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Pilates Business Podcast
Why Your Marketing Isn't Working — And How to Fix It with the StoryBrand Framework
00:28:41
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- [00:00]
Sarah Glanfield
In today's episode, we're diving into why most boutique fitness marketing feels like you're shouting into the void and how to flip the script. My guest today is a digital marketing powerhouse and a story brand expert and the founder of Salt Marketing. She's worked with wellness brands across the country to build client attracting systems that run like clockwork. We're going to be talking about what really moves the needle when it comes to marketing your studio business, especially if you're not a natural marketer. This one's packed with insights and a lot of clarity and will make you think a little bit differently about the way that you market your studio well. Hi there. I'm Sarah 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. This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Hey there and welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast. I'm Saran and I'm sorry, so thrilled that you're here with me again today. And we're talking about one of my favorite topics and that is branding and marketing. And when studio owners find me, they will often say to me that their marketing isn't working. And if that is where you're at, just know you're not alone. I hear it very, very often. People will say, I'm posting, I'm emailing. I feel like I am doing it all. I've even thrown in some TikToks here and there, but I'm not getting consistent leads. I'm not seeing the level, the number of new clients that I really want to see or worse. Maybe you are getting some clients coming in, but they may not be converting. And that's why I'm really excited about today's guest, Jennifer Oreka. Jennifer is not just a digital marketing expert, she's also a Story Brand certified guide. And if you've never heard of Story Brand, well, you are in for a treat. This is a, a framework that has been, is just so incredibly powerful. And so I'm excited to really dive into that today with Jennifer. So welcome, Jennifer. I'm so glad you're here.
- [02:37]
Jennifer Oreka
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
- [02:39]
Sarah Glanfield
So Jennifer also launched her business, Salt Marketing and she works with businesses just like yours to help them to Craft messaging and marketing to get more clients. So, as you can imagine, when she and I connected a few months back, we really hit it off talking all about all things branding and marketing. And I thought that it would be fabulous to have you come on the show, Jennifer. So I'm glad you're here. And I think it would be really great to kick off talking about what is story brand. And as a certified story brand guide, can you break down what it means and why this framework works so well?
- [03:18]
Jennifer Oreka
Yeah, absolutely, Certainly. And it's interesting that you say that, that people come to you and say marketing doesn't work, because I hear that all the time as well. And the problem is that behind that, that cry for help is there's a huge variety of disparate attempts to try and come up with something cohesive. And when you're doing that tactically all the time, and you're just posting and you're, you know, running as fast as you can, and, you know, the hustle is all about it, and that's not necessarily going to work. You need a strategic framework. You need a way of approaching it that's going to get you results. And so the story brand framework is part of that. So storybrand is a book written by a guy named Donald Miller. He was originally a screenwriter. He is an exceptionally gifted writer. But I saw him speak and he talked about this back in 2017, and I was just completely taken and immediately started implementing it in my own businesses as an entrepreneur and then became certified as a story brand coach about two and a half years ago. And so what that story brand framework consists of is making sure that your client is the hero of their own story. When you start telling them a story where you're the hero and you're going to come in and solve all the problems and you're going to swoop in, well, that conflicts in their mind with how they see themselves. They want to solve their own problems. They want to get to their own goals, whatever those goals may be for fitness or nutrition or for wellness in general. And they want you to guide them. So when you think about it in the context of Star wars, if you've watched the movie Star wars, so you want to be the Obi Wan. You're, you know, you're coming in to help Luca get to his goals, you know, what's standing in his way, and you're going to help him achieve that. So that's, in the simplest terms, what story a brand is. But it consists of seven parts. The framework begins with a character and so we look at that, that character and what is your, your client's desire? What is it that they're trying to get to, what they trying to achieve? And so then what is standing in their way? So they have a problem. Um, and we break down that, that problem into a three part structure. Um, so we have our external problem. So what's being exerted upon them from outside, so they're too busy to exercise or, you know, their family's not behind them or something like that. So some external problem, they know they don't have the time for it. Then we talk about the internal problem. The internal problem is how do they feel about that? Like how is that, how are they standing in their own way with their own emotions. And then we talk about the philosophical problem, like why this really shouldn't be. Like you shouldn't have to suffer in this particular way. And we're going to help you get through that. So then the next step of the, the seven part framework is the guide. So you present your brand as the guide and these are the ways in which we're going to get to your goals and we're going to work together. And for that purpose you have a plan. And this is a, the plan is an intentional oversimplification. We looked at it in three steps. So how can you break down what you do from inception to, to goal achievement into 3, 4 at the most steps. And so after we give them the plan, we call them to action. Here's what you need to do to get started. And we get very specific about this. And there are certain things that you can do on your website that we can talk about in a minute about calling them to action and making sure that they get to that, that place, that achievement. And then we also talk about success and failure and defining those. And that's in terms of their transformation. What does failure look like? What does success look like? We want to cast that vision for the success. So in a basic way, that's the, that's the story brand framework in a nutshell.
