Meet Your Audience Where They Already Are When Marketing Fitness over 50

How do your clients and prospects want to receive communications from you? Do you know? And are you meeting them where they are -- or expecting them to come to you?

On this week's Optimal Aging, I'm sharing a lesson I've learned about my business, and how I communicate with people I want to be in my audience. 

I started recording my podcast on video and posting the episodes on YouTube, after avoiding it for years. It's expanding my audience and helping me reach new people, including prospective customers.

See, I just didn't want to bother with YouTube because I don't like watching podcasts on YouTube -- so why would anyone else? Just like some of you don't like emails or Facebook, or don't know what to make of ChatGPT. And with new communications channels popping all the time, you need to know where your folks are and reach out to them there. It's about their preferences, not yours.

Connect with Jay Croft here:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaycroft

For more tips reaching the over-50 fitness market, subscribe to The Optimal Aging Podcast or visit www.primefitcontent.com.

Email: [e-mail]

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Know your audience.
Where are they?
How do they like to hear fromyou?
If you're working with peopleover 50, they're probably on
Facebook.
That means you need to be onFacebook.
They probably read email.
It means you need to be sendingthem email.
They're probably not on TikTokyet, thankfully, so you don't
have to waste your time chasingthem all over the internet.
Focus on where your people are,not where you want to be.

(00:24):
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft, andwelcome to the Optimal Aging
Podcast, where we discuss thebusiness of exercise, healthy
living and well-being for people50 and over.
Each week, we explore whathealthy living means for
millions of people over age 50,and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections

(00:46):
.
Today, I want to talk aboutsomething that's been on my mind
lately, something that hashumbled me in a good way, and
I'm betting that it willresonate with you too.
It's the kind of thing thatwe've all done, I imagine.
It's about how we, as businessowners and as communicators,

(01:07):
need to stay open-minded, abouthow we deliver our messages and
how it's not about us, ourpreferences, our comfort zones,
but about the people we'retrying to reach, especially if
your audience includes peopleover 50, and it probably does
then this might be particularlyrelevant.
And if you've ever said or eventhought, I don't want to do

(01:29):
social media, or I don't likeemails, or I'm not techie enough
to figure out Facebook, or evenif you're feeling unsure or
scared about AI, then stick withme because we're going to dive
into all of this.
Today.
I have conversations all thetime with gym owners, personal
trainers, physical therapists,you name it who tell me things

(01:50):
like I don't send emails becauseI don't like reading emails,
I'm not on social media becauseI don't like social media, I'm
not doing video because I don'twatch YouTube, and I can't
imagine why anybody would wantto watch me on YouTube.
That was my problem, and moreand more I'm hearing things like

(02:10):
oh, I'm not going anywhere nearAI because it's just too scary,
or the flip side I'll just letAI do everything for me, solve
all my problems, and I get it.
We've all done this.
We've all fallen victim to ourown preferences, because we all
have preferences aboutinformation and content and how
we want to receive it anddistribute it, and we base those

(02:32):
on our own likes and dislikes.
But the people you want toserve may want something
different, and it's theirpreferences that matter.
So if we, as business owners,refuse to show up in ways that
work for them, we're missing out, we're leaving people out and
we're leaving opportunity on thetable.
But and here's the nuance thatoften gets lost because a lot of

(02:54):
people get hung up on it youdon't need to show up everywhere
.
You don't need to be on everysocial media platform.
You don't need to jump on everytrend or chase after every
shiny new tool, squirrel, yeah.
Remember that.
What you do need to do is youneed to go where your audience
already is and communicate inways that make sense for them,

(03:15):
because that's what makes sensefor your business.
For example, if you work withpeople over 50, you probably
don't need to learn how to doTikTok, but you do need to get
comfortable with Facebook,probably even Instagram,
definitely email newsletters and, yes, possibly YouTube videos.
The key here is alignmentbetween where your audience

(03:37):
spends time, how they like toengage and how you can show up
effectively for them.
I'm not saying you have to go onYouTube.
I'm saying I learned that I hadto go on YouTube.
It leads us to this humblingexperience I had with YouTube
recently.
My audience is gym owners andtrainers.
Your audience is people in yourcommunity.

(03:58):
You want to come join your gym.
So it's a little bit different.
But I've been doing this podcastfor four or five years now and
until recently it was audio only, and I think that's because I'm
comfortable with audio, withthe written and spoken word,
because I'm a writer and that'smy sweet spot.
And for years I would tellpeople why should I do a video
version of my podcast?
It's just me and someone elsetalking.

(04:18):
I don't want to watch that.
Why would anybody want to watchme talking to somebody?
Guess what they do?
Right?
And YouTube is the secondlargest search engine on the
internet after Google.
So, sure, I had my resistance,I had my reasons, but those
reasons were about me, not aboutmy audience of gym owners and
fitness professionals and peoplein the health and well-being

(04:40):
industry that I wanted to reach.
So somebody convinced me of allof this to give it a try
recently and I began videorecording my podcast episodes
for YouTube.
And what happened?
Well, you know what?
People found me New people,different people, people who
weren't listening on Spotify orApple Podcasts but who were

(05:03):
looking for content similar towhat I provide.
They were looking for contentlike this podcast on YouTube.
They like video.
They wanted to see my face,they wanted to feel the kind of
connection that YouTube canprovide.
And it really hit me veryclearly that just because I
don't watch podcasts on YouTubedoesn't mean they don't that my

(05:24):
potential customers don't.
I was making it about me and Ineeded to make it about them,
and it's just a little ironicbecause I'm always saying this
to gym owners out there who tellme the same thing about emails
and Facebook, and some peoplehave similar problems with AI
that it's going to replace themor it's going to do all the work
.
But really it can just help.

