The Top 5 Mobile Location Based Applications For Your Fitness Business

Location-based mobile apps and services have been around a while, but with the explosion of smart mobile devices 2011 is going to be THE breakout year. Big retail brands are starting to experiment with location-based campaigns and checkin rewards programs and the fitness industry will eventually follow. It does not seem, however, many in traditional fitness or wellness have attempted to explore this emerging solution, yet. I believe that will change and soon.

An article by Jennifer Van Grove titled the Top 5 Location Based Services Mashable Awards published in October listed the top five location-based services in a list that includes predictable names and lesser known upstarts.

Her list below serves as a countdown beginning at the fifth most significant service and arriving at her top pick for location-based innovation. Thanks Jennifer for a great assessment and article on the topic - the full article is available here.

Has your fitness business experimented with location based applications and services ? What is working or not ? What do you think about this in the fitness or wellness space ? Contact me, Bryan O’Rourke, and share your experiences or thoughts on location based campaigns and reward programs in the fitness industry as it relates to these new platforms.

5. Yelp for Mobile

Yelp is the original location-based service that redefined “local” for small businesses and their online customers. In 2010, Yelp continues to remain relevant with mobile applications that reach BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, PalmPre, Windows Phone 7, and most other smartphone users.

Yelp Mobile may not be the trendiest location-based service, but it’s arguably the most practical. Stats from September of this year show that Yelp Mobile generated 3 million unique visitors for the month and more than 1 million people created point-to-point directions to a local business. We’re not partial, however, to Yelp’s also-ran checkin features. The startup should stick to what it does best — convenient and replete location-based business listings and reviews.

4. Neer

Newcomer Neer brings ingenious innovation around personal and private automatic location-sharing to Android device owners. The startup launched earlier this year after incubating inside Qualcomm Services Labs. Creator Ian Heidt describes Neer as occupying “the middle ground between Foursquare () and Google Latitude.” That’s a technologically sound description, but we see Neer as the most practical application of location for actual real-world scenarios — like knowing if your kids made it to school.

Neer doesn’t bother with checkins, badges or other kitschy game mechanics. The service is designed so that you know where your loved ones and friends are, and vice versa. Since users have complete control over who can see their whereabouts — in place names, not physical addresses — there’s little to worry about on the privacy front. The application is also designed with the average user in mind, meaning the user interface is both slick and uncomplicated. As the space matures, location-based services will take inspiration from Neer and evolve past the pure novelty of checkins and location-sharing.

3. Loopt

Once the location app on everyone’s lips, Loopt has lost some of its luster to more buzz-worthy incumbents. But, Loopt continues to innovate around location and just last week updated its iPhone app to include deep integration with Facebook Places.

Loopt’s application is also the most aggressive of the big name players when it comes to automatic location-sharing, meaning it supports background location and proximity alerts for nearby friends. There’s also the branded-rewards Loopt Star application, which has already demonstrated that it can push users to take action and drive them to their partners’ physical locations. With this formula, there’s certainly real revenue potential beyond just advertising.

2. SCVNGR

In just a few months time, SCVNGR has gone from an obscure mobile app for iPhone and Android to a formidable player in the location space with upward of 500,000 users. Now the Google ()-backed startup is said to be making millions thanks to more than 1,000 paying enterprise clients, which include the likes of Sony and Warner Bros. As a service, SCVNGR differentiates itself with point-based challenges on top of checkins and interesting partners such as The Boston Globe, Minnesota Vikings, AT&T and the Smithsonian museums.

Just recently, the team redesigned the mobile apps to better surface user activity. Sophisticated Facebook Places integration also plays a significant role in the application experience and on the Facebook Place Pages for business owners. Perhaps more interesting than the service itself is the 21-year-old whiz kid at the helm (pictured left in the photo above). Princeton dropout and serial entrepreneur Seth Priebatsch is barely old enough to drink, but this youngster is one huge overachiever with a grandiose vision for SCVNGR and the passion to make it happen.

1. Foursquare

Despite the emergence of Facebook Places months ago, Foursquare is still very much alive with its 4 million registered users. We think it’s safe to say that this startup continues to thrive because it’s more about people and places than it is about location.

We could rattle off Foursquare’s numerous partnerships, highlight its quirky badges or talk about its battles for mayorship, but what puts Foursquare atop our list is the fact that the service has created a phenomena around checkins, badges and rewards that’s been copied and adapted by countless other web and mobile services all trying to emulate Foursquare’s magic.

Foursquare’s recent restructuring of its iPhone and Android apps to highlight tips and to-dos point to a not-so-distant future when, co-founder Dennis Crowley explained, Foursquare will “reinvent what happens after the checkin.”

In many ways, Foursquare already reinvents what happens both before and after the checkin. Just look at how Jimmy Choo employed a pair of trainers to inspire a three-week frantic offline shoe hunt in London — with shoe sales jumping 30% around the time of the campaign — as proof of the concept. It’s the one campaign that Tristan Walker, Foursquare’s director of business development, speaks most highly of, even though the startup didn’t directly participate in the sale.


The Fitness Industry's Digital Divide - Leadership Should Embrace The Future

I visited with a well respected health club owner and fitness industry leader recently.  During our meeting the person commented that IHRSA "wants to remain a bricks and mortar association"; this in response to my many calls for the extant fitness industry to open its eyes to the opportunity new business models and technologies will offer, enabling it to reach its promise.

In this person's defense, the facility orientation of the industry is not uncommon; I speak with many health club owners and leaders who share this view. Change is hard and I know of many good people with good intentions who work hard at IHRSA and in the fitness business in general to forward the cause of prevention and wellness. However, this "bricks and mortar" emphasis is the same view many leaders in other industries had, before the future happened to them - think clothing and entertainment to name a few. It is the reason, I worry, that some existing business models in fitness are going to have increasing difficulty surviving.

