Why Your Pilates Studio Marketing Is Making You Invisible (And What to Fix Instead)

Is your Pilates studio marketing feeling like a whole lot of effort for very little reward? 

In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield pulls back the curtain on one of the most common — and costly — mistakes boutique fitness studio owners make: trying to market to everyone. 

Seran breaks down why generic, broad marketing messaging doesn't just fail to attract new clients, it actively makes your studio invisible in a crowded market. 

From understanding the real difference between inclusivity and specificity, to uncovering the hidden costs of vague positioning — price shoppers, low retention, and exhausting conversion conversations — this episode is a must-listen for any studio owner who's wondering why their marketing isn't converting. 

Seran shares why a positioning problem, not a posting problem, is likely at the root of stalled growth, and how getting clear on who you serve best is the most powerful thing you can do to fuel consistent, sustainable revenue in your Pilates business.

🎧 If your boutique fitness studio is busy but not profitable, or if your marketing feels noisy and inconsistent, this episode will shift the way you think about your brand messaging — for good.

🔗 Ready to stop guessing and start growing? Learn more about the Thrive Business Coaching Program at www.springthree.com/thrive

📲 Follow along: @seran_spring_three | www.springthree.com

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Work with Seran:

🌟 Join the Thrive  Business Coaching Program and get smart strategies that drive growth (and profit) in your boutique fitness studio

🌟Enroll in the Marketing Intensive and get everything you need to finally master your marketing and stand out from the competition

