Pilates Business Podcast

Cutting Through the AI Chaos: The Secret to a Brand People Trust

• Seran Glanfield • Season 24 • Episode 233

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In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield dives into one of the most pressing challenges for boutique fitness studio owners today: building brand trust in an AI-saturated world. 

With so much “perfect” yet impersonal content flooding social media, your community is craving something real, human, and authentic. Seran shares why trust is now the most valuable currency for your Pilates studio or boutique fitness business—and exactly how to cultivate it. From showing up consistently to embracing transparency and focusing on your client experience, this episode is packed with practical strategies to help your studio stand out, attract loyal clients, and grow sustainably in today’s noisy online space.


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Speaker 1:

What happens when your potential clients can't tell what's real anymore. With AI-generated everything posts, ads, even reviews the online space feels noisier than ever before, and the reality is that, in a world drowning in artificial content, the most valuable currency your studio can have is trust, and if you know how to build it, you don't just stand out, you become unforgettable. So today we're diving into how you boutique fitness studio owners can cut through the noise and create a brand that people believe in, follow and stay loyal to. Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield. I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place. All you need are a few key strategies, the right mindset and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real-life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio.

Speaker 1:

This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, you guys. I'm so glad that you are here, because this episode is one you cannot afford to miss. We're talking about brand trust, what it is, why it matters and how it's evolving in today's AI everywhere world. I'm Saren Glanfield and I have been coaching and consulting in the boutique fitness world for over a decade and I have talked a lot about branding and the importance of developing your brand for your studio so so many times here on the podcast and pretty much every single week with the studio owners that I coach inside of my Thrive program. But I think that you know this topic really hit home to me more recently as we've seen AI develop and become an increasing part of our lives and how it is kind of appearing in so many different ways that I think we perhaps are really even unaware of often. And I think we're seeing the speed of adoption be unbelievably quick and the development and how it's evolving really just, I mean, it's changing so much, so quickly, right? So if you're nodding along, then you probably will have perhaps thought about a little bit about what is going to be the impact of this sort of development and evolution in the world, right? What's coming and how can we be aware and prepared for it?

Speaker 1:

As a business owner and I think when it comes to your business as a boutique fitness studio owner, your brand is going to continue to be perhaps one of the most important elements in your business, one of the most important factors, the most valuable factor in your business, and I think it really hit home for me a couple of weeks ago when I was actually looking for a new service online something totally unrelated to Pilates, actually, but the experience was kind of eye-opening because I was looking for something, I was looking for a person who could help me with something, and I was scrolling through and clicking on a few different websites here and there and then having a quick look at their social media and sort of trying to find the right fit right. As I was sort of searching, I got onto two or three different websites and there was a lot of perfect graphics, a lot of beautiful, very beautiful websites, very, very beautiful Instagram and social media feeds, the very perfectly curated promise, as it were. And I just remember thinking, well, this is not what I'm looking for, this just doesn't feel real enough. It's perhaps for sure this person has used AI to create this copy and I'm looking for someone real right, and I almost kind of gave up at that moment. And then I came across a business who was doing something a little bit different, right, instead of this perfect copy and these perfect pictures that looked like they were straight out of the stock photo library. She was not perfect, her videos were more raw and she spoke more about you know what I was genuinely feeling and thinking and wanting? Right, and she said her story, she shared her value, she talked about what she had been been going through and some of the behind the scenes of how she works with her clients as well. Right, and instantly I was like, okay, I trust her. Right, she's a real human being, first of all, and I believe her because who knows what's real and what's not in today's world? But I think we are still able to tell to some degree. Right, and this is who I ended up moving forward with, and this sort of reminded me of, probably, how your clients might be feeling as well In the noisiest world that we have ever been in.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to marketing, people aren't necessarily looking for perfect. They're probably, especially if they are looking for to be a part of a community like yours, they're looking for something that's real, and that real is what builds trust. So what we know is that, just like I have shared with you, you know, your consumers, your clients, are getting more skeptical. They're seeing a more perfectly polished everything more perfectly polished posts, captions, pictures. You know the articles, blogs, captions, pictures, articles, blogs and things that probably feel a little too good to be true and probably most of them are too good to be true and that often makes people hesitate before they schedule, before they book, before buying and, obviously, before committing.

