MarketingBeginnerPreview
Marketing for Gyms & Fitness Studios
A practical, numbers-driven playbook for filling a gym or studio and keeping members longer. You will build trial funnels, content systems, referral programs, and local paid-search campaigns that you can run yourself.
Gym owners, boutique studio operators, and fitness managers who handle their own marketing.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into action for your specific studio. Work through one section per module: calculate your numbers, build your trial funnel and referral program, launch local Google Ads, and install a retention system. Fill in the worksheets and templates with your real figures so you finish with a marketing plan you can run this month.
The Economics of a Full Gym
Establish the four numbers that govern your studio and diagnose where members leak out before spending on traffic.
Worksheet: Your Core Unit Economics
Pull the figures from your billing platform (Mindbody, Glofox, or PushPress) and complete each field. Leave the calculated fields blank until you have the inputs, then compute them yourself.
- Average monthly revenue per active member ($)
- Average member tenure (months)
- Revenue LTV ($) = monthly revenue x tenure
- Gross margin (%)
- Gross-profit LTV ($) = revenue LTV x gross margin
- Last month total sales + marketing spend ($)
- New members signed last month (count)
- CAC ($) = spend / new members
- LTV-to-CAC ratio = gross-profit LTV / CAC
- Maximum justified CAC ($) = gross-profit LTV / 3
Exercise: Churn Diagnosis Deep Dive
Export your member and cancellation data for the last 6 to 12 months and answer each prompt to find your biggest retention leak.
- What is your current monthly churn rate (cancellations divided by active members)?
- Of members who joined 3 months ago, what percentage are still active today?
- What are the top three reasons members give when they cancel, ranked by frequency?
- What percentage of new members hit 4 or more visits in their first 30 days?
Worksheet: Positioning Statement Builder
Draft a positioning statement for your most profitable segment using the template from the course, then pressure-test it on five current members.
- Specific person (who you serve best)
- Specific problem or goal they have
- Your studio name
- Category (e.g., small-group strength studio)
- Unique benefit or promise
- The alternative they would otherwise choose
- Full positioning sentence (assembled)
- Reaction from 5 members (nodded / confused)
Checklist: Foundations Ready Checklist
- Calculated revenue LTV and gross-profit LTV from real billing data
- Calculated CAC and the LTV-to-CAC ratio
- Confirmed the ratio is at or above 3 to 1, or flagged retention to fix first
- Built a one-page monthly churn dashboard
- Turned on a required cancellation-reason field and an exit survey
- Written and tested one positioning statement on five members
Organic Content That Fills Classes
Stand up a repeatable local-discovery content system across Instagram and TikTok and a loop that turns members into proof.
Checklist: Profile Optimization Checklist
- Switched Instagram to a Professional account and TikTok to a Business account
- Wrote an outcome-driven, benefit-led bio with your city named
- Added a booking link (Linktree or Stan) pointing to your trial offer
- Pinned three posts: trial offer, a transformation, and a studio walkthrough
- Enabled location tagging and used your geotag on recent posts
- Set up a branded studio hashtag and a photogenic milestone spot
Worksheet: Four-Week Content Calendar
Plan four posts per week across the four pillars at roughly a 40/30/20/10 proof/education/personality/offer mix. Fill in the hook and format for each slot; leave the posted-date and views columns blank to fill after publishing.
- Week number
- Post 1 pillar and hook
- Post 2 pillar and hook
- Post 3 pillar and hook
- Post 4 pillar and hook
- Format used (transformation / myth-bust / day-in-life / mistakes / trend)
- Planned publish date
- Posted date (fill after publishing)
- Views / saves (fill after publishing)
Exercise: Hook-Writing Sprint
Strong short-form video lives or dies on the first two seconds. Write hooks you could film this week for your studio.
- Write three myth-busting hooks relevant to your members' goals.
- Write two transformation-reveal hooks using a real member's result.
- Write two 'three mistakes' hooks about a movement or habit you coach.
- For each hook, write the location-anchored call to action that closes the video.
Checklist: UGC and Reviews Engine Checklist
- Added a photo-and-share consent line to your intake form
- Placed a QR code at the front desk linking to your Google review page
- Defined the milestone moments that trigger a review or content ask
- Set a target of 5 to 10 new Google reviews per month
- Committed to responding to every review within 48 hours
- Scheduled a weekly 90-minute content batch-filming session
Trial Funnels and Referral Engines
Build the entry offer, follow-up sequence, and member referral program that convert interest into long-staying members.
Worksheet: Trial Offer Designer
Define your entry offer and the landing page that sells it. Fill each field, then build the page in your tool of choice (Leadpages, a Mindbody intro offer, or similar).