- [06:18]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah. And I think it's so powerful. Right. When you break things down, I think branding is just such a, there's, there's a lot in there, right, to, to unpack. And so when you've got a framework of any sort, and this framework specifically is just clarifies so much around what goes into creating a strong brand. Right. You've got your client and what they're looking for and the problem that you're solving for them and what might be holding them back. And Their emotion and their feelings around that, you know, and whenever we're trying to build a brand, you know, you know, it really is more of personification of your business. So those feelings are actually quite important, aren't they? And then, you know, then you're thinking about, okay, well, how can we guide them forward, how can we lead them forward? And we can only lead them forward if we know where we're going to take them and what that success and outcomes looks like. And so it's really nice to break it down. It sounds so much more straightforward when we do. Right?
- [07:18]
Jennifer Oreka
Absolutely.
- [07:19]
Sarah Glanfield
It's powerful. It's so powerful. So you've seen it in action. And so tell us a little bit about where, you know, how you, how you've seen this work for some of the businesses that you've worked. What types of businesses do you have, you have, you kind of worked with in this space? Yeah.
- [07:35]
Jennifer Oreka
And you and I were chatting a little bit before we started about some of the diversification in the industry because we work with a lot of different wellness brands. And what we see happening is that, for instance, I had a mental wellness clinic who had added a salt room so you could come and do their sauna. And so, you know, they're, everybody's adding sort of these, these different modalities. And so how do you then qualify and quantify what that is? And so we talk a lot about that when we, when we build out websites. In terms of the structure, how do we capture those visitors that are coming in and they're searching? They don't necessarily know the name. Like, they, they kind of might know what salt therapy is, but know, like, they don't know the name Halo or something along those lines. And so we want to make sure that for search engine purposes, we are talking about all the different modalities, but we're talking about them in terms of how we deliver it. And so this also speaks to not selling individual services, which can often be erased to the bottom. So if you're, you're pricing out, here's my cryotherapy. But somebody down the street is, you know, it's a, it's a chain and they're, they're doing the same thing, but they're certainly not doing it as well as you are. When you gather those things up under your messaging framework, you can easily say you're going to experience these different modalities and that's going to get you to your goal. So you become like a category of one because you have this brand and you have this Messaging behind what, what it is that you're doing.
- [08:48]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah. And you know, I always say we, we, we sometimes I'm just going to give another example. You know, we often are find ourselves marketing Pilates to the world when actually what we really want to be doing is marketing Pilates with your studio to the world. Right. And there's quite a big distinction there because we don't want to send them straight into the arms of our competitor down the street. Right. We want, we want them to come to our studio. So it's really, as you say, really important to sort of make that distance.
- [09:16]
Jennifer Oreka
And that can be a challenge because when you are trying to optimize for search engines and you're talking to the machines and not the people, you go after those keywords like Pilates. But what you want to do is attract the right people and by having the right messaging, you, you're the people who will really benefit from what you do specifically will gravitate toward that message because you're speaking their language or speaking to their hearts and you, you tell them all about the transformation that they're going to undergo. It's not just I'm going to go, you know, sign up for Pilates, I'm going to have this transformation in my life and I'm making this change for purpose.
