How This Fitness Studio’s Marketing Added $11,600 in Monthly Recurring Revenue in 30 Days

No matter your business or industry, we all have something in common…

We all need a PROVEN marketing and sales system that repeatedly generates leads and sales.

Funnily enough, that’s exactly what my team at Loud Rumor designed for our clients in the fitness industry.

We call this system Fit FLAVER and in the case study we’re sharing today, you’ll see how we used it to generate 290 leads that resulted in $11,600 recurring monthly sales…

….in 30 days.

In this post, you’ll get the…

• Strategy
• Setup
• Ads
• Landing pages
• Results
• Follow-up

… so you can put it to work in your business immediately.

That’s really the best part – even though, as an agency, Loud Rumor caters to boutique fitness studios and independent gyms (and have applied this strategy to over 200 of them) the fact is this system can be applied by ANY business… not just gyms and studios.

After a year of testing (with plenty of trial and error), this strategy has proven time and time again that it’ll just plain work to connect with your target audience!

We’ll start with the results and then explain how you can use this method in your business.

The Results: Fit FLAVER 9x a Fitness Studio’s Leads in 30 Days

Within the first 24 hours of launching Fit FLAVER, this studio generated 32 leads.

The Fit FLAVER strategy defines a “lead” as someone (in the studio’s target demographic) who fills out a form with their…

• first name
• last name
• email
• phone number

…indicating that they want to work out at this studio.

As the campaign continued, in 30 days…

• Those 32 leads turned into 290
• The fitness studio’s CPC (cost per click) was $0.36
• Their CPL (cost per lead) was $3.58

This fitness studio in particular charges a minimum of $600/month for their memberships. Some of their members buy 20-30 sessions up front, which equals out to about $2,000.

Of those 290 leads, the fitness studio signed up 16 people with full memberships in Month 1.

Let’s break that down:

• 16 full memberships at $600/month (That equals $9,600 (just for Month 1!))
• On top of that, Month 1 brought in 20-30 sessions that were bought up front (that equaled $2,000)
• $9,600 + $2,000 = $11,600 in monthly recurring revenue

Because of this fitness studio’s higher pricing at $600/month, this was the MOST members they’d ever signed in such a short period of time.

On the very first day of the campaign, our customer said:

“We got 32 leads [in the first 24 hours] and I thought… this has got to be fake. I looked it over and they were all real names, none were the same. I could see first name, last name, email address, phone. So, I started calling them back, and eight out of ten people would answer right away.”

These 16 people were solely from the Fit FLAVER marketing campaign – this doesn’t include referrals those leads provided, etc.

That being said, the fitness studio made $11,600 in monthly recurring revenue.

Now, let’s take a look at how this was done…

How to Deploy the Fit FLAVER Strategy

The fitness studio wanted to do a “One Free Week” offer to new members. That offer became the base of their Fit FLAVER marketing campaign.

Speaking of FLAVER, some of you may be wondering why there’s an E in there and not an O…

FLAVER is an acronym and it stands for:

• Facebook Ad
• Landing Page
• Automation
• Video
• Email Marketing
• Retargeting

Each letter represents an integral component of the Fit FLAVER strategy.

After working with hundreds of fitness studios and independent gyms, Fit FLAVER has been tested, changed, and optimized so that it’s now the #1 lead generation tool for our clients. And it all starts with Facebook… let’s dive in.

F is for Facebook Ad

So, let’s start with the Facebook ad.

A video ad advertised the studio’s one free week to their target demographic: women.

Here’s what that ad looked like:

We spent $1,038.20 on this ad in the first month and it generated 290 leads. In fact, we were so pleased with the results that we ran this ad again in Month 2.

But let’s break that down further, shall we?

This Facebook ad worked really well for several reasons:

1. It directly grabbed the attention of women in the fitness studio’s neighborhood by calling out to the audience: “Attention Ladies.”
2. It expressed urgency by saying that they only wanted 30 women on a first come, first-serve basis.
3. It explained exactly what to expect from the workout.
4. The video showcased the fitness studio and other people working out at the location.
5. The headline made it really clear that the offer was a free week pass.

After people saw the Facebook ad and clicked it, they were then taken to a customized landing page for the fitness studio, which we detail in the next section.

(RELATED: [DOWNLOAD] Score Your Paid Traffic With The 5-Point Paid Ad Audit)

L is for Landing Page

The landing page had one purpose and one purpose only – to get people signed up for the free week.

There were no other distractions on the page.

(RELATED: 7 Trust Elements of Highly Effective Landing Pages)

Here’s what it looked like:

To maintain ad scent, the same video from the Facebook ad was also on the landing page.