- Trial structure (paid challenge / paid 2-week / free week / free class)
- Price and duration
- Specific promise and timeframe (e.g., 21 days to your first push-up)
- Main objection to handle in the subhead
- Three to five benefit bullets
- Social proof to feature above the fold
- Single call-to-action button text
- Target page-to-booking conversion rate (%)
- Target trial-to-member conversion rate (%)
Worksheet: Trial Follow-Up Sequence Map
Map each touchpoint from booking to the membership conversation. Mark whether each is automated or human and write the core message.
- On booking (instant) - channel and message
- Day before first session - reminder message
- After first session - coach check-in message
- Midway through trial - progress and goal-chat invite
- Two to three days before trial ends - membership conversation plan
- Join-today incentive (e.g., waived enrollment fee)
- Tool used to automate (Mindbody / Glofox / Kilo / GymLeads)
Exercise: Objection-Handling Scripts
Write the exact words your coaches will use in the trial-end conversation so the close is consistent and helpful, not pushy.
- Write your assumptive close line that ties membership to the member's stated goal.
- Write your response to the price objection, reframing around cost-per-visit and coaching value.
- Write your response to the time objection, pointing to specific class times that fit them.
- Write your response to 'let me think about it' with a time-bound join-today incentive.
Worksheet: Referral Program Economics
Design a double-sided referral program and confirm the economics before launch. Leave the effective-CAC field blank until you compute it yourself.
- Referrer reward (e.g., free month, $50 credit, swag)
- Cost of referrer reward ($)
- Friend's offer (free week / waived fee / free class)
- Referred member's expected LTV ($)
- Effective referral CAC ($) = reward cost
- Ask moments (sign-up / milestone / events)
- Tracking mechanism (unique codes or links / tool)
- Target % of new members from referrals
Local Google Ads and Retention
Capture high-intent local search demand and keep the members you win with a first-90-days retention system.
Worksheet: Local Search Campaign Builder
Plan a tight local-intent Google Search campaign. Complete each field before you build it in Google Ads, and confirm conversion tracking is live first.
- Location radius (km) and targeting setting
- Ad group 1 theme and keywords
- Ad group 2 theme and keywords
- Negative keywords (free, jobs, equipment, at home, etc.)
- Ad headline 1 (studio + city)
- Ad headline 2 (trial offer hook)
- Assets enabled (location / call / sitelinks / callouts)
- Landing page URL (trial page, not homepage)
- Daily budget ($)
- Conversion tracking confirmed (yes/no)
Checklist: Google Business Profile and Local SEO Checklist
- Completed every profile field including hours, services, and description
- Chose the most specific primary category for your studio
- Added 20-plus photos of the space, classes, coaches, and results
- Scheduled weekly Google Posts for offers and events
- Made NAP (name, address, phone) identical across all listings
- Created a city-plus-modality page on your website and embedded a map
Exercise: Cost-Per-Acquisition Reality Check
After a few weeks of ad spend, estimate your true cost to acquire a member and decide whether to scale.
- What is your average cost per click in the campaign?
- What percentage of clicks become trial bookings on the landing page?
- What percentage of trials convert to paying members?
- What is your resulting ad cost per member, and is it below your maximum justified CAC?
Worksheet: First-90-Days Onboarding Journey
Design the onboarding touchpoints that drive early visit frequency and lower churn. Define who is responsible for each.
- Day 1 - welcome and goal-setting session (owner)
- Week 1 - coach check-in and member introductions (owner)
- Day 14 - progress and streak celebration (owner)
- Day 30 - milestone review and event invite (owner)
- Day 90 - results check-in plus review and referral ask (owner)
- At-risk trigger (days with no visit before outreach)
- Pause/freeze option offered instead of cancel (yes/no)
Your Action Plan
- Calculate your LTV, CAC, churn, and LTV-to-CAC ratio from real billing data and set your maximum justified acquisition cost.
- Turn on a required cancellation-reason field and a two-question exit survey to diagnose your biggest retention leak.
- Write and member-test one sharp positioning statement, then update your bio, website, and sales script to match.
- Optimize your Instagram and TikTok profiles and publish a four-week, four-pillar content calendar.
- Stand up the UGC and Google review engine with a front-desk QR code and a target of 5 to 10 reviews per month.
- Build a trial offer and dedicated landing page, then wire the automated plus human follow-up sequence.
- Launch a double-sided referral program with tracked codes after confirming the economics.
- Fully optimize your Google Business Profile, then launch a small local Search campaign with conversion tracking on.
- Layer in Performance Max once the basics convert, keeping branded search separate.
- Install the first-90-days onboarding journey and an at-risk outreach trigger, and review churn monthly.
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