Gym
January is not a strategy.
RevThread markets a gym around the members who stay, not the ones who sign up.
What this business is actually like
Gym economics are decided by month four, not by signup volume. A member who leaves in week six cost more to acquire than they paid, and the industry's seasonality means most businesses spend heavily in a short window and coast on the result. The moment that actually predicts retention — whether a new member came back in the first fortnight — usually goes unwatched.
Worth knowing: Fitness margin is high but capacity is real — filling classes with discounted members can push out full-price ones.
Where growth gets lost
Not generic marketing problems. The specific ways a gym business loses money it had already earned the right to.
The whole year gets decided in six weeks
Acquisition spikes in January and collapses afterwards, so the business runs on one cohort. When that cohort churns in spring, there is nothing behind it.
New members are lost in the first two weeks
The strongest predictor of whether someone stays a year is whether they came back early on. Almost nothing in most gyms is set up to notice or act on that.
What marketing costs before anyone has sold anything
These are the ranges businesses are quoted when each piece is bought separately. Turn a line off to see what the stack looks like without it.
And then the advertising itself
- Cost per click
- $6.17
- Cost per lead
- $67
Median US search advertising for Health & Fitness, the published category this business sits in — against an all-industry median of $67 per lead. Your market and competition move this considerably.
Then there are the hours every week spent briefing, reviewing and chasing it. And after all of it, the owner is still the one coordinating the marketing.
What actually convinces your customer
In order. This is what RevThread leads with for a gym, and it is not the same order as the business next door.
- 01Beginner reassurance
- 02Community and atmosphere
- 03Trainer credibility where verified
- 04Schedule and location fit
- 05Member reviews
What changes
- Acquisition spread across the year rather than concentrated in one month
- Early drop-off noticed while the member can still be kept
- Marketing judged on members retained, not memberships sold
The parts of RevThread that matter here
Marketing Director
Decides what the business should be promoting this week, and why, based on the goal you set and what has already worked.
Campaign planning
You approve itBuilds the campaign — objective, audience, budget shape and the creative to run — so what you launch is a decision, not a guess.
Email
Once connectedDrafts campaign emails timed to what you are already promoting that week.
Content Lab
Writes posts, captions and creative in your voice, ready to review rather than start from a blank page.
Learning loop
Feeds approvals, edits and results back in, so next week's plan reflects what actually happened.
See what RevThread would do for your gym
Tell us about the business and we'll look at it properly — what you're running now, what the numbers on this page look like in your market, and whether this is a fit.