Transcript

Would Your Ideal Client Feel At Home

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Let me ask you a quick question. If your ideal client walked into your studio today, the perfect person, the person you would most love to work with inside of your studio, and they walked in, would they instantly know that this is the place for them? Or would they perhaps just sort of feel, oh, you know, this is fine. This is fine. This is fine. Often what I find is that boutique fitness studios struggle because they're actually trying to appeal to everyone. And because of that, unknowingly often somewhat repel the very clients that they want more of. So in this episode, I'm talking about why certain marketing actually makes you more invisible. So obviously not what we want. And how when we are trying to speak to everybody and be liked by everybody, it might actually be costing you in time and energy and missed revenue. So if your marketing feels like it's not really working, if it feels like it's noisy, it's exhausting you, if it's inconsistent, and you're not seeing steady leads, steady new clients coming into your business on a regular basis and a consistent basis, then this episode's for you. Well, hi there, I'm Sarah Glamfield. 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. This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast. If you're new here, hi, I'm glad you found your way. And if you're a longtime listener, welcome back. I'm glad you're here again. I'm Saren Glanfield and I'm the founder of Spring 3 Studio Business Consulting. And I've been coaching and consulting studio owners across the boutique fitness industry for well over a decade. I've worked with hundreds of studio owners all around the world very, very, very closely. And at around this time of year, we're a few months into the year, what we see is that we're starting to find our stride and we're starting to see how this year feels, right? Every year is often a little bit different every year. And we're starting to see right now how things are going, how things are sitting. For some, it's great, it's strong. We've had a strong start to the year. Um, and for others, maybe it's just kind of going. And regardless of where you're at, we're talking today about marketing, which is going to help you no matter whether you are feeling like things are just off the charts, or whether you feel like you perhaps need a little bit of a boost. Okay. Now, and then specifically when we talk about marketing, I mean, I talk about marketing all the time in so many different ways. You know, this is such a broad topic. But I think I want to talk today with um a little bit about uh marketing that feels like a lot of effort and very little payoff. And what I find for those of you who are listening and you're just having an okay time so far in 2026, I want you to listen carefully to this episode. Okay, because what I've found over and over again from all of this experience that I've had well over a decade and through a lot of different shifts that we have seen in this industry, quite honestly. You know, I have been coaching through various sort of trends that have come and gone through the evolution of software and technology, through global pandemics, through uh so many different sort of ways that this whole industry has shifted and twisted and turned, right? Um, and it's been a journey. So there's a lot that I am leaning on when I give you the guidance and insights that I share with you inside of my Thrive Group Coaching programs and to a certain extent here on the podcast as well. And so I've seen a lot of there's a lot of things that I see happening consistently. And there are there are habits and trends that we tend to perhaps fall into that may not be fully supporting our business growth. And I think that when it comes to marketing, it can feel very, very heavy to some people, and it can feel very light and fun to others. And we're just, everyone's just a little different in that way, right? But if you feel like it is a lot a lot of effort right now, if you feel like you are posting, you are running promotions, you are doing events, you're talking about your classes, your schedule, your teachers, and your community. And yet perhaps you're not getting that nice, steady stream of new clients walking in the door. And you're wondering, what is going on? People like your posts, maybe, but they don't actually book. Or when someone does walk through the door, they're often not quite the right fit, right? And so what often happens is we're trying to do more, then we're trying to discount more. We're thinking it's our price. We start blaming the competition, which is, you know, obviously increasing everywhere we turn, right? And you start trying to uh feel like you have to convince people that they're in the right place, which is a honestly like not a good energy, right? When we're trying to convince people, it's sort of like a it's a just different kind of energy. And you probably are wondering, you know, why is this so hard? Why am I not seeing the results that I want from my marketing efforts? And I want to say this to you with uh all the love that I have for everything that you're doing and all the admiration that I have for showing that you that I have for you for showing up every day and doing what you do. And that this is not about um doing more, honestly, truly. And I I when I work with my studio owners inside of Thrive, this is not what I uh I often encouraging folks to do less because I want you more focused. I want you focused on the right things. So this isn't about doing more. This isn't about working your tail off, working more hours, hustling more, pushing yourself and exhausting yourself. That is not a good place for you to be either. So it's not a hustle problem. It's not that you're not working hard enough, right? And it's not about the platform typically either. Wherever you are right now and and your wherever you are from a digital perspective is probably the right place for you to be. What it often is, though, is that it is a positioning problem. Okay. And this is what we talk about when I work with my studio owners inside of Thrive and inside of specifically inside of that, our marketing intensive that we do throughout the year inside of Thrive. And this marketing intensive is where we talk about all the things, all these small tweaks and changes and adjustments that actually have this major impact on all of the way that your marketing works and how well it works together. And oftentimes we focus on the quantity when it comes to marketing and not necessarily on the quality, right? And this is one of the things that I always am working on with my studio owners, we are working on making sure that our messaging and what we are saying about your business is absolutely on point. And when we talk about positioning specifically, a lot of folks believe that being really, really broad keeps them safe. Okay. And what I mean by that is that if they niche down, if they get really focused on a particular type of client that they want to work with, they will exclude other people. Okay. And those other people, maybe, maybe they're also interested in what we do as well. And so this, they we are, we are linking