VAULT · Member Acquisition Strategy

Year One target: 800 paid members by Month +12 Founding cohort: 450 members confirmed pre-open Rolling public admission: 350 members added Months +1 through +12 Blended CAC target: under $250

Owner: Tia Dunn, Marketing Director Strategic lead: Trill Walker, CSO Founder as anchor: Taj Hines

Why the CAC Target is Realistic

Most private clubs spend $600 to $1,200 per acquired member in Year One. We can beat that meaningfully because of five structural advantages the market cannot replicate.

1. Taj’s owned network. A founder with a deep, personal audience that trusts her taste. Waitlist growth is compounding without paid spend.
2. Trill’s professional network. A cultural cohort (choreographers, MDs, athletes, artists) that gives us a founding member roster money cannot buy.
3. Taj’s Hot 97 access. A single broadcast segment moves regional NYC/NJ interest. That is a media asset with a real dollar equivalent.
4. Taj’s Team Hennessy access. Presenting-partner economics on opening night and potential title sponsorship on the INVITATIONAL. Both offset direct marketing costs and generate earned media.
5. Tia in-house. No external agency retainer for social, email, or content. Cross-brand efficiency with Nomad Society compounds this.
6. VAULT INVITATIONAL brand halo. TWG-produced traveling championship generates national press that money cannot buy at press-release rates.

We treat CAC as blended across paid, organic, referral, and PR-attributed. Founding cohort is treated as zero CAC because the waitlist funded itself.

Channel Ranking (Y1)

Total attributed: 800. Total marketing spend attributed to Y1 acquisition: approximately $180K (agency PR + paid). Blended CAC: $225.

Channel Detail

1. Organic social

Owner: Tia Cadence: Daily on Instagram (Taj personal + VAULT account), three per week on TikTok Content pillars: - Founder POV (Taj, first person, unpolished) - Building diary (construction to open, then daily life) - Program voice (practitioners, class formats, member spotlights with consent) - Cross-brand storytelling (Nomad Society x VAULT, coordinated)

Voice discipline: - No overt marketing language. - No hashtag stacks. - No trending audio unless it fits. - Captions read like short letters.

Ownership stack: - Taj personal Instagram: Taj drafts, Tia produces - VAULT Instagram: Tia owns - Trill Instagram: cross-post at his discretion, particularly on INVITATIONAL milestones

2. Referral engine

Owner: Tia (mechanic), Taj (voice) Mechanic: Waitlist-tier referral tracking, founding-member post-opening incentive tier.

Post-opening member referral structure: - Refer one member who signs: one guest month pass gifted. - Refer three members who sign: annual guest privileges elevated (from 4 to 8 passes). - Refer six members who sign: annual dues credit equal to one month’s rate. - Refer ten members who sign: named cofounder-circle status, priority INVITATIONAL access, personal note from Taj.

We do not publish these tiers on the site. Members find them in the founding member handbook and via personal note.

Attribution: - Referred members are asked at application: “Who told you about VAULT?” - Referring member is credited automatically. No affiliate codes, no tracking links, no leaderboard.

3. Influencer partnerships

Owner: Taj (relationships), Tia (execution) Approach: Host, do not pay.

Cohort curation: - Taj’s personal network first (60 creators, hand-selected). - Trill’s professional dance world second (choreographers and tour dancers across Beyoncé, Latto, GloRilla, Doechii, Teyana camps). - Cross-brand pull from Nomad Society (Tiyya-connected editorial creators).

Activation cadence: - Month -3: private preview weekend (12 creators, no post required). - Month 0: Wednesday of opening week (60 creators, hosted day). - Month +2: quarterly hosted day format begins.

What we do not do: - No paid post agreements. - No content approval requirements. - No rate cards.

Why this works: Taj’s network posts because the experience is worth posting. Trill’s network posts because the community is theirs. That produces content no agency can produce.

