Marketing Faith-Based Fitness Programs

Marketing Faith-Based Fitness Programs, provides a context, overview, rationale and strategy to start, market and grow a dynamic outcome-based faith-centered fitness program and identifies key components that should be present in a Christian university’s curriculum to effectively equip graduates to do faith and fitness well in the workplace.

MAKING A LIFE THAT CAN ‘FIT’ IN TODAY’S WORLD

THE CONTEXT: “It’s complicated” isn’t just a social media status, it’s unfortunately an extremely accurate description for how many people live life today. Overly packed schedules, poor diets, technology, lack of sleep, rapid cultural changes, confusion, stress, hatred … the list of what makes life really tough in today’s world is overwhelming. Among other things people turn to sports, leisurely recreation and fitness to help manage it all and hopefully find some relief. But it’s not enough.

Consider all the stuff in today’s culture that distracts people from experiencing a relationship with God. In The Real Social Networking App I share about Dr. Kenneth Cooper who coined the term faith-based fitness. He says, “Unless you are both spiritually and physically fit you really aren’t fit”. That is the BASE thesis that he asserts in his book, Faith-Based Fitness. But, it’s only the starting point. Faith-Centered Fitness goes further providing a paradigm for Christian ministry, social engagement through fitness and a culture of community through deeper personal relationships.

IDENTIFY AND APPEAL TO CONSUMERS

THE OVERVIEW: To know people and to create a relationship with them is the sum of marketing. In other words you can’t just be willing to do your job, you need to be faithful to your calling. this is a truth that isn’t just for Christians – it is the reality for everyone who wants to successfully market, influence, lead and yes, sale to achieve gain.

In our article, Are You Willing Or Faithful, we highlight excerpts from the book Faith Dri>en Entrepreneur by Henry Kasestner, J.D. Greear, and Chip Ingram and correlate those insights with 5 key qualities we use to identify individuals, fitness businesses and ministries that are being highly effective in doing what we call fitness ministry. They are:

• attentiveness and innovation
• clarity of purpose and mission
• humility
• all-in commitment
• deliver big-as-God results

MORPHINE OR MOTIVATION?

THE RATIONALE: Why do faith-based fitness? Isn’t a vocation in delivering the standard constructs of fitness good enough – and certainly challenging enough without complicating it with faith? Doesn’t adding the scope of the Christian faith to the business of doing fitness risk alienating people or limiting reach and potential? These are assumptions, often based in fear but certainly promoted and pushed as wisdom. The motivation for marketing faith-based fitness is to deliver a better product, meet needs with a real and lasting solution, and to empower people – your customers/clients and the broader public with a more robust and transformative fitness.

In my article Morphine or Motivaiton?, respected fitness industry professional, Rob Killen, connects rationale, why you do what you do with attitude. Beyond the attitude is calling – – – divine calling AND outcomes!

THE ‘HOW-TO’ OF MARKETING FAITH-BASED FITNESS

THE STRATEGY: I’m going to make a bold statement here – Most businesses don’t know (deeply know) their customers. They’ve found features and benefits that work good enough but it falls short of what could be. Now let me say this, until you do a survey of your customer – and then build an ongoing relationship of dialogue and understanding, you’ll never ‘know’ your clients – AND they won’t know you or God.

Knowing your customer in my opinion is a huge first step in marketing faith-based fitness. The other step, that goes hand-in-hand with knowing your customer is knowing God’s plan for you and knowing YOU. How you do that can and should be done in a variety of ways and with regular frequency. But, let me suggest, no, implore you, to take a sabbatical. You need to get alone with God only until you hear and know.

Along with getting to know the spiritual drivers of your individual customers you need to consider what population(s) you are called to serve:

• women
• men
• athlete
• senior (50+ market)
• family
• need-specific (cancer/disease, disability, addiction, spiritual challenge, etc.)
• ethnic specific and diversity intentional
• homeless or person completing a court sentence

At this point, to market faith-based fitness you need to be introduced to a preferred term so you can embrace it: faith-centered fitness. Take some serious time to delve deeply into my article, Moving Beyond Faith-Based Fitness. If these concepts don’t resonate with you then it’s unlikely that you can truly market faith-based fitness the way it should be done.

Dwell upon these markers of a faith-centered fitness business and program:

1. The fitness director is a pastor
2. Christ permeates the ethos and every aspect
3. Ministry is being done
4. Members are “OTHERS MINDED”
5. Spiritual growth is a measurable outcome

To market faith-centered programs you need to also consider elements that truly make them faith-centered:

• prayer
• Bible study
• conversation (sharing and listening)/ fellowship
• communion
• service (not just ‘doing’ but ‘being’)

A UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM, DEGREE AND REDEFINING OF CULTURE

One of the best places where all of this can happen is at the Christian university. This is the formative season for young professionals and saturated thoroughly with the following instruction, methods and objectives, I believe can redefine how fitness is done in today’s culture.

A faith-centered ‘fitness’ curriculum needs an even balance between fitness science/technical skill and knowledge and theological/ministry/social service instruction AND practice.

The faculty or ‘extended faculty’ needs to include faith-centered industry professionals to help continually weave theory with practical real-life applications.

Internships need to exercise blended fitness and faith skills, author innovation and advances, and serve as a more guided next-step transition from school to workplace.

Networking for students needs to be prioritized and tracked from day one.

Universities that do this I believe can expect to be funded much like Harvard recently received a $25m gift for the study of mindfulness. Christians need to do what they are called to do and do it well THEN the marketing more naturally shifts to simply being a celebration of values, potential and proven success with eternal significance.