this idea that being broad and open and to all and that this is for everybody, means that we will get more clients. And this is often a bit of a misconception because in practice, right, the opposite is true. Specificity actually gets you better clients, more quality clients, because they they are a better fit for you, right? And you will find that the more specific you can be with your messaging, the better you're able to reach the types of clients that you want. So let's talk a little bit more about that because this is really fundamental marketing, and especially in the world we're in today. And I think, again, we're working against this bias sort of that that we might have about the size of the market, um, where we want to get more people in and have, you know, which we do, but where if we're trying to reach more people, that we're, we don't want to be specific with our marketing language, right? And the reality is that when you're trying to market to everyone, your marketing message will be generic. There's no way around it. Party's for all levels, a welcoming community for everyone, movement for everybody, right? And these aren't wrong, by the way, at all. So if you're using them, I'm not saying you're wrong to use them at all. But they're also not speaking to a specific need. And because they're not speaking to a specific need, they're not compelling, right? And what we find is that within this generic marketing, we find that there are some very hidden costs that are probably creating friction in your business. So you often find that you might be attracting price shoppers because you are being really broad with your messaging and perhaps coupling that with a discounted price point because you again want to really bring everybody in the door. And what happens is you attract price shoppers instead of committed clients. So you end up spending more time convincing people, right, after they've come in, instead of simply enrolling them and welcoming them back the next time. You end up often overworking in that early days to try to get them to understand, right? This is the often I hear. I want them to understand the difference. I want them to understand what it is I do, okay? And you're trying to make the numbers work with this, perhaps these few folks coming in who aren't perhaps really a really good fit for your business. And you might find sometimes that you're really busy with this because you've got people, but they're not the right fit. They're not staying, they're not sticking around, they're not actually committing to that next step. So you're busy, but you're not profitable. You're not busy, but you're not growing. And this is really often, you know, a uh I say, I mean, this is a fabulous opportunity, honestly. But it is often something that because we're masking the um the real problem, because you've got new clients coming in and it looks like your marketing is working great, we often aren't often looking for this particular issue. So you're busy, but you're not profitable. Yes, people know you exist, but you're not differentiating enough, you're not building enough connection with them to help them to perhaps stick around. Because we're not just competing for attention in today's world, you guys. We are competing for loyalty. And I'm talking about this a lot because right now, there is just, well, we're just this is the world we're in, you guys. This is just how it kind of is. So we want to make sure that we're focused on getting the right people in the door, we're telling them the right things from the very beginning, that we're differentiating you from others actually, and that we aren't then perhaps uh being so generic with the way that we're talking about our business. You want to be clear. Clear when you're clear and transparent and straightforward, people will like that because again, we're competing for attention and for loyalty. And attention has to come first. If they don't know you exist, they'll never hear about you, right? So we need to make sure that we are not uh marketing to everyone, right? And and falling into this trap of being really, really generic with what we're telling people about your business. And it often backfires because we often equate this idea of being really, really, and the word inclusive comes up, right? And it and it's and it's important to be inclusive, obviously. This is not about being inclusive versus exclusive. It is about saying we want to be clear about who we serve best because regardless of your studio, um, you are without a doubt attracting a specific type of client into your business. And I'm not talking, by the way, to be completely clear, I'm not talking about demographics. I'm talking about people are motivated by certain things. They have a certain character, they're looking for a certain energy in the studio. And we often miss this piece because we see the the characterization of people, perhaps in terms of this sort of demographic or um, and we don't want to let anyone feel left out. Of course we don't, and that is not at all what I'm remembering, I'm suggesting here at all. We don't want to alienate people at all, never, ever, ever, right? But we can see, I'm sure, there are trends in your clientele that you cannot ignore. And typically those types of people who are have a certain energy and want an energy or want a certain atmosphere of a studio that they walk into, they look, they that's why that's what keeps them coming back, right? And but if you are able to talk about what that is to a wider audience, how interesting would it be to then be able to tap into that group of people? And what would it then look like, not just for your lead generation, but actually for your enrollment and conversion following that sort of initial few sessions. So instead of worrying perhaps so much about um this idea that niching down is going to just uh eradicate the the number of people who would come into my business, right, or your business, you know, uh avoid being vague with what it is that you do and who it is you do it for. Um, and it because being vague will will, although you are hoping it'll capture more people, it probably does the opposite. So you don't want to make people figure out on their own whether this is good enough, this is a good space for them, whether it's for them, or whether that, you know, this is the right environment for them to come and take a class or a session. We don't want them to actually have to figure out a whole lot of anything on their own, because again, in the world they're in today, the we are competing for attention and loyalty, and we are competing for attention first, right? And so if there is a studio down the street or anyone else out there who is who is being more direct and more clear and more transparent with what they do, then your client's gonna go there first because guess what, you guys, they didn't have to think about it. And we are so uh sort of oh, what's the word? We we are really kind of living in a world where we expect to be served information, right? Clients don't tend to go and do a whole lot of research on their own anymore. Like those are, I think, a bit of a bygone era. So we're not in that world anymore. So we have to be clear and upfront and transparent about