Speaker 1:

And so this can be a bit of a double-edged sword for us as business owners, because, on the one hand, we absolutely want to portray the best of what we are right we absolutely do, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't but we do want to make sure that we're also authentic in the content that we're sharing, that we're also authentic in the content that we're sharing. And, on the one hand, yes, it is incredibly frustrating to compete with those shiny, perfect Instagram feeds and studios that have perfectly curated content and perhaps have a lot of help on making that the most beautiful it can be. But I do think that it also creates a tremendous opportunity for you too. Perhaps, if you are not sure about how you can stand out within this sort of sea of noise right, and if others are leaning into perhaps a lot of AI generated content, faceless content, then you can lean into the one thing that AI and chat, gpt and all of the rest of those tools can never replace, and that is human to human connection.

Speaker 1:

And so your community might not just want another workout class to go to. What they want is they want to go and be with other people. They want to be in a space where they feel a sense of belonging, and they want to feel that they are in a space where they can trust those around them to be humans and authentic and genuine as well, right, and so they're asking themselves when they see you show up online, when they see your website, when they see your social media, they're asking themselves can I trust this person with my time, with my movement practice, with my money, with my energy? Do I feel safe? Will I feel safe here? That's what they're looking for. They're looking to answer that question and will I fit in? Will it work for me? Is it going to be the right fit for me? Right, and if the answer is yes, yes and yes, then you don't just have a client that's going to come one time. You're going to have a loyal customer who stays, who refers their friends and has the impact this tremendous impact of this ripple effect, of having that incredible long-term loyal client with which we absolutely love to have in your business.

Speaker 1:

So I want to talk a little bit about a few different shifts that you might want to make and how you think about building brand trust in this sort of relatively new but increasingly AI, noisy world. And I'm going to be honest, it has very little to do with fancy marketing hacks and everything to do with how you show up as a leader, as a business and as a brand. Okay, so the problem that we see often is that the space, the online space, in social media specifically, but also emails I don't know how your inbox looks today, but mine's pretty jam packed from emails of anyone I've ever bought anything from Right and it's. It's crowded, it's noisy and a lot of it is AI generated content.

Speaker 1:

Today, no matter what and clients are often in this case we're becoming increasingly, I would say, numb to the content that is very clearly AI generated, and so, as a studio owner, your clients are perhaps a little bit more skeptical than they ever have been, and when you have got clients that are skeptical or a market that is skeptical, it can make it even harder to get clients in the door and to convert leads right, and so if people can't tell what's real or they're feeling for a moment that what they're looking at, what they're seeing, what they're reading isn't true or genuinely true or authentic, they will hesitate, right, They'll have some hesitations, they'll stop, they'll go back, they'll click that back button on their browser, they'll go and find perhaps someone who might be a little bit more real, and so that hesitation really does kill that conversion, ultimately, and so they'll scroll past your post, they'll second guess whether or not they should come, whether or not they are going to be able to feel a sense of belonging in sort of this, perhaps what might be a perfectly curated looking studio, right, and they will probably, perhaps, ignore pretty much every effort you can make to reach out to them.

Speaker 1:

