Let it Grow: Three Seeds to Plant for Studio Growth
1. Cultivate Your Audience Through Facebook Ads and Boosts
We believe, hands down, Facebook advertising is one of the absolute best values for your advertising/marketing budget. You are in full control of your budget and your audience. If you are new to Facebook Advertising, click here for a simple guide!
With Facebook Advertising, you can target zip codes, users with young children, income levels and pretty much any criteria you can think of. This level of target marketing puts your posts directly in the news feed of your prospective customers. You choose the number of people who can see it and how long to run your campaign, which puts you in control of the budget. Spending money on a Facebook campaign is more than worth the investment when you register even one new student. Not to mention the exposure!
In addition to a Facebook Ad, you can also “Boost” your posts. Getting started is super easy, just click the “Boost Post” button and follow the simple instructions. Boosting is a great way to increase your brand awareness and you can do these with a small budget! In addition, if your Facebook and Instagram Business pages are linked, you can opt to include your boost or ad on Instagram!
Here’s a great article on the difference between Facebook Ads and Boosts.
Quoted from the above article: “…a mix of Facebook ads and boosted posts are usually the best way to break up your Facebook social media marketing budget. Boosted posts will allow you to build your brand’s reach and fan base, while ads can help you translate your brand’s presence into tangible outcomes. This one-two punch will allow you to build likes and fans, then turn your new followers into actual customers.”
It may sound overwhelming, but it really is pretty simple, and there are tons of resources online and through Facebook to help you with your ads!
We have been doing a lot of Boosts for Rhythm Dance Center (our Dance Studio) this season, but we are getting ready to launch some ads to hopefully “grow” our classes for the new season! We will keep you posted on how it goes!
2. Nurture Your Existing Customers
You are likely already taking note of your registration on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Make sure you are paying attention to current students who have not yet registered. Either you or your teachers should reach out personally to any students who haven’t yet re-enrolled to encourage them to register. Sometimes that friendly call or e-mail from their dance teacher is all they need to feel special, important and remember how much they love dance class! This is also a great way to learn about and help resolve any issues that might be causing a student or parent to not return next season. If you want to involve your teachers, you could even make a fun contest around it. The staff member who re-enrolls the most students receives a fun prize or offer cash incentives for certain levels.
3. Branch Out and Blossom
While social media is one of the best tools out there for marketing, we also still believe in some of the more traditional advertising methods. If you can create a fun, eye-catching post card that truly conveys the spirit of your brand, a direct mail campaign targeted to households in your region can be very impactful. You can purchase mailing lists through various online services (we’ve used InfoUSA in the past). Note: We would advise against purchasing email lists as most people will consider that spam if they do not opt in themselves. You can also mail the postcard to former students and/or your lead file. There are so many options for printing your postcards–online or through a local printer. If you go this route, consider adding an incentive/offer/discount code in your mailing so that you can measure the success of the campaign.
As the popular saying goes, gardens are not made by sitting in the shade. So, dig in, plant those seeds, nurture your growth and enjoy your blooms!
