How long will the 6 week challenge keep working... 📛 Ep 75

In a detailed discussion, Alex from Gym Launch breaks down the misconceptions surrounding the saturation of the six-week challenge in the fitness marketing space. He compares the evolution of fitness marketing from the days of direct mail campaigns to the current digital age where smaller players can afford to test and optimize their strategies. Alex emphasizes the importance of conversion mechanisms over the actual offers, explaining how his company helps gyms acquire customers more effectively. He also touches on the adaptability of marketing strategies across various platforms and the need for continual adaptation to remain competitive. Throughout the conversation, Alex reassures that despite perceived saturation, the six-week challenge remains a highly effective promotional tool due to the consistent demand for weight loss solutions, driven by deep-rooted societal norms and human psychology.

• Fitness marketing has evolved with changes in media and consumer attention.
• Traditional media required large budgets, limiting small players from entering the market.
• Digital marketing allows for more rapid and affordable split testing, leading to more compelling offers and creative.
• The advent of digital marketing democratized advertising, enabling smaller players with smaller budgets to participate.

"La Fitness was running a free month for 35 years, right? And they were using direct mail campaigns primarily and radio, because that's where the media was, that's where attention was."

This quote explains how traditional fitness marketing strategies, like those of LA Fitness, relied on direct mail and radio due to the prevalent media consumption habits at the time.

"With the advent of digital marketing, we can split test things at a much faster rate. And so my argument would be that the actual offers that we have now and the creative that we have now is far more compelling than what was created 20 years ago."

This quote highlights the impact of digital marketing on fitness advertising, suggesting that current marketing strategies are more effective due to the ability to rapidly test and refine campaigns.

• The fitness market is saturated with various promotions and programs, making it a busy marketplace.
• Despite the saturation, the general public may not be as aware of specific fitness challenges or offers as industry insiders think.
• The assumption that everyone knows about a business's offerings is often incorrect.

"If you go on the street and say, hey, do you know what a six week challenge is? Most people are like, what are you talking about?"

This quote reflects the disconnect between the fitness industry's perception of consumer awareness and the actual knowledge of the general public regarding specific fitness challenges.

• A marketing strategy consists of traffic sources, offers, and conversion mechanisms.
• The conversion mechanism, which includes the process from lead acquisition to sale, is crucial.
• Superior conversion mechanisms can compensate for an offer that may not be inherently superior.

"You've got your traffic source, and then you have your offer, and then you have your conversion mechanism. Okay? The conversion mechanism is arguably the most important, okay?"

This quote outlines the three main components of a marketing strategy, emphasizing the importance of the conversion mechanism in the overall success of the strategy.

• Gym Launch sells a conversion mechanism that has proven successful for their clients.
• The mechanism involves a sequence from scheduling an appointment to a phone call and finally to a sale.
• Knowing the cost to acquire a customer and the conversion rates at each step allows for effective budgeting and strategy optimization.

"And so we know how much we can spend to acquire a customer from a scheduling standpoint. And then all we need to do is reverse out. Okay, what percentage of people who hit our scheduling page are going to schedule and show, and then what percentage of people are going to opt in for that initial widget, right."

This quote explains the process of calculating customer acquisition costs and the importance of understanding conversion rates at each step of the conversion mechanism.

• Even with a successful conversion mechanism, continuous innovation and testing of new front-end offers are essential.
• The speaker is considering replacing their current lead magnet with new offerings, such as a book.
• Constant testing is driven by a desire for improvement and sometimes boredom, indicating a proactive approach to marketing.

"Now, I have successfully tested that on YouTube. I've successfully tested that on adwords. I've successfully tested on Instagram. I've successfully tested that on Facebook."

This quote showcases the speaker's commitment to testing their marketing strategies across various digital platforms to ensure effectiveness.

• The speaker ran a six week challenge at their gym for six consecutive years with success.
• The ability to outspend competitors was a significant factor in the challenge's long-term viability.

"I ran the six week challenge at my gym for six straight years uninterrupted, six straight years rolling week after week after week after week. Why and how could I do that? Because I could outspend everyone."

This quote highlights the speaker's strategic advantage in sustaining a marketing campaign through financial resources, allowing them to dominate the market space for an extended period.

• Dylan discusses the importance of having a business model that can withstand criticism and continue to be profitable.
• He emphasizes the ability to spend significantly on customer acquisition without being affected due to a strong business model.
• The model should provide exceptional value and service, leading to organic growth through referrals.

"And so the guys who will knock us will say whatever they say, and it doesn't really affect me that much because I can spend $4,000 an email. It just doesn't matter to me."

Dylan expresses indifference to critics because his business model allows for high spending on customer acquisition, indicating financial robustness.

