advertising

[Igovert500]

Hey guys, I'll try to keep this quick. I basically got a new sales job this week. There are ALOT of new guys both in my position and the lower levels of management, the company is expanding quite rapidly, etc, so there is a large room for advancement if I have a strong start and get myself plenty of good attention. Bottom line, it's a numbers game, and to do this, I wanna bring in a huge influx of business.

I've had jobs like this in the past and I have quite a few ideas for advertising that have worked great. I'm sharing them with my managers and doing all the outside advertising I can do on my own as well, just to get my name out in the area. I actually just came up with an awesome idea which I'm pretty psyched about...but am worried corporate will veto.

Anyway, my question is this. You guys got any great ideas you are willing to offer up? Anything you ever saw somebody else do that caught your eye and stuck in your mind? Anything you've done personally, and hopefully rather affordably, that has worked well. Basically my target market is everybody within a 5-10 mile range, that is over 18. The more unique the idea, the better.

Thanks in advance, I really do appreciate any ideas.

[Andydg]

In my area those stupid Ebay stores use those stupid Scion Xb's for advertising, that really stuck in my head. I told a couple people that were having trouble selling their cars to try one of the Ebay stores...they got their business.

[Cl0ak]

I'm no salesman but I am a truck driver and I can tell you if you want something to be seen, put it on the back of a local delivery truck. Sitting at a red light these things are in your face and you have no choice but to look at it.

[Oz]

Pull a stunt that makes the local news and doesn't cost you anything - it'll make you or break you.

[2.2 Straight six]

funny you should be talking about this. recently i've though up two ad campaigns. (like magazine ads) the downside being they're both products i love, but they've ceased production. (they're the Koncia Minolta 5D & the MK4 Golf)

what are you selling? i'm willing to help. it'll give me something to do.

[VR43000GT]

He sells gym memberships. ^^

I might have to sit on this for a while to come up with a really good one. Maybe paint across the VR4?

[Igovert500]

No paint on the vr4.

Basically, I'm at one of the larger gym chains. I a) obviously would like to make more commission. b) would like a sales manager job rather than what I have now.

Our gym doesn't have as much walk-in traffic as the others in the state, so our numbers aren't where I want them to be. We are going nuts exhausting corporates advertising techniques (which are good, don't get me wrong) But I wanna come up with something innovative. Thus far I've come up with 2 ideas that I'm in the process of getting approval for.

I gotta be careful, because my last sales job I was an independent agent, whereas here, I have corporate to answer too...so it's not like I can just type or write up whatever I want and start distributing/posting it everywhere.

The local news stunt idea did cross my mind. Ironically enough, 2 days ago the apartment complex behind us caught on fire, so our roof and parking lots got plenty of airtime on the news. I think my vr4 may have actually made it on as well, from all the helicopters circling.

[2.2 Straight six]

you need to tell everyone you're better than the rest. get someone to take some interesting photos of the gym equipment, explain that you have the latest is exercise technology, offering better results in shorter time. no-one wants to work to get the perfect body. if you can get them to believe they can do it quicker at your gym, sales go up.

you can't say every other gym is crap, but you can definitely say that you're better.

[drunken monkey]

well.....how does your gym compare to others?
what do you offer that others don't?

if there isn't anything "extra" that you have, it might not be a advertising issue and more akin to a services issue. Do you have any say on courses/classes and their respective package pricing etc etc.

[Gohan Ryu]

If you get Carmen Electra to be your spokesperson I'll work out at your gym. Just make sure to buy a lot of airtime and have her working out and sweating and breathing hard in the commercial.

[ericn1300]

just be careful about sharing your ideas with others in the company who may claim the idea was theirs. document everything and have proof to back you up when you say "hey, that was my idea" at the awards conference. (been there)

[blazee]

Get your gym to sponsor a fat man race. Things like that usually get news coverage. Give the winners gym schwag and/or memberships and the expense to the company is minimal.

[Igovert500]

I know my gym is one of the best in the area, I know how to sell what we have and how to close a sale. That's not the issue. The issue is getting people through the doors the first time. Once they walk through once, I'm fairly confident they will many times after that As I said, it's the walk-in traffic I want to increase.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I got a few more good ideas over the last few days I'll try out.

[ThatRoundHeadedKid]

Offer a "Free work out day?"

Free stuff usually grabs people's attention...do a raffle to increase attention...offer one month of free membership...or one week or something.

Or if your gym is really that good, guarantee to lose an X amount of pounds or our money back kinda thing...but I'm sure there's something like that already.

[clawhammer]

The problem may be the location. That might be the reason why you have so little walk-in traffic. Could you give a bit more information about the location?