Ways To Promote Dance | Introduction
In this article you’re going to learn 5 free ways to promote dance classes that you can use to get new students to your studio!
We’re going to be covering the strategies that are working TODAY, that you can implement to increase enrollment in your dance studio.
Want us to help you get more students?
If you’re looking to fill up your dance classes, and enroll more students, then let us help you…
Book a free strategy session, where we’ll sit down with you, and help you put in place strategies for growth, so that you can attract lots of new students…
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Ways To Promote Dance | How to attract new students
When it comes to attracting new students to your studio, you have to understand a few things…
- Great service, great classes, great teachers, and passion is NOT enough to make your studio successful
- Best known studio beats the best studio every single time.
- Have a plan
- It takes LOTS effort
- It’s UP to you!
- You have to fall in love with marketing and selling
Understanding these things is going to help you massively when it comes to making your dance studio successful…
So it’s important that we go over this list, so that you have the right expectations before embarking on this journey!
1. Great service, great classes, great teachers, and passion is NOT enough to make your studio successful
“If you build it, they will come”
We’ve all heard that quote… What a bunch of lies!
I’ve seen so many studios open and close because they didn’t know anything about attracting and keeping students…
The same can be said for great classes, and great teachers...
Your studio can have the world’s best classes and teachers, but if no one knows your studio exist, then you’re not going to stay around for long...
What about passion?
“Passion is all you need to be successful!”
Well, as dancers, we’re really passionate about what we do, but by NO means is this the ONLY thing we need...
Passion is definitely needed in order for you to keep going...
If we’re not passionate about what we do, we would have given up a LONG time ago…
At least that was the case for me…
My first 5 years working as a dance instructor, I made around $1,300 a month.
Passion definitely kept me going…
But, it’s definitely hard to stay passionate when our finances are so low…
So, if you want to have a studio that not only satisfies you on an emotional/spiritual realm, but also provides you with enough finances to live a comfortable life…
Then you need to learn how to market and sell your classes!
2. Best known studio beats the “best” studio every single time (At least, financially)
We’ve all seen studios who’s classes are not the best…
They don’t have the best teachers….
The students might be learning things that are flat out wrong...
BUT!
Their classes are packed!
Why does that happen?
Well, because getting lots of students and keeping them, has NOTHING to do with the level of technique they teach, and how excellent their teachers are
It has to do with how well they market, and sell their classes!.
I remember, for the first 5 years of me working as a dance instructor…
It used to bother me that my classes were smaller than other dance schools and teachers who were terrible dancers, teaching horrible technique.
I used to believe that if I just become a great dancer, students will come flocking in!
I also used to believe that the numbers of students I was getting was related to how great of a dancer I was.
I didn’t get it then.
Being a great teacher and knowing how to bring in lots of students have nothing to do with each other…
If you want lots of students, then lots of people need to know that you exist…
How will you get lots of people to know that you exist?
Marketing, which is what I’m going to teach you in this article!
3. Have a plan
Like with anything you do, you need to have a plan!
Personally, I love doing, but I’m not so good at planning.
This has been a strength, and a weakness at the same time.
I usually like to take action really fast, but I tend to make lots of mistakes due to my lack of planning.
My advice is that you plan, so that you don’t waste lots of time and effort making mistakes when it comes to your marketing and selling dance classes!
4. It takes LOTS effort and lots of learning
This is an expectation that I want to set from the very beginning…
Getting lots of students is going to require a ton of work, and you WILL make a lot of mistakes.
Don’t worry though. It’s part of the process…
5. It’s UP to you!
I recently helped a dance studio owner who had NO clue when it came to getting more students.
I set up the advertisement campaigns for him, and he started getting lots of leads (people interested in his classes)
But, he wasn’t seeing any results.
Then, after talking to him, to see why that was happening…
I found out that he wasn’t doing any of the work.
He wasn’t calling people, he wasn’t following up, he wasn’t consistent.
After days of pushing him to do the work, he got 2 new students…
Now, 2 students might not seem like a lot, but it gave him the confidence to work harder.
Then, within a week he got 12 more students…
The lesson here is that you can have the best marketing in the world, but you still have to put in the work and make it happen…
6. You have to fall in love with marketing and selling
Back when I used to think that the better dancer I became, the more students I would have…
I used to HATE marketing and selling.
I thought “my dancing IS my marketing!”
And that’s why for 5 years I didn’t have many students, and I was only making $1,300 a month.
If you want to have a long lasting, and profitable career as a dance studio owner, then you need to get good at marketing and selling!
Dance studio marketing campaign ideas
Now that you know how important it is for you to market...