"Because you let your model do the talking, and if your model is designed properly and you provide exceptional value and service, which hopefully, if you're watching this, you do, then people will bring their friends and bring more friends, et cetera."

He suggests that a well-designed business model that delivers value will naturally lead to customer referrals and growth.

• Dylan outlines the success of the six-week challenge as an offer that has been converting well for six years.
• He acknowledges the possibility of finding a better offer in the future but confirms the current effectiveness of this offer.
• The six-week challenge works well with the conversion mechanism on the backend, exemplified by Ryan Keras's high return on investment.

"The offer of the six week challenge fundamentally is something that most people like. As of right now, it's the offer that converts best."

The six-week challenge is highlighted as an attractive offer that consistently converts customers.

"Ryan Keras at one point was spending like $35 a lead and still getting 15 to one back."

Dylan provides an example of successful lead conversion rates and return on investment, showcasing the effectiveness of the six-week challenge offer.

• Discusses the evolution of business landscapes and the emergence of superior business models.
• Compares the new customer acquisition model to the disruptive business models of Uber and Netflix.
• Describes the six-week challenge as a "widget" or a front-end strategy that can be altered as needed.

"Business landscapes evolve like better players and better ways of doing business come up. This is a better way of doing business."

Dylan explains that business methods evolve and improve over time, and the current customer acquisition model is an example of such progress.

"This is a better model of acquiring customers. The fact that it's a six week challenge is irrelevant. It's just the widget."

He asserts that the strength of the model lies in its ability to acquire customers effectively, and the specific offer is interchangeable.

• Dylan emphasizes the significance of conversion rates in assessing a gym's business health.
• He uses Ryan Keras's gym as an example of high conversion efficiency.
• Points out that improving conversion rates is more important than changing the offer for businesses with lower lead conversion.

"Why it's arguably the most important number for me that I look at. If I'm looking at the health of a gym and their selling system right now."

Dylan considers conversion rates a crucial metric for evaluating a business's sales system and overall health.

"So does that person need a new offer, or do they need to get better at converting leads? They need to get better at converting leads."

He advises that businesses with poor lead conversion should focus on improving their conversion mechanisms rather than changing their offers.

• Dylan discusses how the longevity of the six-week challenge depends on the advertising platform used.
• He suggests that the challenge will remain effective until the cost per lead becomes too high for profitable conversion.
• Mentions that new lead generation initiatives will be introduced, indicating an evolving approach to marketing strategies.

"How good you are at converting your leads will dictate how profitable and how long you can run a campaign on a given ad platform."

The quote emphasizes the importance of efficient lead conversion for the sustainability of marketing campaigns across different platforms.

"How long will the six week challenge work on that platform? It will work as long as. Until the CPM. So the cost per eyeball gets to a point where you're spending $250 per lead for Ryan, right?"

Dylan explains that the duration of the offer's effectiveness on a platform is tied to the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and the resulting cost per lead.

• Advertising platforms have evolved from being inexpensive and unregulated to more costly and structured.
• The cost of advertising (CPM - cost per thousand impressions) has increased significantly over time.
• Savvy marketers shift to new platforms as costs rise and markets become more saturated.

"It's like the wild, wild west, right? I was getting penny clicks. It was the best. And there was no rules." "And so from then until now, the cost of ads is literally five x."

These quotes illustrate the dramatic change in the advertising landscape, highlighting the initial lack of regulation and low cost, which have both increased over time.

• The speaker discusses how the increased cost of advertising has not affected their promotions due to having a high budget ceiling.
• A detailed breakdown of cost per lead is provided, showing how even with rising costs, effective advertising can still be achieved.
• The importance of budget flexibility in maintaining a profitable advertising strategy is emphasized.

"Now, did that affect my promotions at all? No, because my budget, my ceiling was $200." "Because I have so much room to go."

These quotes explain that despite the quintupling of ad costs, the speaker's promotions remain unaffected due to a sufficiently high budget, allowing for flexibility in the face of rising costs.

• Predictions are made about future increases in advertising costs, drawing parallels with television advertising rates.
• The speaker suggests that there will always be new advertising platforms to explore as current ones become more expensive.
• The focus is on the inevitability of market evolution and the need for marketers to adapt to new platforms.

"So if in the next five years, Facebook does again, and five x's to up to $125 a CPM, which that's like television cost, then still." "But the thing is, at that point, there will be another traffic platform."

These quotes predict further increases in advertising costs and the emergence of new platforms, suggesting that marketers need to be prepared to move to new opportunities as they arise.

• The speaker describes a cyclical pattern where new platforms start with low-cost traffic and simple marketing tactics.
• As platforms mature and attract bigger players with larger budgets, costs increase, and early adopters move on to newer platforms.
• The discussion includes the strategy of using low-effort promotions to capitalize on cheap traffic in the early stages of a platform's life cycle.

