Refuel Bootcamp: nail your target audience

Knowing your target audience is critical for the success of any health and fitness business. Understanding who your members are and what matters to them means you can deliver a personalised experience that meets their needs and keeps them coming back.

And that’s something Jersey Giambrone knows all about. The author and motivational speaker is franchising his Refuel Bootcamp following the success of his two studios in Niceville and Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Measuring just 900sq ft each, the two sites have almost 450 members between them. Here are Jersey’s top three tips for success.

Focus on your market.

You can’t cater to everyone. Your offer will attract some people, but not all. So you need to define your target audience and identify their needs so you alleviate their pain points.

Jersey targets female members, and he has refined Refuel Bootcamp to become laser-focused on what his female members want from a fitness offering.

“I’d say most women who go to a regular gym are not sure what to do when they get there, are wondering if they are doing their workout right, and are concerned that people are looking at them.”

Refuel Bootcamp offers six classes that run daily, six days a week. The concept provides orange and green lighting in the studios, TV screens demonstrating how movements should be performed, and other screens showing clients’ Myzone tiles and effort data. All classes are booked via an app, with a limited 18 spots available in each class – creating both demand and intimacy.

“Having this structure for classes means women feel comfortable and they feel invited. All classes are led by a trainer who walks around the room to ensure they do things correctly. It’s all about the comfort zone of women. They can look at the screen to check they are doing things the right way while working out with their friends and other women.”

Build your community.

“For me, the community is huge, and I harp on about it a lot. I think that’s what has made me so successful. We are always rewarding clients – for completing 50 classes, 100 classes, 200 classes etc. We run fun pant Fridays, ‘Wear your Refuel merchandise’ Saturdays, and every quarter we have a social gathering where members from both studios come together and meet everyone from all the classes.”

He also runs near constant MEP challenges, which helps to build a socially connected community.

“Myzone is a motivator – I require clients to get 100 MEPs per class to hit their monthly MEP target. Myzone is a great tool for motivating members in and outside the studio to earn their MEPs. We post on MZ-Chat all the time and are constantly communicating with members. Everyone wants to feel part of something, and Myzone ties that into what we are doing here at Refuel.”

“I thrive on community. My philosophy is that we are all one, which has made these small studios successful.”

Be specific in your marketing.

With a fundamental understanding of your customers, you can focus your marketing spend on your demographic to make your advertising more effective.

“Our advertising spending goes up and down, but we don’t turn our advertising off. We also don’t want to waste money, so all our adverts target women because I know they are my demographic.”

Refuel Bootcamp has some male members – typically two to three men in every class of 18, but women always dominate the classes. And the success of Refuel’s advertising campaigns reflects this.

“We’ve done ads that target everyone and ads that target men, and we always get the best ROI when we target women only.”

Data is one of your most important assets and should drive your decisions, says Jersey. “Whether you do Google or Facebook ads, you always want to know your data. For example, how much does it cost per click, and what does it cost to get one client?”

He uses Myzone in the same way, using the data supplied by the heart rate technology to get a clear picture of how each site is performing and how they are motivating members to train more often. It pays to drill down into the detail.

“I’ll look at the total number of MEPs for both studios monthly to spot discrepancies. For example, is one site way ahead of the other, and if so, why? I can see in the App, who hasn’t been to the studio for a while, so I’ll send them a message.”

Take a look at Refuel's website.