The "discover-more-about-online-marketing" bug lately has really taken over my life! My goal is to increase our outreach to fitness professionals, like you, without the typical print advertising costs.
I'm looking into social networking, adwords, Pay per click (PPC) search engine optimization (SEO), video distribution, etc. As usual, the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
That being the case it only made sense to start interviewing people who know and understand this stuff upside-down and backwards. The experts!
It's so interesting to discover how many of these experts have absolutely no ethics, no standards, no thresholds whatsoever. They are laser-beamed focused on making money regardless of what ethical/moral lines they may cross. It is pure greed. It's actually worse than Wall Street and the Financial Services industry.
Here's what I mean.
I told each of these consultants that our marketing strategy is focused on serving only those fitness professionals where the top priority is to serve their clients. Those who understand that if they help their clients achieve the results, lifestyle and goals... the money would follow.
I went on to explain that we refuse to sell to many of the top franchises like Curves... nor do we sell to those who we deem, "only in it for the money!"
After all, our customer base includes some of the top fitness trainers, coaches and athletes in the world... who have put an incredible amount of faith and trust in the quality of our products and the integrity of our business. Enough to put their own names on them. How would these professionals feel if the same products showed up in a "Walmart" type franchise among a bunch entry level trainers with no certification and no indepth knowledge of exercise protocol, nutrition or physiology?
Wow... across the board, these "experts" told me our business strategy was admirable but naive. The bottom line attitude among this internet marketing crowd was: What do you care as long as you're making money? One of them actually said to me, "Your attitude smacks of being an elitist snob!"
So be it.
Wanted: Web consultants willing to work with elitist snob!