How to Get More from Your Advertising

By Casey Conrad

“An educated consumer is our best customer” is the advertising tag line for a very successful retail furniture store in New England.  Basically, the company’s philosophy is that if the customer is educated about the “how’s, what’s where’s and why’s” of furniture manufacturing, the chances of them buying more expensive furniture from their store is greater.  Because of knowledge and awareness through the company’s educational advertising, consumers go into competitor’s lower priced stores and ask about such things as framing construction, hardness of wood and quality of fabric.  The end result is that consumer’s begin comparing elements other than price alone!  Ultimately, this means more sales for the company that educated the consumer because people feel they are making a better buying decision.

The same concept holds true for health club advertising.  Although individuals who are club savvy know what to look for when buying a membership, the majority of people thinking about a health club purchase really have no idea what they should be looking for—pros or cons.  Without buying criteria, consumers usually buy on price alone.  Of course, the lowest priced membership is often the most dangerous for the new exerciser because the facility may not be able to provide the level of service needed to help someone create a new exercise behavior.

Like the New England furniture store, quality clubs who wish to differentiate themselves are ideally positioned to offer consumers education about health and fitness leading to a better club buying decision.  This means, however, that traditional “price-based” advertising that focuses on flashy graphics and images must be replaced by information that truly educates consumers.  We refer to this new form of advertising as “Educational Marketing.”  An advertisement that truly follows the format of Educational Marketing has certain key components.

First, the headline (or opening sentence if using a letter format) needs to convey a specific benefit to the consumer that is related to what they want from a health club membership.  Therefore, “2 for 1,” “50% off,” and “No enrollment fee” headlines need to be replaced with statements such as “The 4 keys to losing weight,” “Increased Metabolism Helps to Keep Slim & Healthy,” or “Increase Your Energy & Endurance in 30 Days.”  The test for having created a great benefit-oriented headline is seeing if the average person would want to read past the headline.  If so, you are on the right track.

The next necessary component is education.  Although that sounds obvious, it is not always easy to accomplish.  Ad copy must be written in a way that leaves the reader with greater fitness knowledge.  For example, when discussing metabolism the average person has no idea that adults will lose a half a pound of lean body mass a year if not involved in a strength-training program.  Further, they do not know that lean body mass burns about 50 calories a day while fat body mass only burns about 2, and the implications such percentages have on the body, calorie burning and weight loss.  When writing copy, one must convey the educational information in a clear, easily understood, concise manner.  Again, the test is to see if the average person understands the ad copy and responds with a “Wow, I didn’t know that” attitude.

The final element is having a call to action.  Specifically, the advertisement must ask the reader to take some action based on their new knowledge.  If an add boasts increased metabolism, the offer might be a guarantee that if they don’t begin to adjust their lean body mass in 30 days they can have their money back.  (Of course, terms and conditions must be clear that they come in a minimum number of times for the guarantee to be valid)  In addition, the offer might also have some sort of price incentive (discount on enrollment, additional time, value-added gifts, etc.) but the price incentive should be an added benefit to the offer after the advertisement already has their interest.

Using Educational Advertising in lieu of institutional type advertising increases effectiveness for two primary reasons.  First, it positions a club in consumer’s minds as the one who is offering important information and real solutions to fitness concerns.  Second, because the headline is benefit oriented (instead of price), and the ad copy is informational, it attracts individuals who might not otherwise read a health club ad.  Given that 44% of all new guests to health clubs have never been a member of a facility before, Educational Marketing is a way to increase advertising effectiveness and ultimately membership sales.