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

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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

JP Middleton started his company out of his mom's basement at 21. No clients, no experience, and no idea what he was getting into. Eight years later, Gym Members Now is a seven-figure operation working with hundreds of fitness businesses, and JP just joined the Alloy vendor network.

In this episode, Alloy founder Rick Mayo sits down with JP to find out what GMN actually does differently. The answer is not the ads. It is everything that happens before and after the ads that most marketing vendors completely ignore: activating dead leads in your existing database, answering missed calls with AI, chasing reviews and turning them into referrals, and following up with new leads within five minutes instead of the industry average of 42 hours.

JP also breaks down the three things that genuinely set GMN apart, why word of mouth is still the only real proof that your business is working, and what he learned about fitness marketing from working inside chiropractic offices, med spas, and roofing companies.

If you are an Alloy franchisee or an independent gym owner wondering why your marketing spend is not converting, this episode has your answer.

Listen in to find out what a real lead-to-member system looks like.

00:00 Your Fault or Our Problem?

02:44 Mom's Basement to Seven Figures

04:42 Why Gym Owners Hire the Wrong Help

07:22 What Makes GMN Different

08:56 Testing on Real Gyms Before Touching Yours

12:04 Cross-Industry Intel from Chiropractors to Roofers

12:46 From Marketing Agency to AI Agency

13:44 98% Check Reviews. Only 9% Ask for Them.

15:22 Mining Dead Leads Before Spending on Ads

16:22 62% of Calls Go Unanswered

17:00 The Harvard Study: Follow Up in 5 Minutes or Lose the Lead

18:46 Two Camps: Blame the Owner or Handle It

23:40 The One Thing Every New Business Owner Needs to Hear

26:28 Shoutout to Andy Gundlach and How It All Came Full Circle

28:08 Last Meal: Dairy Queen, Death Row, and Two Blizzards

- 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

#AlloyPersonalTrainingPodcast #FranchiseOwnership #BusinessLeadership

What does it look like to have a world-class CMO in your corner without the full-time price tag?

In this episode, Alloy founder Rick Mayo sits down with Erin Levzow, CMO at CapitalSpring, to talk about the real value of fractional marketing leadership. Erin has held CMO roles at Wingstop, Freebirds, Museum of Ice Cream, and Marcus Hotels, and now works across the full CapitalSpring portfolio to help franchise brands build stronger marketing systems and better internal teams.

She and Rick dig into how she mentors marketers inside growing companies, why most franchisees make the mistake of betting everything on one marketing channel, and what the faucet-and-bucket analogy tells you about why your spend is or is not working. They also talk about the human connection at the core of the Alloy model and why that matters more than ever in an AI-driven world.

If you are building a franchise brand or trying to get more out of your marketing team, this episode is worth your time.

Listen in to learn what great franchise marketing leadership actually looks like.

00:00 There Is No Silver Bullet

02:48 From Vegas Dead-Body Apartment to CMO

05:00 Wingstop, Museum of Ice Cream and the Road to CapitalSpring

07:32 Why CapitalSpring Recruited Erin onto Their Own Team

09:26 What a Fractional CMO Actually Does Day to Day

13:04 The Cyclical Relationship Between Franchisees and Customers

16:42 Why Alloy Stood Out as a Marketing Story

17:36 Mentoring Marketers Who Want to Do Everything Themselves

21:06 The Faucet and Bucket: Why Dripping Does Not Work

23:36 Do Not Get Drunk on Digital

25:16 The Karaoke Question

- 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

What happens when a franchisor and its franchisees are both running ads at the same time, targeting the same people?

In this episode, Alloy founder Rick Mayo sits down with Aren Johnstone, CEO of Franchise Ramp, to talk about one of the most misunderstood problems in franchise marketing: duplicate spend. Aren breaks down why national and local budgets so often work against each other, what a properly divided marketing funnel actually looks like, and how Franchise Ramp built a system that makes every dollar, national and local, work harder.

Aren also shares how he got his start buying an e-commerce business his senior year of high school, why he eventually left that world for franchising, and what Franchise Ramp's no-contract model says about where their confidence comes from.

