marketing tip - the chicken or the egg?

I remember when I was starting my career as a budding fitnesspreneur (fitness entrepreneur). I designed what I thought was the world’s greatest workout program for mums at home. What a great audience, they are looking to get back into shape, lots of them out there and a majority are at home. I was going to take the fitness world by storm. This was my ticket to freedom. My program was well structured, had minimal equipment, and the exercises were world class. This program would get results and change the post natal market forever. I bought this home proudly presenting to my wife like a proud cat bringing home a mouse to eat. “Nice program darling –shame it’d never sell though” she said after 5 minutes of browsing through my pride and joy. This was from not only my wife but a potential client and I got a ‘no’ first up.

My wife is a clever woman (she constantly reminds me of this). She proceeded to awaken me to a key marketing principle I’m about to uncover. The problem with the program was that it was designed by a male, using male exercises structured in a male workout from a male’s perspective. I was trying to produce a product for a market that I really didn’t understand. Thank goodness I learnt this lesson before I threw more time, money, and effort into the project.

When we try to create a product then find a market we often miss the mark. Here’s a different approach:

Find your market and THEN find the product.

What markets do you really understand?

If you’re a PT and a mum, odds are you really understand what it’s like to be a mum trying to get back into the gym. You’d understand how having kids can really change your body, pelvic floor dysfunction, and the difficulty in giving yourself some time with a new born. It’s most likely you’ll understand this market better than I ever would.

Once you know your market, ask yourself “What can I sell to this market?” – Whether it be PT sessions, mentoring, information products or any of the other 17 income streams that we’ve talked about at PT Plus.

By following this process when you develop your next great marketing idea your chance of hitting the mark and connecting with your audience will be greatly improved.

Chicken or the egg? Who knows, but find your market before you make your product.

Dave Liow