Let’s talk about different marketing ideas for your dance studio that you can implement so that you start attracting more students.
FREE Ways To Promote Dance Classes
These strategies won’t cost you any money, but they do require lots of time invested.
If you don’t have much of a marketing budget, but you have lots of available time, then start here.
- Organic social media posts
- SEO
- Local businesses giveaways
- Local community events
- Do a charity
Let’s go over each one.
1. Organic Social Media Posts
There are 2 ways that you can use social media posts to attract more students to your dance studio.
First strategy is to join different local Facebook groups and promote your classes inside there...
Second strategy is to consistently post engaging content and offers in your dance studio’s social media pages.
Facebook Groups
This strategy is simple and effective, but very time consuming.
I know a dance studio owner that fills up her dance classes with mostly social media posts on other people’s groups…
Here’s how you can do it.
- Find different local Facebook groups that are relevant. For example, if you own a dance studio for kids in Miami, then a Miami mom’s Facebook group would be a great fit.
- Join at least 10 relevant groups.
- Write down all the groups that you joined.
- Everyday, you want to go into those groups and share something valuable. This could be funny pictures, it can be useful information, anything that will get people to like and comment on your post (this will make you seen as a contributor of value, and not just a taker!)
- Then every few days, or maybe even once or twice a week… You’re going to promote your dance classes in the groups by giving out an offer. This can be a free class pass, a free week, a big discount, etc… You have to make sure that the offer is good, preferably free, otherwise no one is going to pay attention.
- Then make sure that you follow up with the people who expressed interest by friend requesting them, and sending them a direct message.
- Make brief conversation with them about their dance goals, and then invite them to come try out your studio and take advantage of the offer you promised!
Organic posts on your dance studio’s social media pages
The way this strategy works is that you need to make sure that you are posting content at least twice a day, everyday.
This content has to be engaging, and it needs to get people interested in coming to your dance studio.
In order to do that you need to follow a 3 step formula that allows you to structure your content in a way that gets people to pay attention, as well as take action.
If you want to know more about this 3 step formula, check out this blog post:
“Dance studio social media posts”
Plus, since you’re going to be posting that much content, you’re going to need lots of different content ideas…
That’s why we created this article
“Dance Studio Social Media Ideas”
In that article you will find over 89 different ideas that you can draw inspiration from, so that you keep your social media content fresh, and you don’t run out of things to post about.
2. SEO
There are 2 types of SEO.
One is called Google My Business Listing Optimization, which helps you rank higher on the local search results on Google.
And the other one is where you optimize your website so that you rank higher on the website search results of Google.
Google My Business Listing Optimization
If you’ve ever searched for a local service on Google…
You’ll notice that Google shows all the local listings first before showing the website results.
Making sure that your listing is up to date with all the relevant information about your studio is key when it comes to ranking higher on these local search results.
What this means for you is that if you’re able to rank high on the search results of Google, then you will constantly have a stream of walk-ins to your studio.
If you want a step by step guide to learn how to create/improve your Google my business listing, read this blog post:
“How To Promote a Dance Studio Using SEO – Part 1”
Website Keyword Optimization
The second type of SEO has to do with tweaking your website to match Google’s algorithm so that your website shows up first, when someone is looking for a dance studio in your city.
What’s an algorithm? A simple way of thinking about it is to imagine Google as a person…
And Google has preferences… Those preferences are the algorithm…
The point is that you have to tweak your website to match google’s preferences so that it can boost you up in the search results.
There are several things that Google looks for in a website to make sure that your website is of high quality…
If you want to learn what those things are…
Go to this blog post here:
“How To Promote Dance Classes Using SEO – Part 2”
3. Local Business Giveaways
This strategy takes a bit of coordination, but the benefits are powerful.
Here’s the way it works:
- Go to all your neighboring businesses and tell them you’re going to be doing a local promotion on social media.
- Tell the businesses that you’re going to put in all the work to create and manage this promotion, and you want them to participate in it…
- The promotion is going to be a giveaway.
- All the participating businesses are going to get their names and logos featured on the social media giveaway post, and you’re expecting thousands of people from the community to see this promotion, so it’ll be great exposure for them!
- Ask them to participate, and tell them that all they would have to do is give out 3 different prizes that people can win. It can be anything like a gift card, a coupon, a discount, free merchandise, etc..
- After you have 3-7 businesses, then create your post on your social media BUSINESS page.
- The post will talk about how the local businesses are doing a free giveaway…
- There will be 4 prizes being awarded. The first one will be $50 cash, and the best gift cards. The second prize will be $25 in cash and the second best prizes from the businesses. The 3rd gets $25 cash. Everyone else gets a free week of classes at your dance studio!
