Getting Raw TV Ep# 29 Steve Brossman

Welcome to Getting More. It's Richard Mark Toutounji, and today I'm not in the office, but I am in a studio. It's a film studio, and I'm with Steve Brosnan. Welcome aboard.

Hey Richard, welcome to our studio.

Thank you. If anybody's been in the fitness industry long enough, they would know Steve Brosman. You've been in the industry for, what, 2 decades? Is that right?

1983 I opened up my own health club, so we won't count the years. And, you know, it's pretty rare that you see somebody open up their health club at the age of 7.

Right. So you've been involved in all aspects of fitness, and I first met Steve when I had my studio back in Neutral Bay. And that was, well, probably a decade ago.

Yeah, it was 10 years ago.

10 years ago. And I know you were doing some amazing things then with TV, with TV programs. And now you sort of had a break from fitness and then you're back into it in a big way, but in a different aspect.

Yeah, look, fitness is always in my blood and I love it so much, but I did sort of have a sabbatical away from it. I started an environmental company and I've never left the marketing. Marketing has always been a passion. When I opened up my own health club, Back in '83, it was like, yeah, put a sign up and the people will come. Well, yeah, that didn't happen. And within a very short period of time, I had 5 gyms in 5 miles competing for just 50,000 population. Wow. So, if people out there think, oh, it's more competitive than ever, let me tell you, it was pretty competitive back then. So, I got into marketing with a passion. Then into television in a fairly big way with my own TV programs and being on others. So, I had a passion for that as well. But it was when the internet was able to take videos that my whole world changed and being able to combine my marketing passion and skills and the television background and my wife's internet marketing skills that we've been able to start helping businesses over the last 4 or 5 years how to use videos in their business. And there's no better market than the fitness industry to be able to connect personally with people because that's what it's all about.

It's all about videos. And just so I take it back, Steve's just not everyday Fitness. He's been in the industry, but he's had a massive impact. I mean, 1983, first non-American to win the IDEA, is that correct?

Yeah, '95 I was the first non-American to win Fitness Instructor of the Year. That was a big thrill to be able to kick the Americans'

butt. So you're a marketer, and not just, you know, you're marketing, but the core is fitness. You know, you're from the fitness world, and that's, I guess, when people are watching Getting Raw, a lot of them are business owners, a lot of them love the fitness, Sometimes the issues are, oh, we can't— we love it too much but we can't focus on marketing. We don't have time for that. But you're proving that you can actually do that and that's what I'm really interested about. A couple of years ago, I think I caught up with you at an expo and you said, I'm really getting into videos. I love videos. I've got a video directory. So I'm really passionate to understand how we can use videos more into fitness because I believe— maybe I'm biased— but I believe that fitness is the best

Well, let's go back and it's all about relationship marketing. You can create a greater and quicker relationship with videos because they can have a piece of you. Yeah. They can look at your eyes, they can look at you, they can look at your personality. And people judge people on their personalities. They don't go to a personal trainer just because of qualifications. They go and they stay with them because they like them and obviously they'll get results. So there's no better industry than the fitness industry to use videos to be able to create that relationship. And I guess because I have been a gym owner, a business owner in the health and fitness industry, I know it's tough to find the time. But if I didn't find the time to learn the marketing and do the marketing, then I wouldn't have had a business. Mm-hmm. And that's what business owners, personal trainers really do need to focus on. They've got all the skills as a practitioner, but they need to develop skills to market their business. They need to be the business owner as well as the practitioner. And learning how to use some fairly simple ways, particularly using videos in their business, is one of the greatest ways to stand out from all the others because one of the big things that I hear out there is it's a price war. Well, one of the biggest ways to stand out above anybody else and to position yourself as an expert and an authority in that particular area and to stand out is certainly to use videos.

Well, it makes sense. I mean, you can't— we can compete on price, which we're doing, But obviously other people buy it not just price, they do want to know they're getting a quality service.

They do want to know they've got a quality service and being able to put your expertise and your passion and your point of difference out there in a communication method that is videos can actually change the game to play it in your favor. And too many people are stuck in playing the game with other people's rules. Now, somebody out there is just competing on price, but you don't have to compete on price if you package yourself. First of all, you position, package, promote. And too many people just start promoting without taking that position first. They're not positioning themselves before they start promoting.

So positioning yourself as an expert, as the expert in whatever niche they're in. Yeah.

