In 1998, creating content got me fired.
I was working at a personal training studio and writing a weekly health and fitness blog for two local newspapers. Clients started coming into the studio and requesting me by name. A few of them told me I should start my own thing. So I toured a nearby space out of curiosity. The studio owner found out and let me go on the spot.
I wasn’t trying to leave, but if I hadn’t been posting content, I wouldn’t have been that busy. All those clients wouldn’t have been coming to see me, and I wouldn’t have started my gym.
Content is what built my businesses. It’s how I started my personal training practice in 1998, how I built my gym starting in 2005, and how I built Two-Brain starting in 2009.
The strategy has evolved, but the principle hasn’t. Publish helpful content consistently, and the right people will find you.
I sat down with Two-Brain CEO John Franklin on “Run a Profitable Gym” to break down exactly how to use content as a gym growth funnel. Watch the full conversation below, and then keep reading for the key takeaways.
Content vs. Social Media
First, social media and content aren’t the same thing.
Social media is short-lived. A post gets attention for a day or two, then disappears. It’s great for drawing people in, but it doesn’t build trust on its own.
Social media is an amplifier, and what you’re amplifying is content.
Content is longer-form: a blog post, a podcast episode, a YouTube video. It answers real questions. It compounds over time. It lives on the internet permanently.
That permanence matters more than ever right now.
Roughly 30 to 40 percent of your potential clients are searching for gyms using AI tools instead of Google. They’re opening ChatGPT and asking, “What’s the best gym in my area?” or “How do I start working out?” And the AI goes looking for content to cite. If you’ve got a library of helpful, locally relevant articles and episodes, you’re the source it finds. If you don’t, you’re invisible to a growing chunk of the people who are actively looking for you.
Be 5-Mile Famous
The biggest trap I see gym owners fall into is trying to make content for the whole internet.
They’re watching what the top fitness influencers are doing and measuring themselves against it. They want to produce the best podcast in the fitness industry, the most viral reels and the most polished YouTube channel. And when they can’t hit that bar, they give up.
In reality, you only need to be five-mile famous. Create and publish content that is relevant and useful to people within your community.
Here’s an example: This February, I recorded a short podcast for my gym about battling seasonal depression. We’d just come out of a long, dark winter in Northern Ontario. That episode didn’t go worldwide, but it didn’t need to. It was relevant to my local community.
Brian Bott, a Two-Brain mentor and gym owner in New Jersey, does a version of this that I love. He’ll rent a studio for a day and record a whole season of podcast episodes at once, interviewing the best professionals in his area: the best physical therapist, the best chiropractor, the best chef.
When an episode drops, the local guest shares it, which introduces Brian to a whole new audience and signals to the community that he’s connected, credible and worth paying attention to.
What Good Content Does
Not all content works. The pieces that build your reputation and bring in members tend to share four qualities.
First, it’s local. You’re not trying to out-podcast Joe Rogan. You’re trying to be the most trusted fitness resource within five miles of your gym.
Second, it’s helpful. Your content should solve a real problem for beginners. Most of your audience doesn’t care about mitochondrial density. They care about not looking stupid on their first day at the gym, what to eat when they’re traveling, and how to stay consistent when life gets busy.
Third, it’s shareable, meaning people will want to pass it to their friends and family.
Fourth, it signals authority. You’re the local expert, and your content should sound like it.
Your Action Steps
Pick one format (blog, video or podcast), and produce at least one piece of content every week. Base it on a question you’ve answered at least a dozen times in your gym. Keep it local, keep it simple and get it out into the world.
If you can, distribute it somewhere beyond your social feed. A local online publication, your email list or a community Facebook group are all great options. The wider you spread it, the faster it builds.
I’ve been creating content for over 20 years, and it still works. Start this week and then be consistent with it—that’s where most gym owners fail.
And if you want help building a real plan for your gym, book a call.
