July 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Ever wonder how top-performing boutique fitness studios generate consistent leads and convert them with ease? In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield is joined by Zach Mills, the marketing mastermind behind OnBrnd, a boutique agency fueling over 40 studios worldwide. With experience scaling YBell Fitness to acquisition and leading marketing at Xponential Fitness, Zach pulls back the curtain on what actually works when it comes to lead generation, conversion, and building a marketing machine that runs on autopilot.
Whether you’re struggling with ineffective ad spend, low lead quality, or just want to stop relying on free trials to fill your classes, this episode is packed with real talk and tactical strategies. Learn how to ditch the outdated tactics, improve lead quality, and set up systems that work while you sleep (or finally take a day off!).
Connect with Zach at www.onbrndmarketing.com
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~~~
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What if you could generate more leads, convert
them faster and build amarketing machine that actually
runs without you while you'reteaching, leading or finally
taking a day off?
Today on the show, I'm joinedby someone who has done exactly
that, not just once, but acrossdozens of studios and globally.
Zach Mills has helped scaleYBell Fitness to an
(00:23):
international acquisition.
He ran marketing forExponential Fitness and now runs
OnBrand, a boutique marketingagency that is quietly powering
over 40 fitness studios behindthe scenes.
So if you've always wanted toknow what happens behind the
marketing scenes at some of themost recognized studios what
(00:45):
happens behind the marketingscenes at some of the most
recognized studios this is theepisode for you.
Well, hi there.
I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:05):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Well, hey there, and welcomeback to the Pilates Business
Podcast.
I'm Saren Glanfield.
(01:26):
I am a business coach, I'm asystems geek and your biggest
cheerleader when it comes tohelping you build a thriving
studio business without burningout.
And, as you know, I like to cutthrough all of the noise and
nonsense and talk real strategyfor studio owners who truly want
to grow and scale theirbusinesses, not just for
(01:48):
tomorrow, but perhaps for yearsto come.
Now, if you ever felt like yourmarketing isn't working for you,
it's common that I hear thatMaybe you're posting, emailing,
boosting some posts here andthere, but you're not quite
getting the new clients throughthe door that you wish you were.
You are not alone.
This is one of the biggestfrustrations that I hear studio
(02:10):
owners share every single week,and the truth is it's not always
about doing more.
Sometimes it's about beingsmarter about what you are doing
, and so that's why I'm reallyexcited today to welcome on
today's guest, someone who's notonly cracked the code on
fitness marketing for their ownbusiness, but who's done it in
the real world, at scale, and isnow helping its year owners,
(02:33):
just like you, to do the same.
Zach is I'm going to say itmarketing powerhouse.
He has built his own brand, hesold it, and he's worked for one
of the biggest names in theindustry, where he led marketing
for two of their top brands andhas gotten to see front row
seat to what is working and whatdoesn't right now when it comes
(02:57):
to launching a studio andgrowing a boutique fitness
studio business.
So I'm so thrilled to welcomeyou here, zach.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I appreciate the invite.
I'm stoked to be here, Saron.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So you have been in the industry for quite a while,
and over the time you've been inthis industry, your role has
switched from being a studioowner to be a brand developer,
to working for Exponential.
So tell us a little bit about,take us back a little bit.
(03:31):
Tell us a little bit about howyou got started and perhaps some
of the pivotal moments in yourcareer that have gotten you to
where you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Totally no, I mean.
I think that's a great place tostart.
It's a little all over theplace, right.
In terms of where the careeractually started.
It was more so on the agencyside, working in sports
marketing for a couple of years,moved over to a smaller
boutique agency and that'sactually when I got recruited to
go to a small little companycalled Y-Bell Fitness.
For anybody who's out therewho's sort of just like a
(04:01):
diehard functional fitness fan,you know, was those little
triangular weights that were adumbbell, kettlebell type of
hybrid, right.
So if you've taken any f45class during the majority of
their programming, so I had thethe pleasure and the opportunity
to really build that brand fromthe ground up and, as sir on
spoke to a little bit earlier, Iwas with him essentially all
the way through acquisition,through trx.
He was actually now we'reworking with on the agency side,
(04:23):
funny enough, and that'sthrough the world coming full
circle.
But after Wide Vow Fitness andwe saw the writing on the wall
in terms of the acquisition, Igot recruited by Exponential
Fitness.
From there I was brought on torun marketing for two of their
brands, yoga 6 and AKT, and itwasn't until I actually got to
Expo.
They're like hey, y6 isactually crushing it.
You should really just focus onthis little redheaded stepchild
(04:47):
that we have called AKT, which,for those of you who aren't
familiar, is a dance-inspiredfitness type of Gucci concept.
It started in Nomad in theheart of New York City as a
single standalone and theExponential team thought that
they could essentially replicateit at scale across various
different markets.
So it was a very niche productfor sure.
(05:08):
We did what we had to in termsof sort of repositioning and
redefining the brand and workingalongside the education team
and providing the best in studioexperience, and it was very
much roll your sleeves up anddig into the studio and dig into
the studio.
I think my first year at Expo Ispent, I want to say, four out
of the five business days in oneof our corporate-owned studios
(05:30):
in the Southern California area.
So it was really just a crashcourse in terms of hey, how the
hell does this stuff work, right, yeah, and so it's funny.
It was a little bit of ahumbling experience going from,
you know, like director, quote,unquote of marketing to hey, man
, you're making phone calls,you're passing out flyers,
you're attending grassrootsevents, all of that right, but
it was really kind of trial byfire and the best way to learn
(05:52):
is by doing so.
Did that for a couple of yearsand was able to really kind of
understand the Expo playbookkind of in and out, and really
saw some points of optimizationthat I felt could be applied at
a little bit larger of a scaleand a little bit more of a
strategic of a scale, becauseit's not a one size fits all.
As we all know, right, marketschange, modalities, change,
(06:13):
experiences, change instructors,demographics, you know really
everything.
So I really just saw anopportunity and started
consulting, you know, relativelysmall time and started
consulting relatively small timeand over the course of let's
call it nine to 10 months or so,my consulting business had
really kind of grown to outpacewhat I was really doing at Expo
and thought, you know what,there's definitely an
(06:36):
opportunity here, just based onthe initial conversations and
connections that I've made.
So I decided to leaveExponential full-time and go all
in on OnBrand and since thattime call it two, two and a half
years later where, as Sharonsaid, we're working with 40 plus
studios really specializing inthe Pilates and yoga space.
We've got a team of 11 people.
(06:56):
We just had a new hire newaccount manager start as of June
1st, which is awesome.
She's a total rock star andyeah, I mean that's kind of what
brought us here.
We do everything specific toboutique and really just dig
into the details.
We know there's a lot ofagencies out there, but not a
lot of them have sort of been inthe trenches where I really
understand the pain points ofstudio operations and where
(07:19):
there is room to really optimizeand grow.
So that's what we brought tothe table and stoked to share
the story with you guys.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and it is what a story, what a
story.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat the work that you've been
doing more recently on,specifically on, I'd say, lead
generation.
I think when we talk about leadgeneration, especially in the
digital world that we're all in,what do you find that?
(07:47):
What are some of the mistakesthat you see, or misconceptions?
What do people get most wrongabout lead generation?
What are you seeing?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
A good question.
I think it really comes down towhat your primary KPI is right,
or what your main goal is.
