The parallels of fitness goals and healthy brand goals

Beyond the health benefits of this article (14 ways to make your fitness goals stick) to those who read this post, I found myself thinking about the parallels of trying to achieve personal fitness goals with that of trying to achieve brand fitness goals. For instance:

1. Tip #1 is Dig Deep -- which is the only way to reveal your brand's inner passions, strengths and aspirations. Unless you dig from the core, it's impossible to identify the sweet spot of what truly makes your brand different and relevant with what consumers are hungry for; and how you alone satisfy their desires.

2. Tip #2 is Make An Impact -- "for a powerful shot of inspiration, place messages where you'll see them right before a workout." Not much different from wanting to engage with audiences in ways the make deep and lasting connections. It's the difference between engaging them in ways that they want, value and enjoy -- versus interrupting them with traditional one-way tell and sell communications.

3. Tip #3 is Check Your Expectations -- "people get discouraged when they don't see a better body right away." As many organizational/non-marketing leaders get discouraged when brand initiatives don't yield results right away. As we tell our clients -- branding is a journey, not a destination. It takes time, patience, passion and consistency before you can expect to see results. But in the long run, those results pay both relationship and financial rewards.

4. Tip #9 is Know What You Want -- "Make the most of the gym by focusing on building what you want most, such as step classes, a pool or nutrition services." So too should client and agency agree to what clients want most, by identifying in advance their desired the measures of success - whether image or impact, formal or informal, internal or external.

5. Tip #11 is Get Support --"The more support you get early on, the better your chances for long-term success." Couldn't be any more appropriate to describe one of the requisites for brand-building success, which must start from the inside-out. Unless leadership walks the talk, you have no chance of ever realizing your full potential. Because if leadership isn't demonstrating their commitment through their actions, there's no way that rank and file will ever believe that the effort is that important to the organization.