Strava wants to be more than the app where runners show off their pace. The company is now pushing hard into strength training, betting that the community-driven growth that built its running business will carry it into the weight room.

More than 195 million people worldwide now use Strava, according to the company. Major brands already turn to the platform for sports marketing initiatives, and last year Strava grew internally through its acquisition of the personalized training app Runna.

Despite that growth, Strava's marketing budget didn't start out particularly large, CMO Louisa Wee told Marketing Brew. The social nature of the app has fueled organic expansion across the running community, and Wee's team now aims to embed it in other segments of the fitness ecosystem.

"Strength training is growing as a part of people's lives," Wee said at a Strava event hosted at Soft Bar, a non-alcoholic cafe in Brooklyn run by Summer House star Carl Radke. "People are choosing to live active lives that are just very diversified—more sports, more different sports…With those types of trends, it was really clear to us that we needed to support people in strength in a way that would allow them to enjoy what they do on Strava the same way [as running]."

Riding the strength trend

Strength training ranks among the top fitness activities and goals for US consumers, according to multiple industry reports. On Strava, it is among the fastest-growing activity types users log, the company said. To encourage that behavior, Wee's team leans largely on word-of-mouth, which she said has long "carried the day" for the company.

The marketing team does have plans to amplify the conversation around Strava and strength, including through the mid-August event at Soft Bar. The gathering was intimate, but cameras filmed content for media outlets and social profiles.

Radke, who appeared onstage, was joined by Summer House: Martha's Vineyard alum and marathon runner Nick Arrington for a conversation about Radke's sobriety journey and his path to fitness training, including launching the Soft Strides Run Club and preparing to run both the Berlin and New York City marathons this fall. That training includes plenty of strength work, Radke said—all trackable on Strava.

"I really tried to diversify my workouts, and believe it or not, I've been tracking random Strava stuff like walking," he said onstage. "I played golf on Monday—I tracked my 18-hole golf round. It's been cool to find other ways to use the Strava app…and I like the accountability component of sharing your workout."

Product first, paid media later

Strava's strength push began in earnest in May, when the company announced it would overhaul the "strength activity experience" on the app. The effort involves partnerships with influencers and with other fitness companies.

An integration with the gym workout tracker app Hevy, for example, aims to make tracking and sharing activities like lifts easier on Strava, Wee said. Recording sets and reps currently poses more friction for gymgoers than the set-it-and-forget-it method available for tracking runs.

As the strength updates roll out, Wee said her team will likely run a media push behind them, potentially including ads or posts on Strava's owned channels "around the right times of year." She also hopes users will spread the word about the new utility themselves.

"When people are thinking about doing those types of workouts, we will talk to our users," Wee said. "When it gets cold, people move indoors, so we'll do a good job of talking about it then and putting the word out. But a lot of Strava is just driven by that…passion about [an activity], and [people] want to tell their friends and family about it."

Source: Marketing Brew (https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/stravas-strength-training-soft-bar-carl-radke?utm_source=&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=feed) / Source: tiktok.com (https://www.tiktok.com/@adweek/video/7676143953569205535)