Lesson In Marketing From The Balloon Dude

Posted by Steve Hochman on Fri. Apr. 3rd, 2009

p22-1 I took my wife and two daughters to the mall this weekend for some good ol' family time.

The kids wanted to eat at the rain forest cafe.

It's actually pretty cool cuz there's elephants, gorillas, anacondas and alligators that are life size and move when ever the lightening and thunder effects go on.

They also have these dudes walking around, making balloon animals for the kids... They pretty much get paid p22-2 in tips.

Check out this quick lesson in marketing.

In this video notice the "$5 bill" hanging around the balloon dudes neck...

Also notice my wife giving him a "$5" tip. (Brilliant Subliminal marketing)

Subliminal, suggestive marketing stuff happens to us all the time.

For example...

Do you see the ARROW in the FedEx logo?

Scroll down to see it!

Scroll down!

That arrow suggests taking action, to just do it and that FedEx is quick and efficient.

One thing that I've done is put my regular rate next to a totally high amount. (FYI, always put the smallest price LAST... never first, or it will backfire)

For example:

Pre pay 2 years up front $4,296

6-month agreement just $197 per month

Doesn't the $197 look WAY LESS expensive then $4,296

Tags: Boot Camp Marketing, Fitness Marketing, open boot camp, personal trainer marketing

This entry was posted on April 3, 2009 at 10:41 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Blog, Boot Camp Marketing, Closing and Sales Techniques, Fitness Marketing by Steve Hochman | 9 Comments

Luke "Serial Ass Grabber" Wold says:

April 3, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Steve!

That's freakin' awesome. When I was a barista we switched to a HUGE bowl for tips and really "salted" it with ones and fives. Then, when we handed back change, we held it right over the bowl so they had to reach out for it.

Almost doubled our tips!

Now I'm wondering, how will my clients tip me if I hang a bottle of scotch around my neck...

~ The Lukester

Adam Toohey says:

April 3, 2009 at 8:35 pm

Steve,

The balloon dude is genius...

Great spot on the fed ex logo too...

As usual dude... a heavy load of tips from the Hochman vault..

Cheers

Adam Toohey

Ali Ruddy says:

April 5, 2009 at 5:27 pm

Yo Steve-
Definately a good marketing strategy. Maybe we should hange some Fit Body cards around our necks when we teach boot camp (hehe)

Ali

Jason says:

April 5, 2009 at 8:58 pm

Never saw that FedEx thing before, does it work?

Do you list more than 2 payment plan options? Will it confuse people to have plans listed as such if you have a few different options? I have private training, and group training so I was wondering I could still list prices that way.

Thanks

Steve Hochman says:

April 5, 2009 at 11:05 pm

Jason, for your private training and group training here's what you do...
During your initial phone call, ask questions to find out if they would be a better candidate for group training or 1 on 1...

When they arrive, pull out the contract that you think would be the best fit (group or 1 on 1)

To many options do get to confusing so have separate contracts.

You can always pull out the other contract if you have to.

Steve

Dale says:

April 6, 2009 at 7:01 am

I too look for marketing where ever I go and your right, there are a lot of cleaver marketing tips. Plus I do balloon animals for a living so thanks for the marketing tip.... I have to try it.

http://www.mbd2.com/forum/balloon_animal_blog/