Niche Marketing: The Exercise Physiologist's Point of View
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP, EPC
Professor and Chair
Director, Exercise Physiology Laboratories
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811 

"What we call the beginning is often the end.  And to make an end is to make a beginning.  The end is where we start from."  -- T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

By now exercise physiologists of all ages and ranks understand the value in niche marketing.  Or, do they understand?  Maybe their sense of strategic positioning is too narrow.  What they do know for certain is that physical therapists engage in physical therapy.  In other words, their niche is physical therapy.  It is the same with nurses.  They nurse!  Now, what then is the value of reading about what one does?  Well, the value is in understanding exactly what one does as an exercise physiologist. 

Perhaps, one would think that exercise physiology isn’t that complicated.  The notion of a niche market is obvious, isn’t it?  Doctorate prepared exercise physiologists work in academics and industry.  Some also work in hospital settings.  One might say their niche is that of a professional.  Notice I did not say that the niche is automatically a healthcare professional.  Certainly it could be and is often times exactly that of caring about health matters. 

Having said that, what is the niche of non-doctorates?  What do they do that is uniquely their work?  Here, work is used in the same vein as career.  Again, physical therapists have careers in physical therapy.  This is rather obvious.  My point though is that exercise physiologists without the doctorate degree are not defined necessarily their academic degree.  For example, a person can get a degree in exercise science and call himself an exercise physiologist.  This has been the case for many years.  Fortunately, it is changing and with it fewer majors in other fields of work will have the opportunity to call themselves exercise physiologists.

Clearly, according to the definitions [1] of “exercise physiology” and “who is an exercise physiologist,” people and conditions will be different in the future.  This is already the case to an important degree with the founding of ASEP in 1997.  Still, what is the niche market for non-doctorate exercise physiologists?  The answer is not an easy one.  Since the majority of the undergraduates do not graduate with an exercise physiology degree, they usually do not (and some would argue cannot) consider exercise physiology as their niche.  This is of course a bit unsettling for thousands of students majoring in exercise science and related degree programs (such as sports sciences and kinesiology).  It is unfortunate that their professors have without thinking encouraged the idea itself.

Given these thoughts as a backdrop to this piece, if an undergraduate in a kinesiology major graduates in the spring of 2006, that person is without a niche market.  There are no kinesiology jobs per se as there are for physical therapists or nurses.  This raises the question, “Why did they major in a field that does have a definitive career following graduation?”  The answer is complicated, but mostly it has to do with the inertia of the physical education – exercise science – sports medicine way of thinking.  Without realizing what the academics have failed to do, they have placed their students in an extremely vulnerable position.  This is not just an unfortunate result of the inertia of the academy.  More specifically, it is bordering on unethical and misleading behavior.

Exercise physiology professors, in particular, can no longer sit back and think as though it is someone else’s problem.  They are in the middle of the problem and, if they aren’t doing something about it, then they are continuing to support it since they are not active in changing it.  The end result is a loss of credibility as long as the academics fail to honor steps taken by other healthcare professionals.  Among other reasons this is why the academic gatekeepers must accept the responsibility for professional development of exercise physiology, not fitness professionals or personal trainers as our sports medicine colleagues believe. 

However strange it might sound to some colleagues, academics can no longer think just about a fitness career but a health career for their students.  This is the niche market for exercise physiologists – healthcare.  It is the only logical and rational marketplace for exercise physiology professionals.  Hence, in this article, the niche is not meant to be a delimiting way of thinking.  Exercise physiology is not about just fitness or health or rehabilitation or athletics in same sense that a niche market might be considered working only with females who are pregnant or executives who are overweight or patients who are at high-risk.

Members of the ASEP organization understand their work is within healthcare as healthcare professionals who graduate from an accredited academic program, who are ASEP board certified, and who acknowledge their work is constrained by the ASEP code of ethics [2], and who do so in accordance with the ASEP standards of practice [3].  This is solid professional thinking that evolved from self-analysis within the ASEP organization.  From within the organization of exercise physiologists surfaced a passionate commitment to professional development, from which allowed for the understanding of exercise physiology per se. 

It is not about working with a particular type of person or place, but with all individuals who live and breathe air as we do.  Exercise physiology is about helping people live and interact with others in the most healthy matter possible.  It is about people of all ages and all conditions.  Anyone who is healthy or sick, can hardly walk or run a 5 minute mile, or who has an interest in understanding how the body works, the mind-body interaction, and all that which influences our growth or the failure to grow correctly is subject to the analysis and help of an exercise physiologist.  This it seems to me is an extraordinary niche opportunity since there really isn’t any other profession with the same academic objectives.

Aside from the passion of exercise physiologists to carry out their work, the regularity of their work is certain once they come to terms with their professional standards and career opportunity to serve the public.  I’d advise the reader to get involved with ASEP to secure his or her professional future and financial security.  Most of all, remember that it is what you can do to help others more than what the profession can do for you.  Achieving all you can be is about being what you need to be to help with health, fitness, rehabilitation, and athletic issues and concerns of others.  Physical therapists and nurses cannot take your place, regardless how they may try in gathering information or in developing new and different certifications.

Colleagues with years of experience have yet to get this point.  Their “just-in-time research thinking” or their new “personal training certification” has failed them.  The more they publish or water down certifications, the more they fail to get the big picture.  In particular, by concentrating on research, the academics have ignored students.  Come “hell or high water” the ASEP members will make a difference and not make the same mistake.  The leadership expects that all exercise physiologists will be accountable to each other.  This is no different from other professions.  The cultivation of trust and togetherness is part of the membership in a profession.  If members don’t get this point, they are not likely to understand niche marketing either.

 

References

1. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2005). ASEP Home Page. [Online]. http://www.asep.org/
2. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2005). Code of Ethics. [Online]. http://www.asep.org/ethics.htm
3. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2005). Standards of Professional Practice. [Online]. http://www.asep.org/standards.htm