I think the vast majority ofnot only studio owners, but
primarily digital agencies, theyfocus on lead volume and CPL,
or cost per lead.
So typically that isessentially the threshold or
their grading system in terms ofhow well they are at their job.
(08:18):
What they are not doing is howmany leads they pump for your
system and at what efficiency,right?
I think the primary differencewith on-brand and what studio
owners should really kind oftake into pass is not just how
many leads but the actualquality of leads and how many
convert at the end of the day,right?
And a lot of that comesupstream in the sense of what is
(08:40):
your initial offer that you'reputting out to the marketplace
via these ads, whether it's meta, whether it's Google.
We've worked a little bit onTikTok don't necessarily
recommend it, but those arereally two primary platforms and
it always comes down to thesame thing High ticket offers
convert anywhere between threeto five times higher.
Leads come in a little bitslower, they come in a little
bit more expensive, but the ROIon it proves the model time and
(09:02):
time again, and that's reallywhere we started to double down.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh, that's really interesting.
Okay, any reason why you thinkthat might be.
I have some good guesses, butcurious to hear your thoughts.
No, 100%.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean, again, a lot of people love the first class
free or the low ticket offers ofseven days for seven bucks, one
week for 10 days for $10 orwhatever it may be, and at the
end of the day, people justdon't have skin in the game,
right, the customers don't.
What is a first class for you?
Cool, I'll give you myinformation, and there's really
no sweat off of my back whetherI take you up on it or not.
(09:36):
Right?
And so that's really where youturn your paid media machine and
just target people who are justkind of clickbait to a degree.
Right, they just say see an ad?
Cool, yeah, right, got it.
They just say see an ad, cool,yeah, right, got it.
And then, when your salesprocess is implemented, your
front desk team is doing whatthey're supposed to do and
following up with these leads.
I would imagine nine times outof 10, I'm like who the hell are
you guys?
How'd you get my information?
Right?
(09:57):
When it comes to that more highticket intro offer, anywhere
between, ideally we don't doanything below $60.
Usually that $60 to $110 rangeor so is where we like to play
around.
Really, given the demographicin the market that we're
marketing in.
There's just an added layer ofcredibility there.
People essentially know whatthey're signing up for, because
(10:17):
$60, $100 to people is quite abit.
We all know the boutique is onthe more expensive end of
available fitness and wellnessoptions.
So we want to make thattransition a little bit easier
for them right On the sales sideof things.
So people aren't coming in fora first class free and then
they're hit with a oh my gosh,it's $300 a month to do
unlimited Pilates, like how thehell does that work?
(10:38):
Type of thing.
So it's a multifaceted type ofapproach that we take and that's
sort of the rationale thatwe've seen from the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, it makes so much sense.
You know the quality of thelead is important and having
that that higher or that, Ishould say maybe it's not even,
it's it's the relative value ofversus the next sell to be in
more, more aligned Right, and sothen you're to some degree of
pre-qualifying that client andso you're not wasting time,
(11:07):
they're not taking your space inclass and you're not wasting
time trying to convert someonewho is never going to convert,
which no one's got time for,right.
That's so good, okay, so sointeresting, so that so
definitely we don't like.
First, actually it's so funnybecause this week I actually had
um twice, I've told twoseparate studios.
Please can we take away the thevery, very low single drop-in
(11:29):
class price as your intro offerand please, please, please can
we take away the free one too?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
purchase please if you take anything away from this
.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Please just go please , no, no, no, yeah.
So that first step is um isreally, it's really it's
important to get that right.
And then what happens next?
What's?
What are the parts?
Cause?
I think I think when peoplethink about um, especially
digital advertising, um, it alot of a lot of folks think it
(11:58):
is sort of just this sort oflike magic wand you wave and you
just need to throw an ad up,and as long as you know how to
put an ad together and put an adup, life is good and everything
will be marvelous.
What?
But I think that's not alwaysthe case.
So tell us about what happensnext.
After you have kind of haveyour intro offer aligned, your
trial offer is in the rightprice point.
(12:19):
What happens next?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
No, great question.
I think that's spot on right.
And as good as these platformsare in terms of AI and just
their machine learning doing alot of the heavy lifting in
terms of optimization, targeting, creative feedback, copy things
like that, you still have tohave a finger on the pulse,
right, just sort ofunderstanding and dictating and
mitigating really what isworking versus what is not.
Are we a year or two away fromit being essentially completely
(12:45):
autonomous?
Probably to a degree, butthat's a little bit more of the
grander scale.
This hyper-localized leadgeneration tactics that we dive
into takes a little bit more ofa manual effort to really kind
of dig into.
So, in terms of what happensafter we've established the
intro offer and we haveopportunity there, it's
obviously digging into thecreative, using those kinds of
best practices and really UGC iswhat we see converts the best
(13:09):
across the board.
For those of you that don't know, ugc is user generated content.
So it's really anything that youcan just snap with your iPhone
within the studio itself, right,and just kind of pinging
through and just showcasing whatthe community is about, what
your studio is all about, andreally just sort of
encapsulating that in a quick 10to 15 second video right.
(13:30):
So we have the creative piece.
And then, where we take a stepfurther on the on-brand side, is
actually a post-clickexperience.
What I mean is, once someoneclicks on the ad, particularly
when it comes to Google, we digin and we develop a couple of
different landing pages for eachcampaign and each intro offer
that we're running on a monthlybasis, of different landing
pages for each campaign and eachintro offer that we're running
(13:51):
on a monthly basis.
So what that does is, again, itjust provides an added layer of
credibility to where people areable to land on this page.
They take the time to consumethe information, really
understand what your studio andyour brand is all about, and
then, if they're completelyconvinced, they'll submit that
lead form and then they'reessentially into your system,
again all reiterating what it isthat that primary intro offer
(14:11):
is.
So it's just an added layer toget them to your system.
So that's essentially steps twoand 2A, I guess you could say
in terms of once the intro offeris established.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Right, right, you know, and I think it.
You know it's interesting thatwe have.
You know, you mentioned thatyou have specific landing pages,
right?
We're not just sending peopleto a homepage, right?
We're not just sending peopleto your website, it is to a
specific page which has beendesigned specifically for that
(14:41):
audience.
Who is, you know, if they'recoming from a Google, they're
looking for you, someone likeyou.
If they're coming from, youknow, Meta Facebook, instagram,
then they're looking.
Then they're coming from aGoogle, they're looking for you,
someone like you.
If they're coming from, youknow, meta Facebook, instagram,
then they're looking.
Then they're interested insomething that you may have
shared.
Right, and so you're, and soyou are, you're, you're.
You're giving them someinformation based on knowing
(15:02):
what you know about them, whichis that they may, they may or
may not be completely convincedthat you are the one.
Right, and so it's.
You know, you're not just sortof throwing them into your
homepage, which may or may notbe optimized for that audience
right, that's 100%, spot on.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I mean, at the end of the day, we live in a very,
very competitive space, right?
Or we work in a very, verycompetitive space.
Speaking from SouthernCalifornia, there are, you know,
six Pilates studios within,let's call it, a two, two and a
half mile radius of where I'm atin kind of downtown Huntington
Beach.
So how do you make your waythrough the noise?
It's really sort ofunderstanding and designing and
just iterating what it is thatseparates you from your
(15:39):
competitors, and those are thepieces that my team really helps
dive into and kind ofunderstand and position you in a
very specific light, a veryspecific light.
