Fitness Business Podcast: Leadership, Innovation, and Profit · Justin Tamsett | Fitness Business Leader

Improve Member Retention with Podcast Marketing (with Jamie Kennedy): Episode 530

·39 min·2 clips

Virgin Active ran 67 episodes across two seasons and got over 30,000 listens.

1. Fitness Business Podcast Episode 530 focuses on using podcast marketing to improve member retention and attract prospects for gyms and studios. 2. Host Justin Tamsit interviews Jamie Kennedy, the producer of the podcast and owner of Brave Moon Podcast, because she works with health and fitness businesses on podcast strategy. 3. The episode asks how a podcast can turn a community into prospects and then into members by using storytelling and search discovery. 4. Justin opens with four data points on podcasting: over 500 million listeners worldwide in 2024, more than 800 million expected by 2028, 80% of listeners tuning in to most episodes, and over 5 million podcasts across genres. 5. Justin also names pod fading, defined as fewer than 10 episodes ever being completed, as the main failure mode for brands that start without a plan. 6. Dr. Paul Bedford from Retention Guru appears in the same episode and says visit frequency is the number one factor in member lifetime value. 7. Paul says the target is at least one visit per week, or four visits per month, because that level helps build a habit. 8. Paul tells club operators to check their management system and contact members who have not visited in two, three, or four weeks. 9. Jamie says podcasting works because it is a storytelling medium, and she separates user-experience stories inside the gym from brand stories outside the gym. 10. She gives examples such as a personal training session, a PR, an origin story, and an underdog story as material that can convert listeners. 11. Jamie says podcast attention averages 27 minutes, while YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are closer to two minutes or under. 12. She says that longer listening time lets a business tell a complete story and explain why the brand exists. 13. Jamie recommends branded storytelling books, naming Building a Brand Story by Donald Miller and several books by Kendra Hall. 14. She uses Virgin Active Minds as a case study and says the podcast was built around wellness rather than weight loss alone. 15. Jamie says the Virgin Active host was the head of yoga and Pilates, and he interviewed guests such as a neuroscientist, a gut health doctor, and a humanist chaplain. 16. She says Virgin Active Minds produced 67 episodes across two seasons and generated more than 30,000 listens. 17. Jamie says members came into the gyms and discussed episodes with instructors and personal trainers, which created new conversations around the brand. 18. The interview style is practical and conversational, with Justin pushing for examples, tools, and quickfire answers about length, hosting, and measurement. 19. Listeners who run gyms, studios, or fitness service businesses will get the most value from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for abstract media theory or entertainment-only content will probably skip it.

As heard by us

Podcasting is framed as a searchable retention tool when each episode answers one specific question.

Podcasting is treated here as a practical tool for gym businesses, not just a branding exercise. It can keep a gym in mind between visits, support retention, and help the right people find a show when they are already looking for a specific answer.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a retention playbook built around podcasting, this is the one to hear.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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