Or to be something different. And the big saying out there, it is more important to be different now than to be better. And everybody can go out there and claim that I'm better than you or I'm cheaper than you. But if you start competing on that, you're going to go broke. Very, very quickly. Nobody wins a price war. But to be able to take a position, whether it's your background, whether it's the delivery method, whether it's your expertise, something has to be different. You need to claim that position there.

And that's where, I mean, I think logos come into that as well. Branding is a big— is still a big thing. Is that right?

Branding is a big thing. And certainly branding goes way more than just logos. Branding is what you get up, what you live and die by every day. What is your passion? What is your business? What is your brand? out there in the marketplace. And certainly we have a brand that we stick to, and certainly it's the way we dress, the way we act, the way we talk, and the way we communicate. Everybody knows when they see us that that is us.

Yep.

And a lot of people think that that's— the logo is just their brand, but it's the way they do things, the way they look after people, it's their service, it's their professionalism, is all packaged into their brand. And they need to stick to that every single day, not just when they're training people.

Yeah, can't switch it on and off. And let's just then talk about videos because Steve, you know, we started Meet Your Personal Trainer probably 4 years ago. And when we started, there was— you know, we'd have to be calling up trainers saying, have you heard about video? It's actually really good for your profile. And that's what we were talking about then. We were trying to get them onto video, right? Yeah. Now, we want to go what the next step is, the future is. Yes, we can all record a video and we can do it on our iPhones but you know, how do we make our video different Then the other person's just saying their name and who we do it. How do you make it different without spending a huge amount of time and energy to do that?

Well, it's really the content. And you need to get your personality through the video first and not just, hey, I have 14 degrees in human movements, etc. They buy you. And what people need to remember out there, it's not the words that you say, it's the feeling and the emotion that you leave with the And you could be there talking about something, but I have a feeling about you as you're talking. It could be blah, blah, blah. Geez, he made me feel good. I'm going to go to him. He's got a degree. I don't know what he's got a degree in, but geez, he made me feel good. And that's the feeling that creates that emotive connection. It's not just the quality of the production or your background. It's the connection. That's

the first thing. It's almost like if they can Imagine training a person, but all I have to do is speak to that person on a video. Because trainers are awesome trainers and they have a connection, but we're just going to do it on video.

I'm going to give the people out there one tip. And I can tell if somebody's looking at the camera and they're scared stiff that the camera's looking at them. I tell the people that I work with is reverse the lens. Look down the lens and use it as a telescope into the lives of somebody that you're talking to, somebody you're training. So instead of looking at the camera and saying it's looking at me, it's like, well, who am I looking through the camera at? And you can actually tell the difference, the people that are looking through there and really talking to the people and connecting with them. And that's the biggest thing that people need to put into their videos is the connection. That's a really good one.

It's really cool. It's a good one. I mean, it's one lens that really can get to so many people. It's so magical when you think about that.

Yeah, too many people fall down that black hole. It's, you know, more shipwrecks through that black hole than the Bermuda Triangle.

That's a good one. So what are the biggest— we talked about a couple of mistakes, what are some other big mistakes you shouldn't be doing in your videos?

Well, the big mistake is obviously just trying to rattle off a whole heap of information without getting that connectivity. You've got to get that emotion first. What is it that you want that person to feel on the other side by what you are saying? And then it's how you present it. A lot of people think that the videos are just up there for people to watch. One of the ways that we teach people is to follow up with people with video emails. And that video connection. And if somebody comes and has a free session, they get home, they get a video in their inbox and, hey, lovely to see you today. Really looked like you were having a lot of fun. Look forward to working with you and getting the results that you were talking to me about. Now that is a wow factor that will make you stand out above anybody else, because you and I know that if they're judging you, if they're going to your website or they're going to anything else, they can click on you and they can click on 10 other gyms. They can click on 10 other trainers and judge you with the click of a button. How can you connect with that person and then start building the relationship? It's the start of the relationship, not the end of it. And that's, you know, a lot of people say, I'm going to put a video up to get somebody in. That's the last time I'm going to use it. That should be the first time and then keep that relationship going.

I think it's very powerful, like the giving the wow factors. Like I've done that myself and it works tremendously. Following up with video, and I've seen that you've done it as well, I love it. And they're the things that I guess are going to make us different in the industry and make us stand out above someone else, your next-door neighbor sort of thing.

