Getting Fit is Big Business
Health and fitness awareness is at an all-time high. People now know that working out will not only help you fit into those old jeans from high school, but also aid in overall wellness and longevity. Capitalizing on this changed mindset among Americans, the health club industry is adding new clubs and members at an impressive rate. A nationwide compilation of Yellow Pages listings by InfoUSA counts 23,497 clubs as of January 1, 2004 — an increase of 16% over the prior year tally of 20,207.
To retain a competitive edge, health club direct marketing firms have had to innovate, and fast. Greg, President of one such California-based firm, explains, “Our clients, primarily Gold’s Gyms, used to select new club locations by general survey and target new members by bulk mailing to entire ZIP Codes. With new players entering the marketplace, this is no longer a viable strategy. We now help them use advanced demographic and competitive analysis to fine tune market knowledge and make better decisions. But, since marketing is our forte, not mapping, we needed a mapping company to provide our tools for analysis.”
Mapping Their Way to Fitness
After interviewing several mapping companies, Greg chose Maponics, impressed with the type of mapping and dedication to customer service Maponics provided. “For our clients in the midst of the site selection process, Maponics’ maps are invaluable. We plot demographics and proprietary company data” explains Greg. Seeing all of the data together on one map, his firm is able to identify pockets of people in the target demographic who do not have access to an existing facility within a reasonable distance from their home.
“Maponics maps have proven equally essential in attracting new members by direct mail. Mapping demographics by carrier route, and then targeting the most attractive carrier routes from a member profile perspective, we’ve saved our client tens of thousands of dollars. Instead of mailing to hundreds of thousands of prospects over entire ZIP Codes, we hit a better-chosen twenty or thirty thousand.”
The firm has utilized Maponics to employ these strategies with over 30 individual Gold’s Gyms to date, and has plans to expand this to over a hundred additional clubs in the next six months. As Greg himself explains, “Our clients are very happy, and this makes us very happy!”
Health and Fitness Centers Use ZIP Code Demographic Maps for Site Analysis
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