“This also gives friends and family the opportunity to see and feel our community, oftentimes realizing we aren’t as intimidating as they perceive.”
That line comes right out of the 2026 Event Calendar at Woodslawn Fitness in Oregon.
It’s genius.
Gym owner and Two-Brain mentor Daniel Purington wrote it in the “why we do it” section for his seventh annual Memorial Day Murph event.
Murph is one of four or five “retention events” Daniel runs every year—all part of a detailed annual plan. This one gives his members something to train for and an opportunity to test their fitness in a challenging but fun workout.
Other retention plays include the Intramural Open (wrapping right now), an in-house lifting event in June and an in-house competition in September.
The concept is simple: Give people something to work toward, supply prep programs in advance, create opportunities for new wins outside classes and training sessions, and celebrate all successes during and after the event.
Daniel’s length of engagement (LEG) is 36+ months, by the way, so his plan is clearly working.
But here’s the aspect I want to highlight for you today:
Daniel’s retention events come with a huge dose of Affinity Marketing.
Retention—With a Dose of Affinity Marketing
Here’s exactly how retention and marketing match up at Woodslawn Fitness.
Daniel’s Murph event involves a barbecue, and friends and family are invited. They come to cheer on the member, but they also get to eat a burger while immersed in the gym’s friendly, supportive culture.
They have a few hours to form opinions:
- “These coaches are top notch.”
- “This place is cool.”
- “These people are just like me.”
- “I think I could do this, too.”
As you can imagine, Daniel acquires a few great members at every event—and that’s not even his primary goal. He’s making a retention play, with a little marketing tacked on.
Daniel runs a world-class gym, and this approach works for his model:
- He operates in about 2,000 square feet.
- He has about 170 members.
- Average revenue per member is about $350.
- LEG is 36 months or more.
- He only accepts four people per month into on-ramp.
- He does not use ads to generate leads.
You can see how Daniel has solved his marketing problem:
- He has maxed out a small space, so he spends most of his time working to retain very high-value members.
- At his retention events, he gives friends and family a chance to engage with the business, and he earns a few new members every time.
- He does not spend on ads, wade through cold traffic, nurture frosty leads and sell to distant strangers.
- He fills his gym by linking to the people closest to his current members (this is Affinity Marketing).
“Connecting is simple,” Daniel said. “Just say hello and thank them for making time to come by. Nothing icky. We do not pitch. We just gather information. We pull members from these events regularly, most often spouses. From (another) charity event, we tend to pull friends.”
This approach works perfectly for Woodslawn because the annual plan is rolled out early and promoted heavily, with a quarterly focus. Members know exactly what’s happening when and invite friends and family because the plan is clear. Staff members buy in and are responsible for the events.
And that’s how a great gym drives up its LEG for $350 members while casually pulling in friends and family members who will stay for three years, too.
It’s masterful.
A Simple Plan for You
Your exact plan will be different, depending on your business model.
So here’s a broad approach I would recommend for gym owners who aren’t already maxed out on high-value members:
- Put a retention event on your calendar in the next quarter—a simple workout where every member can have fun and win (we run the Catalyst Games every year).
- Tack on a barbecue for all members, and tell them to invite friends and family.
- Run a prep program so people who want extra attention can get it.
- Promote the event widely in your membership and have people register guests in advance with an email address so you can buy food.
- Create a mailing list for the event (including guests), hype the day and provide details.
- Make a list of every guest who will be there and plan to talk to everyone.
- Run the event, celebrate your members and show off your coaching.
- Talk to each guest. Your goal: Find out if you can help them with fitness. Do free consultations right at the event or book them shorty thereafter.
- Add all guests to your nurture sequences.
I bet your prep program will more than pay for the food.
And it’s obvious that you will improve retention with this event.
Bonus: You’ll acquire contact info for a host of hot leads.
I’d bet money that you’ll add some members—without speding a dime on ads.
That’s Affinity Marketing. It’s an active approach to building relationships.
Follow this plan in Q2 and grow your gym—then be sure to give Daniel a high five.
Our mentors have access to a complete toolkit of gym-building tactics just like this. To hear more about how we can help you grow your gym, book a call here.