Yeah, it is all about standing out, but it's all about giving good quality service. And if you can give some great tips about how they can use things— and we've had 50 years of being indoctrinated by watching television for 50 years that that's how we get our information. We want it quick, we want it fast. We want it via video because that's how we've been getting it and we want it now basically via mobile devices and that's something that people need to start thinking about.

It's a good point you say we've always had it by video and I've done multiple seminars saying similar sort of stuff. It's by TV, sorry, had it by TV, now it's going onto video, now it's going onto mobile. So it does make sense when you think about this that we already are programmed into watching a screen.

Yeah, that's it. We're not doing anything different that we really haven't done for the last 50 years.

So, you know, when people say video is a new thing, it's actually not new. We've been doing it.

Well, yeah, I used a video in '95 to assist me to win the Instructor of the Year. They said, you know, put all these— fill out this piece of paper. And it was a lot of paperwork. I thought, well, I can't put me on a piece of paper. So I sent a video over. And I would guarantee you that that was one of the main reasons that I was Instructor of the Year, because I put it on a video with the different things that I was doing and obviously connected with the people that were judging it. So since '95, I've been putting myself and marketing myself with videos to a great extent, and it does work.

Oh, it does work. I remember when I applied for Amazing Grace, we did a video on a Facebook page just as a happy birthday, pick me. I don't know, nobody else has done it, but I swear that's what got us in. So videos is really, I believe, a big thing. What are also, I guess, some— I guess we've got We're in the studio here, we've got a green screen, you can see we've got the cameras, we've got the lighting everywhere, right? But what about, I guess, the people that are in a rush, they don't have a green screen, they don't have a white screen, they don't have the lenses, the cameras, all that sort of stuff, is it still possible to make a good video?

One of the best things that I teach people is that they've got a good laptop these days, they've got quite a reasonable webcam within that and most laptops come with some software that you can do mini editing in that. And, you know, if you walk through that wall there and have a look at my office, there's only a couple of square meters that's tidy, and that's straight behind the webcam. So whenever I meet somebody or things like that, I'll just jump in front of the—

Yeah, look at the rubbish around here. I can just see it. Rubbish.

No, I just jump in front. And if you can have, whether there's a banner or some branding behind you, and that is all you need to get started.

So a simple pull-up banner.

Something like that, we can put behind the camera. Yeah, put up a banner and that's very easy. Or you can use your iPhone, there's little brackets, there's all sorts of adaptations that you can use on just about all the mobile phones these days.

I've seen some people actually edit a video from their iPhone, you get apps for these things as well.

Well, these days you can actually— YouTube now has an editing software in it itself. So you can put it up on YouTube, you can actually edit it while it's there. And then just pump it out. So there is no excuses.

There isn't. Everybody's got a— I mean, if you've got a business, listen, you've got to have a laptop and you've got to have a phone, and most of them have smartphones these days. So why are we still scared to do videos?

You know what, people say I'm scared of getting in front of the camera. Unless you pick that camera up and throw it at me, it's not going to hurt me. Most people are actually scared of watching themselves back. Now I'll give the people another tip, is it's when you get comfortable watching yourself back that your videos will take off. Now you need to shoot a 3-minute video, talk about something, then watch it back 5 times. Then shoot it again, try and improve, watch it back 5 times. It's when you are watching yourself back, you actually get comfortable watching yourself that you can actually improve. Most people don't like looking at themselves.

I agree, yeah.

I mean, that's not hurting me now at all to sit here and talk, but most people hate looking at themselves.

So even just to get started, can they record the videos, put them on, and then look at themselves? Or is that dangerous? That's going straight to the black.

Well, I would actually just record it, stick it on their computer, and watch it so that you can really just look at yourself and see it. I was quite fortunate when I first got into TV. I was in a kids' show and I had a segment where I was teaching kids aerobics and I got out there and it was—

Kids Gym, wasn't it?

Gym Jam, yeah. It was on Big Dog and Friends up in Newcastle back in the early '80s. But I got on there and I thought I was crazy, wild, over the top, and they're gonna tell me to calm it down a little bit. Sure. And when I was in the edit suite watching back as they were editing it all, I was like, geez, that was boring. And it was then that I learnt that what I thought I was doing and what was coming through the camera was 2 totally different things. It actually just squeezed the personality out of you. So you need to know how you're feeling and presenting here. But more importantly, how it's actually getting through the camera. And the only way you can do that is to do it, watch it, do it, watch it. Too bad. Yeah. And I was fortunate, or it was painful to watch me an hour or so a week get edited. But I spent that time just working out what was working and what was not. And I went through that pain years ago. And if people want to get in front of the camera and really make their videos good and connect with the people through there, they've got to watch it more than they shoot it. Good,

very good tip. Very good tip. I'll action that. We'll do this again after.

