas versus city areas, what people,
what the demographic wants. And we're seeing that all the time.
And so it's just a matter of knowing that it's not like we even have to market differently.
Like with we're not marketing pink or red brand, but it's the wording that you
(18:36):
use with your creatives.
It's do you want to be a soft brand or a strong brand?
But essentially, women have a huge uh you
know dent in this marketplace because i honestly believe that um
they're probably not out there enough um versus the amount of ads you see with
male operators on as well and so there's a huge space in the marketplace i can
(18:57):
tell you right now mel if i put my event so we got an event coming up it's an
ai social media event i had me on the pictures on the creatives and i had
joey on the pictures and creators and guess who converted better
mel joey joey converted yeah um
and i'm okay with that i don't have an ego mel here because i want to make sure
(19:20):
and it just it just proves the concept that um females really want to learn
and they actually don't mind learning off a male but they when they see a female
teaching as well that proven that the dollar
amount is less than we're paying. So a lot of people want it.
So do you think that women have more care factor and appreciate being healthy
(19:43):
and fit as opposed to men?
Well, that's a broad question, but overall, yes, there's a lot of pressure put on females to look good.
And that's still the way it is with media out there.
But I actually think women can organize better than a male, generally speaking, by the way.
(20:08):
And so they'll always start that fitness journey, then bring their husband or
their partner along with them.
And they will will then stick around so that they
turn their head all of the time so they
say i want to get fit let's get fit together so um yeah
to answer your question it's um it really it does come down to the individual
(20:28):
but generally speaking they'll make decisions if it's the right one all right
so let's talk about let's talk about saturday's event we've got tracy minnock
they're speaking about menopause.
She's going to set up everybody with resources and tools so that they can go
out into their community and derive an income from that, set up business models.
(20:50):
She's going to educate them, obviously, along the way with the changes that occur with women.
And then we've got Jen Dugard speaking about pre- and postnatal,
another subject that needs to be spoken about in our industry.
And there's a lot of opportunities for gym owners, managers,
personal trainers, group fitness instructors to be setting up their own business
(21:11):
models under larger commercial clubs, or perhaps they run their own small independence.
And then we've got, of course, Edwina Griffin is going to be our main keynote speaker on the morning.
She's going to be speaking about bullying in the workplace, because this is
another area that we need to be talking about.
Richard, once they've got the the menopause resources and tools,
(21:34):
and they've got the pre- and postnatal stuff.
What are you going to do for them so that they can go back, irrespective of
whether they've got a small business or a big business,
what are you going to create for them so that they can start to derive an income
from the education that they've just picked up on set date?
Yeah, well, I'm going to show them the best hooks that are really working well in that space.
(22:01):
So I'm just going to show them how to test some great headline hooks.
Once you do that, then your hook and your bit of creative are going to be a
bit stronger in the marketplace.
Now, when I say a bit, it's because it depends on where you put those platforms.
I'm basically going to show them some of our funnels that you can put them and
I'm going to give them frameworks and pretty much a framework they can copy and paste.
(22:25):
And then if it's menopause, that is the action, the service they're doing,
I'll show you how how to flip the ads for menopause or
it might be something else they want to target but but really it
comes down to if you can if they can learn
how to target um the need
in the marketplace that's when they're going to generate the best
(22:46):
quality paid ads and organic data
as well so it really comes down to what you know
teaching that whole and also i'm going to give you a one page uh one
one-page marketing plan for the entire month so you
know exactly what to do and when to post it because when we
are talking about menopause for example mel and this is where a lot of
people do go wrong a bit of a tip here we think we can run menopause just to
(23:10):
get some cheap leads but then if we don't have a programming that's set around
that people will find out very very soon that your product is not what you've
been selling so a lot of the time it's that belief of okay now i I understand what I'm teaching,
if somebody's happy to teach that, I'll show them exactly how to market that correctly.
(23:33):
So, they're the go-to, not the, oh, we're just running a quick promotion on
menopause and we're going to go back to normal viewing the next week.
People know what you're about and that comes from the brand equity piece as
well. So, it's not just about a one offer.
We've been told to think over the last two, three years when Facebook's been
so good, Those days are gone, Mel. They really are.
(23:55):
I can do a Facebook ad and my business will be resolved and chat. It won't be.
And unfortunately, that's been a bad three years that we've all had really after COVID.
Anything that you put out there online was amazing. It went through the roof and everything.