- [09:45]
Sarah Glanfield
Right? Absolutely. It's so much more powerful, so much more powerful. So tell us a little bit about where, you know, when you've worked say with a, a wellness business that offers red light therapy perhaps and cryotherapy and assault room or what have you and as well as other modalities. You know, I think if you're, you know, for those listening, you know, stepping into that world, it's a bit like offering, you know, your, your group small group classes as well as one on one sessions as well as perhaps some other add on combination of those. How do you, knowing that perhaps or wondering if there is, if there is a different market for those, those different modalities or how do you blend it all together? What's the, you know, how can you kind of walk us through what that looks like in, in real life?
- [10:38]
Jennifer Oreka
So and, and when you look at it like that, you know, one on one versus small groups versus large groups, you know, everything works differently for different people and sometimes at different times, like the same client may come in and need, you know, different attention at different times they may start off needing that one on one and then graduate to where they're, they're really enjoying a group setting. And so you have to frame that up for the individual, but you've also got to do it in the way that makes sense for your brand. So, you know, being able to communicate with people, that you do offer that, that you are able to diversify in that way to meet their specific needs, you know, that goes back to defining that character and what their desires are and what those problems are. So, you know, a different person comes in and has a different problem, but they're going to relate to the way that you explain it. And so they're going to come to you because you've got the answer to what it is that they're looking for. So oftentimes I find that even if you have a diverse offering or even if you're partnering with other, you know, other people in the area, so if you have a community and you're. You're kind of partnering up with them, being able to offer a. A cohesive plan to get to their goals, that's often a good way to, to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.
- [11:42]
Sarah Glanfield
Absolutely. And when you say a plan, you're the one as the. You are the business owner as the business owner. Defining the first, the second step, the third step is that that's what you mean by that.
- [11:53]
Jennifer Oreka
So it depends on. On who we're talking to. So we have particular wellness facilities that we talk with who will create a unique blueprint for each. For each client. And so they'll come in and say, you know, I've got this ache, this pain, this. This goal. And we're going to construct for you a specific plan. And within that context, where we're going to, you know, solve your problems. And so, you know, it does matter whether you construct that. But in a general sense, we can, like I said, it's an oversimplification intentionally by saying this is the first step. The first step is to walk through the door or sign this piece of paper or book a call or, you know, whatever that that first call to action is. And then in the middle is, you know, the messy middle is where we're going to actually accomplish the goal. But we know how to do it. So this is the. That's the part of the middle. And then the third step of that plan is these are the goals. This is what you will get. This is the outcome. And so when we simplify it like that, at the highest level, lower, we can then break down the specifics of it for an individual and making sure that they get what they need to. To go through that transformation and really cast that vision for this is what success is. Going to look like.
- [12:58]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah. And I think one of the reasons why that is so powerful is because when you are a consumer faced with perhaps those three or four or five different options or even just perhaps a few different ways to reach the goal as the consumer trying to figure out without having that plan, what, what they should be doing, often is the fastest way to lose clients. And I think often there is sort of this hesitation to tell someone what to do, but most of the time when people are coming to you, it's because they cannot solve the problem on their own or they're looking for a little bit of help. And so if you're thinking, oh, but you know, everybody needs something different or, you know, or if you're thinking maybe that, you know, you don't really have a plan for someone or you don't want to tell them what they should do or not do, and what if it's not the right plan? What you probably will find, and tell me if I'm wrong here, but you'll find that people quite enjoy having at least some sort of a sense as to where to start or what that sort of guidance is around how often they should come and how long it might take to get results. And that actually often really fuels a much stronger bond between you and your clients.