Yeah, let's watch this back 10 times.

Awesome. Alright, so I guess what do you do now? I mean, you're still involved in fitness. I know you were doing some stuff with some clubs and studios. What do you do now? Because I know you don't just work in fitness, you do work everywhere.

We run seminars. Some seminars are specific for the fitness industry and how they can actually use videos. Easy. We say basically low cost, low time, low tech. And that's a great way for most of them to get started. We run seminars and workshops for all different levels of businesses, and we also do consultancy work.

What kind of businesses are we talking about though?

Any business that actually works with humans but not animals or aliens. Okay.

So service-based businesses?

Pretty well any. We've got B2B manufacturers. Yep. When you're talking about business to business and B2B, we're not talking about building to building. Somewhere a human has to talk to and communicate with another human. When that happens, sometimes one of the best ways to get messages across and things like that is to use a video. Some of our clients are actually sending videos with proposals now with great effect. Okay, here's the written proposal, here's what— Oh, by the way, here's the video on how we got to that.

Sure, that's how they do a screen share video.

Well, I think a screen or even just a piece to camera, talking head, those sorts of things. So there are multiple ways. In fact, if anybody out there wants to learn 61 ways that they could use videos in their business, they can actually go to our website, which is magneticdigitalmarketing.com. And I'm sure you'll have that there.

We'll put that at the bottom somewhere, yeah?

If not, I'll put it there for you.

You're editing this one. I don't edit this, straight raw.

And they can actually find 61 ways to use videos And that's already out of date because we're up to 75 different ways that they could use it.

And videos, I mean, the web is changing every day and it's changed more than ever in the last few months. So do you see— what do you, I guess, see in the future now with videos? How is it going to progress in the next couple of years, 6 months I should say? Who knows what the years come, we're talking about months I guess now.

We have to be aware that Google owns YouTube and every day they're the relationship or stranglehold gets tighter and tighter. And for those people who want to sign up and have a YouTube channel now, they have to have a Gmail and a Google+ account.

Yes.

So they're now just forcing that integration of all of that and they're forcing the SEO or the search engines to really put a high importance on videos now because they want to drive people into all of that. There's going to be a lot of online television. Television as we know it is going to start fading away.

Google TV, Apple TV, those sorts of things.

Yeah, and a lot of them are, and that's where the people are going to be. They're going to be online watching it, so that's where the people are, that's where you need to communicate.

Jeez, it's exciting, you know, being able to get your message across someone's lounge room, not having to be on a show or TV show. You can be Have an online show and it can be now in someone's lounge room. That's pretty exciting.

Well, it wasn't that long ago, it was probably less than 12 months ago, that we thought we saw movies where you had the big screen and the, you know, you'd move this from here to here and you put— TVs are out now that you can do that. You have the sensors and you can actually drag and drop not even near the TV and just have smart TVs that you can just do everything on. So that's going to open up a whole realm of opportunities for people out there. People can actually be— we call them unique champions in their particular niche. Other people call them celebrities, rock stars, but you can have your own channel. You can put out your own quality information and stand out above everybody else like that.

Excellent information. We could be here forever. I'm going to make sure that Steve gets some videos on our Meat or Fitness Marketing. We're rebranding that shortly. We're going to make sure you get some good content there because, I mean, what you're saying is so relevant to this industry.

I just shot a great one we'll put up there very shortly, which is all about changing the game. How everybody can shift the goalposts and play a game that they set the rules and they set the playing field. And it is very, very appropriate for the fitness industry.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Steve. Thanks for listening in. You can follow Steve. I'll put all the information here. Magnetic Digital Marketing.

Yeah.

I like the title of that.

Well, come and follow me on Facebook, Steve Brosnan.

Yeah, you're a big one on Facebook, aren't you? You're always on Facebook.

It's another medium to communicate with people, form relationships with people. It's all about networking and forming relationships.

Good, and I think if you've got a business, you've got to form relationships and you've got to network.

That's what it's all about.

Simple as that. Thanks a lot.

Alright, see you later.