To illustrate my point, think of the retail industry by comparison. From 2000 until 2007, online retail sales grew at an annual 20% clip. From now until 2014 sales will grow at a slower 10% rate, still well exceeding the "bricks and mortar" counter part. However the important thing to note is that by 2014 53% OF ALL "RETAIL" SALES WILL BE DELIVERED VIA THE INTERNET according to Forrester Research. You see it isn't about bricks and mortar; its about delivering things customers need the way they want them and doing it in a sustainable fashion.

Reading the WSJ article today, on my IPad none the less, I came across Eileen Gunn's article titled, "A Personal Trainer in the Palm Of Your Hand." By my estimation, now over 3 million people in the U.S. alone are using mobile technologies to guide them as personal trainers could or used to. Similarly, consider the explosion of wellness platforms and devices that provide low cost means of enabling people to improve their health. Point is: there is a lot changing and the customer is at the center of it - not bricks and mortar.

As with all businesses, leaders need to open their eyes to what is happening and prepare by driving innovation and evangelizing the benefits of an unavoidable future. The fitness industry is no exception - less we fail to reach the promise of making a real impact on health via prevention.

What are your thoughts on the fitness industry ? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, or share your views here and tell me what you believe about the bricks and mortar, IHRSA and the orientation of the fitness industry.

Where Is Bally Total Fitness Headed ? CBI Offers Clues

I read with great interest Patricia Amend's cover article on Michael Sheehan and Bally Total Fitness included in the November 2010 edition of Club Business International. The title, "A 21st Century Brand" is interesting. Certain operational moves made at Bally Total Fitness speak volumes about an organization that, I have a hunch, has an understanding of where the fitness industry is headed. Although as Michael Sheehan himself points out, "We'd prefer to be judged on the basis of our progress...".

As you know I've been writing and speaking about what the future of the fitness industry holds and therefore I don't think it a coincidence that the new management team at Bally Total Fitness is made up of 1) a former CMO from United Airlines, 2) a former CFO of the web travel giant Orbitz and 3) the former head of HR from The Home Depot. Not one of their new "C" level executives has deep roots in fitness, with the exception of Michael Sheehan himself. I think there is a reason for that. Growing a national fitness brand and designing and executing new consumer centric models that leverage technology are but one, but a significant component, of what I think the future is about. These skills are uncommon in the extant fitness industry so one should be paying close attention to Bally given their personnel moves. We've seen bringing in industry outsiders fail before with other national brands, but time will tell.

What do you think about Bally Total Fitness ? With their under performing clubs shuttered, debt eliminated and a vibrant new management team, will they rise from the ashes of 2 bankruptcy filings ? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, or share your views here and tell me what you think about the CBI article. Kudos to Patricia for her great article.

The Health Club Consumer Market - Increasing Impact of Women

I've visited the consumer trend topic before as it pertains to the fitness industry and wellness space, but wanted to share further content about it. Watch video of Michael Silverstein's discussion around the consumer marketplace - particulary the influence of women as consumers. Michael describes some interesting drivers behind consumer behaviors that have big implications. His books, which he has co-authored, include Trading Up the New American Economy, Treasure Hunt - Inside the Mind of the New Consumer, and Women Want More - How to Capture Your Share of the World's Largest, Fastest Growing Market, among other work. Good reads, which I highly recommend, that touch upon important consumer concepts affecting all industries. Bi-furcation is an important concept you should understand and particularly the growing impact of women on the purchasing decisions.

Competitors in all businesses and in particular the fitness industry and wellness businesses, should have Michael's concepts at the center of their brand strategies. Watch it and tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think about Michael's concepts ? Are they at the center of your brand strategies ?

Marketing and Social Commerce

Consumer behavior is something you want to keep on top of as a business owner and technologies are having an impact here. One of my partners and founder of The Health Club for Women, Herb Lipsman. sent a note yesterday asking "Bryan have you heard about Groupons?" He was meeting with the Faust Group during the week and was curious to discuss the trend. I appreciate Herb's curiosity and his many contributions to the fitness industry.

He asked a good question and was touching on something that I've been researching and speaking about - particularly in the fitness industry. The "commerce of social media". Brian Solis recently touched on it as well in his article: The Rise of Social Commerce. As a big fan of Brian's - I want to thank him. The post it was more great content. Here is an excerpt:

500 million Facebook denizens are plotting their social graphs.

145 million Twitter users Tweet and ReTweet.

3 million people are checking-in on FourSquare.

Brands are flocking to social networks, some with strategies and others simply experimenting with community building. What’s clear is that the 3F’s (friends, fans, and followers) are not created equal. Those brands who examine the composition of their existing community will find that many are simply seeking access to exclusive specials and content.

According to a recent comScore report, 23% of Twitter users follow businesses to find special deals, promotions, or sales. 14% of Twitter users reported taking to the stream to find and share product reviews and opinions.  Earlier this year, Chadwick Martin Bailey published a study that showed 25% of consumers connected to brands on Facebook did so to receive discounts. But here’s where things get interesting, in the same report, comScore found that Facebook and Twitter visitors spend 1.5x more online than average Internet users. Herein lies the opportunity for brands looking to add yet another “C” to the many C’s of Community – commerce.

So how do you embrace Social Commerce to help achieve success given what Brian Solis observed ? Check out Groupon's video below and watch Brian Solis's terriffic video below with Phil Kaplan to learn more. In the interim - contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, and let me know what you think and if you'd like to discuss integrating social media into your strategic planning or marketing execution.