Paid media is getting more expensive and less predictable. So what do you do instead?

Kaitlin Bitting just joined Alloy as Director of Marketing, and she comes with agency experience, time at Campbell's Soup, and a front-row seat inside another major fitness franchise. Rick Mayo brought her on the podcast six weeks into the job, and the conversation landed somewhere useful: three organic marketing tactics that franchisees can start executing this week without touching their ad budget.

The first is community partnerships, done right. Not the kind where you slap a flyer in someone's window and call it a day. Rick's Fleet Feet playbook is the template: leverage each other's email lists, put physical presence in each other's locations for 30 days, run a joint educational event, and track everything with a unique QR code. One campaign generated 60 leads and 40 new members. The second is referrals, which convert at 90% and most owners still never ask for. The third is Google Business Profile, which 76% of customers check before they ever visit a location, and which now influences how LLMs surface your business in AI search results.

Rick also shares what happened when someone left a scathing review for a location they had never visited, and why the response he wrote became one of his better PR moments.

Playbooks for all three are on the way for Alloy franchisees. This episode is the preview.

Key Takeaways:

00:00 The Referral Conversion Rate Is 90%
00:38 Welcome Kaitlin Bitting, Director of Marketing
02:54 Kaitlin Bitting's Background: Agency, Campbell's, Fitness Franchise
04:32 Why Alloy's Model Stood Out
06:54 Why Organic Marketing Matters More Now
08:12 Strategy 1: Community Partnerships
09:46 Make It Mutually Beneficial or Do Not Bother
10:00 The Fleet Feet Playbook: 3 Steps, 60 Leads, 40 New Members
16:00 Build a Partnership Calendar for the Year
19:00 Track Every Partnership with a Unique QR Code
20:00 Playbooks Are Coming for Alloy Franchisees
21:14 Strategy 2: Referrals
23:46 Ask at the Moment They Sign Up
25:38 John Herrera's Presale: One Third of 150 Members from Referrals
26:54 Joe: The Best Referral Culture We've Ever Seen
30:16 You Are 20% More Likely to Stick If a Friend Is in the Program
33:34 Strategy 3: Google Reviews and Google Business Profile
35:24 Respond to 75% of Reviews and Your Rating Jumps Half a Star
38:46 The Fake Negative Review Rick Turned Into a PR Win
40:40 Treat Google Business Profile Like a Social Media Account
43:42 LLMs Are Pulling from Google. Keep Your Profile Current.
44:28 5.8 Million Searches Per Minute. Half with Local Intent.
47:06 Whisper Marketing and Building Long-Term Community Equity

- Alloy Personal Training

- Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

To learn more about the Alloy Personal Training Franchise Opportunity, visit 👉 http://bit.ly/alloy_franchise

If you run a premium fitness business, discounting is not a sales tool. It is a confidence problem with a price tag on it.

In this episode, Rick Mayo and Matt Helland break down the psychology behind why fitness business owners discount, and why it almost never has anything to do with what the customer actually needs. They cover the five reasons people drop their prices, from lack of conviction and fear of rejection to short-term revenue pressure and discounting as a substitute for actual sales skill, and explain why every single one of them costs you more than the discount ever saved.

Rick also shares the math: a 20% presale discount held across 100 members for a year is $120,000 in straight profit you gave away for free. To people who would have paid full price anyway.

If you are in a premium category, this one is worth your time.

Listen in to find out why holding your price is one of the best things you can do for your business and your members.

Key Takeaways:

00:00 The Foot on the Gas Is Not Your Price

00:38 Back in the Beats Lab

01:28 Why Premium Pricing Belongs at the Top of Boutique Fitness

02:38 Higher Prices Attract Better Members

03:46 The Motorcycle Jacket That Proves the Psychology

06:26 Suzanne Paid $700 a Month in 1994

09:18 Why Discounting Is Never a Consumer Problem

10:00 The Five Reasons Owners Discount

10:12 Reason 1: Lack of Conviction

15:44 Reason 2: Fear of Rejection

20:04 Reason 3: Desire for Approval

21:54 Reason 4: Short-Term Revenue Pressure

27:22 Reason 5: Discounting as a Substitute for Sales Skill

31:20 The $120,000 You Gave Away for Free

34:48 Four Questions to Ask Before You Ever Drop Your Price

- Alloy Personal Training

- Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

To learn more about the Alloy Personal Training Franchise Opportunity, visit 👉 http://bit.ly/alloy_franchise

July is the slowest month in fitness. Everyone knows it. The question is what you do about it.

Rick Mayo and Matt Helland sit back down in the Beats Lab for one of their unscripted conversations about what it actually looks like to run a great personal training studio when the season is working against you. No guest, no slides, just two people who have been doing this for decades talking through what works.

They get into three things you can start doing right now: getting ahead of your members before their schedules fall apart, running a student and teacher special that brings new people in the door at exactly the right time, and a social campaign called Where's Waldo that one of Alloy's top franchisees has turned into one of the best retention and culture tools in the system.

Rick also tells the story of Kathy — a client who sat across from him every month for the better part of a year, never once followed his advice, and still became one of his clearest examples of why showing up for people is the whole job.

Listen in. You can start using all of this the day you hear it.

00:00 If It Becomes Transactional, You Have Already Lost
00:46 Back in the Beats Lab
02:38 Why July Is the Hardest Month in Fitness
06:02 Strategy 1: Have the Summer Schedule Conversation Now
08:22 Do Not Let Them Off the Hook
10:54 The Kathy Story
13:10 Why Alloy Members Do Not Count Sessions
17:38 Strategy 2: Student and Teacher Summer Specials
21:50 The Private School Play and the Scholarship Contest
24:32 Strategy 3: Where's Waldo
28:18 Why Jolson Does It Better Than Anyone
29:14 Wrap Up: Three Things You Can Start Today

- Alloy Personal Training

- Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

---------

You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

To learn more about the Alloy Personal Training Franchise Opportunity, visit 👉 http://bit.ly/alloy_franchise