Catz Fitness Franchisee, Commack NY

Owner Names: Adam Zeitsiff & Dr. Bill Germano

    Catz Fitness of Commack, New York is run by serial entrepreneur Adam Zeitsif and his partner Dr. Bill Germano, a successful chiropractor. They joined forces based on Adam’s business prowess and Bill’s natural affinity to health and wellness. Originally specializing in training competitive athletes, they made a decision to branch out and include individuals looking to live a healthier lifestyle along with their young children. Today Adam and Bill not only help many former couch potatoes life a more active lifestyle but have developed a strong base with high school athletes aiming to take fitness to the next level. 

    Catz’s challenges started mounting shortly after Adam and Bill built their world class facility in Commack. They were struggling to get the word out to the local market about what Catz training was capable of. As Catz was not a household name and had a significantly larger presence on the west coast, their marketing efforts had to be more robust than they originally anticipated. Further complicating matters, Adam and Dr. Germano insisted that the only way you could truly see how effective Catz training really is was to experience it firsthand. That meant they had to get human beings in the door, right? Maybe. 

    As we toured the facility, complete with an Astroturf indoor field, my team realized that Adam and Dr. German truly had a unique spin on fitness. The building was oddly devoid of muscle building equipment such as free weights and weight machines as well as the standard selection of tread mills and recumbent bicycles. Instead, the facility featured a large open space for a battery of almost military style drills using mostly your own body weight and other one-of-a-kind equipment. It was clear why they wanted people to see their impressive facility in person.
The duo quickly received endorsements from the region’s professional lacrosse team and boasted a modest enrollment of new candidates based on the print media and mailings they were doing. However, it still was not filling their facility and ambitions to its capacity. My team and I probed a bit, asking questions about their social media campaign. Adam and Dr. Germano stated they had just recently created their Facebook account. Enter social media and public relations. 

    Catz features an innovative and fresh approach to fitness; they needed to reinvent their marketing strategy to reflect this. The Basso On Business team devised a innovative strategy that harnessed the power of video to showcase their abilities and let the community see how truly unique Catz training is. With the advent of video you can truly expand the possibilities of your business and change the buying paradigm to work within the new set of rules that is emerging in our culture. Video can bring to life your vision of a product or service in a controlled environment allowing you to create the exact tone or feeling you want your message to elicit. Through short video posts on their website and their expanded selection of social media platforms, Adam and Dr. Germano deliver riveting snippets of their workouts to their online fan base and beyond. They also reached out to current clients and asked them to write a review of their experience at Catz. These videos, combined with online testimonials from satisfied clients, helped to drive new traffic through Catz’s doors. 

    We also suggested that Adam and Dr. Germano use a public relations firm to get the word out through regional news outlets in order to be showcased as experts in their field, not as an advertiser in a publication. They have done a wonderful job at capturing the attention of the local and regional press in publications that work well for their industry. We are thrilled with the progress they have made bolstering their stature as a fitness leader in the region. 
    
    The work does not stop once you post a few things on Facebook and get yourself in some publications. Information and reviews become stale. You need to set aside specific time to work on these initiatives and create a budget to use these tools effectively to create new content that is relevant to your audience. Catz Fitness of Commack realizes this and works hard to ensure that they keep the information they provide both relevant and exciting. While they have not reached their ultimate goal of a packed facility yet, they are well on their way and I am certain with their continued efforts they will.

Summary:
• Understand your uniqueness and showcase it proudly
• Use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) to support your brand efforts
• Public relations are an important piece of any business. Just pick up the phone and call a reporter…they are literally waiting for a good story.
• The work is never really over. Keep content fresh, relevant, authentic and entertaining