Yoga Business Insights from Mudra Marketing

Stop The Drain! Effective Ways to Keep Your Yoga Students for Life

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

yoga poses

It is known that yoga provides balance and harmony to this stressful life. You may live in a city where there are a lot of yoga studios offering an array of classes and practices. If you are a yoga instructor, one of the many challenges you may face is keeping students coming week after week. Here are some tried and true techniques to keep your students coming to your classes.

Tip#1 – Incentives. People love freebies. Offer your current students discounts or added classes if they renew prior to their package expiring. But in order to keep your business going in the right direction, you need to ensure that your promotions are tied to generating income rather than giving away something for nothing. For example, trial offering the discounts at your higher level packages.

Tip#2 – Comfort & Convenience. Make your yoga studio an environment that is inviting and where people feel relaxed and at ease. Provide a couple of lockers for your customers; have an area where they can keep their yoga mats safely; stock your washrooms and showers with shampoo, soap, even towels.

Tip#3 – With new students (and current), make them feel welcomed and part of the studio. Everyone loves to feel like they are important especially when he or she is paying to be there. Remember names, inquire about their progress and provide helpful hints or tips for their practice.

Tip#4 – Ensure the purchase process is flexible by allowing people to pay with cash, credit or debit. I remember at one particular studio I visited, when I was ready to purchase my package after an intro class that day and only discovering that they didn’t accept credit cards, proved a loss for them.

Tip#5 – Communication goes a long way. Be aware after teaching a class of students who may be lingering around and likely waiting to have a chance to speak with you. A lot of newbies are intimidated with talking to a teacher yet if you give them a few minutes of your time, it gives them confidence that you are interested in their progress. Provide your email or phone number and open yourself up to being contacted by your students.

In the beginning, many of us are focused on getting as many students in the door as possible. But once they’ve taken the step to start yoga, we must not forget to nurture their commitment and interest in the practice.

Posted in Blog | 3,272 Comments »

Yoga Marketing Case Study – Printed Brochure

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Sample Yoga Studio Brochure Card

Throughout the years I’ve visited many yoga studios when traveling for business or for vacation. I usually like to pick up a brochure or flier when I see a studio nearby to see if I’d like to check it out later.

I’d like to highlight one in particular I picked up recently at a yoga studio in Montreal and talk about what works when using advertising materials to promote your studio and classes. If you are thinking of creating a piece or have one currently, use this checklist to make sure you have these key items.

  1. The objective! Figure out the main purpose for your brochure or flier. Is it for potential students to grab as they walk by (advertising) or for your current students to take home with them to reference class schedules (retention material).
  2. The size of your piece matters! You want it large enough so people will notice and pick it up, not too large where it’s a deterrent or tool small where it could go unnoticed. I recommend a post-card size piece. Business card size class schedule works for regular students who just want a class schedule.
  3. Logo and contact information. We’ve talked about how important it is to make sure your logo appears in all your advertising materials and website. Make sure your logo is prominent (usually on the top left or bottom right corner) and that you have all contact information such as your website, phone number, address.
  4. A class schedule is key. Use a table format for easy reference with the time of day the class starts and the day of the week. This will allow potential students to figure out which classes are suitable for them.
  5. Use visual cues and colour schemes. You want people to notice. Use bright or coordinating colours to catch the eye and color blocks to differentiate class types. Use a legend if required.
  6. Use both sides! The other side of this particular piece is a solid background with the name of the studio and logo. Remember, you want to use all the space available to you without going overboard with extraneous information. You’re paying to print these out so make best use of the real estate you have.
  7. Include directions to your yoga studio. I suggest putting a small visual map of your studio so potential students can remember where they saw you.
  8. Try a yoga promotional offer. Use a small section to promote a specific offer for first time students. This can provide the final motivation they need to come check out your yoga classes. For example, place a first class free with brochure offer in the piece which will also allow you to measure how effective this piece of advertising is.
  9. Use pricing if it’s relevant. In general, most yoga studios market their classes with the similar price levels and structure. I recommend including some yoga class price info if you have a current promotion or to target first time students.

With a few minor tweaks, this particular brochure would be a top notch yoga marketing piece of creative. For other yoga advertising tips and low-cost ideas to market your yoga studio business, check out the Boost Your Yoga Business! Toolkit. Included in this toolkit, you get the Promote Your Yoga Business on a Tiny Budget guidebook for strategies that will save you time and money.

