When Sam asked me to both write this article and speak at his event in February there was only ONE thing I could possibly speak about.
See, i get sick and tired of hearing the words ‘The bootcamp market is so saturated now, its getting really hard to stand out’
Bullshit.
That’s what I say anyway.
Sure, there are bootcamps on every street corner.
Sure, its easy to get lost and ignored in the NOISE of ‘we’re the best bootcamp, those other guys in town suck’ (Yes, I’m sick of hearing that shit too)
Sure, most of them ARE competing on PRICE and sure group-on and deal of the day sites are even getting difficult to utilize nowadays.
BUT here’s the thing, there are STILL people that are killing it, without competing on price.
In fact, they aren’t competing at all.
So how are they doing it?
Lets take a look at APPLE as a SHINING example of how to come into an already busy market and DOMINATE IT
Now I’m no apple expert or portable music player specialist but I DO KNOW that there were already HUNDREDS of ‘other’ MP3 players out there when apple came into the market.
Mp3’s players that were CHEAPER and dare I say BETTER than what apple had.
The difference?
In my opinion, Apple took advantage of ‘The Law of Category’
The Law of category is rule number X from Al Reiss and Jack trouts bad-ass, timeless classic, ‘the 22 immutable laws or marketing;’
It simply states that ‘ xxxxxxxxx’
How true is that by the way?
Apples marketing geniuses did this in three VERY cool ways
1 – BRANDING- I don’t know about you but I’d NEVER seen white headphones before!
OR a ‘spinning wheel’ to change tracks. The rest of the MP3’s were all fiddly buttons right?
2 – PACKAGING- Apples packing is BAD-ASS. Everything is neat, tidy and innovative.
3 – NAME- THE MOST simple thing ever- they didn’t come out with the ‘Apple Mp3 Player’ Fuck no! they came out with the INGENIOUS ‘IPOD’ then they have
i-everything-else now right?
So what the hell has this got to do with bootcamps?
Well, for the last few years of mentoring trainers all over the world I’ve been helping them come up with ingenious ways to ‘stand out from the crowd’
Take my student Tanith Lee – She’s a specialist in working with women who have brought there children up and now the kids are back in school want to get their lives back’ as well as their bodies.
So, she has the ‘back to life project’ smart right?
See, she still runs a bootcamp ‘business model’, 3 sessions a week over 4 weeks, paid for up front or on auto billing, because there’s no doubting its a GREAT business model.
Think she has any competition? HELL NO.
Or my former student Michael Andersons ‘fat loss for beginners’
Again, the NAME says EXACTLY WHO its for right.
That’s actually the FIRST thing I’d do when looking to either start up OR when you’re looking to RE-BRAND your bootcamp.
1 – WHO is your service for.
See, most fitpros don’t even know the answer to this VITAL question.
‘Anyone with a wallet, pulse and a few pounds to lose’ would be there answer if I asked them for honesty!
But, as part of my product http://fitnesscampstartkit.com this is the VERY first thing i get the students to do.
See, when people think ‘niche’ the think PRODUCT when it fact, they should think PERSON.
I call this ‘looking for a THIRSTY crowd’
Then all i have to do is give them the drink they want!!
Most people will create the drink first, then look for people to drink it!
Crazy really.
Here’s some questions you can answer to get you started on this, as your doing it- the NAME of this ‘THING’ should JUMP OUT AT YOU from that piece of paper
What sex are they?
How old are they?
Where do they live?
Marital status?
Kids?
Occupation?
Rough salary?
What kind of house/area do they live in?
What kind of car do they drive?
How many times a year do they go on holiday?
Where?
Where do they shop?
Where do they spend there spare time?
What do they do an a weekend?
Do they have any buzzwords? Ie skinny jeans, Macchiato, Xfactor, gym etc etc
How do they feel about there body?
What have they tried before?
What are the frustrated with?
What are their fears about starting a program like yours?
What are their dreams and desires?
2 – branding and packaging
I could write about this for days but i assume you get that fact that you can look ‘cheap and nasty’ or you can look ‘exclusive’ by your websites, your promotional materials, the uniform you where etc etc?
So I wont teach you how to suck eggs.
What i WILL touch on AGAIN though is that using the name ‘Bootcamp’ AUTOMATICALLY ‘ties you in’ with all of the other bootcamps in your area.
The public doesn’t really know the difference, so will usually go shopping based on price!
So how can you PACKAGE and brand you product to make you stand out?
Again, this can be EASILY fixed just by having a BETTER NAME
My buddy Chris brown has came up with a VERY unique concept- called ‘barbell babes’
It is AGAIN, a ‘bootcamp’ using barbells but you think he gets compared to the guys crawling round in dogshit in the park?
Hell no!
Again, its pretty simple, look DEEP into WHO you want to work with, DON’T BE AFRAID to alienate some people and that name will jump out at you!
3 – LASTLY, what kind of EXPERIENCE can you generate during you ‘program’
I’m pretty big on this too…
What can you provide that makes you different?
The ‘bootcamp down the road’ does everything online- try handouts to your members
The ‘bootcamp down the road’ use ‘all the equipment’? – become an expert in body weight training
The ‘bootcamp down the road’ go inside in the winter- stay outside and prove your members with beanie hats and hoodies – branded of course!
The ‘bootcamp down the road’ turn up with whistles and camouflage pants on?
DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN NOT TO LOOK LIKE THAT!
The experience, part of this is where we can really get over the ‘price’ thing.
See, in my experience, most bootcamps ‘smash’ people for an hour then the trainer doesn’t see, speak to or hear from the client again until the next session.
Yet, the guys i know who are the most successful are the ones who provide the most SUPPORT outside of the sessions
Membership sites
Facebook Groups
Home workouts
Free nutrition seminars
Body fat Testing
skype calls
webinars
Handouts
Recipe Books
Food tasting sessions.
Think about this for a second. Why would you go to the cinema and pay 20 dollars to watch a movie in the Imax when you can watch the same movie for 8 dollars in the cinema next door?
THE EXPERIENCE RIGHT?
‘Nuff said
So this really was a ‘taster’ of what I’ll be speaking about at Sam’s gig on the 1st and 2nd of February next year in Radisson New Port Beach
I cant wait to meet you there :-)
Paul Mort