8 Things Businesses Can Learn from the Rise of Joe Wicks, The Body Coach (2/2)

A couple of weeks ago I outlined the first four things that business owners and marketers can learn from the meteoric rise of fitness guru, Joe Wicks. These included the value of hard work and perseverance, the holy grail of separating your earning potential from your direct time input, the need to understand your audience and what they want, and the power of video in finding and engaging an enormous customer base. If you haven’t read the first blog, you can do so here.

I presume those of you who haven’t followed that link are here to learn the next four then? Well, let's crack on!

5. Give away what you know

People tune in to Joe regularly because they know there is something to be gained. He hasn’t been afraid to give away his knowledge well before any transaction has ever taken place. He gives people workout routines they can follow on YouTube for free, he offers video recipes on Instagram for people who want to eat healthily. He doesn’t guard his knowledge like some sort of secret you can only unlock with a valid receipt.

And yet, people still buy his cookbooks and exercise plans, because they are hungry for his support and the convenience of having everything in one easy-to-access package. He has established himself as someone to go to for fitness and nutrition, and so when consumers are ready to make a purchase, they seek him out. The lesson? Give away what you know!

6. Authenticity and passion sells

Joe Wicks has been compared regularly to Jamie Oliver, a sort of fitness everyman who speaks our language. He is honest about his nights out on the alcohol with mates, and confesses to being a lover of desserts. Despite constant coverage of his life on social media, he is also (remarkably) not extremely self-centred. People connect to his honesty and authenticity. They trust him!

Consumers are wise to marketing in the 21st century. They are flooded with marketing messages and competing media, and are choosing to engage with channels that engage them and they can relate to. We can all learn from Joe Wicks by examining our brand messages and ensuring that it speaks to our audience in the right tone and connects to their sensibilities.

7. Working hard doesn’t have to mean working long

We have already explored how The Body Coach has managed to transform his personal fitness business into a residual-income-generating mega-business, but his approach to exercise can also be a lesson in productivity. Come January, the parks and streets of the UK will be awash with joggers trying to shed the extra Christmas pounds. What Joe Wicks understands is that jogging is an extremely inefficient use of time. He uses compound bodyweight movements performed at high intensity to reduce workout times, but ensure that his clients are working at maximum efficiency and that their bodies build lean muscle that continues to burn fat for hours after the workout.

In short, working smart is far preferable to working long. In our own working lives, we need to make sure we are performing those tasks that bring most value to our organisations, and working in ways that are as productive as possible.

8. You have to keep moving

Not content with running a multi-million-pound ground-breaking fitness business, Joe Wicks has now expressed a desire to replicate the sort of impact that Jamie Oliver had on school dinners. He is aiming to tackle childhood obesity by introducing schools to streamed fitness sessions that are beamed around the country. With an income in excess of ￡1 million per month, it would be easy for Mr Wicks to get complacent, but the man is on a mission.

As business leaders and marketers, we also need to keep pushing forward at all times. At the moment, video is helping businesses engage new audiences. In ten years we might be sitting here saying the same about virtual, mixed and augmented reality, and we will all need to keep pace and embrace the changes.

What do you think?

Trying to learn from the success of others is always a useful exercise, even if their industry doesn't seem directly relatable to your own. I hope this has proved useful to you in some way and that you've picked up something you might be able to use in your own professional life.

If I have missed anything, please do let me know. It'd be great to hear what you think.