To respect our client’s privacy, we won’t be sharing links to the landing page or video. But trust us, they’re awesome. 🙂

The landing page copy also reiterated what was in the ad and expanded on what the workout would be like, the results the person should expect in the free week, and so on, as you can see below:

As you can see, just above the “YES, GET MY FREE WEEK” button, we included how many offers remained, further reinforcing the urgency started by the Facebook campaign.

Then, when people clicked the blue call-to-action (CTA) button at the bottom that said “YES, GET MY FREE WEEK!” this popup appears:

This is where we asked for people’s first name, last name, email, and phone number. The form couldn’t be submitted without inputting all of these fields.

This landing page also had a retargeting pixel installed on it (we’ll get to that more in a little bit), so anyone who checked out the page but didn’t fill out the form were shown a different ad later on.

For now, let’s continue and say someone filled out this form and break down all of the things that happen after a lead redeems the free week (and how this process saves so much time through automation).

A is for Automation

In order for the campaign to run full force and at its most efficient level… we automate pretty much everything.

That includes the automated email responders after someone opts in to the free week, then the automated email drip, automated text messages, and more.

So, basically, whenever someone opts in, three things happen:

1. The lead gets a confirmation email with a bonus offer included (we’ll get to that soon!).
2. They get placed in an automated email drip sequence that triggers a week-long campaign.
3. They get an automated text message from the fitness studio owner themselves thanking them and asking when they can come in for their first workout (yes, you can automate that!).

Here’s what’s so great about having this process automated:

• The lead’s request is immediately confirmed via email, no matter the time of day, so they know everything went through.
• No matter when someone redeems the free week offer, they get a text message from the studio owner so it feels personal.
• Nothing falls through the cracks. When you use tools like Zapier, Clickfunnels, etc., you’re able to make sure everyone who opts in is responded to and added to your CRM for follow up.
• It saves time. The more systems that you automate, the more you allow yourself to focus on other areas of your business.

These are a few of the things that happen AFTER someone opts in. But before we go even further, let’s take a look at another important factor on the landing page: Video.

V is for Video

The video was the first thing people saw about our customer. So, not only did it include b-roll of people working out in the studio’s facility, but the script also…

• Gave insight as to who the owner was.
• Explained what a person could expect from a workout.
• Detailed how it would help them attain their fitness goals.

 The script mentioned all of the following: 

• “Get a 3-hour workout in just 20 minutes”
• “Voted the best gym in our city”
• “Reduce body fat, tone up, and increase strength”
• “Revolutionary fitness technology”
• “We activate 95% more muscle than conventional training in half the time”
• “Grab your offer now before it expires”

The video was 47 seconds, just enough time for people to see the workout, learn more about the offer, and get excited to experience a session.

(RELATED: The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Video Ads)

After people saw the video on the landing page, they then had the choice to redeem the one free week by opting in with their first name, last name, email, and phone number.

That’s what triggered the email sequence.

E is for Email

No matter what time someone filled out the fitness studio’s free week offer (whether at 1 AM or 3 PM), we wanted them to get a confirmation letting them know that the studio would be in touch as soon as possible.

That’s where the email autoresponder came in.

Here’s what people immediately received when they opted in to this fitness studio’s free week:

There are several reasons this email worked so well:

1. It was personalized and used the lead’s first name in the subject line and salutation.
2. It had a sense of urgency by asking them to call today.
3. It included a bonus offer – an additional free week.
4. It included a headshot of the owner in the email signature, so it felt even more personal.

After that initial email, another automated email was sent on Day 2, and a final one on Day 7 (those only went out if the lead hadn’t scheduled their workout yet). This was all programmed and scheduled through our CRM, Infusionsoft.

Here’s what Day 2 email looked like:

And Day 7’s email:

These three emails ensured that the fitness studio stayed in front of their audience who already expressed interest in the free week, but hadn’t booked a session yet.

(RELATED: The 6-Step Email Marketing Set Up Plan)

There was another way this campaign kept the free week offer in front of people who expressed interest in the promotion but hadn’t yet redeemed it by filling out the form with their info – remember that being mentioned earlier?

Let’s dive in.

R is for Retargeting

Once someone clicked the Facebook ad and was taken to the landing page, they had the option to fill in their information to redeem the free week.

But if they decided it wasn’t the right time or got distracted and left the page, we didn’t want to lose that person as a potential lead.

So, we retargeted them.

By installing the retargeting pixel on the landing page, we were able to build an audience on Facebook of people who landed on that page but didn’t fill out that form.

(RELATED: How to Use Facebook Advertising Pixels to Create High Converting Ad Campaigns)

Similarly, if someone filled out the form and landed on the Thank You page, they wouldn’t see the retargeting ad and the email sequence and sales process began.

The retargeting ad reminded people about the free week that they were once interested in.

The people we retargeted were shown this ad on Facebook…

Notice how the retargeting ad has different copy and says, “Do you still want a free week…?”