- [14:08]
Jennifer Oreka
Yes, especially when you can shift within that framework. So, so for instance, with our marketing clients, it's the same sort of thing like, you know, you come to us, you're a Pilates studio, you are doing all the things, posting all the places, you know, doing everything you possibly can. And when you, when you nail it down into a framework, it makes a lot of sense. That doesn't mean you can't adjust within that framework. So we have a five part framework where we, that we use to, to look at marketing. And so the first part of that is attract, how do you attract new people to you? How do you draw those, those new prospects in? The second part of that framework is how do you convert them? Do you make them into clients? The third part of that is to create raving fans who are going to then refer you and talk about you and review your, your business. The fourth part of it is automation. So how do we take all the chaos, all the things you're doing and we automate as much of it as we possibly can. And then the final part of it is measure and scale. So we're going to look at our metrics and we're going to figure out how to scale the things that are working. So I can say that to you. And I can give you that five part framework. Within that, you're going to have your own interpretation of that and how it's going to work best for you. But as practitioners, the best thing we can do is provide them with that frame. We know how to get you to your goals, we're going to guide you and we're going to help you every step of the way. And that really, that really makes a difference.
- [15:19]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah, yeah, it does. So having worked with, with many small businesses, when you first connect, what do you see as perhaps one of the sort of misconceptions or mistakes or areas that would perhaps might need the most improvement? What is missing most, most of the time, would you say it is that structure?
- [15:40]
Jennifer Oreka
So we do a lot of organic, we believe in setting up content marketing inbound. All of that ahead of doing any paid. Some people will tell you, no, no, just, you know, go to the traffic store, buy some traffic. But, but we believe strongly in establishing, you know, who you are in the marketplace. And so one of the biggest mistakes I see is trying to do all those things, but doing it without a plan. So, you know, somebody tells them that they need to post every single day, or you don't need to be on Instagram, you need to be on YouTube, or you don't need to be on YouTube, you need to be on TikTok. And it drives people crazy. I mean, you can't be in all the places at all the time. So having a plan for that and making sure that you're doing it in an intentional way, that's a lot of what we coach our clients on is getting to that point where you know what the topics are that bring people to you, you know, the services that you provide, but the conditions or the circumstances that bring people to you. And that's what they're googling. They're googling solutions to the problem that they have. We, when we talk about creating original content, we subscribe to a philosophy called they ask, you answer. It's a book by a guy named Marcus Sheridan and it's a five part framework. And basically you're just taking the questions that people are asking every day of you and turning those into content. So there, there's five pieces of it that include talking about pricing and cost. That's, that's always a big question. Comparisons like this thing versus that thing or this particular solution versus that solution, giving reviews and saying, you know, we see this working because of X and Y and Z. So there's, there's five pieces of that they Ask, you answer framework. But that is a really good way to guide your content and not just be random posting and give you some direction there.
- [17:16]
Sarah Glanfield
Right. And when you have got sort of those pillars perhaps for content types or topics or themes, is that kind of what you're. You mean when you say that with that structure?
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Jennifer Oreka
It is content pillars, but it is also appealing to optimizing for search, but appealing to the things that people are already asking, the questions that they're already asking. Pricing is always a big sticking point with a lot of our clients. They don't want to talk about it. They don't want, you know, somebody price shopping them with the, the, the studio down the street. So we want to make sure that we're talking about pricing in the right way. So how much does this cost? Well, it depends, it depends on what you're looking for. It can be from this to this. And so we talk about pricing in a way that cements them as an authority. It shows empathy for what the, the, the client is going through, but then it also provides the information they're looking for so they know this is the person that I need, this is the, this is the situation I want to be in.
- [18:04]
Sarah Glanfield
Right. Where do you place that content or where do you recommend as a sort of a baseline or foundation kind of. What's the sort of minimum, bare minimum that you would recommend when it comes to content?
- [18:17]
Jennifer Oreka
So we typically recommend, so we, we have a package that we offer because we want to get to the goals, right? So we set the goal. And so in order to get to the, the baseline goals, we post three times a week and we pay attention to the, the things that we're leading people to. Always with the call to action, always with, you know, something for them to start with. In addition to that, we want one piece of original content. And by that we mean a video, a podcast, a, an article, something of that nature that's a little bit more, has a little more depth to. It gives the search engine something to, to sink their teeth into. And so we make sure that we do that at least once a week. We also talk about a cadence of emails. So we want to have a strong welcome sequence when somebody comes in and they're just sort of poking and learning and looking. We want to make sure that we are leading them through to, to booking that first session. And so that cadence is there as well as some. It depends. You know, there are obviously like I said, there are variances. Once you get below the framework, there are plenty of variances. So we might Do a weekly email, we might do a monthly email. Depends on, you know, how often your, your folks are used to hearing from you. So that's, that's the minimum. But we want to hit all those different modalities because we're talking about, some people like to consume their content on a podcast, some people like to read an article, some people want to watch a video, some people just want that quick hit. You know, they're going through their stories on Instagram. So we want to make sure that we're, we're hitting all of those without exhausting ourselves, without, you know, going off the rails there.