And when it comes to thelanding page in particular, like
you said, you can have the mostincredible experience, the most
seasoned instructors, thestate-of-the-art facility and
reformers, but if what you'reconveying online doesn't
necessarily match that, you loseinstant credibility with this
(16:01):
new audience that you're lookingto bring on board.
So the point of us designingthese landing pages is to
absolutely 100% showcase what itis that you offer.
We bring the lead straight fromthe top of the funnel and then
we get them through the middleand bottom again, just kind of
reiterating the same sense ofcontinuity throughout the brand.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, yeah, along all of that, even to that stage.
You're tracking data, and sowhat are you looking at and what
are you seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
data, and so what are you looking at and what are you
seeing right now?
Now, 100%.
I think again, this is an areaof opportunity where a lot of
studio owners don't necessarilytake advantage of whether they
don't know or they just assumean agency is going to do.
But any campaign that we everstart running for any of our
studios, we ensure that theGoogle Ads and the Meta Ads are
directly integrated with theirPOS system, whether it's
MindBody, whether it's Walla,whether it's Mariana Tech, Club
(16:51):
Connect or Club Ready, glowfox,moments, whichever one it is,
some of them are easier thanothers in terms of integrating
right Like Moments in particular, they're fantastic, and with
that integration, walla is kindof the same way.
Mariana Tech's brand bot isdecent.
Mindbody is a little bit of apain in the ass, to say the
least, but we have a few customtools.
(17:14):
Our developers are very, veryprivy to understand what that
integration looks like, becausethe last thing you want is to be
spending money on advertisingpeople submitting leads, and
then they're just sat there,they're not going anywhere, you
don't know that they're in theirsystem, they don't know that
they're engaging with you right.
So it's definitely building thatbridge so that way we can then
track exactly the second a leadentered the system, how many
(17:36):
folks actually purchasedwhatever intro offer it is that
they were pushing, and then,even more importantly, after
that, how many of them convertedto a PAC or a membership, right
.
So we essentially dig into thatdata from the inception of the
lead, from a CPL standpoint, allthe way through to CVR
conversion rate.
And then we dig in a little bitdeeper LTV or lifetime value to
(17:56):
see what the conversion rate isand apply that backup stream
saying, hey, intro offer Aconverted at 12% last month,
while intro offer B converted at8%, converted at 8%.
Okay, let's probably doubledown, put a little bit more
money towards the 12% or optionA, just based on that fact,
right.
And so again, we think there'sjust so much more opportunity
and so much more data to informour top of the funnel strategies
(18:19):
on the paid media side to wherepeople are actually converting
at the end.
So that's the way we track.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, and the data tracking component I talk about
all the time is just soimportant, especially when
you're spending money onadvertising.
Right, you know, when you'redoing organic social, like it's
a nice to have, and if you havetime and you want to go and try
and do that and follow throughon all the links and all the
stuff, you can totally try.
But when you're spending money,you need to make sure you're
(18:46):
having you, you're making thereis a return on that investment,
of ad spend, and so the datacomponent really becomes so much
more critical.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, 100%, and I'm happy to announce there's a
little bit of a teaser I believeI've told one or two of our
clients, but for the last let'scall it 30 days, 30, 45 days or
so our development team isbuilding a custom reporting
dashboard that essentially hasan open API that will connect to
pretty much all of the majorsoftware providers MindBody, mt,
walla, moments and ClubReadyand we'll essentially be able to
(19:19):
track again any moments andclub ready and we'll essentially
be able to track again any leadthat we generate all the way
through each individual systemand you'll have your own very
visual, friendly customer clientdashboard to see again, hey,
what leads are converting atwhat rate, and so that will
essentially help dictate andjust provide a level of
transparency for our clients,and so that way keeps us honest.
They're 100% in the know interms of what's working and
(19:40):
what's not.
We're probably another 30 daysor so from from launching that,
that MVP product, so we'reexcited about that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's awesome.
I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.
The more data, the better iswhat I say.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, now you also you know when, when you take a
very sort of holistic approachto the way that you run ads and
work with your clients because,as you mentioned, you care
tremendously about not justgetting clicks and leads, it's
also about the conversions andthe lifetime value as well
(20:21):
software that studio owners areusing and the systems that you
know we can set up behind thescenes to help improve retention
and conversions.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyou know, when you work with
studio owners, what the processlooks like to make all that
happen and how generally youknow.
How are you seeing?
Are those set automations thatare already set up?
Are those what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Or is it sort of case by case?
No great question.
And again the answer isprobably option C.
It's case by case.
There are certain studio ownersthat we meet with we end up
working with that essentiallyhave nothing built right and
it's shocking to see howsuccessful their business has
been over a course of five, 10clients who have been had
studios for 15, 20 years or sothat really didn't have just
that basis of digitalinfrastructure right to where
(21:06):
we're essentially building itfrom the ground up.
And then there are others thatare a little bit more privy to
the actual capabilities of thesoftwares that they work with
within Moments, within MT,within LoyalSnap, et cetera.
(21:29):
You know, and have some prettystandard, you know automations
in play, at least to anelementary degree to check the
box.
I guess you could say so.
For us, typically it's kind ofa combination.
It's a case by case basis tosee, hey, what exactly is needed
right SMS, breaking it intoeight different types of stages
of the actual lead funnel,whether they haven't purchased
an initial offer.
Have they purchased but notbooked.
Have they booked but not showed?
Have they expired?
Are they cooled off?
Are they a win back, whateverit may be.
(21:50):
So we have that rather robuststrategy and instead of just
saying, for someone who hasautomation set up, we dig in and
be like yep, nope, that's wrong, you got to go with this one.
We take a look actually at thedata in terms of overall
delivery, open rates, clickrates, conversion rates, etc.
To see, oh wow, this isactually a, this is, this is a
great automation, this is agreat tactic.
It's a great little sequencethat you've been, you've been
deploying over the last six orso months.
(22:11):
We're going to leave this as is, maybe tweak some things you
know here and there in terms ofmessaging or the way the email
graphic or the sms message isactually configured to just
optimize and then essentiallyiterate from there.
But I think in terms of theoverarching process, we manage
everything within our projectmanagement tool called Notion.
We just have our onboardingchecklist Once we get access to
(22:31):
all the systems.
Really, the main area where westart is on the automation side,
because that's where we thinkit's going to make the most
immediate impact, becausewithout that, a middle of funnel
where you're actuallyconsistently touching leads um,
you know, what we're doing atthe top of the funnel on the
paid media side really isn'tgoing to bring any value.
So before you start spendingmoney on ads, you want to make
sure that the infrastructure isreally set in place and set in
(22:52):
stone to convert any new peoplethat we're bringing into your
system at that top of the funnel.
So that's really where we startand we essentially move out
from there.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, yes, yes.
All of that.
Just repeat that.
Does everyone rewind?
Listen to that again.
It's so important.
Yeah, you know, I think it.
And to anyone who's consideringspending money on ads, you have
to have the funnel fully,completely set up, and so so
(23:21):
many owners have so much, somuch at their fingertips a
goldmine right At theirfingertips that are not is not
optimized fully, and I thinkthat you know, before you start
spending money on ads, thatthat's the part that is really
going to help support business,because growth in scale in
boutique fitness is aboutretention.
(23:41):
Right, and if you're gettingleads walking in the door but
you're losing them as soon asthey, you know, walk in, then
you know your business is notgoing to grow, revenue is not
going to grow.
