From a Reddit Search to a #1 Studio in SoHo with Kenko

What SoHo Pilates achieved in their first 90 days with Kenko:

The vision

Madeline and Matt wanted to bring Classical Pilates back to New York City the right way.

Madeline and Matt

Instead of "one size fits all" format that had become very common with a "boom" of Pilates everywhere, they focused on hiring fully certified instructors and building a space that would reflect the feel of Joseph Pilates’ work, from traditional apparatus to multiple rooms designed for private appointments, duets, and group classes.

After weeks of sleepless nights, of narrowing the vision of the studio and building (literally), the studio was ready to open by January of 2026.

The challenge: Filling classes and growing memberships

With Madeline’s background in ballet and Matt’s background as a video editor, together they already had a clear vision for what they wanted the studio to feel and look like. With a lounge room overlooking the city, a separate space for privates, and both reformer and mat classes, SoHo Pilates was built to feel rooted in Classical Pilates without feeling outdated.

The challenge was translating that same level of care into the digital experiences, which meant helping people discover the studio online, easily book their first class, and come back as members. After starting on another platform, they realized they needed something that could connect marketing, booking, memberships, and the client app into one system that felt as modern as the studio itself.

After starting on another platform, they realized their software couldn’t support the kind of experience they were trying to build; one that needed to connect marketing, booking, memberships, and the client app into one smoother system. Madeline and Matt were doing events, collaborations, and all the small creative things that make people want to pay attention, and the challenge was making sure that attention actually turned into bookings, and that people could discover them in the first place.

Opening a new studio in SoHo meant competing with businesses that already had years of local recognition, hundreds of Google reviews, loyal members, and strong local search visibility.

For Matt and Madeline, discovery mattered from the beginning. If someone was walking through SoHo, thinking about trying Pilates, or searching for a studio near them later that night, Matt and Madeline needed SoHo Pilates to be the first one they would find. Not placed under older studios with years of reviews or franchises. Not dependent on paid ads forever. But showing up when people were looking, especially when curiosity was still fresh enough to become a booking. But being found was only the first step. Once someone landed on the website, the experience had to be simple enough to carry them from that interest to first class without any friction.

Matt found Kenko through Reddit while he was researching booking and marketing platforms. What made him trust it was that the good feedback was recent. It wasn’t some old review from five years ago or a polished testimonial that felt "too good to be true" for studio owners. People just started talking about Kenko, and that sparked their interest. They wanted to work with a platform that felt modern, responsive, and young at heart.

“There’re so many booking systems out there. Once we found Kenko, I found it to be the most reliable one to use.” 

Matt, co-owner, SoHo Pilates

How Kenko helped

Kenko gave SoHo Pilates a software that could handle booking, marketing, and follow-ups all of it in one place, while most studios have to use third party tools that do not even integrate with each other.

Getting in front of the right people

SoHo Pilates used Kenko’s built-in AI SEO to show up on Google in the top searches, without running a single paid Google ad. Instead of waiting months to build search authority, the studio started ranking for some of the most competitive local Pilates searches almost immediately after opening. They hit the number one spot for “pilates near me,” “pilates close to me,” “pilates studio,” “pilates class for beginners,” and “pilates studio near me,” searches that did not even imply searching for SoHo Pilates directly. Every person in SoHo, who opened Google and searched for Pilates, whether they’d heard of the studio or not, whether they’d seen an ad or not, was landing on SoHo Pilates; 83% of those searches happened on mobile.

Every day, people in SoHo open Google looking for Pilates. This is where they end up. Before they even see the studio, Google is already influencing their first impression of the studio. Book a free consultation to see where you rank.

Turning website visitors into paying members

Kenko designed a website for SoHo Pilates, but getting people to the website was only the beginning. SoHo Pilates still needed a way to make that first booking feel easy. With Kenko, they could offer custom intro packs, one-time trial options, and discounted class bundles, giving new clients a low-pressure way to try the studio before committing to a membership. Because interest is fragile, and Kenko helps studios turn each moment of curiosity into a booking before it fades. See if you are missing anything in your current setup on a quick demo call.

Many fell in love with the studio as they saw the website…but then they realized they can book in seconds.

On top of memberships and intro offers, SoHo Pilates used Kenko’s Journeys to market to new visitors automatically through emails, text messages and app notifications. Follow-ups could be triggered after a first visit, helping the studio keep the conversation going and guide people toward membership. This also included ClassPass leads, giving the studio a way to follow up without manually tracking every drop-in.

“The booking system was probably one of the most important things we needed to figure out.”

Matt, co-owner, SoHo Pilates

Building a studio experience members love

Once someone became a member, the goal was to make sure they stayed one. A branded mobile app meant SoHo Pilates lived in their members' phones, not just their calendars. Members could book, track their progress, and feel part of something worth showing up for.

The app that turns a first class into a can't-stop-won't-stop love for Pilates and your studio.

The results

Initial revenue well above the industry average

Most new fitness studios bring in somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 in their first quarter. SoHo Pilates finished 57% above that range. They also reached a 38.4% class occupancy rate within the same window, which is a strong number for a studio that had been open less than three months.

Outranking all studios in SoHo

To understand what this visibility actually means, it helps to know what the market looks like. Within 0.7 miles of SoHo Pilates, there are 17 competing studios, and the nearest one is just 550 feet away. The average competitor in that set has 125 Google reviews. SoHo Pilates had 28. Despite that, they were showing up more consistently in local Pilates searches within the first 3 months of opening than any of those studios after years in business.

When someone tells you the reason why they don’t appear in the top searches on Google is the amount of reviews and more time in business, as in this case, having the right profile setup mattered more than how long they’d been around or how many reviews they’d collected. For Madeline and Matt, that meant new potential members were finding them first, before they ever had a chance to find a competitor.

What this means if you're running a studio

Matt and Madeline figured out that having a great studio isn't enough if the right people can't find it. And getting people to take one class isn't enough if the experience on the other end doesn't convert them into members. They solved both of those things at once, from the very first day they opened, and it showed up directly in their revenue.

If you're just getting started and trying to figure out how to compete with studios that have been around longer than you, or if you've been open for a while and feel like you're not getting found the way you should be, those are exactly the kinds of problems Kenko is built to help you work through. Start with a free studio growth audit.