- [19:40]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, for someone who is perhaps wearing a lot of hats in their business, they are also perhaps teaching, coordinating their team, training a team, managing a lot of admin, customer service, etc. How do you make that content creation piece the most doable? Do you have some hacks that you recommend or that you can share?
- [20:04]
Jennifer Oreka
Yeah, absolutely. And it's all about putting the marketing infrastructure in place, which a lot of people are missing. And you forgot a million zillion things that have to be done as a, as a business owner, you know, paying your taxes and paying your people and, you know, I've got to get payroll done and all those things. So what we, what we recommend doing is automating as much as possible, particularly on the operations side. If you're trying to hire, we can automate that. If you are general, if you are putting podcasts, we automate that. If you are holding webinars or you are holding live sessions and you want people to come into the studio and come in and try a session and you want to do that in a group setting, we automate that. So automation is key to, to a lot of that. And so once you take some of that administrative burden off of you with those automations, then the marketing falls into place. And as much it's more fun, it's easier to do because you do have the time and the bandwidth to really sink into it.
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Sarah Glanfield
Yeah, yep. It takes a little bit of investment upfront, but it's worthwhile over the long term, right, to have that in place. Yeah, yeah.
- [20:59]
Jennifer Oreka
And you don't have to think about it like it has to be all done at once. You know, once you, once you get into the automation game. Yeah, there are different pieces of technology and we do coach our clients on that, but you can do a little bit at a time. You can say, okay, I'm going to automate this part of my process and then I'm going To automate this. And over time you build that, that infrastructure out and that allows you that breathing room to really cater to your clients in that way.
- [21:22]
Sarah Glanfield
It absolutely does. And I think, you know, it can be incredibly overwhelming having watched many business owners try to do it all at once or, or to see the long list of things they could be doing with their automations within their software. And it does really help to simply prioritize, okay, where do we start? What's the most important for my business today? Next most important comes next. But we do not have to do it all at once. And I think, you know, that's one of those skills that you develop as a business leader and a business owner is navigating how to prioritize those different pieces of that marketing puzzle and making sure that you are being sort of smart about where you spend your time and energy and, and that, that's a.
- [22:06]
Jennifer Oreka
That'S a really good point. Being smart about where you spend your time and energy. And the worst thing that we see our clients do is they'll invest in automation software and they'll do one thing and then they, they're like, no, no, it's just faster if I do it myself. I'm like, it's not faster if you do it yourself 25 times over the next month. So anything you're doing three times in a row we need to automate. And so that's that getting to that mindset, flexing that, that sort of muscle memory to say, okay, we can automate this. That's a, that's a game changer for a lot of practices.
- [22:31]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah, for sure, absolutely, absolutely. So a lot of people come to me and they will, they will share that they're, they're doing a lot of different marketing and often, you know, people are, you know, have automations or they are posting on social regularly and consistently and they are sending out emails but they don't feel like that it's working. Would you ever see that when you work with people? And if so, you know, what would you say to someone who is feeling that way right now?
- [22:59]
Jennifer Oreka
Yeah, absolutely. And we do see it. Certainly a lot of people come to us with that. The, the messaging is key. If you're not getting traction, go back and look at the messaging. Have you positioned your brand as the guide to your hero? Just think about it in that context. Make sure, making sure that you are, that your message is resonating with them in the right way and that's where you're going to start to get that traction. That's where people are going to gravitate toward you if you're speaking their language and you really truly get them. You know, it's often said that when you can articulate your client's problem better than they can, that's when you start to win. And so that's often the piece that's missing.