So retention is what it's allabout, and retention is about
all of those touch points downthe road.
Yeah, so tell us a little bitabout some of the projects that
you have been working onrecently.
(24:02):
I know you've worked with a lotof studios who are in this sort
of opening and launch phase,and I know that you've had many
Pilates studios in that phase,and I'd love to for you to talk
through a little bit about whatthat looks like and timelines of
how you have worked withstudios in that, in that phase
of growth.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Absolutely yeah.
So I mean it's fun, right?
I guess what you could say isour first studio clients in
Natural Pilates founders LauraWilson out here in Southern
California.
They started with fourlocations when we had them three
years ago, right, and to thispoint we're set on opening the
seventh location next month inManhattan Beach.
And funny enough, I was on withLaura last night and she was
(24:44):
talking about she's flying toMiami this morning to go discuss
two leases in South Miami andthen two additional ones up in
New York.
So really just exponentialgrowth in terms of what has kind
of trigger pointed since thattime.
But a lot of it sort of reallyjust comes down to she feels as
if she has the fundamentals ofher business locked in, right,
she has her go-to marketing team, she has her sales process, she
(25:05):
has her operations manager,everything like that.
So now it's time to kind ofcrank up the heat and run with
it, right?
So we have that essential, youknow, client where we're running
pretty much all the day studios, while we currently have one in
presale set to open in themonth of July, so next month.
Meanwhile, we did anotherpresale back in January for a
(25:25):
studio in New York City thatopened up, right.
So while we're stillmaintaining that sustained
studio on the go-to, we have ourgo-to presale strategies right
that were typically deployedanywhere between eight to 12
week time span.
We feel like that's really whereyou kind of have the sprint to
dig in and really make an impactwithin the community without
promising, hey, we're openingour doors this day and just
continuing to kind of kick thecan down the road, right.
(25:46):
So in terms of sustained versuspre-sale, we really understand
it all.
No-transcript, they know whatthey don't know.
(26:26):
I guess you could say, right,and they're more than happy to
be like, hey, we've seen your CV, we've heard you from X, y and
Z, you know how can you kind ofhelp us out, right, and so we've
got a sustained studio rightnow, technically in soft open.
Grand open is about to happennext week, funny enough.
And then pretty much everythingin between, we just signed for
Zeek 57 up in New York City.
That's been around, obviously,for quite some time.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
We're taking a look inside their systems and really
just looking to, you know, kindof dust the cobwebs off, if you
will, and see where there's areaof optimization, again starting
within their POS system, whichis Moments, which is a pretty
nifty and today's digital age Iguess you could say right in
terms of the capability.
So just taking a look andseeing, hey, where can we
optimize and how do we buildthis funnel to where it is just
(27:11):
recurring and there's anopportunity for it to
essentially automate right overthe coming months.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Lots of growth, lots ofopportunity in the industry.
Obviously we touched on ownersshould be really paying
attention to, as we sort of lookahead to the next 12 to 24
(27:44):
months when it comes tomarketing online?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Are you talking AI specifically or just digital
marketing as a whole?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Well, we could talk about it all.
How long have you got Touche?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
touche.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But yeah, no.
What would you say?
I mean the both combined andseparate.
What would you say I mean theboth combined and separate?
What are you seeing and whatare you expecting?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Totally.
I mean, when it comes to AI inparticular, I think there's so
many areas of opportunity thatjust individual studio owners
can leverage right.
Chat GPT is again sort of thestandard in this.
But when it comes to craftingemails, crafting social copy,
creative direction, visualdirection, everything like that,
really lean on that and sort ofdevelop your prompts to save
(28:27):
yourself five to 10 hours amonth just ideating around
potential content, ideas fororganic social right.
Take that one step further.
On the email and the SMS sideof things, right Again you have
this list of contacts withinyour database that have all been
familiar with your brand.
So craft email and SMScampaigns using ChatGPT right,
(28:49):
just based on specificpromotions, specific people or
audiences that you want totarget, et cetera, to
essentially build that right.
And that's just kind ofspecific to ChatGPT.
When it comes to industryagnostic type of technologies,
the industry, as we know, from adigital perspective, is usually
a few years behind that of itscounterparts.
So what we're actively doing onthe on-brand side is really
(29:14):
searching for ways to furthersolidify our tactics across
middle of funnel and bottom offunnel.
To further solidify our tacticsacross middle of funnel and
bottom of funnel, right Top offunnel, is really just going to
be meta Google, your paid ads,for the most part right and
obviously grassroots and organicto complement those.
But middle of funnel, bottom offunnel, how can we get much
more personalized with theoverall nurturing and closing of
(29:34):
leads?
Right, that can essentially beautomated.
So there's a handful ofdifferent softwares that we're
currently in data and justtrialing right In terms of call
rails, voice agent, AI voiceagent.
In terms of plugging directlyinto our CRM system and
following up with leads and gags, it's just an AI voice agent,
essentially just designed to vetdifferent leads and lead them
(29:55):
to purchase an intro offer.
You can definitely tell it's anAI voice agent.
On the other side, right, samething with simpletalkai.
Those are the two ones thatwe've found to be the most
advanced at this point, butthere's still another year or so
away from really cracking wherethere's opportunity there.
But on the texting side, minichatai is definitely an
(30:16):
opportunity again to justcontinue to nurture leads.
So you're not necessarily stuckas a keyboard warrior following
up with questions, faqs,customer service pieces like
that.
But at this point in time Ithink really it's just
leveraging the free versions ofChatGPT and even Canva from a
design perspective to just getyour brand intact and to really
(30:37):
just mitigate a lot of thatadmin-esque type of work, right
In terms of ideation,copywriting, just the mundane
tasks that aren't necessarilydifficult, they're just time
consuming, right.
So I think that's the immediatearea for people to take
advantage of it.
12, 24 months down the line,it's really going to be those AI
tools that are implemented atthe middle and the bottom of the
(30:58):
funnel to not necessarilyremove your front desk, but have
front desk, be front desk right, as opposed to sales ops or
sales reps.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Right.
It will make your front deskjust way more efficient.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, it's interesting you say I think I
you know, I'm finding the samething that there are a lot of
tools coming, but I'm not sure Iwould recommend many of them
yet.
But they are the pace of sortof evolution is is quick, it's
not.
It's not years and years away,it's it's months, you know, and
(31:34):
so 100 yeah, for sure, fantastic.
well, thank you so much, zach,for sharing such insight.
I'd love for you to let peopleknow where they can learn more
about you, onbrand, and what youdo and how to get in touch
blabbed about for the last 30minutes with Saron.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Instagram is at onbrand underscore.
Linkedin, again, is at onbrandunderscore.
So if you guys have anyquestions, comments or concerns,
just shoot us a messagedirectly via one of those
(32:11):
platforms and we'd be happy tohave a chat.
But excited to be in thisindustry, excited to kind of
keep pushing forward and,honestly, the likes of rubbing
shoulders with us, saron is anincredible company to be in, so
we're excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Thank you so much, zach.
I appreciate it If you've beenfeeling a little overwhelmed by
your marketing.
I hope this gave you a bit of asigh of relief and a little bit
of spark of inspiration as well.
Marketing does not have to becomplicated, it just has to be a
little bit perhaps strategicand also aligned in the way that
your studio works.
