Thinking in Public
Strategy session for a gym or fitness facility. Three steps, in this order:
Start with the neighborhood. Reach the people who live and work within walking distance of the gym.
Go wider. Run ads aimed at the area around the gym.
Ask the members you have to bring someone.
A gym is a habit people keep by showing up, and the short trip is what makes showing up easy. Someone who lives five minutes away walks in on a tired Tuesday. Someone who lives across the city finds a reason to skip. So the first people to reach are the ones who can get there without planning.
Picture a gym with a flyer at the coffee shop two blocks away, a free class for the offices on its street, and a note on the doors of the buildings around it. The people who see it already walk past the gym.
Once the neighborhood knows the gym, ads aimed at the area around it reach the next ring of people. Then ask the members you have. Someone who already trains there can bring a friend and answer the question a new person has: is this a place I would fit in?
I think the order matters because each step makes the next one easier. Close, wider, members.
Close first, wider second, members last.