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Posted in Blog | 6,271 Comments »

Why FREE is key…

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

free-stuff
Everyone loves free stuff. In any form. Whether it’s free food samples at the grocery store or promo items like pens and magnets. So, what does this have to do with your yoga business?

Well, almost every yoga studio has some sort of promotion targeted at new students – $10 discounted price for your first class, 20% off if you buy a series of classes, etc. But why not go that extra step and give away that first class for free?

Yes …FREE!

Why?

There are already so many hurdles a potential client goes through before they finally land into one of your classes. Maybe they’ve finally found the time, maybe they were unsure of what practicing yoga can do for them, maybe they felt intimidated, maybe they thought they’re too old, too young, too physically weak, too busy and all those other excuses to finally decide to give yoga a shot.

Now what? They have to find a studio or teacher. They look through the phonebook, do searches online, talk to friends, co-workers. Then comes all the other decision factors. Do they choose your studio? Is it the closest? Are they catered to beginners, is this the right style of yoga and one of the primary decision criteria potential students use…how much does it cost?

So why not remove this barrier altogether and make their first class for free? Or even the first week free?!

Like the old adage – it’s better to give than to receive. With the recession, you may have noticed many large corporate companies all running free programs – McDonalds free coffee, Starbucks free lattes, and KFC free chicken combos (which got a mention from Oprah!).

This gets them in the door and without any guilt in spending their hard-earned money on trialing an activity they’re not sure they would enjoy. If they paid $10 for their first class, their perception of the benefit and value from that first class is judged against the fee they paid.

Think about if you were at a restaurant, see an item on the menu that you’ve never tried before and ordered it. Say it cost $30, your review of the meal will now be based against the cost and you might not have enjoyed this new dish as much (too cold, too hot, too bland)…now imagined if the waiter came by and said your meal was free, all of a sudden, you’re now glad you tried something new, and pleasantly surprised to learn that you actually really like eggplant!

In general, people are more likely to buy when they feel they have received something initially for free.

And what does free get you?? A lot! You will get more potential students to trial your studio that could turn around and be regular members. If they don’t convert right away, you’d have their name and email address that you can use for future opportunities. Maybe they’ll even bring a friend for their first time, now you have 2 potential new students. They’ll get a chance to see what your studio is like, the atmosphere, the teachers, the other students. You will also get you word-of-mouth opportunities that people will pass on.

Try it out at your yoga studio for a month or so and see if this brings in more trial students.

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Posted in Blog | 3,210 Comments »

Promoting Your Yoga Studio in Online Forums

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Forums are an easy, low-cost way to promote your yoga studio and services. The proliferation of forums over the last few years stems from people seeking like-minded people and communities to share advice and experiences.

Forums can be a mystifying place for many people. When new to the forum world, the most common question is “how do I get started?” The experience can be intimidating especially when the community is very tight knit.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts to guide you as you venture into the world of forums.

  1. Find a forum that is specific to your local city. After all, you want to target potential customers that can join your studio! Also, search for yoga-specific forum sites. You can benefit as a yoga studio owner by networking, keeping on top of yoga trends and sharing experiences and advice with other studio owners.
  2. Provide relevant and useful information that is specifically related to the topic. Stay on subject! A forum can quickly turn sour if all threads are filled with people touting and advertising their businesses. These postings are considered spam and you could be faced with unwanted attention from moderators or other posters.
  3. Post regularly, consistently and as soon as possible. This will allow you to test the waters, build rapport and credibility within the community. Eventually other contributors and readers on the forums will seek your opinion and advice as an expert.
  4. Don’t downplay the downside! Introducing yoga into people’s lives is a rewarding and motivating aspect of teaching or running a studio. There are also risks and precautions when it comes to beginning yoga that shouldn’t be avoided when it comes to providing advice to the community.
  5. Always be polite and remember that tone can be difficult to detect when it comes to text-based communication. People often misread comments and can take offence when none was given.
  6. Avoid the drama. Forums can have their fair share of participants who can be difficult. Back and forth negative and off-putting comments are not uncommon. The best advice even if you find the comments infuriating is to use good judgment and avoid getting involved.

The main points to keep in mind with participating in forums are to participate, contribute and try to have fun!

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Posted in Blog | 3,347 Comments »

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