4. Corporate B2B (bulk employer)

Owner: Trill Target accounts (Charlotte HQ or major regional presence): - Duke Energy - Bank of America - Truist Financial - Honeywell - Lowe’s - Wells Fargo (Charlotte office) - Ally Financial - LendingTree - Red Ventures

Program structure: - Corporate memberships sold in blocks of 10, 25, or 50. - Blended rate: 20% discount vs individual founding rate. - Corporate members receive full club access, same programming, same standards. - Employer receives quarterly executive dinner in the dining room, one strategic offsite hosted in the library.

Sales cadence: - Month -8: intro decks sent to 12 named HR/wellness leaders. - Month -6: three signed LOIs (target). - Month -3: five signed LOIs. - Month +2: first corporate program activated in-club. - Month +6: 100 corporate-attributed members onboarded.

Owner discipline: Trill runs this. Taj is not in HR meetings. Taj is at the strategic offsite, on request.

5. Hot 97 media halo

Owner: Taj (relationship), Tia (scheduling) Activation moments: - Month -10: intro call to establish relationship, no ask. - Month -3: Taj on-air segment, ties to INVITATIONAL announcement. - Month 0: post-opening interview, extended, ties to national wave. - Month +4: INVITATIONAL Y1 coverage.

Downstream: - Regional NYC/NJ interest drives waitlist growth from Taj’s home market. - INVITATIONAL athlete pipeline sourced through the same relationship (Complex, XXL follow).

6. VAULT INVITATIONAL brand halo

Owner: Trill (production), Tia (marketing) Effect on member acquisition: - National press placements on the INVITATIONAL create awareness that converts to waitlist signups. - Athletes and their networks become member-adjacent (guests, day passes, aspirational membership). - Y1 INVITATIONAL held in Charlotte creates a moment tied to the club itself.

Attribution model: INVITATIONAL-attributed members are those who cite it at application. We estimate 40 in Y1, growing meaningfully in Y2 as second-city announcements land.

7. Paid media

Owner: Tia Budget: $150K Y1 Split:

Targeting discipline: - No broad awareness campaigns. - No lookalikes from cold audiences. - No pre-roll on YouTube. - Every creative is editorial, not promotional.

Creative principle: Paid creative looks like organic. No CTA button in the frame. No text overlays. If the ad works, the viewer thinks it is a magazine.

Conversion Funnel

Blended CAC (paid + agency): $180K / 800 members = $225.

Founding cohort CAC (pre-open): $0 direct. Waitlist was earned via founder story and referral. Attributed to brand build.

Post-founding CAC (Months +1 through +12): $180K / 350 rolling members = $514. Elevated because this is where paid does the work, but still meaningfully below industry standard.

Metrics and Reporting

Weekly (Tia to Taj and Trill): - Waitlist signups (net new) - Applications received - Tours booked - Members signed - Referral count (attributed) - Social growth (Taj + VAULT)

Monthly (Tia to steering call): - Channel attribution report - CAC by channel - Press placements (from PR strategy) - Corporate B2B pipeline status - Paid media performance

Quarterly (Tia to Taj + Trill + accounting): - Total marketing spend vs plan - CAC vs target - LTV projection based on Y1 retention data - Y2 plan revision

Y1 Retention (Feeds Y2 Acquisition)

Acquisition without retention burns capital. Y1 retention target: 85% of founding cohort renews, 75% of public admission cohort renews. Y2 acquisition needs are smaller when Y1 retention holds.

Retention levers owned by ops, not marketing: - Programming quality (practitioner cohort) - Community rhythm (member events, quarterly hosted days) - Personal recognition (Taj remains present) - Guest privilege value (drives loyalty)

Marketing’s role in retention: monthly member letter from Taj, quarterly recap, INVITATIONAL priority moments, cross-brand access to Nomad Society drops.

What We Do Not Do

• No discount codes, ever.
• No affiliate program.
• No paid influencer posts.
• No lookalike targeting from cold audiences.
• No trial memberships.
• No Groupon, ClassPass, or aggregator listings.
• No “friend and family” pricing beyond the founding cohort structure.
• No press releases with the word “unveils.”

Acquisition is a story we tell and a room we welcome people into. Not a funnel we optimize.