Pilates and Marketing

After spending the better half of my evenings in 2015 committed to my own Pilates practice, I decided to embark on to a new sub-career journey; attending formal training school to become a certified Pilates Instructor. My rigid class schedule and endless anatomically based study hours have recently got me to thinking about how this activity correlates with my formal career in more ways than one. There are probably dozens of ways that the physical sport of Pilates, and the trade of Marketing, have common ground. However, today I have really zoned in on these 4 key areas that have me jived for finding such interesting parallels.

Contrology is Key

Joseph Pilates actually coined the term “Contrology” for his personally invented fitness method. His method of this formal exercise practice was to inspire a full concentration of the body to keep fluidity and control in each breath, and within every move. It was not until his raving fans of loyal fitness enthusiasts ensured that the sport’s name “Pilates,” a nod to the inventor himself, went into full effect. The activity is derived from an expected balance of many moving parts, a formal structure of “doing many things,” and a multi-tasking process of the mind, mixed with a transparent reality of what can actually be accomplished with ultimate body control. The goal in Pilates is to ensure that you get the very best physical result for each effort that you put into your exercise. There are hundreds of Pilates moves that can execute strength on any given muscle group, but through control, you begin to target the areas needed to get the largest ROI for your being.

The world of marketing has a similar parallel to this sport for this exact same reason. There are ridiculous amounts of amplified ways a company can use to market their brand’s reach in today’s world: email marketing, social media, SEO efforts, SEM, PPC, Facebook Ads, sponsored messaging, mobile messaging, or direct mail, just to name a few. These multiple said examples can be powerful complements to any brand’s marketing presence, just as customizable Pilates exercises can get any fitness buff to achieve phenomenal body goals. A student of Pilates must know their targeted core goal areas, and a business also should know what part of their “body” needs defined-marketing control. Both fields are searching through their core being to find that dynamic power and strength, and then have the assurance that the best results will come with maximized efforts. My clients on the mat, and my digital marketing clients in the digital realm, truly just want the same thing…Contrology in all actionable maneuvers.

Managing Ability

In Pilates, each session is designed to allow for a student to become stronger for all future exercise attempts and next sessions. A difficult exercise can be attempted in one class, and not truly facilitated properly until the following class/session, all while power is increasing in stages over time. It’s never recommended to push through Pilates with momentum or force, you should only manage what your body can handle at the given time to avoid injury and strain.

Likewise, Digital Advertising tactics and amplified marketing efforts are not designed to be a one-time shot with a forced attempt. When a brand needs to find a way to reach many while continuing to grow, “how to” is the common question in the path to strength. Ability is the answer. This is having a resource/partner that is knowledgeable, experienced to direct, expertise and with tenure, and will guide the path with ability in each step. For example, with glorious Email Marketing campaigns, the juicy info is always best perceived by the end user with one great data point, instead of 5 forced notions. Social Media Marketing similarly will always work best with one solid call to action (or CTA), vs. gauging the audience with 3 random CTAs. The goal is always to allow for a measurement that watches for one growing result, and to layer in more, BUT only once the power has been built.

When my Pilates clients can’t get through the exact choreography of a move, I am never let down because within their next secession they consistently find more strength towards that move, and are truly on their very way to achieving a dynamic result with their own ability. The same is true with our marking clients. The best campaign is one with has a simple message, with a simple action. Time will allow for that message to gain strength, each attempt being more powerful than the initial launch. People don’t want to be pitched, and more than often than not, businesses overdo their attempts, making them feel salesy and impersonal. It is critical to manage the ability first to steer clear of crises, and avoid undesired results, with overdoing it, .

But First, Strategy

In a formal Pilates class, there is always a good old fashioned game plan. No committed instructor should lead any client with an impromptu way of doing things. Likewise, we all know all good marking plans come from defined strategies. I start every Pilates program with a formal goal (a defined KPI- Key Performance Indicator) in mind. Sometimes these goals are to simply work on a certain opportunistic muscle group, maybe there is a plan to increase spinal extension, maybe I am hoping to challenge my client with new flashy choreography, or it could be to facilitate some extra flexibility with wild 1970’s ‘twister’ moves. Regardless, these KPI’s are planned in a prior strategy and documented before the client even begins to flex.

There is a commonality with any strategic marketing plan. The client’s unique and authentic goals are always the starting point for the ability to manufacture a formal advertising game plan. Both fields also use consistent measurement tactics that aid within any win-win strategy. In Pilates, these measurement tools may be successfully moving a performing client from the ‘beginner’ to the ‘intermediate’ repertoire. In the marketing world, it could be as easy as collecting Google Analytic stats that show proof behind the winning strategy.  Regardless, there should never be a “wing-it” mindset, jeopardizing the ultimate costs of your client’s success. Never move to step two, if step one was not Strategy.

Continuous Goal Setting

There is a new fitness term floating around almost every trendy new health brand Instagram feed; “Goal Digger.” This slangy term compliments the internal drive of most athletes and I would not be one to eliminate any Pilates leader from this dynamic clan. The idea behind this catch-phrase is defined though the idea that reaching one’s goal, means only that a new goal unfolds, and that one is never completely “achieved” as an athlete.

Similarly, any driven organization with smart planning skills and a committed focus, also have their eyes on a current common goal and many new fresh aspirations following suite. At any given time, our marketing clients will privy us to learn about their newest weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual KPI goal…all of which have a complimentary spin on their ultimate business goal. In the Pilates world, the measurable indicators within each goal may be something like weight loss, body fat percentages, or achieving higher spring tensions on the reformer. In the ever-changing marketing world, goals come in many shapes and forms: fiscal increases, hiring needs, “like” campaigns, lead generations, page engagements, or audience reach. It is no new news that the survivor of the fittest society is a very real thing. Until the general public refuses to “dig” for more growth and achievement, I am blessed to say that I feel professionally fulfilled in taking part as a liaison to success.