People would pay $50 for whatever. That's all gone now.
And so, it's really important that your messaging is correct messaging on the front.
(24:19):
So, if you have been experiencing bad Facebook ads or really bad engagement
in your organics, a lot of the time we're following old strategies that used to work in COVID land.
And I know I say COVID land is 2024, but honestly, Mel, nobody's really changed
the way they're marketing and the consumers are buying different as we know.
Yeah, I mean, I can say, yeah, most definitely nobody's changed the way that they're marketing.
(24:43):
And what we have to appreciate is that during that, you know,
that let's say three-year lockdown, our consumers became more educated because
there was a supermarket, a supermarket on a global scale of education.
And they had the time to sit down because they weren't going anywhere to educate
themselves on the pre and the post and the menopause and the weight loss and
(25:06):
everything else that we as an industry have been pushing in their faces since day dot.
So if you go out there with, you know, 25-cent marketing thinking that you're
going to get all of these women over 45,
they're going to enlist for menopause because you've used the word menopause,
it's highly likely that you'll probably be confronted
(25:27):
with somebody that knows a hell of a lot more than what you
know um so you know get along to the
event get the education the resources and tools so that
you can go back into your community and set up you know four six eight twelve
week uh programs and challenges for these people because they are out there
the biggest thing that i noticed in my own club and i am going to rehash that
(25:49):
word covid and no people say i'll I'll stop talking about it,
but sorry. You know, it's something that's happened.
The biggest thing, biggest change in my own club is the amount of people over
35 and 40 looking for somewhere inclusive and non-intimidating to work out, both males and females.
(26:10):
We have, we've actually stopped doing Facebook ads for the 18 to 25 year age
bracket. Yep. You know what?
And take this any way you want, anybody who's listening. Every time Dick and
Harry is opening up a facility where I live and they're all targeting the same
age groups and they all have the best HIIT classes, the best spin classes,
(26:33):
you know, 110 degrees, come and do cycling, and then we've got the best crew
down here because we're all cool and we're on Instagram. Well, you know what?
Go for it, people, because I'm tapping into an age group that nobody else wants
to because you think that they're uncool and you know what?
They're payers, loyal and they stay and they refer.
(26:54):
So think about who you really want to be chasing. Do you want to be same,
same or do you want to niche and be different and do you want longevity with your business? Yes.
Yeah, that's very true. And I think everybody knows who those clients are, that's for sure.
We were down at the Healthy Active Aging Summit about a month ago,
(27:14):
and I loved that audience because everybody there realized that what a great audience they need.
It turns into that need versus want product, Mel, when you're trying to market
the 18, 19, 20, 21-year-old.
It's interesting, actually. I went to Virgin Active the other day,
and their prices for under to 23s is something like 30% to 40% off their main prices,
(27:37):
showing that some brands just want the younger audience in there,
the volume model and Instagram model.
However, there is another audience there that are the best clients ever.
I think we can all can agree that because it's a need, not a want.
An 18-year-old doesn't need to train.
They want to train where someone who's in the other end of the spectrum,
(28:00):
they need to train because their doctor's told them to train It's very different.
I know people would disagree with that. Oh, I need to train.
I'm 18 for mental health. Yes, yes, yes, you do. You do.
But essentially, need versus want. Are you on your deathbed?
Has someone told you that you need to train? Otherwise, you're not going to
live this long, that kind of stuff.
And that's the level that our marketing needs to take place.
(28:20):
And it may be harsh, but we've got to get our level of marketing to a need.
And you only do that when you know who your client is identifying.
That's why I love your event, because you've got all these different collaborators
on small small group tables, and they're listening, they're learning in different ways.
They're listening from the front, they're listening in small groups,
and then they can get their aha moment.
(28:41):
They walk out and they go, boom, that's what I'm looking for.
That's what I came for, which is quite unique at the event coming up.
Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously you're speaking at the Friday event as well,
obviously, as the women's event.
And I just want to just say to the female trainers and club owners and whoever
you are out there as a fitness pro, do come along to the Saturday event and
(29:02):
get those education resources and tools to go out there and to help the women in your community.
I will never be a menopause coach. I will never be a pre and postnatal coach.
It's not what I do. but I do know that there's a lot of talented fitness professionals
out there that can do an amazing job to help women like myself and those that do come to my club.
(29:22):
So grab yourself a ticket and get along because I really do believe that's going
to make a big difference to your business model.
