With nearly two decades in fitness marketing, UpSwell has built a reputation for helping gyms of every size grow and retain membership. We sat down with CEO Eric Goodstadt to find out what’s driving their rapid growth and what they see coming next for the industry.
Most gym owners didn’t get into the fitness business to become marketers. They got in because they believe in what movement does for people. But belief doesn’t fill a membership roster, and in an industry where margins are razor thin, empty slots don’t stay manageable for long.
That’s the gap UpSwell has spent almost a decade trying to close, one location at a time.
It’s a philosophy that has shaped UpSwell since the company entered the fitness industry in 2017 by acquiring Muscle Up Marketing, a firm already a decade deep in the space. Combined, that’s nearly 20 years of fitness marketing experience and a client roster that now spans 2,500 fitness businesses and more than 14,000 location-based businesses nationwide.
The portfolio runs the full spectrum, from boutique concepts like BODYBAR Pilates, one of the fastest-growing franchises in the category, to major big-box players like Crunch Fitness. The company recently doubled in size to 130 employees across three states and was acquired by Mountain Gate Capital — growth Eric Goodstadt, the CEO of UpSwell, credits directly to the work being done at the location level.
“That’s what motivates us every day,” said Goodstadt. “Whether it’s location number 300 for Crunch or one individual club, our focus is the same: How do we help that specific location reach its membership goals? If we can do that, they thrive and so do we.”
In a marketing landscape full of distractions, UpSwell has made a point of ignoring most of them and focusing on membership acquisition and retention instead.
“We don’t get distracted by all the other fun things that associate with marketing, like doing the most recent viral TikTok challenge or doing logos on water bottles,” explained Goodstadt. “We stay away from all of that, and we stay focused on time-tested, time-trusted tactics that drive membership growth and membership retention.”
What’s interesting is that the traditional divide between how big-box gyms and boutique studios approach those two goals is beginning to close. Historically, large gym chains focused heavily on acquisition while boutiques leaned into nurturing and relationship-building. That dynamic is starting to invert.
“We’re seeing a significant shift of those operating models inverting” explained Goodstadt. “big boxes are focusing a little bit more on retention and nurturing and the boutiques are investing more in member acquisition because they’re seeing the marketplace become a little challenged of late.”
UpSwell sits squarely at that intersection, helping both sides of the market adapt as the lines between them blur.
One of the clearest illustrations of how UpSwell operates comes from a boutique client that was watching its membership numbers steadily decline. Leads were coming in, but attrition was outpacing acquisition. The solution wasn’t just a better ad — it was a more human one.
UpSwell built a win-back campaign centered not on promotions or discounts, but on community. The message wasn’t simply “come back.” It was a reminder of what they were actually leaving behind — the people they worked out next to, the relationships they’d built and the sense of belonging that’s harder to replace than a gym membership.
At the same time, Goodstadt’s team advised the owner to lean into the gym’s own software tools, which flag members who are at risk of churning. The owner ran with it. Trainers began acknowledging and encouraging at-risk members by name during class. Actual members were used in bulletin board campaigns. And at the end of the day, people felt seen.
“Everyone likes to be recognized,” said Goodstadt. “And when you take that moment to highlight a member, especially someone who’s been with you for a while, it only reinforces the decision that they made. In most cases, they’re spending a significant amount of money with you every month. That’s a good way to remind them of the value.”
The result: attrition slowed, acquisition held steady and membership numbers found their balance again. It’s a story Goodstadt tells not just as a case study, but as an example of what he sees as one of UpSwell’s most valuable — and least billable — offerings.
“There is a large portion of our business where we provide value that we don’t get paid for, and it’s not our direct business,” explained Goodstadt. “And ultimately it is up to the owners to execute, but we believe that’s one of the greatest values we can provide is to say, ‘Here’s what works somewhere else and this is how you can implement it. Now it’s up to you to do so.’”
This is just one of the three main reasons Goodstadt believes UpSwell stands out as a true partner to the industry.
The first is how the company uses data — specifically, that it uses data on the front end to drive targeting decisions, not just on the back end to explain results. The goal is to find people who are genuinely likely to join, stay and become part of the community — not just anyone within a five-mile radius.
The second differentiator is closed-loop attribution. Because UpSwell integrates directly with point-of-sale systems, like ABC Financial, the company can tell clients not just who they targeted, but who actually walked through the door and what membership tier they chose. That data then feeds back into campaign optimization, helping operators think about not just filling their gym, but filling it with the right members.
Lastly is UpSwell’s industry expertise.
“Because we’ve been in the fitness industry for over two decades we bring a wealth of experience” explained Goodstadt. “We bring that wealth of experience of what’s been successful at a boutique, a luxury lifestyle gym or possibly a big box. And at the same time, because we currently work with more than 2,500 gyms across the country, we’re able to tell you what’s working in one marketplace versus another one. We try to help our owners have success, not just from a marketing perspective, but on an operational level as well. That balance between what we get paid for and where we provide value — that’s just part of the being within the UpSwell community.”
Goodstadt recalled a recent conversation with a franchise organization that had been wrestling with sluggish growth for months. Within minutes of reviewing their lead data, Goodstadt was able to identify two problems: their close rate was well below industry standards, and their locations were spending about half of what they should be on marketing.
“The head of marketing just laughed,” said Goodstadt. “They said, ‘I’ve been banging my head against a wall for three months and all I had to do was call you for five minutes.'”
Looking ahead, Goodstadt is most excited about what he describes as UpSwell’s expanding ability to achieve “household ownership” — reaching the right people across every channel, digital and broadcast, down to the property line of a given trade area.
The company has significantly expanded its digital capabilities in recent years, adding paid social, search engine marketing and OTT/streaming to its toolkit. The goal is to identify the ideal households for a given gym and surround them with consistent, relevant messaging — regardless of where they’re spending their time or attention.
Critically, that work happens at the location level, not the system level. Whether a client has one location or 20, each location gets its own market analysis, its own targeting strategy and its own ceiling to hit.
“If you are an owner with 20 locations, we’re helping you identify the maximum potential for each of those 20 locations, not your system,” explained Goodstadt. “Local ownership of the property line is essential for success.”
That also means rethinking what a “good” lead actually looks like. A smaller list of high-fit prospects who are likely to close, Goodstadt argues, is almost always more valuable than a massive list of people who were never a real fit to begin with. “It isn’t about quantity, though quantity is important,” he said. “It’s about that balance of quantity and quality and ensuring that your gym stays full.”
UpSwell’s growth — from 70 employees and roughly 6,000 client locations in 2024 to 130 employees, headquarters in three states, and more than 14,000 businesses today — didn’t happen by chasing trends. It happened by staying relentlessly focused on what actually moves the needle for the business owner.
That means data-driven targeting before a dollar is spent. It means knowing who walked in the door and what they’re worth to the business. It means picking up the phone and telling a franchise operator something their own team missed. And sometimes it means reminding a lapsed member that their instructor misses them.
“Helping our clients achieve their dreams gives us the most enjoyment,” said Goodstadt. “That’s what motivates us each and every single day.”