The ad talks to these people in a different way since they’re now in a different stage of the marketing campaign. We’re reminding them about the offer and urging them to take action before it expires.

Those are the steps of the Fit FLAVER campaign. Next is the sales process that resulted in a $11,600 in monthly recurring revenue.

Let’s take a look at the follow-up process.

The Linchpin Follow-Up that Generated $11,600 Recurring Revenue

Once someone fills out the form on the landing page for a free week, they’re instantly considered a lead and the sales process begins.

The automated email campaign, built through Infusionsoft, and the retargeting ad both help with this as they stay in front of the lead.

But there’s more that needs to happen.

And there’s a huge reason why this fitness studio closed 16 new members in one month at such a high ticket price.

Here’s the process we followed and how you can do the same.

Call Within 5 Minutes

The sooner you call a lead the better results your sales team will get.

And your best chance to reach someone who fills out your form is within the first five minutes.

According to a study by Dr. James Oldroyd (professor of management at MIT), you’re 10X less likely to reach someone if you wait an hour and 42X less likely after two hours.

If you call within those first five minutes though, you have a 60% higher chance of making contact.

There’s also a good chance that the longer you wait to call someone the more they lose interest and potentially forget that they opted in to your offer in the first place.

So, remember those automated emails that encourage people to call to redeem a bonus offer?

The reason we did this was so that – in the case that our customer’s sales team wasn’t able to reach out to the lead within 5 minutes – this still encouraged contact.

However, the expectation is that the business calls the lead and takes immediate action.

This generates the best result.

8 – 12 “Touches”

Eighty percent of sales happen somewhere between the 8th and 12th touch.

A “touch” is a means of contact between a business and the lead, and it can include a wide variety of interactions including…

• phone calls
• automated email responders (encourage them to call you here)
• personal follow-up emails
• texts
• facebook messages
• retargeting ads

…and more.

That means it can take up to 12 times (sometimes more) to actually contact a lead and get them scheduled for their first free workout.

So, if you call them three to four times and you still haven’t gotten in touch, don’t give up.

More often than not, someone wants to build a relationship with the business before they make a decision.

And it takes time to establish that rapport. 

If business A stopped their follow-up process after three touches and business B stopped at 10 – 12, which do you think would have more customers at the end of the year?

Give Them a First Experience They Won’t Forget

Everything you’ve done comes down to this: the follow-up and providing VALUE to your lead.

If you don’t provide value immediately, there’s no reason for your lead to convert into a customer.

First, we’ll cover how this works for a fitness studio, and then we’ll show you how it can be applied to ANY business.

How to Provide Value as a Fitness Studio

When you do schedule someone for their first workout, make it awesome.

Remove all obstacles and negative thoughts that can come up during their experience.

Here are tips on how to make their workout the best it can be:

• Give them a tour. As soon as they get to your studio, show them around (where the bathroom is, the workout room, any necessary equipment) and set them up for that day’s session.
• Pair them with a seasoned member who has been with your studio for a while. This gives the newcomer a sense of comfort and there’s a good chance your current member will say good things about your studio.
• Pay attention to them during the workout. Help with their form, give them exercise tips, offer encouragement, etc.
• Catch them before they leave and see how the workout was. This is where you schedule them for their next workout.
• Contact them the next day. See how they feel (are they sore, what’d they think, etc.).

And no matter your business, you’ll use a lot of the same themes that we just covered in your follow-up sequence…

How Any Business Can Provide Value

Whether you have visitors to your office or not, any initial interaction you have with a lead needs to be on point.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Develop a rapport first. For instance, if your first interaction is an online demo, make sure you develop a rapport over the phone first. Don’t simply dive into a slideshow over a screen share. First…
  • Ask questions about them.
  • Figure out their pain points, so you know exactly how your business is the solution to their problem.
  • Then, make your demo clear, concise, and full of personality.
• Give an experience that will wow them. If people do come into your office, provide an experience that awes them:
  • Rather than asking if they’d like water, automatically give them a fresh water bottle.
  • Instead of asking if they’ve ever been to the office before, give them a tour.
  • The leaders of your team should stand up and shake your guest’s hand to introduce themselves.
• It’s about them. Remember that this first impression is more about your lead rather than yourself.
  • Talk about their goals.
  • Pinpoint their expectations out of this business relationship.
  • Finish with an action plan.
  • And, much like the fitness studio outline above, follow up with the client the next day.

Use this for inspiration for your follow-up with your leads, so you can provide your leads with the best value possible and turn those leads into happy customers.

And that, my friends, is the Fit FLAVER strategy and follow-up!

Test this methodology out in your business and see if you can beat our $11,600 recurring monthly sales. That’s what we’re trying to do. 🙂