So if you want to learn moreabout Zach, I'm going to share
(32:42):
everything in the show notes soyou can click over there and
find your way.
And if this episode sparked anidea or perhaps helped shift
your thinking a little bit, dome a quick favor share it with a
studio friend who could use alittle marketing clarity as well
.
And if you haven't already,please hit that follow button so
you never miss another episode.
(33:04):
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
(33:25):
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
What if you could generate more leads, convert
them faster and build amarketing machine that actually
runs without you while you'reteaching, leading or finally
taking a day off?
Today on the show, I'm joinedby someone who has done exactly
that, not just once, but acrossdozens of studios and globally.
Zach Mills has helped scaleYBell Fitness to an
(00:23):
international acquisition.
He ran marketing forExponential Fitness and now runs
OnBrand, a boutique marketingagency that is quietly powering
over 40 fitness studios behindthe scenes.
So if you've always wanted toknow what happens behind the
marketing scenes at some of themost recognized studios what
(00:45):
happens behind the marketingscenes at some of the most
recognized studios this is theepisode for you.
Well, hi there.
I'm Saren Glanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
(01:05):
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Well, hey there, and welcomeback to the Pilates Business
Podcast.
I'm Saren Glanfield.
(01:26):
I am a business coach, I'm asystems geek and your biggest
cheerleader when it comes tohelping you build a thriving
studio business without burningout.
And, as you know, I like to cutthrough all of the noise and
nonsense and talk real strategyfor studio owners who truly want
to grow and scale theirbusinesses, not just for
(01:48):
tomorrow, but perhaps for yearsto come.
Now, if you ever felt like yourmarketing isn't working for you,
it's common that I hear thatMaybe you're posting, emailing,
boosting some posts here andthere, but you're not quite
getting the new clients throughthe door that you wish you were.
You are not alone.
This is one of the biggestfrustrations that I hear studio
(02:10):
owners share every single week,and the truth is it's not always
about doing more.
Sometimes it's about beingsmarter about what you are doing
, and so that's why I'm reallyexcited today to welcome on
today's guest, someone who's notonly cracked the code on
fitness marketing for their ownbusiness, but who's done it in
the real world, at scale, and isnow helping its year owners,
(02:33):
just like you, to do the same.
Zach is I'm going to say itmarketing powerhouse.
He has built his own brand, hesold it, and he's worked for one
of the biggest names in theindustry, where he led marketing
for two of their top brands andhas gotten to see front row
seat to what is working and whatdoesn't right now when it comes
(02:57):
to launching a studio andgrowing a boutique fitness
studio business.
So I'm so thrilled to welcomeyou here, zach.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I appreciate the invite.
I'm stoked to be here, Saron.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So you have been in the industry for quite a while,
and over the time you've been inthis industry, your role has
switched from being a studioowner to be a brand developer,
to working for Exponential.
So tell us a little bit about,take us back a little bit.
(03:31):
Tell us a little bit about howyou got started and perhaps some
of the pivotal moments in yourcareer that have gotten you to
where you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Totally no, I mean.
I think that's a great place tostart.
It's a little all over theplace, right.
In terms of where the careeractually started.
It was more so on the agencyside, working in sports
marketing for a couple of years,moved over to a smaller
boutique agency and that'sactually when I got recruited to
go to a small little companycalled Y-Bell Fitness.
For anybody who's out therewho's sort of just like a
(04:01):
diehard functional fitness fan,you know, was those little
triangular weights that were adumbbell, kettlebell type of
hybrid, right.
So if you've taken any f45class during the majority of
their programming, so I had thethe pleasure and the opportunity
to really build that brand fromthe ground up and, as sir on
spoke to a little bit earlier, Iwas with him essentially all
the way through acquisition,through trx.
He was actually now we'reworking with on the agency side,
(04:23):
funny enough, and that'sthrough the world coming full
circle.
But after Wide Vow Fitness andwe saw the writing on the wall
in terms of the acquisition, Igot recruited by Exponential
Fitness.
From there I was brought on torun marketing for two of their
brands, yoga 6 and AKT, and itwasn't until I actually got to
Expo.
They're like hey, y6 isactually crushing it.
You should really just focus onthis little redheaded stepchild
(04:47):
that we have called AKT, which,for those of you who aren't
familiar, is a dance-inspiredfitness type of Gucci concept.
It started in Nomad in theheart of New York City as a
single standalone and theExponential team thought that
they could essentially replicateit at scale across various
different markets.
So it was a very niche productfor sure.
(05:08):
We did what we had to in termsof sort of repositioning and
redefining the brand and workingalongside the education team
and providing the best in studioexperience, and it was very
much roll your sleeves up anddig into the studio and dig into
the studio.
I think my first year at Expo Ispent, I want to say, four out
of the five business days in oneof our corporate-owned studios
(05:30):
in the Southern California area.
So it was really just a crashcourse in terms of hey, how the
hell does this stuff work, right, yeah, and so it's funny.
It was a little bit of ahumbling experience going from,
you know, like director, quote,unquote of marketing to hey, man
, you're making phone calls,you're passing out flyers,
you're attending grassrootsevents, all of that right, but
it was really kind of trial byfire and the best way to learn
(05:52):
is by doing so.
Did that for a couple of yearsand was able to really kind of
understand the Expo playbookkind of in and out, and really
saw some points of optimizationthat I felt could be applied at
a little bit larger of a scaleand a little bit more of a
strategic of a scale, becauseit's not a one size fits all.
As we all know, right, marketschange, modalities, change,
(06:13):
experiences, change instructors,demographics, you know really
everything.
So I really just saw anopportunity and started
consulting, you know, relativelysmall time and started
consulting relatively small timeand over the course of let's
call it nine to 10 months or so,my consulting business had
really kind of grown to outpacewhat I was really doing at Expo
and thought, you know what,there's definitely an
(06:36):
opportunity here, just based onthe initial conversations and
connections that I've made.
So I decided to leaveExponential full-time and go all
in on OnBrand and since thattime call it two, two and a half
years later where, as Sharonsaid, we're working with 40 plus
studios really specializing inthe Pilates and yoga space.
We've got a team of 11 people.
(06:56):
We just had a new hire newaccount manager start as of June
1st, which is awesome.
She's a total rock star andyeah, I mean that's kind of what
brought us here.
We do everything specific toboutique and really just dig
into the details.
We know there's a lot ofagencies out there, but not a
lot of them have sort of been inthe trenches where I really
understand the pain points ofstudio operations and where
(07:19):
there is room to really optimizeand grow.
So that's what we brought tothe table and stoked to share
the story with you guys.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and it is what a story, what a
story.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat the work that you've been
doing more recently on,specifically on, I'd say, lead
generation.
I think when we talk about leadgeneration, especially in the
digital world that we're all in,what do you find that?
(07:47):
What are some of the mistakesthat you see, or misconceptions?
What do people get most wrongabout lead generation?
What are you seeing?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
A good question.
I think it really comes down towhat your primary KPI is right,
or what your main goal is.
I think the vast majority ofnot only studio owners, but
primarily digital agencies, theyfocus on lead volume and CPL,
or cost per lead.
So typically that isessentially the threshold or
their grading system in terms ofhow well they are at their job.
(08:18):
What they are not doing is howmany leads they pump for your
system and at what efficiency,right?
I think the primary differencewith on-brand and what studio
owners should really kind oftake into pass is not just how
many leads but the actualquality of leads and how many
convert at the end of the day,right?
