DTW_marketing1_MAINBy Steve Sirico of Dance Teacher Web

Your studio marketing funnel is the key to your growth and sustainability. In this two part article you will learn what is working and how to make sales after prospects call. This article will help you build an easy to implement program that will help your studio increase profits!

In part I we will focus on marketing. In Part II we will focus on sales. Your phone may be ringing off the hook but if your front desk person does not know how to sell then you have a BIG problem.

Marketing: Ways to cut through the clutter!

  1. Postcards: Yes some of you may be saying this is old school but it still works! Here is the best way to do it. Buy a list and combine it with your contacts for ages 3-16 and send a message that has a time sensitive offer and some kind of time frame that the prospect needs to respond. If you are only going to do one mailing you may not get a great response. It is best to do a few mailings. Three is best during a four month period. The price is right in regards to postage and printing.
  2. Online Pay-Per Click (Google, Facebook, Youtube and Superpages) If you are not yet doing pay per click you are missing out big time! Best of all it is easy to set up and you can turn it on and off at any time. All of these platforms will let you target prospects in your area, with children, and if you like in a certain income bracket. All of these platforms are also mobile friendly so prospect can contact by phone right from your ad.
  3. At home play date DVD: This is something we developed a few years ago and has helped us grow our preschool program. Here is how it works: You get one of your faculty members and some of your younger students to do a short (about 20 minutes) class where the teacher will talk to the camera inviting the viewer to participate in the class. We did three different styles for ages 3-5 in ballet, tap and hip hop. When a prospect calls the studio for information we will send this DVD trial class so the student can view at home before they come in to take a trail class. This has really helped us build our young children programs. If you have a videographer you work with he can film, edit and send the video to be duplicated which will cost you about $1:00 per DVD or less if you buy in bulk.
  4. Mailings to your current customers: This is one area where many studio owners miss out. Do you mail to your current customers? This is a wonderful opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell to them. Hey your customers love you and they are interested in buying more from you if you can show them the benefits. Cross-selling is showing them that their child can take a jazz class right after their ballet class. Invite them to try it out. Up-selling is to have them sign up for your competition team or to your unlimited package if you have one. Up-selling is to show the benefits to your customers of your top end programs.
  5. Priority Registration: This is for the end of your year. Get your customers to sign up in the spring for the new season. You will have to have your schedule set in the spring and send out recommendations to your customers so they know what to sign up for. This is also a great opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell your customers. Remember your customers are eager to hear from you. If you don’t know all the benefits your programs have to offer how will they know?

Do This Now!

Keep marketing to your current customers. Why? Because it is easy, cost effective and it works! As you know, students’ schedules change as the months progress. A day that didn’t work in August may work now. Think about when you are contacted by a business you enjoy frequenting. If they have a special offer or just letting you know some special they are having you like getting those emails. Well your customers love hearing about special offers from you and they love the fact that you are thinking about them!

Try This: Contact your customers each week this month to offer them a free trial week of classes, space permitting.

So there you have it. This marketing plan is simple to implement but works like magic. If you are looking for a good postcard company I recommend PostcardMania.com and you can contact them by phone at 800-628-1804. Mention that you read my article and you will receive special discount. If you are looking for help with your online tools I recommend you contact contact-local.com where they can help you get great results with your online marketing. Next month we will focus on Sales and how to get your front desk person to be a selling machine. If you are a one man or women show these tips will be the key to increase revenues and your bottom line!