The Studio CEO: Business Coaching For Yoga & Pilates Teachers & Studio Owners

The 2026 Messaging Rule: If It Could Be About Any Studio, Delete It

• Jackie Murphy • Episode 59

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0:00 | 18:39

Send Jackie A Message!

You've been posting consistently. You've got the aesthetic. You're showing up on Instagram. So why aren't new students finding you?

Here's the deal: if your marketing could describe any studio in your city, it's not marketing — it's filler. And in 2026, filler is costing you real students.

In this episode of the Studio CEO Podcast, Jackie Murphy breaks down exactly why generic messaging has become the biggest invisible barrier between yoga and Pilates studio owners and the clients they're trying to attract. Jackie shares the 2026 messaging rule she's using with studio owners inside the Studio CEO Program — and what needs to change in your content right now.

You'll walk away knowing how to audit your own messaging in under five minutes, why specificity attracts instead of excludes, and how to rewrite your next Instagram reel hook to stop the scroll and get potential students thinking "this is exactly for me."

If you've ever wondered why a competitor with a less beautiful feed keeps filling classes while yours sit half-empty, this episode has your answer.

Timestamped Outline:

  • [00:00] Introduction & why messaging matters more than ever in 2026
  • [02:15] The "can you swap the name?" test for your current marketing
  • [04:00] Why generic messaging happened — and why it's not your fault
  • [05:30] How AI tools like ChatGPT are making the problem worse
  • [06:45] Why specificity attracts instead of excludes
  • [07:59] The 3-part messaging audit: who, expertise, one person at a time
  • [10:00] Why Gen Z and Millennials respond to human, values-driven content
  • [11:00] Live example #1: Rewriting "benefits of yoga for moms"
  • [13:30] Live example #2: Rewriting "prenatal yoga flow" into a scroll-stopper
  • [16:00] Old messaging vs. new messaging — what the pattern looks like
  • [17:30] How Jackie writes 4 reels every week inside the Studio CEO Program
  • [19:00] Your next step: audit your messaging today

Key Takeaways:

  • If any studio could post it, delete it. Vague messaging makes you invisible — and in 2026, invisible means empty classes.
  • The name-swap test is your messaging audit in five seconds: swap your studio name for a competitor's. If it still makes sense, your copy needs work.
  • AI-generated content is making everyone's marketing sound the same. Writing your own human, specific, story-driven content is your competitive advantage.
  • Old messaging lists features and benefits. New messaging tells a specific story with a specific emotion that makes someone say "that's me."
  • Your organic marketing should generate at least 30% of your leads — but only if the messaging is doing its job.

Pull Quotes:

"Vague messaging is expensive, and it will end up costing you new students and members."

"If you swapped your studio name with a competitor's name, would anyone notice? If it still makes sense, that's your sign."

"You are not writing content to check a box. You are writing content to make people who don't know you stop their scroll and think: this is for me. I need to work with them."

"If any business could write it, it is not messaging — it is filler words."