exactly what it is that we are serving to them. And so your best clients don't want to go and do all this research either, right? They want you to tell them exactly what they need to know and to get started. And they want to be understood and they want to know that you are the right fit for them. So, what information do you need to share with them in order for them to know that that perfect studio is yours? Okay. So when we dive into this inside of the marketing intensive, a whole lot of light bulbs go on, just like they might have already started going on for you and just even having a winner for this conversation. And it's incredible how empowered I see the studio owners become around their marketing when they know exactly what it is they want to share with their clients about their business. And how when you have all of that, you get just you are, I mean, I just took a deep breath in because you just see the competition just dwindle away because you see very, very, very clearly for yourself as a business owner, as a studio owner, how you're different from the others out there, and therefore how you can communicate that with your community and how more much more powerful you feel when it comes to your opportunity for growth in your business. Okay. So there's a lot in this conversation, you guys, right? There's a lot of nuances here. And I want to make sure that, you know, I'm being really clear. I think this awareness for how generic and vague you might be being with your marketing messaging. Oh, you guys, it's kind of like the number one challenge that we're up against. And, you know, I think that we have to be really, really careful about the way that we are communicating what we do and where we're putting our focus. And so when you have really strong positioning, truly it makes your marketing easier. I see it over and over and over again. Because when you're marketing from scratch every time, right, where you're showing up and you're thinking or you're asking someone in your team to put together some posts, or you're trying to come up with some fun stuff to share, and you're starting from scratch every time, you know, you're thinking to yourself, what do I say? How do I say it? Is this actually gonna get likes? Is it really worth it? Right. And you're coming at this from every single time from sort of perhaps this very sort of blank page, right? Situation. Okay. And maybe you're going into AI and asking some questions and asking them to put together some posts for you, and that's all good. But AI has never been to your studio either. So AI is gonna create it's a large language, large language model, it's going to use what it's seen other people use to give you even more potentially generic content, you guys. And without your input around your positioning, your content will feel generic, your offers will feel also somewhat generic too. Um, and you probably will find that not only do you are you not able to articulate what differentiates you from a digital digital perspective, so on your website or in your social media or in your emails, that you might not even be able to do that. And your team is even less likely to be able to do that. So this all has to come from you as the founder and the owner and the leader of your business, it has to come from your heart, from your soul. And this is, you know, where you can really step into that next level when it comes to growth in 2026. Because I am a firm believer that if you want to thrive in 2026 and you want to grow and you want to participate in this enormous opportunity that exists, you have to be able to differentiate yourself and build a brand. Okay. And when you're able to position yourself and you've got strong positioning, it really helps to bring the right people into your business, to act like a filter to bring only great leads, great new clients who are already excited about bringing you into their world, into their movement practice on a really regular basis. And that's when your marketing stops being performative, where you're just showing up to like be seen and actually starts being more strategic. And that's what I want from you because in order to build a consistently profitable, growing business, you have to be strategic. Okay. So let's recap. If your marketing feels like it's falling a little bit flat, it's not because you just need to do more at all. Oftentimes you need to step back and look inward and think about what it is that you want other people to know about your business and who it is that you are serving. If you're trying to reach too many people at once, it will fall flat because marketing to everyone often leads to weaker resonance, right? People aren't as compelled to take action, which leads to lower conversions from the introductory offer or the trial offer into a membership. And frankly, more work for you and probably a whole lot more worry, right? And when you build into your marketing messaging more specificity, um, it builds trust. When you build in more clarity, that drives more response and demand. And when you are really clear on how you can position your business, it really does fuel that sustainable growth that I would love to see for your business. Okay. Now, here's the thing, you guys, knowing this is one thing and having awareness of it is critically important. In fact, I want you to go out there today, have a quick look at all of your places that you exist and do a quick audit, right? Are you really standing out? Are you able to truly articulate the value of what you do in your studio? Because applying this to your messaging, to your marketing, to your offers, to your team and your systems is another thing. And this is exactly what we do inside of Thrive. This is my business coaching program for boutique fitness studio owners who want to take what could be a little bit chaotic marketing and systems and structure in their business and turn it into something that has more systems and organization and more consistent revenue and profit as well. And inside Thrive, we don't just do more marketing, okay? We clarify your brand messaging, your positioning, we refine your marketing content and plan and strategy, and we build a business model that attracts the right clients consistently. And so if you're tired of guessing, if you're tired of discounting, if you're tired of doing everything yourself and you want to have a studio that grows with more clarity and you want to be confident in your leadership and your ability to do that, then I'd encourage you to learn more about Thrive. You can do that at spring3.com forward slash Thrive. I hope this was helpful to you as you go about building your boutique fitness studio business. If it was, go to wherever you're listening to this and rate and review this podcast. It would mean so much to me, but also help to get this podcast out there into our fabulous community of instructors and teachers who also may like to feel more encouraged and supported on their journey in our industry. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you guys next week. Did you love this episode and want more? Head to springfree.com and check out my 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 you. joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.