Richard, just quickly on the Friday, what's happening on Friday with you at our Friday event?
Well, I'll be there front row center mill. I believe that I've got a round table
you put me at. I think you put me like right at the back because I was loudest before.
So I'm at the back um and oh not true
(29:45):
and uh i'm i'm bringing actually at com
we have about over 60 cheat sheets
google doc cheat sheets which basically i'm talking about five marketing funnels
and so i'm gonna bring up i'm gonna print out a whole bunch of cheat sheets
most likely the top six cheat sheets that work well without any paid ad spend
(30:06):
as well so things you can copy and paste on your emails.
And I'm going to bring a social media plan as well that you can literally take and copy.
And this is not just like cheat sheets that we haven't used.
This is stuff that's used every day that we know works to generate a lot of
business in this sector.
So these are things that have been used for a long time.
So I'm just going to like, let me just give it to you so you can actually see
(30:30):
it happening versus just also just telling and showing. Cool.
Now, Richard, just before we head off from our chat today, give our listeners
just a short story of success with one of your clients in the last 12 months.
Um there's a lot there um i've got a client recently um that,
(30:55):
i've got a one client recently i've just pulled up a um,
there they had they'd sent a message to me just two days ago that's why they're
top of my head and um she's a client that's again a female fitness business
owner in melbourne actually and she goes.
(31:17):
Thank you so much for your support over the years.
She's so thankful because she started with us coming from a corporate job.
She moved into her own franchise facility and sometimes people require just,
(31:37):
more, like they don't require more help, but they ask better questions, Mel.
When someone asks a better question consistently, every time that you work with
her, she's asking a better question.
And so you naturally want to give more and more and more and more.
And so long story short, she 3 or 4X'd her business growth in those few years through COVID.
(31:59):
And then now she's rebranded to a new brand and she's way more equipped than she's ever been.
And so at this point now, it's almost like the education she's had is not just
like, oh, can you do it for me?
She's like, well and truly straight to market, knows what she needs to do.
And so, it's not just you do it once, but it's a skill for life.
And that's essentially what myself and Joey, she comes from a PD health teaching background.
(32:24):
I'm coming from the fitness background. We essentially want to teach skills for life.
And when someone can then transition, and do something successful,
move to a new brand equity and have such great success fast,
that's awesome because they've got this skill. They can just duplicate all the way through.
But like that, I like when somebody goes from zero to 100, they open up a new studio.
(32:44):
I met Liana recently, do that to a Pilates studio. I was like,
wow, all her skills that she taught.
I've got another guy who's been in the game for 30 plus years.
Biggest world's best kept secret in his town he's in.
Um now people are coming
up to him because we've been in market leader program we come out and
film post on every single platform known to man every single day
(33:06):
and people are now coming to him and say oh you're still
in the game you know i'm keen to train with you you know what i mean so he's
all the people that are coming out of the woodwork and we haven't even explored
facebook ads to that point yet because people buy from people and essentially
we are in the people's game and so when somebody has confident to put themselves
out there or ask for a client to put themselves out there. That is essentially the game that we're in.
(33:27):
And that always is the biggest success for me. When somebody can ask a better
question than I saw them yesterday, that means they're learning.
That means they're growing.
Love it, love it, love it. Everyone, Richard will be at the Ignite Fitness event
Friday, August the 2nd, and of course the Women's Health Summit on Saturday, the 3rd of August.
AusActive CEC points do apply to both the events, but both events are limited
(33:51):
in numbers to allow for personalization so that you can speak one-on-one with
the speakers and of course get the best networking opportunities happening for you.
So do jump on to ignitefitness.com.au. If you use the code ALM,
I'll repeat that, ALM, before the 15th of July, you get 10% off.
(34:12):
Richard, I hope that people get in touch with you before the Ignite event and
can catch up with you, make some time and have a chit-chat with you.
You've done some amazing work.
I love what you do. What you've done with Glenn Taylor is absolutely amazing.
And I'm looking forward to seeing you in Melbourne on Friday,
August the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd. And if not, Thursday, the 18th of July,
(34:35):
Rich will be in Melbourne for his own little summit event.
So maybe inbox him and find out some more details. Thanks for joining me today, Richard.
Thanks, Mel. And thanks for hosting these amazing events. We're looking forward to it.
It was such a great event last year. It's good to connect that face-to-face,
which you cannot do online, that's for sure.
And there's always the happy hour drinks at the end.
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