"Gen Z deeply cares about

Work with Jackie Murphy


SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Studio CEO, the only podcast that empowers yoga and Pilates teachers and studio owners to step confidently into their role as CEO. If you are ready to show up with passion, take your business seriously, and scale to new heights without burning out, you are in the right place. I'm your host, Jackie Murphy, an award-winning certified business coach with over 12 years of experience inside the yoga industry. I have seen firsthand what it takes to build a profitable and scalable business. Join me as we dive into strategies, insights, and real-world advice that will help you grow your revenue, build a thriving team, and create a business that serves you as much as you serve your students. It's time to embrace your inner CEO and make more money without working more. This is just the beginning. Hello and welcome back to the Studio CEO podcast. I am Jackie Murphy and today we're gonna give you examples of what good messaging in 2026 could look like. Now, in the first start of the year, depending on when you're listening to this, we've done a few episodes on the importance of you leveling up your game as a marketer, of you really refining your ability to create solid messaging that helps you stand out. This is becoming a non-negotiable for businesses in this industry as we grow. And so if you want specific help with messaging, this is what's in the studio CEO program. This is what's really, really important for you to learn how to create curiosity, how to generate people's attention. And right now, I will say that your organic marketing, your organic messaging, if it's not being updated, it's probably not doing what it needs to do for your business, which is bring in at least 30% of your leads. And the reason that I say this is because I can scan through Instagram or go online and I can see three different new Pilates studios, and they have the exact same caption. It's something along the lines of transform your body and mind in our welcoming community with expert instructors. And really, here's the thing: if you swapped your studio name or your business name, would anyone notice? Vague messaging is expensive and it will end up costing you new students, members, it'll end up making your organic marketing not work very well, and especially end up making your ad performance not working very well, essentially making you invisible. So today's rule for the podcast is that if you look at your website, if you look at your posts and social media, and if any studio could write it or any business could write it, we want to make it more specific. So really think about this. If you have a potential client that Googles the very common keyword, Pilates near me or yoga near me, and she clicks on the first five results, and each one says, We have a welcoming community, we help you transform your mind and body, we have expert instructors, all levels are welcome, and all are beautifully aesthetic the way that studios are this day. She really can't tell the difference. And she's gonna pick based on price point, like a commodity, or just like whatever's closest to her in that moment. And you don't want to become a commodity. We are not a commodity business. I have done an entire podcast on that. We can pull that one out. You don't want to become a commodity. And so, how has this happened? Well, I have seen firsthand the rise of business education in this industry, but before that was available, really the best bet that businesses had was looking at the business down the street and being like, Well, what's their pricing? What are they saying? What are they doing? And so we kind of ended up copying each other, seeing things like transform or welcoming community, and then using those in your own business. And that's not bad. It's just time to make it specific, which brings me to my second reason of why this happened. There is a fear of being specific. Like Jackie, if I speak just to busy moms, won't I exclude everyone? And the answer is no, the answer always has been no, but I understand that that fear is very real for many, many people. The third reason is Chat GPT or AI has made this worse. Everyone is brainstorming content ideas on AI or writing content. Please don't do that. Please don't do it with AI and getting the same generic output. And so the final thing is like you probably haven't been taught how to be specific, how to make your marketing really stand out. But here's what's important for you to know vague messaging in 2026 is just not going to work because attention spans are shorter. It used to be three seconds to stop the scroll. Now you have two, two seconds. The online landscape is also noisier, right? There's more options that people can find and try. Competition is higher, there's more growth in the industry, and people are a little bit more skeptical because they have been around to different studios and they understand that while everyone says they're the expert, they may not actually be the expert. So the truth is that if your messaging could describe any business in the wellness industry, in the yoga and Pilates landscape, that is not messaging, that is filler words. And we want to take all the filler words out. So you can go test this right now. Go look at your website, go look at your Instagram bio, look at your latest post, and see if you could replace your business name with a competitor's name and have it still make sense. If it still makes sense, that's just your sign that it's time to make your messaging more specific. What this is gonna force you to do is that every time you're creating organic marketing, you're gonna be asking yourself, is this specific? Am I specifically speaking to one person? Is does this showcase my expertise? Does this differentiate me based off of something real? Does this demonstrate what I know or the knowledge that I have or the experience that I have? And am I talking to one person, not everyone? What happens is when you get more specific, the more the right people will see your marketing and be like, this is for me. Specificity doesn't exclude, it actually attracts. Now you may be like, but Jackie, we really do have lots of different people come into our business. So how can I just talk to one person? Well, listen, I didn't say you have to one talk to one person all the time forever, right? You can do an Instagram reel that says you're a busy parent, and then you could do a next one that says, Hey, you are a um pregnant mom, or the next one is, hey, you are a weekend warrior looking to work out this weekend. Like you talk to one person at a time, not one person forever, if you are bringing in multiple different types of audiences. Okay. So what I want you to audit for is welcoming community, transform your body, life, practice, expert extractors, all levels welcome, holistic approach, mind-body connection, state of the art, curated experience, journey, empower. And again, these are not bad words, but they are just meaningless if we don't really integrate them into your business's brand and values. So let me give you an example of that. Instead of saying welcoming community, you could say, listen, Sarah's gonna text you the night before class to let you know what to expect when you walk in. We can't wait to see you here. Do you see how that's different than saying we're a welcoming community? Or instead of transform your body, you're saying build enough core strength to carry all the groceries in in one trip without hurting your back. Instead of expert instructors, you're saying, you know what? Lindsay has worked as a PT assistant for