Catering to Ever-Smaller Groups is Not How Fitness Centers Stay in Business

Catering to ever-smaller groups is not the way for fitness centers to stay in business.

The sales people for our local radio stations are relentless when it comes to pursuing health club advertising. What I enjoy most about talking with them is how every station, without exaggeration, is No. 1. They all have the numbers to prove it, too. One is No. 1 with men 18 to 45. Another is No. 1 with women 24 to 55 during the business day. Another is No. 1 with older adults at noon on Tuesdays, and another is No. 1 with teenagers from 3 to 5 p.m. (while they are supposed to be doing their homework).

So, since my independent facility has some appeal to men, women, older adults and children, all the stations figure I should be running ads with them. When I don't do business with them, I encourage them to keep looking for the right fitness facility, because surely there is a micro-niched, laser-focused fitness center out there that is No. 1 in the same targeted demographic.

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