Switching to a story-driven biz-ness (global gym case study)

There’s a reason most of us in small business bailed on corporate. We don’t like blindly following rules. I was talking to an architect:

“I’m lucky I get to change my work each day…” he said

“I would never survive doing the same thing over and over”

No doubt. Small business owners are creative, and like to do things their way.

One side effects of this, is we can tend to shun big biz.

They started their business to upset the status quo… Which often leads to seeing ‘what’s wrong’ with bigger institutions.

I do this all the time.

But, truth is, there’s also lots to learn over the decades from some bigger businesses.

And once in a while, a big biz-ness wisens up, and shifts their messaging

From an archaic institution, to a story-driven business…

One example of this, is Anytime Fitness.

I noticed this because a friend had recently bought into a franchise.

Anytime is a global fitness chain.

Now, it has over 600,000 members. That’s a ‘big box’ globo gym. Most small gyms or studios hate these kind of places.

But, in late 2022, Anytime saw record numbers of Australians joining their network.

So, the customer is buying.

But this wasn’t always the case…

Here, we’ll break down how the switch to a story driven business happened.

And, how even for big business, adopting a story-driven model is possible, and can help build a bigger horde of fans…

We’ll look at three points in the business messaging:

1. The strength of a main story (a ‘catalyst’ or change, the old path, new path, and opportunity for the client)

2. How to win on the new path, or in the new story you’re creating

3. Success stories, to prove that the new path (then your offer) helps people win.

And when we compare these for the old version of Anytime Fitness, with the new version, we see a solid example of a ‘switch’.

Note: We do this mostly through the website. While that’s not the only way to do it, if you can’t get the website ‘story’ clear, there ain’t much hope for anything else…

The Old Version…

We’re going back to March, 2018

Anytime Fitness has been around a lot longer than this. 

And while going way back to 2009 was fun for me, it ain’t particularly relevant. Because a clear story didn’t really exist.

(The ‘O.G’ messaging was mostly about a ‘quick, low cost’ gym)

So the first version we’ll look at is in 2018. Let’s look at the three different points:

Part 1 - The ‘Strength’ of the Main Story

Here’s the main header:

“Be a part of the biggest fitness community in Australia” is an attempt at positioning as some kind of leader.

But it’s feeble.

Mainly because leading in number of members has little relevance for a gym client. (Leading in ‘results might be better).

So, there’s a ‘relative’ position.

But this lacks any story element at all:

There’s no catalyst or change, no conflict (old path vs. new). There’s no indication of what the world looks like, who the main character is (who it’s for), what success looks like, or any information about the guides…

The old version ain’t a story driven business, it’s just a message around ‘mass’. And does little to raise urgency or necessity for the buyer.

Moving down the website, the confusion continues…

“Epic is waiting” has no relevance to anything. What is epic? What is the outcome?

This is a ‘stand-in’ word, to try and elevate emotion.

But that does little for the buying cycle…

Overall, the strength of any ‘main story’ is close to zero.

Part 2 - How to ‘win’ on the new path, or in the new story

While the blog was there in the top navigation, there was little on how to win in the game of fitness.

The blog wasn’t advertised on the main site.

This is common with ‘claims based’ business (i.e. ‘we don’t need to build assets or educate because we think we’re the best’)

Part 3 - Success Stories

These are completely missing. Which is often the case when the story ain’t clear.

Stock photography was the default setting. And the visual story was random.

It’s not even clear if the people in the photos have anything to do with Anytime Fitness.

There are no specific success stories.

The New Anytime Fitness - The Switch to A Story Driven Business

Here’s the new top of fold for the site. Straight away we can see a difference…

By 2022, Anytime Fitness had switched to a message around “Any Body, Any Time”

This was across their website and content at a franchise level. 

Same as before, let’s look at the three key questions to see if there’s a story-driven business underneath.

Part 1 - The ‘Strength’ of the Main Story

We can look at this from three points.

These were all missing in the previous version…

The change or ‘catalyst’ in the culture. This is needed in any story-driven business.

And in this case: the customer now makes the rules on what fitness looks like

This shift that happened around 2020 was around trust, and choice. All of a sudden, businesses saw that the customer could choose who to buy from, and had 100% of the buying power. More, that it was no longer about businesses ‘forcing’ a particular way of doing things onto the customer.

We saw this with Apple allowing customers more control with advertising settings on their phone.

Uber eats and the explosion of ‘get what you want, when you want’…

And the saturation of smaller gyms, yoga studios, coaches… All offering different ways of serving.

In this case, Anytime didn’t point out this change exactly.

Partly because they didn’t need to…

The main thing is they created a ‘head nod’ statement around the change, that their target customer agrees with.

Here we go, right at the top of the site:

Anyway, a change, or catalyst means there’s now an old path, and a new path:

The old path - Play by the rules. You have to look a certain way to train.

The military boot camps.

The bodybuilding style training…

The old path was about fitting in, and doing things a certain way.

The new path - We’re here to tell you that you can go your own way… and we’ll support you

And in the Anytime ‘world’, they will help you, with cardio equipment, trainers, weights… Whatever you need, they’ll support you and guide you.

For their target audience, the new game creates a feeling of being welcome, no matter who you are.

And it also creates ‘conflict’ with the old path. Critical.

Also, notice the lack of ‘claims’…

Before, there was the claim that “epic” is waiting right around the corner. That’s all gone!

A lot of smaller gyms fall into the claims trap:

Get into great shape by summer. Live your best life with us. Et cetera.

Big, often broad claims, that mean you blend in quickly…

Now, the only ‘claim’ Anytime makes is that they’ll support you every step of the way.

Part 2 - How to ‘win’ on the new path, or in the new story

On the main page, now they direct you to the article bank. There are hundreds of articles over the years, to help readers win. In particular “motivation quotes for anybody” - focusing on not just gym motivational quotes, but motivational disability quotes, motivation quotes for women et cetera. The story is even stronger the deeper you go.

There are also recipes and training tips.

Part 3 - Success Stories

Strong success stories are proof that the new story they are creating actually works.

So, we would expect to see a bunch of stories of a diverse group of people (‘any’ body), winning, in a range of ways, because fitness looks different now.

And, we wouldn’t expect to see transformation photos, strength gains, or more typical gym success stories. 

Because that was (in their world), the ‘old path.’

Here we go:

I didn’t highlight the other messages, but here they from left to right

1. My childhood medic alert bracelet broke, and I took that as a sign to be the one in control of my own journey.

2. It motivates me to better my health & well-being for the longevity of my Paramedic career.

3. I need be physically & mentally strong enough to support Sam.

4. My motivation is to NEVER SAY NO TO ADVENTURE!

5. Being able to visit and do photography of incredible animals and scenery.

These are missing a few things as far as success stories go… But at least they’re trying.

These stories tell us: Anytime Fitness is a place for any body to come in, and find out what fitness looks like for them, so that they can go out and do the things that they love.

Conclusion

The focus of this case study was to show that there’s no biz-ness that’s ‘too big’.

And that if you want to clarify, or flesh out your business story to help with marketing (and business strategy), it’s very possible. Even if you’ve been going for eight years.

The main learning though, is that there is one unifying story here.

Any body. Inclusivity. Fitness done your way.

Anytime didn’t try to mix multiple story arcs (maximal strength, women’s training seperate, yoga etc). 

They might have those offers within the world, but they would exist as quests that the customer goes on, once they’re bought into the overall story.

Once you clarify your business story, you know stand alone, and know where you’re going in your strategy and marketing.

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