And a lot of that comesupstream in the sense of what is
(08:40):
your initial offer that you'reputting out to the marketplace
via these ads, whether it's meta, whether it's Google.
We've worked a little bit onTikTok don't necessarily
recommend it, but those arereally two primary platforms and
it always comes down to thesame thing High ticket offers
convert anywhere between threeto five times higher.
Leads come in a little bitslower, they come in a little
bit more expensive, but the ROIon it proves the model time and
(09:02):
time again, and that's reallywhere we started to double down.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh, that's really interesting.
Okay, any reason why you thinkthat might be.
I have some good guesses, butcurious to hear your thoughts.
No, 100%.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean, again, a lot of people love the first class
free or the low ticket offers ofseven days for seven bucks, one
week for 10 days for $10 orwhatever it may be, and at the
end of the day, people justdon't have skin in the game,
right, the customers don't.
What is a first class for you?
Cool, I'll give you myinformation, and there's really
no sweat off of my back whetherI take you up on it or not.
(09:36):
Right?
And so that's really where youturn your paid media machine and
just target people who are justkind of clickbait to a degree.
Right, they just say see an ad?
Cool, yeah, right, got it.
They just say see an ad, cool,yeah, right, got it.
And then, when your salesprocess is implemented, your
front desk team is doing whatthey're supposed to do and
following up with these leads.
I would imagine nine times outof 10, I'm like who the hell are
you guys?
How'd you get my information?
Right?
(09:57):
When it comes to that more highticket intro offer, anywhere
between, ideally we don't doanything below $60.
Usually that $60 to $110 rangeor so is where we like to play
around.
Really, given the demographicin the market that we're
marketing in.
There's just an added layer ofcredibility there.
People essentially know whatthey're signing up for, because
(10:17):
$60, $100 to people is quite abit.
We all know the boutique is onthe more expensive end of
available fitness and wellnessoptions.
So we want to make thattransition a little bit easier
for them right On the sales sideof things.
So people aren't coming in fora first class free and then
they're hit with a oh my gosh,it's $300 a month to do
unlimited Pilates, like how thehell does that work?
(10:38):
Type of thing.
So it's a multifaceted type ofapproach that we take and that's
sort of the rationale thatwe've seen from the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, it makes so much sense.
You know the quality of thelead is important and having
that that higher or that, Ishould say maybe it's not even,
it's it's the relative value ofversus the next sell to be in
more, more aligned Right, and sothen you're to some degree of
pre-qualifying that client andso you're not wasting time,
(11:07):
they're not taking your space inclass and you're not wasting
time trying to convert someonewho is never going to convert,
which no one's got time for,right.
That's so good, okay, so sointeresting, so that so
definitely we don't like.
First, actually it's so funnybecause this week I actually had
um twice, I've told twoseparate studios.
Please can we take away the thevery, very low single drop-in
(11:29):
class price as your intro offerand please, please, please can
we take away the free one too?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
purchase please if you take anything away from this
.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Please just go please , no, no, no, yeah.
So that first step is um isreally, it's really it's
important to get that right.
And then what happens next?
What's?
What are the parts?
Cause?
I think I think when peoplethink about um, especially
digital advertising, um, it alot of a lot of folks think it
(11:58):
is sort of just this sort oflike magic wand you wave and you
just need to throw an ad up,and as long as you know how to
put an ad together and put an adup, life is good and everything
will be marvelous.
What?
But I think that's not alwaysthe case.
So tell us about what happensnext.
After you have kind of haveyour intro offer aligned, your
trial offer is in the rightprice point.
(12:19):
What happens next?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
No, great question.
I think that's spot on right.
And as good as these platformsare in terms of AI and just
their machine learning doing alot of the heavy lifting in
terms of optimization, targeting, creative feedback, copy things
like that, you still have tohave a finger on the pulse,
right, just sort ofunderstanding and dictating and
mitigating really what isworking versus what is not.
Are we a year or two away fromit being essentially completely
(12:45):
autonomous?
Probably to a degree, butthat's a little bit more of the
grander scale.
This hyper-localized leadgeneration tactics that we dive
into takes a little bit more ofa manual effort to really kind
of dig into.
So, in terms of what happensafter we've established the
intro offer and we haveopportunity there, it's
obviously digging into thecreative, using those kinds of
best practices and really UGC iswhat we see converts the best
(13:09):
across the board.
For those of you that don't know, ugc is user generated content.
So it's really anything that youcan just snap with your iPhone
within the studio itself, right,and just kind of pinging
through and just showcasing whatthe community is about, what
your studio is all about, andreally just sort of
encapsulating that in a quick 10to 15 second video right.
(13:30):
So we have the creative piece.
And then, where we take a stepfurther on the on-brand side, is
actually a post-clickexperience.
What I mean is, once someoneclicks on the ad, particularly
when it comes to Google, we digin and we develop a couple of
different landing pages for eachcampaign and each intro offer
that we're running on a monthlybasis, of different landing
pages for each campaign and eachintro offer that we're running
(13:51):
on a monthly basis.
So what that does is, again, itjust provides an added layer of
credibility to where people areable to land on this page.
They take the time to consumethe information, really
understand what your studio andyour brand is all about, and
then, if they're completelyconvinced, they'll submit that
lead form and then they'reessentially into your system,
again all reiterating what it isthat that primary intro offer
(14:11):
is.
So it's just an added layer toget them to your system.
So that's essentially steps twoand 2A, I guess you could say
in terms of once the intro offeris established.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Right, right, you know, and I think it.
You know it's interesting thatwe have.
You know, you mentioned thatyou have specific landing pages,
right?
We're not just sending peopleto a homepage, right?
We're not just sending peopleto your website, it is to a
specific page which has beendesigned specifically for that
(14:41):
audience.
Who is, you know, if they'recoming from a Google, they're
looking for you, someone likeyou.
If they're coming from, youknow, Meta Facebook, instagram,
then they're looking.
Then they're coming from aGoogle, they're looking for you,
someone like you.
If they're coming from, youknow, meta Facebook, instagram,
then they're looking.
Then they're interested insomething that you may have
shared.
Right, and so you're, and soyou are, you're, you're.
You're giving them someinformation based on knowing
(15:02):
what you know about them, whichis that they may, they may or
may not be completely convincedthat you are the one.
Right, and so it's.
You know, you're not just sortof throwing them into your
homepage, which may or may notbe optimized for that audience
right, that's 100%, spot on.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I mean, at the end of the day, we live in a very,
very competitive space, right?
Or we work in a very, verycompetitive space.
Speaking from SouthernCalifornia, there are, you know,
six Pilates studios within,let's call it, a two, two and a
half mile radius of where I'm atin kind of downtown Huntington
Beach.
So how do you make your waythrough the noise?
It's really sort ofunderstanding and designing and
just iterating what it is thatseparates you from your
(15:39):
competitors, and those are thepieces that my team really helps
dive into and kind ofunderstand and position you in a
very specific light, a veryspecific light.
And when it comes to thelanding page in particular, like
you said, you can have the mostincredible experience, the most
seasoned instructors, thestate-of-the-art facility and
reformers, but if what you'reconveying online doesn't
necessarily match that, you loseinstant credibility with this
(16:01):
new audience that you're lookingto bring on board.
So the point of us designingthese landing pages is to
absolutely 100% showcase what itis that you offer.