If you are an Alloy franchisee, a prospective owner, or just trying to understand where your brand fund actually goes, this episode gives you a clear answer.

🎧 Listen in to learn how smart franchise marketing is supposed to work.

Audio:

00:00 Your Ads Are Competing Against Themselves

02:30 From Figure Skating Moms to Franchise Marketing

06:02 What Franchise Ramp Does and Who It Is For

07:50 Why He Left E-Commerce for Franchising

08:22 No Contracts. Ever.

12:56 The Funnel Most Brands Get Wrong

13:56 The Sandwich Strategy

17:16 Geo-Targeted Campaigns Around Every Location

19:02 How Agencies Hide Behind Branded Keywords

24:06 The Franchisees Asking Questions Are the Best Ones

Additional Resources:

- 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

What's the difference between a website that looks great and one that actually brings in business?

In this episode, Alloy founder Rick Mayo sits down with Jimmy Weeks, CEO of Internet Strategy Labs, to dig into what separates high-performing websites from digital dead ends. Jimmy has built nearly 700 websites over 25 years and built one of the first franchise analytics dashboards in the industry. He knows what works and more importantly, why.

They cover how to design for different buyer personas, why time-on-site has dropped from three minutes to under one, how the back end of your site can quietly kill your marketing results, and why building for function before beauty is almost always the right call.

If you run a franchise location or are evaluating the performance of your brand's web presence, this one is worth your time.

🎧 Listen in to learn what your website might be costing you and how to fix it.

Key Takeways:

00:00 In 2012 You Had 3 Minutes. Now You Have 60 Seconds.

05:28 How He Measured Every Lead from Click to Grand Opening

08:12 What a PE Firm Found Wrong with Alloy's Website

11:02 Why Your Website Is Quietly Killing Your Leads

12:00 Stop Talking to Everyone. Design for Personas

15:38 Your Google Business Profile Is a Goldmine You're Ignoring

17:46 How to Use Facebook Forms to Pre-Qualify the Right Members

22:22 Pretty vs. Functional: What 690 Websites Taught Us

24:26 Why You Only Have 60 Seconds to Make Your Website Work

27:54 The Attention Span Crisis and What It Means for Your Marketing

31:00 Build It to Work First. Make It Pretty Second.

Additional Resources:

- 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

What does it really take to scale a fitness brand — and find the right investment partner to help you get there?

In this episode, we sit down with Bryan Dickinson from CapitalSpring to discuss his path into franchise-focused private equity, what it takes to thrive in the industry, and what made Alloy Personal Training a standout investment opportunity. Bryan breaks down how CapitalSpring evaluates brands, why the franchisee experience is central to any smart franchisor investment, and how their growth-first partnership model helps founders scale with confidence.

If you're a founder, franchisee, or fitness professional curious about what smart capital and the right partnership can do for a brand, this episode is worth your time.

#AlloyPTFranchise #TeamAlloy #StrongerTogether #CapitalSpring #FranchiseGrowth #FitnessIndustry #PrivateEquity

Key Takeways:

1:20 - Bryan's background

2:10 - Discovering consumer & moving to sector specialist at Capital Spring (2019)

3:10 - Joining right before COVID

4:00 - What it takes to succeed in PE

7:10 - Closing on Christmas Eve — staying positive through the hard moments

8:10 - About Capital Spring

9:55 - Origins in food & bev franchising and expanding to gyms, car wash, pet, auto

11:30 - What Capital Spring provides beyond capital

13:00 - Portfolio stats — 280+ investments, 90+ brands, 7,000 brick-and-mortar locations

13:20 - Why investing on both franchisor & franchisee sides gives unique perspective

16:00 - Investment diligence — beyond the financials, what Capital Spring evaluates

17:00 - Why Alloy stood out

17:50 - Why strength training has staying power

18:55 - Longevity trends, GLP-1 tailwinds, and the case for muscle mass

20:05 - Alloy's franchising playbook

22:15 - The importance of great management teams and trust in any partnership

23:20 - Dispelling bad PE narratives — most founder-friendly firm, growth focus only

26:15 - Capital Spring's mission

Additional Resources:

- 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