five years and now is a Pilates instructor. So she knows how to work around your knee issue. We're getting more specific and more clear. And that is number one principle. Be specific about who and what. Who are you speaking to and what are they looking for? Principle number two is does it showcase your expertise? Can you show the expertise that you have instead of just claiming it? Can you offer specifics? Can you show videos of you working with clients or members or teaching a class? Can you show your education, your history, your behind-the-scenes studying? And then third thing is talk to one person at a time. Talk to the busy mom who hasn't worked out in three years. Talk to the dad who goes to the gym instead of taking a class. Talk to the postpartum person who's really looking to rebuild their core. When you do this, what's gonna happen is you're gonna end up sounding like a human, which is good, and not necessarily just a business, not just a copy and paste business. Gen Z is Gen Z and millennials are filling the yoga and Pilates industry right now. Like they're still boomers, but a lot of what's happening is coming from millennials and Gen Z. And Gen Z deeply cares about the values and the human connection and the people behind the brand. And so knowing that, we want to go ahead and start to really showcase them that, like, hey, we are humans running businesses. We have human experiences, we have human expertise, and we're gonna showcase all of that so that you can trust us and really feel like we see you, and you're just not a number one in a hundred coming in. So, let me give you two examples. These I just came up with right before. Let's say that you are creating Instagram content and you want to reach the moms. You want to fill your morning classes. And so you might be like, oh, I'm gonna do a reel, and the hook is gonna be benefits of yoga for moms. I mean, kind of interesting, but in the two seconds, am I gonna capture their attention? No, especially not a mom. She's busy. And so let's transform that hook and make it, hey, I snapped at my kid when they forgot to pick up their book bag for the millionth time. Now, here's how we're creating peace at home. That hook is so much more compelling because one, there's a specific moment. I snapped at my kid over a backpack. And there are a lot of moms who have experienced that exact moment. I'm sure I'll get there one day, right? Like the backpack is in the kitchen floor and in the way. We don't have backpacks yet. My kids are too young. But so many moms can relate with that. Number two, it names the real feeling. It doesn't say reduce stress for moms, but what it says is, hey, I lost it over a backpack. Like that implies, hey, I was stressed. This is what was happening. Then it shows expertise through your story, not through listing benefits, but showing the outcome. What we did to create a peaceful home. It talks to one person, moms who are touched out, running on empty, losing their temper. And it's in a human voice. This is the reel that gets stopped, stops the scroll, we'll say. It gets shared, it gets DM'd because it has all happened before. And if you have a strong caption that is compelling them to take action from this, maybe it's a specific class or thing that you're offering, that is gonna get them coming into your business from this content because it's not about yoga, it's about being a better mom. And yoga is the way that you get there, it's about what they already want. Okay, let's do another one. Example two that I wrote before this podcast. Before, this is actually a literal post that I just scrolled on Instagram. And the hook for the post was prenatal yoga flow. That's it. Prenatal yoga flow. After we're gonna make it 2026 ready, this is the hook I would say and said POV, right? Point of view. POV, you are a pregnant mom who almost booked an all-levels yoga class on class pass, but then you learn that yoga can feature unsafe moves for you and your baby. What? Number one, it names the specific fear. You almost booked the wrong class and it could have hurt. Now, this doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea. Some people are like, that's too fear-based for me. There's another way to do this with less fear. But I think what is really key here is that it's really specific. Hey, like you going to an all-levels class and doing what everyone else is doing is actually harmful for you. It calls out the real problem. All levels classes, teachers without prenatal training. Number three, it positions you as the expert who gets it. You understand that like they want to take class, but they don't necessarily know what class to take for them at that point in time. I think within the industry, we can think that prenatal women just obviously know that some moves are unsafe, but that is not true. It is not true. So this hook breaks that down and teaches: hey, some moves are unsafe while also meeting them where they are when they want to take class. Number four, it's a story format, it's the POV format. It's not here are the benefits, prenatal yoga. It's not just logistics, prenatal yoga flow, but it's literally like, hey, this is this thing happened. And number five, it creates urgency. After reading this, she's not about to book a random class. She's going to book your class, your prenatal focus class. So I want you to see the patterns in these. Old messaging is generic, it could be any business. It's listing benefits, it's listing features, it's listing logistics, it's more corporate, more businessy, and it talks at people. New messaging is specific moment, specific emotion, story driven. We want to be told stories. We want it to be real, human, and honest. It shows the outcome through experience and it talks with people like you are your friend. This is the shift. This is what's going to work in 2026. You are not writing content to check a box. You are literally writing content to make people who don't know about you stop their scroll and think, this is for me. I need to work with them. That is what converts. That is when you're doing social media the quote unquote right way. All right. So if you want help with this, one, I would love to help you with it. But two, you may not know this. Just like I shared the two hooks a moment ago, I write hooks every single week. I write four reels every single week for everyone inside the studio CEO community. I use this messaging. I use my industry knowledge and I make them specific where you can plug and play, you know, one studio is a power studio, the other studio is a restorative studio. You can plug and play what your business brand values, your human element is, but it takes all the guesswork out of this. What should my hook be? What should I post? How do I do this? How do I make sure this is gonna work? And when I write those, I make sure that I'm rotating. Who am I speaking to? Am I trying to attract someone brand new? Am I talking to the member who already follows us? Who am I speaking to? Because we can't just talk to one group of people on your organic marketing. We have to make sure that we are trying to talk to people who don't know you, people who are about to know you, people who do know you, all in the same strategy. So what you're gonna do now is go audit your messaging. You're going to think about is it still generic? Could I swap it? Would anyone know it was a different studio if we swapped out the names? And then if you want help writing these, if you want help making content and creating your messaging that works for 2026, the studio CEO program is the exact place for you. All right, my friends, I'll talk to you in the next episode.