We bring the lead straight fromthe top of the funnel and then
we get them through the middleand bottom again, just kind of
reiterating the same sense ofcontinuity throughout the brand.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, yeah, along all of that, even to that stage.
You're tracking data, and sowhat are you looking at and what
are you seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
data, and so what are you looking at and what are you
seeing right now?
Now, 100%.
I think again, this is an areaof opportunity where a lot of
studio owners don't necessarilytake advantage of whether they
don't know or they just assumean agency is going to do.
But any campaign that we everstart running for any of our
studios, we ensure that theGoogle Ads and the Meta Ads are
directly integrated with theirPOS system, whether it's
MindBody, whether it's Walla,whether it's Mariana Tech, Club
(16:51):
Connect or Club Ready, glowfox,moments, whichever one it is,
some of them are easier thanothers in terms of integrating
right Like Moments in particular, they're fantastic, and with
that integration, walla is kindof the same way.
Mariana Tech's brand bot isdecent.
Mindbody is a little bit of apain in the ass, to say the
least, but we have a few customtools.
(17:14):
Our developers are very, veryprivy to understand what that
integration looks like, becausethe last thing you want is to be
spending money on advertisingpeople submitting leads, and
then they're just sat there,they're not going anywhere, you
don't know that they're in theirsystem, they don't know that
they're engaging with you right.
So it's definitely building thatbridge so that way we can then
track exactly the second a leadentered the system, how many
(17:36):
folks actually purchasedwhatever intro offer it is that
they were pushing, and then,even more importantly, after
that, how many of them convertedto a PAC or a membership, right
.
So we essentially dig into thatdata from the inception of the
lead, from a CPL standpoint, allthe way through to CVR
conversion rate.
And then we dig in a little bitdeeper LTV or lifetime value to
(17:56):
see what the conversion rate isand apply that backup stream
saying, hey, intro offer Aconverted at 12% last month,
while intro offer B converted at8%, converted at 8%.
Okay, let's probably doubledown, put a little bit more
money towards the 12% or optionA, just based on that fact,
right.
And so again, we think there'sjust so much more opportunity
and so much more data to informour top of the funnel strategies
(18:19):
on the paid media side to wherepeople are actually converting
at the end.
So that's the way we track.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, and the data tracking component I talk about
all the time is just soimportant, especially when
you're spending money onadvertising.
Right, you know, when you'redoing organic social, like it's
a nice to have, and if you havetime and you want to go and try
and do that and follow throughon all the links and all the
stuff, you can totally try.
But when you're spending money,you need to make sure you're
(18:46):
having you, you're making thereis a return on that investment,
of ad spend, and so the datacomponent really becomes so much
more critical.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, 100%, and I'm happy to announce there's a
little bit of a teaser I believeI've told one or two of our
clients, but for the last let'scall it 30 days, 30, 45 days or
so our development team isbuilding a custom reporting
dashboard that essentially hasan open API that will connect to
pretty much all of the majorsoftware providers MindBody, mt,
walla, moments and ClubReadyand we'll essentially be able to
(19:19):
track again any moments andclub ready and we'll essentially
be able to track again any leadthat we generate all the way
through each individual systemand you'll have your own very
visual, friendly customer clientdashboard to see again, hey,
what leads are converting atwhat rate, and so that will
essentially help dictate andjust provide a level of
transparency for our clients,and so that way keeps us honest.
They're 100% in the know interms of what's working and
(19:40):
what's not.
We're probably another 30 daysor so from from launching that,
that MVP product, so we'reexcited about that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's awesome.
I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.
The more data, the better iswhat I say.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, now you also you know when, when you take a
very sort of holistic approachto the way that you run ads and
work with your clients because,as you mentioned, you care
tremendously about not justgetting clicks and leads, it's
also about the conversions andthe lifetime value as well
(20:21):
software that studio owners areusing and the systems that you
know we can set up behind thescenes to help improve retention
and conversions.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyou know, when you work with
studio owners, what the processlooks like to make all that
happen and how generally youknow.
How are you seeing?
Are those set automations thatare already set up?
Are those what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Or is it sort of case by case?
No great question.
And again the answer isprobably option C.
It's case by case.
There are certain studio ownersthat we meet with we end up
working with that essentiallyhave nothing built right and
it's shocking to see howsuccessful their business has
been over a course of five, 10clients who have been had
studios for 15, 20 years or sothat really didn't have just
that basis of digitalinfrastructure right to where
(21:06):
we're essentially building itfrom the ground up.
And then there are others thatare a little bit more privy to
the actual capabilities of thesoftwares that they work with
within Moments, within MT,within LoyalSnap, et cetera.
(21:29):
You know, and have some prettystandard, you know automations
in play, at least to anelementary degree to check the
box.
I guess you could say so.
For us, typically it's kind ofa combination.
It's a case by case basis tosee, hey, what exactly is needed
right SMS, breaking it intoeight different types of stages
of the actual lead funnel,whether they haven't purchased
an initial offer.
Have they purchased but notbooked.
Have they booked but not showed?
Have they expired?
Are they cooled off?
Are they a win back, whateverit may be.
(21:50):
So we have that rather robuststrategy and instead of just
saying, for someone who hasautomation set up, we dig in and
be like yep, nope, that's wrong, you got to go with this one.
We take a look actually at thedata in terms of overall
delivery, open rates, clickrates, conversion rates, etc.
To see, oh wow, this isactually a, this is, this is a
great automation, this is agreat tactic.
It's a great little sequencethat you've been, you've been
deploying over the last six orso months.
(22:11):
We're going to leave this as is, maybe tweak some things you
know here and there in terms ofmessaging or the way the email
graphic or the sms message isactually configured to just
optimize and then essentiallyiterate from there.
But I think in terms of theoverarching process, we manage
everything within our projectmanagement tool called Notion.
We just have our onboardingchecklist Once we get access to
(22:31):
all the systems.
Really, the main area where westart is on the automation side,
because that's where we thinkit's going to make the most
immediate impact, becausewithout that, a middle of funnel
where you're actuallyconsistently touching leads um,
you know, what we're doing atthe top of the funnel on the
paid media side really isn'tgoing to bring any value.
So before you start spendingmoney on ads, you want to make
sure that the infrastructure isreally set in place and set in
(22:52):
stone to convert any new peoplethat we're bringing into your
system at that top of the funnel.
So that's really where we startand we essentially move out
from there.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, yes, yes.
All of that.
Just repeat that.
Does everyone rewind?
Listen to that again.
It's so important.
Yeah, you know, I think it.
And to anyone who's consideringspending money on ads, you have
to have the funnel fully,completely set up, and so so
(23:21):
many owners have so much, somuch at their fingertips a
goldmine right At theirfingertips that are not is not
optimized fully, and I thinkthat you know, before you start
spending money on ads, thatthat's the part that is really
going to help support business,because growth in scale in
boutique fitness is aboutretention.
(23:41):
Right, and if you're gettingleads walking in the door but
you're losing them as soon asthey, you know, walk in, then
you know your business is notgoing to grow, revenue is not
going to grow.
So retention is what it's allabout, and retention is about
all of those touch points downthe road.
Yeah, so tell us a little bitabout some of the projects that
you have been working onrecently.
(24:02):
I know you've worked with a lotof studios who are in this sort
of opening and launch phase,and I know that you've had many
Pilates studios in that phase,and I'd love to for you to talk
through a little bit about whatthat looks like and timelines of
how you have worked withstudios in that, in that phase
of growth.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Absolutely yeah.