(05:44):
It can help you organize yourthoughts, can help you come up
with ideas and help you draftthings that you can make your
own, and it's important that AIdoesn't do all the work for you.
It's not a magic fix.
You can't turn on chat GPT andtell it to solve all your
communications needs.
You can use it for a lot ofgood ideas to work on your

(06:05):
newsletter, get some ideas oroutline a blog post or write a
good headline for Facebook orsomewhere else, and your clients
might not be asking aboutAI-driven content creation, but
they're probably starting tohear about AI-driven fitness
programming, nutritional plans,health tools.
Some of them are curious, someare skeptical.

(06:26):
Some are already using thesetools and wondering if they're
right for them, and they'rewondering if you're aware of
what's going on with them and ifyou have some value that you
can bring to them.
And whether you are gung-hoabout AI or YouTube or any of
these things, it helps to stayinformed and to have a little
experience on your own gives youmore to talk about, shows that

(06:48):
you're engaged, that you'rereally paying attention to how
you can get your message outthere the most.
Hey, are you a fitnessprofessional trying to grow your
business with people over 50?
If you are, then you need toknow how to communicate with
them, how to market to them andhow to get them to trust you
with their fitness, well-beingand money.
We're talking about millions ofpeople who are a little older

(07:12):
than the typical market that thefitness industry usually
pursues.
They have more money, more timeand better motivation to make
the best long-term fitnessconsumers you'll find anywhere.
If you're not focusing on them,you should be.
Prime Fit Content is the onlycontent marketing company
designed specifically to helpyou engage people in this group

(07:32):
and to help you distinguishyourself from competitors in
your community.
It's effective, affordable andsuper easy to use.
Check it out atprimefitcontentcom.
That's prime like prime of yourlife, fitcontentcom.
Back to the show.
Now I'll tell you what thisreminds me of.
A few years ago there was amovie called the King's Speech.
It was about the King ofEngland who stuttered and

(07:55):
stammered and when world war iilooming, he had to overcome his
stutter and his fear of speakingon the radio, which was a
relatively new technology backthen, before television.
Of course he didn't want to goon radio.
He was embarrassed, he wasuncomfortable, but with hitler
about to attack, he knew that itwasn't about him.

(08:15):
It was about his country andhis people and he had to rally
them and get the information outto them, as only he could do,
as the king.
And I think that that's where weare, on a much smaller scale,
with some of these newtechnologies.
They're the modern radios, withmore coming all the time, just
like television and cable andstreaming followed radio.

(08:36):
So I'm not saying you need touse all of them by any means.
I'm not saying you even need touse YouTube.
I'm just saying that this iswhat prompted the conversation
here, that I realized I wasbeing resistant to the
technology.
I thought that if I just put mymaterial out there, that that
would be good enough.
But you know, sounds nice inField of Dreams, but the real

(08:56):
world is not that simple, is it?
Ai won't speak for you, but itmight help you organize your
thoughts.
Social media won't buildrelationships, but it can open
the door to one.
And YouTube won't create trust,but it can give window into who
you are in a different way.
Show your values, show what youare all about.
The tools themselves areneutral.

(09:16):
How we use them that mattersthe most.
So what do you need to do withall of this?
Well, I want to leave you withthree things to think about
today.
Number one I want you to getcurious.
If there's a communicationschannel or a new technology and
you've been resisting it, askyourself why.
You might have a perfectly goodreason.
You know that's fine, but ifit's because you're just, you

(09:38):
know not comfortable with it,even though you think it might
be good for your audience,rethink that.
Number two know your audience.
Where are they?
How do they like to hear fromyou?
You're working with people over50.
They're probably on facebook.
That means you need to be onfacebook.
They probably read email meansyou need to be sending them
email.
They're probably on Facebook.
That means you need to be onFacebook.
They probably read email.
It means you need to be sendingthem email.
They're probably not on TikTokyet, thankfully, so you don't

(10:02):
have to waste your time chasingthem all over the internet.
Focus on where your people are,not where you want to be.
And number three start small ifyou need to, but do smart.
You don't have to become aYouTube influencer.
You don't have to become an AIprogrammer.
You don't have to become afull-time writer.
But communications is superimportant.

(10:22):
You need to get your keymessages and your value
proposition out there to yourprospects, your members, your
community, over and over,through clear statements,
through storytelling, throughall kinds of ways, and make
these points over and over againin social media, in email
newsletters, in real life, innetworking, in all kinds of ways

(10:44):
, because that's how people getmedia these days.
It's not just through one thing.
And your message is reallyimportant and I can help you
with that with Prime Fit content, because my content helps you
spread the word about how muchbetter life is when you're fit
later in life, when you havestrength and agility and

(11:06):
endurance.
You have higher quality of life.
You have greater autonomy.
The work you do is superimportant.
Not enough people in yourcommunity know about it.
That's why I stress thiscommunications aspect so much.
So I want you to keep an openmind and remember that your
mission is more important thanyour personal preferences.

(11:28):
I guess that's what I've learnedhere today or in the last few
weeks since I started recordingthe podcast for YouTube is that
I was just resisting it becauseI didn't like it.
But you know what?
It's kind of fun now that I'mdoing it and a lot more people
are getting my message.
It's growing my business, andisn't that the point of the
whole thing?
So there we are.

(11:50):
Listen, thanks for listening.
Please subscribe and leave areview and tell a friend about
the podcast.
It helps me grow my audienceand check out the video on
YouTube on the Optimal AgingPodcast channel.
That's their search engine onYouTube.
A lot of good material therewith fascinating leaders from
fitness and health andwell-being.
Thank you, you.

(12:15):
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, jay Croft ofPrime Fit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
topics I should cover.
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay at primefitcontentcom.

(12:40):
Again, thanks for listening.
Join me next time.