"And the thing is that in the very beginning of a new platform, people usually will push traffic to static sales pages." "But then very quickly, real players start entering and then you can't buy traffic for that cheap anymore."

These quotes detail the early stages of marketing on new platforms, where initial low costs allow for high returns on simple promotions, and how this changes as the platform grows and attracts larger businesses.

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of the conversion mechanism over the specific promotion being used.
• The ability to adapt offers to different platforms and to spend more to acquire customers is crucial for long-term success.
• The concept of traffic as a commodity is introduced, with the focus on what businesses do with the traffic they purchase.

"Does a six week challenge the actual promotion matter at all? No, it's the conversion mechanism." "Because traffic is just a store. It's a commodity."

These quotes stress that the type of promotion is less important than the underlying conversion mechanism, and that traffic should be viewed as something that can be bought and utilized effectively.

• The speaker argues that the market is larger than many perceive and that saturation concerns are often overstated.
• There is a distinction made between savvy marketers and less knowledgeable competitors who may not be utilizing effective marketing strategies.
• The speaker encourages a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptation to outperform competitors.

"The marketplace is much, much bigger than you think it is." "But you all are smarter and you know how to play a better game."

These quotes suggest that the perceived competition is less of an issue than some believe and that knowledge and strategic thinking are key to outperforming competitors.

• The speaker references advice from a private session with Gary Vee, indicating that Facebook's prime for advertising may have a limited time frame.
• The need for businesses to adapt to new marketing channels, such as virtual reality, is highlighted.
• The overarching message is that businesses must be willing to adapt to survive and thrive in an ever-changing business environment.

"We probably have, and this is from a Gary Vee private, private session that he gave. He said that Facebook has about four to five more years of golden days." "The point of business is not to win. The point of business is to keep playing, right."

These quotes convey the idea that the effectiveness of current marketing channels will change over time and that businesses must be prepared to adapt continuously to stay in the game.

• Marketing strategies and consumer behavior evolve over time, necessitating businesses to adapt.
• Traffic platforms are transient, but offers based on human psychology have a longer lifecycle.
• Successful campaigns are often visible due to their effectiveness in the market.
• Businesses must innovate or risk stagnation, akin to taxi services versus Uber.
• Adapting to current successful marketing strategies is crucial for growth and competition.

And so traffic platforms will come and go, offers will take much longer to cycle it out because that's like human psychology.

This quote emphasizes the longevity of marketing strategies that tap into human psychology compared to the fleeting nature of traffic platforms.

The only reason that you see all those ads is because they're working.

This quote suggests that the prevalence of certain ads is indicative of their success in the market.

You can market whatever you want to market. It's just going to have to have a superior conversion mechanism or be able to afford you a higher level of traffic than the people and the players who are using this one.

This quote implies that to compete with successful marketing campaigns, one must either have a better conversion strategy or the ability to invest in more traffic.

• Societal norms influence consumer behavior, creating consistent market opportunities.
• Men are generally recognized for their ability to provide, while women are incentivized to focus on appearance.
• These biases lead to predictable desires and needs, such as weight loss for women and wealth accumulation for men.
• Businesses that align with these societal trends can anticipate and leverage consumer motivations.

Until men stop looking at women for how good they look, women are going to continue to want to lose weight, period.

This quote highlights the societal pressure on women to maintain a certain appearance, driving the weight loss industry.

Societally, status is still given to men, for the most part, for how much they can provide, not for how in shape they are.

This quote reflects the societal bias that values men for their wealth over their physical appearance, affecting market dynamics.

• Businesses must continually test and adapt their promotions to remain competitive.
• The longevity of an offer is linked to its ability to engage with fundamental human desires.
• Offering trials or experiences that require payment can lead to higher customer investment and retention.
• The future of business promotions may involve finding new hooks or increasing initial sales value.

And so if you're like, well, I'm too prideful to try this because someone else is doing it, well, then it's like, okay, I'm too prideful to adjust to the fact that consumers don't go to stores anymore and start using Netflix.

This quote compares the reluctance to adopt successful strategies to the failure to adapt to changing consumer behaviors, such as the shift to online streaming services.

As long as you have a client financed acquisition mechanism that allows you to afford traffic, you'll be good to go.

This quote suggests that a sustainable customer acquisition strategy is key to affording traffic and staying competitive.

The only way that this will actually change is that we figure out a new hook on the back end that cops us from a $600 sale in the first visit to a one $200 sale in the first visit.

This quote implies that significant changes in business promotions are likely to come from innovations that increase the value of initial sales.