Reach out to them, and so we do have to walk this very fine balance of showing a truly sort of a space that is warm and welcoming and inviting, but also that shows that you are a real business, that you are a professional, that you are, you care tremendously about your clients and giving them a really, really, really valuable experience and perhaps, in for many of you, a really really high end experience as well, right. And so what we have to do is sort of walk this very fine line of balancing those two sides of the coin in this world we're in today, and what I would recommend that you do is that, instead of trying to out shout the noise with more content and more perfect content, perhaps focus on building more trust not necessarily saying more, not necessarily doing more and posting more, but saying more about what is true to you and perhaps showing up more consistently with that type of conversation, with sharing and showcasing your values and ensuring that that is what is actually shining through in all of the outbound content and outreach that you are doing. Okay, so we want to make sure that, as beautiful as your studio is and as beautiful as you want your social media to feel 100% we do, I am absolutely aware with you we also want to make sure that what we're sharing and what else we might be saying alongside that is genuine. Okay, so it's really important that we don't try to just shout louder, that we don't actually try to shout more, that we are actually saying more impactful things, and that comes down to your marketing messaging. Right, and when it comes to our marketing messaging, we want to be really, really, really clear about who we are, what we do, what we stand for and being able to articulate that in a way in words and phrases and stories that resonate with your ideal client and that is compelling to them, that makes them take action and move forward with you.

Speaker 1:

Now this ties in kind of nicely with, I think, one of the other problems that we see generally when it comes to marketing, and that problem is that many studio owners often fall into the trap of trying to look perfect online, and I think I do see this sort of come up often. We are often, you know, perfectionists underneath it all and that's totally fine, but it's that attempt to make everything perfect that can often hold us back and that can actually overshadow your genuine desire and to want to help your clients. So perfect photos or perfect messaging or perfect everything actually often comes across as fake, unfortunately. I'm sorry, but what we see is that even if you are able to get sort of over the hump of finding that perfect photo and one of the things I see most often is that we often wait to share because we are waiting for the perfect photo or looking for the perfect photo but if you are able to get to the place where you found that perfect photo or looking for the perfect photo, but if you were able to get to the place where you found that perfect photo let's say I'm going to put that in quotes then it often doesn't have the impact that you want it to, and so, to be honest, I always will encourage you to share content that perhaps you are a little bit uncomfortable sharing, because perhaps it is not perfect, and often the more polished and filtered your brand looks, the less human it feels, and in an AI saturated world, we're actually now looking for the too perfect, and that can actually trigger distrust in a brand, and especially a brand where we are genuinely trying to build relationships with our clients.

Speaker 1:

So for you, as a boutique fitness studio owner, one who is in control of their brand, who has designed their brand transparency truly is your superpower. So this is where you can really leverage what makes you you and share those behind the scenes moments. Talk about what drives you, why you were compelled to open your own space in the first place, what excites you about what you're doing in your studio today, and about the environment and the atmosphere in your studio. Let your followers, your audience, your email people who are on your email list to see your team, to get to know your team, to get to know your community, to see inside of your classes, and even when perhaps the lighting is terrible or perhaps you know you didn't get a chance to blow dry your hair that morning, right? Whatever it makes you real. Real is what people trust, ok. So don't wait for the perfect to happen, but do be sure that you're being open and transparent with what is driving your brand forward.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and I think that's one of the things that we talk about a lot inside of Thrive and my marketing intensive program. We talk a lot about how you convey your brand and what it stands for in every part of your marketing efforts, and once you know how to do this, oh my gosh, I think so much changes for you in your business. It's truly incredible to see the impact. So trust is really built not just in the marketing. Trust is not built in the photos, and it's not built on your Instagram posts or your TikTok or on your Facebook or in your emails. Marketing is what gets people in the door, but what happens next determines if they stay. So, while we care a lot about marketing and I will till the day I die, till helping studio owners grow I will talk about marketing, but it's not the be all and end all, because once your clients walk in the door, that isn't when your work stops right and that's not when marketing ends either.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, because when people, people still have some skepticism as they come to your studio for the first time, maybe even the second time, and so you're building trust not just from the moment they meet you or from the moment they see your website or from the moment they find you online. You're building trust from that first visit, that second visit, that third visit and forever, as long as they are a client of your studio, and trust is truly built in that experience. It's how they are greeted. You know when they walk in the studio, when they walk into class, whether or not the instructor remembers their name, the way that you follow up after class. That's where your brand really earns the loyalty that you are looking for. So marketing and outbound marketing and top of funnel marketing might open the door, but it's what happens during and after that first visit that keeps that door open and keeps them coming back.