So I mean it's fun, right?
I guess what you could say isour first studio clients in
Natural Pilates founders LauraWilson out here in Southern
California.
They started with fourlocations when we had them three
years ago, right, and to thispoint we're set on opening the
seventh location next month inManhattan Beach.
And funny enough, I was on withLaura last night and she was
(24:44):
talking about she's flying toMiami this morning to go discuss
two leases in South Miami andthen two additional ones up in
New York.
So really just exponentialgrowth in terms of what has kind
of trigger pointed since thattime.
But a lot of it sort of reallyjust comes down to she feels as
if she has the fundamentals ofher business locked in, right,
she has her go-to marketing team, she has her sales process, she
(25:05):
has her operations manager,everything like that.
So now it's time to kind ofcrank up the heat and run with
it, right?
So we have that essential, youknow, client where we're running
pretty much all the day studios, while we currently have one in
presale set to open in themonth of July, so next month.
Meanwhile, we did anotherpresale back in January for a
(25:25):
studio in New York City thatopened up, right.
So while we're stillmaintaining that sustained
studio on the go-to, we have ourgo-to presale strategies right
that were typically deployedanywhere between eight to 12
week time span.
We feel like that's really whereyou kind of have the sprint to
dig in and really make an impactwithin the community without
promising, hey, we're openingour doors this day and just
continuing to kind of kick thecan down the road, right.
(25:46):
So in terms of sustained versuspre-sale, we really understand
it all.
No-transcript, they know whatthey don't know.
(26:26):
I guess you could say, right,and they're more than happy to
be like, hey, we've seen your CV, we've heard you from X, y and
Z, you know how can you kind ofhelp us out, right, and so we've
got a sustained studio rightnow, technically in soft open.
Grand open is about to happennext week, funny enough.
And then pretty much everythingin between, we just signed for
Zeek 57 up in New York City.
That's been around, obviously,for quite some time.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
We're taking a look inside their systems and really
just looking to, you know, kindof dust the cobwebs off, if you
will, and see where there's areaof optimization, again starting
within their POS system, whichis Moments, which is a pretty
nifty and today's digital age Iguess you could say right in
terms of the capability.
So just taking a look andseeing, hey, where can we
optimize and how do we buildthis funnel to where it is just
(27:11):
recurring and there's anopportunity for it to
essentially automate right overthe coming months.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Lots of growth, lots ofopportunity in the industry.
Obviously we touched on ownersshould be really paying
attention to, as we sort of lookahead to the next 12 to 24
(27:44):
months when it comes tomarketing online?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Are you talking AI specifically or just digital
marketing as a whole?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Well, we could talk about it all.
How long have you got Touche?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
touche.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But yeah, no.
What would you say?
I mean the both combined andseparate.
What would you say I mean theboth combined and separate?
What are you seeing and whatare you expecting?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Totally.
I mean, when it comes to AI inparticular, I think there's so
many areas of opportunity thatjust individual studio owners
can leverage right.
Chat GPT is again sort of thestandard in this.
But when it comes to craftingemails, crafting social copy,
creative direction, visualdirection, everything like that,
really lean on that and sort ofdevelop your prompts to save
(28:27):
yourself five to 10 hours amonth just ideating around
potential content, ideas fororganic social right.
Take that one step further.
On the email and the SMS sideof things, right Again you have
this list of contacts withinyour database that have all been
familiar with your brand.
So craft email and SMScampaigns using ChatGPT right,
(28:49):
just based on specificpromotions, specific people or
audiences that you want totarget, et cetera, to
essentially build that right.
And that's just kind ofspecific to ChatGPT.
When it comes to industryagnostic type of technologies,
the industry, as we know, from adigital perspective, is usually
a few years behind that of itscounterparts.
So what we're actively doing onthe on-brand side is really
(29:14):
searching for ways to furthersolidify our tactics across
middle of funnel and bottom offunnel.
To further solidify our tacticsacross middle of funnel and
bottom of funnel, right Top offunnel, is really just going to
be meta Google, your paid ads,for the most part right and
obviously grassroots and organicto complement those.
But middle of funnel, bottom offunnel, how can we get much
more personalized with theoverall nurturing and closing of
(29:34):
leads?
Right, that can essentially beautomated.
So there's a handful ofdifferent softwares that we're
currently in data and justtrialing right In terms of call
rails, voice agent, AI voiceagent.
In terms of plugging directlyinto our CRM system and
following up with leads and gags, it's just an AI voice agent,
essentially just designed to vetdifferent leads and lead them
(29:55):
to purchase an intro offer.
You can definitely tell it's anAI voice agent.
On the other side, right, samething with simpletalkai.
Those are the two ones thatwe've found to be the most
advanced at this point, butthere's still another year or so
away from really cracking wherethere's opportunity there.
But on the texting side, minichatai is definitely an
(30:16):
opportunity again to justcontinue to nurture leads.
So you're not necessarily stuckas a keyboard warrior following
up with questions, faqs,customer service pieces like
that.
But at this point in time Ithink really it's just
leveraging the free versions ofChatGPT and even Canva from a
design perspective to just getyour brand intact and to really
(30:37):
just mitigate a lot of thatadmin-esque type of work, right
In terms of ideation,copywriting, just the mundane
tasks that aren't necessarilydifficult, they're just time
consuming, right.
So I think that's the immediatearea for people to take
advantage of it.
12, 24 months down the line,it's really going to be those AI
tools that are implemented atthe middle and the bottom of the
(30:58):
funnel to not necessarilyremove your front desk, but have
front desk, be front desk right, as opposed to sales ops or
sales reps.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Right.
It will make your front deskjust way more efficient.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, it's interesting you say I think I
you know, I'm finding the samething that there are a lot of
tools coming, but I'm not sure Iwould recommend many of them
yet.
But they are the pace of sortof evolution is is quick, it's
not.
It's not years and years away,it's it's months, you know, and
(31:34):
so 100 yeah, for sure, fantastic.
well, thank you so much, zach,for sharing such insight.
I'd love for you to let peopleknow where they can learn more
about you, onbrand, and what youdo and how to get in touch
blabbed about for the last 30minutes with Saron.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Instagram is at onbrand underscore.
Linkedin, again, is at onbrandunderscore.
So if you guys have anyquestions, comments or concerns,
just shoot us a messagedirectly via one of those
(32:11):
platforms and we'd be happy tohave a chat.
But excited to be in thisindustry, excited to kind of
keep pushing forward and,honestly, the likes of rubbing
shoulders with us, saron is anincredible company to be in, so
we're excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Thank you so much, zach.
I appreciate it If you've beenfeeling a little overwhelmed by
your marketing.
I hope this gave you a bit of asigh of relief and a little bit
of spark of inspiration as well.
Marketing does not have to becomplicated, it just has to be a
little bit perhaps strategicand also aligned in the way that
your studio works.
So if you want to learn moreabout Zach, I'm going to share
(32:42):
everything in the show notes soyou can click over there and
find your way.
And if this episode sparked anidea or perhaps helped shift
your thinking a little bit, dome a quick favor share it with a
studio friend who could use alittle marketing clarity as well
.
And if you haven't already,please hit that follow button so
you never miss another episode.
(33:04):
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
And before you go, one lastreminder there is no one way to
do what you do, only your way.
(33:25):
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
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