- [23:34]
Sarah Glanfield
Yeah, I completely agree with you. And it's amazing how it, when you make. It takes a little bit of time, right? This, this, you know, put sort of the investment of time into those seven steps of the frame of the story brand framework that you described. And if you've ever spent time working really deeply on your brand messaging, it is kind of deep work, right. It makes you really have to stop and have a good think about what all of these different components that kind of go into crafting that really, that, that, that compelling brand message and positioning your business. I think that, you know, when you do that work, it does pay you back because you do stand out not just to new clients, but also your existing clients feel and find and, and recognize the value that, that you deliver to them.
- [24:25]
Jennifer Oreka
And, and even more importantly with that is the way that you start to talk about yourself. When you're at a party or you're in a room and people start to ask what you do. Well, you don't just say I own a Pilates studio. You start to talk about the transformation like this is what I do for people. And so doing that hard work and taking that time to do that can really change everything. It changes how you see yourself, it changes how other people see you and it changes how your ideal clients are going to gravitate toward you.
- [24:48]
Sarah Glanfield
It really does. I know I, when I work with my studio owners and we work on the marketing intensive and that we talk about branding and we go through exercises on this, the, the light bulb aha's that happen and just how then it just shifts so much for them in the way, like you said, the way they see their business and themselves, but just the way that they approach what they do and how that just the doors it opens is really love that it is really powerful. And so if anyone is listening and hasn't done this deep work, I highly, highly recommend you do. And I think in the environment that we're in today, you know, there is a lot of noise and we have like the smallest attention span we've ever had.
- [25:35]
Jennifer Oreka
Goldfish.
- [25:36]
Sarah Glanfield
Right. We have to be able to stand out. Right. And, and when you've spent the time like we talked about today, it's, it really just supports your ability to be able to deliver something that's very unique. And you, you're not, you're not competing on price or other things.
- [25:52]
Jennifer Oreka
And it's so hard because, you know, like we talked about at the beginning, you're wearing so many hats. There's so many things. You're trying to keep the wheels on. You're trying to get the, you know, the people in the door. And so stepping back and doing this can feel. Feel like just slogging through mud at some times. But it's so beneficial and doing this hard work is so important, particularly if you are going through it right now. You're trying to keep all the things, all the wheels on, all the things running. Stepping back and doing this will be a game changer. Absolutely.
- [26:19]
Sarah Glanfield
Absolutely. Fantastic. Well, thank you, Jennifer, so much for coming on and sharing. I love storybrand. I read it when it first came out. I think it's really powerful. And so if anyone's listening is keen, that was a great recommendation for your next book. But in the meantime, why don't you share with us a little bit about how people can learn a bit more about what you do at Salt Marketing.
- [26:42]
Jennifer Oreka
Absolutely. So we are Salt Marketing. We specialize in wellness businesses and helping them grow. We. You can check out our website at saltmarketing Co. You'll also find us on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn. My. I'm easy to find on LinkedIn because my last name is very unique. It's O R E C H W A so Jennifer Oraquah. So if you want to connect with me on LinkedIn, that would be fantastic. We also have a custom report that you can grab a hold of. So we walk you through a quiz. It's kind of similar to a disc profile. You know, what is your marketing personality? Because we do talk a lot about how you approach marketing as a business owner. And so that customer report is at SaltMarketing Co CustomReport. So you can go there and grab that. It's a. It's a quick quiz and it's fun. It gives you great results and kind of gives you a new approach and a new lease on your marketing. So if you're feeling a little dragged down by your marketing, there's a great way to re energize yourself.
- [27:34]
Sarah Glanfield
Fantastic. I'm going to link to all of that in the show notes so you guys can go and grab that and check it out. Thank you so much, Jennifer. I appreciate you sharing all of your wisdom and insight with us. Thank you.
- [27:44]
Jennifer Oreka
Absolutely. Thank you.
- [27:46]
Sarah Glanfield
Well, thank you all for listening, and I hope this episode of the Pilates Business Podcast was helpful to you. If it was, be sure to never ever miss another by hitting that Follow or Subscribe subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts. Did you love this episode and want more? Head to spring3.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 what? 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.