In this bear market, have you adjusted your marketing message to your customers' needs? Are you still sending the same email message to your customers be it good times or bad? Your value proposition may not change at all, but the messaging should. For example, I signed up for regular updates from my gym and the email messages I have been receiving lately look strikingly similar to the ones I received last year - a monthly reminder about making an online reservation for an exercise bike.

First, the last twenty times I’ve been to the gym it’s been half empty and the bike room was covered with dust. It’s absolutely clear that gym membership has been dwindling, so why bother booking your bike and locking yourself into a time when it’s always available? Second, when I filled out my profile upon joining, I did not indicate any interest in biking and have not sat on an exercise bike in over two years. Anyway, we’ll save that relevance and targeting discussion for another day.

Two weeks ago, I received another email marketing update that my gym has started to carry a top-end clothing line exclusive to its members. Clearly, my gym has not quite adjusted its marketing message for this market, and that is an open invitation for competitive poaching.

While browsing through my favorite online news site this morning, I saw an ad of another gym that’s slashing its membership rate. This gym may very well provide similar services such as online bike booking and exclusive clothing line. But guess what? Those were secondary when the clear message was pricing, directly responding to the economic downturn. I’m not saying price drop is always the right answer. However, you should be sensitive to your customers' financial situation and speak about the things that they care about. In the example of my gym, maybe they could offer steep discounts for referrals, high-end services, or free personal training, rather than offering products and services that I'm just not interested in.

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