Speaker 1:

So when we're thinking about trust and earning trust over time, it is something that we want to continue to cultivate on an ongoing basis, and you know we can. That is not something that really AI can, can, can, hinder at all. That is really something that only you can craft and create in your studio. So trust is built in the experience as well, and I think, more than anything else, no matter what you take away from this episode today, I also want to just remind you that you have the power to create credibility for yourself and your brand and your business, and the way that you do that is by being consistent with the way that you show up.

Speaker 1:

So if one day you show up with that perfect Instagram picture that you have spent hours getting the lighting, perfect form, choosing your outfit, and then the next one you show up as perhaps less than perfect and you're super duper, like I just got out of bed moment, you're going to create this sort of inconsistency, right, and that inconsistency actually erodes trust and erodes credibility. In order for you to build credibility, you need to be consistent. So if one week you're active on social media and you're posting everything about your entire life and the next minute you've only got these perfectly super duper, professional posts, then you're in lacking that consistency. Right, and you want to be so you, but you want to be a steady presence in order to create credibility, in order to build trust. So, being steady in your marketing, people will begin to recognize you as someone who shows up when they say they're going to show up, and that means not just in terms of, perhaps, how you show up online or on your email, but also how you show up every single day in the studio and your classes and how you take care of your clients. So consistency doesn't mean being everywhere all the time. It means showing that you can be seen as reliable, that you are steady, that you are someone that they can buy a membership from and that your business will still be there for them to attend in the two, three, four months that they have committed to your studio. And so even small, steady actions like a weekly email to your clients or a regular post online can create that credibility and also help to keep your studio top of mind.

Speaker 1:

So, to wrap up and perhaps quickly review you, evolution of AI in our world is not slowing down and it's not going to stop producing the slickest ads. Honestly, in fact, we see time and time again from the data that it is the less than perfect pictures and reels and ads that actually get the most traction. So it's not the ones producing the slickest ads or the most content. It's the ones who are focused on building trust. So a few things that we covered today. Number one was don't add to the noise, don't just keep spewing out more content, because you can Instead focus on building trust with an online presence and a presence everywhere you are that is authentic and true to you, and I will always encourage you to embrace transparency about who you are and why you do what you do and share and showcase that over trying to curate the perfect caption or tagline or post.

Speaker 1:

And I also want you to focus on the experience you're delivering in your studio during that first visit, second, third, fourth and beyond, not just the marketing that happens before folks come in, because if they don't match, then you're going to not be able to convert that client at quite the level that you would like. All right. And finally and I think this is the secret to all of this is to be consistent, because consistency truly is what builds credibility. So, if you take nothing else away from this episode, remember that trust isn't just a thing you might get. It actually is your brand, and when your clients trust you, they not only stay, but they will also bring their friends with them, and I can't tell you the number of studio owners that I have seen be approached by their clients with opportunities that they may never have had access to if it wasn't for the fact that their clients truly trusted them Opportunities for collaborations, for growth, investment and so much more.

Speaker 1:

So if you're listening and thinking, okay, yes, I want to focus more on this, this is what I need, but I'm not sure where to start. And that's where I can help. Inside my coaching program, thrive, we work together on building your brand presence, on creating and curating even your client experience in a way that fosters loyalty in your studio, and design those systems so that, as you evolve and as you grow and as you get more clients, your studio feels less overwhelming but is more profitable. So if you want to learn more, reach out. You can go to spring3.com forward slash thrive to learn more. But I'd love to hear where you're at and I'd love to share with you how Thrive can help to support your next level of growth, because in this world that is accelerating at a pace we have never seen before when it comes to AI and software and technology. Your voice and your vision and your authenticity are what your community truly needs.

Speaker 1:

So if you enjoyed what you heard today, let me know, pop in to wherever you're listening to this and rate and review this podcast. It would mean a ton to me and help to make sure that others friends and fellow teachers and studio owners are also getting access to the content here and the value-packed insights that I share each and every week. Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll be back soon. Free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And, before you go, one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.