- Then you want to talk about the rules.
- In order for someone to participate, they have to comment a number from 1-1000 on the post twice a day, everyday for 7 days. Plus, they have to share the post on 2 friends' timelines. (they have to be able to prove this)
- At the end of the 7 days you will pick random winners.
- The winners can pick up the prizes at your studio.
- Add different pictures to the post, and make sure to include a photo of the prizes, the names, logos, and a picture of your studio front, and picture of your dance classes!
- Then share the post in local groups, and tag different people on it.
- You should start seeing the post getting a massive amount of views, likes, comments, and shares…
- Make sure that you invite all the people that liked the post to like your business page. (You can do that by clicking on the number of likes, which pulls up a list of the people who’ve liked the post. Next to their name you’ll see a button that says “invite.”)
- On the 7th day, pick your 3 winners, and make a big announcement about it.
- To everyone else, reply to their comment by saying “You’ve won the 1 week of free dance class”.
- Then send each person a direct message thanking them for participating in the giveaway, and then asking them to come into your studio to try a week for free!
This giveaway is really powerful because it gets people to share the post, so it allows you to reach tons of people from your local community.
For $100 and some effort, you might be able to engage 10-20k people with your studio.
On top of that, you will have created goodwill with your neighboring businesses.
4. Local community events
For this strategy, you need to do a little bit of searching so that you can find events when the community comes together.
This could be anything…
Charity events, fundraisers, chamber of commerce events, parades, town celebration, conferences etc…
Then the goal is to show up, and start to network.
You can bring business cards, and flyers, but the main goal is to get people’s contact information.
You need to get people’s phone numbers and emails, so that you can follow up with them later.
Make sure you collect everyone’s business cards.
Another thing that you can do is to speak to the organizers of the event, and ask if you can get a table, set up a table or a booth to promote your dance studio.
If it’s a fundraiser auction, see if your studio can donate something that people can bid on. Usually the sponsors of fundraisers get their logo and name printed in all the marketing materials.
Ultimately the goal is to get the information of lots of people, and follow up with them.
Important tip: Make sure that you follow up with people quickly and often. Preferably that same day after the event, and then the day after by offering them to come into your studio and try a few classes for free!
5. Do a Charity
This is another powerful way to promote dance classes at your dance studio by doing something awesome for the community…
Here’s what you have to do:
- Pick a cause that you want to support. For example: feeding the homeless, toy drive for kids, clothing donation, etc.
- Then you want to use livestream videos on social media to start documenting what your studio is doing for the community, and invite people to participate.
- For example: If you’re doing a toy drive for kids, you will get on Facebook or Instagram live and say “Hi, my name is Karla from Awesome Dance Studio and where we teach young children how to become more confident through the art of dance… Right now we’re getting ready to do a toy drive for the children of this city, and I want to invite everyone to the community to participate! Here’s what you can do… Bring any toys new and used to our studio… Here’s our address. Please share this video and comment below so that more people can help the cause!
- You’re going to do that everyday for 1-4 weeks… Then, similarly to the giveaway strategy, you’re going to invite people to like your page, and you’re going to send everyone who comments a direct message to thank them for liking/commenting/sharing your post.
- When you do this, engage with the people your talking to, and ask them if they have ever danced before…
- Then at the right time in the conversation, invite them to join your studio.
- For the people who come into your dance studio, make sure you give them a tour of the place and you invite them to come try a free class or a free week!
This strategy is really awesome because you’re doing something great for the community, and your using the power of social media to give exposure to your studio and bring people together!
Ways To Promote Dance | Where should you start?
Depending on how much time you have and how fast you want to see results each strategy has it’s pros and cons…
If you want to get a boost in enrollment, and see results pretty quickly, posting on local community groups can be really effective.
On the other hand, if you’re a studio who has a solid base of students, and you want to keep growing steadily, generate a positive image for your dance studio, as well as impact your community…
Then doing a charity or a giveaway might be the way to go…
Ultimately though, everyone should be doing the SEO strategies because they will CONSTANTLY bring you in new students.
The effort might be a lot at first to fix your website and google listing…
And you might not be techy at all, but it’s definitely worth the investment.
I grew my dance studio to over $20k with just that strategy alone.
Or, if you want us to help, and do this for you, then book a free strategy call, and let’s talk!
Ways To Promote Dance | Conclusion
In this article you learned 5 free ways to promote dance classes in your community.
Whether you already have tons of students and are looking to keep growing, or you’re just starting out, but you don’t have much budget to spend on your marketing…
These strategies will help you.
The strategies to promote your dance studio that you learned here work, as long as you’re willing to do the work!
It takes discipline, patiences, consistency and time to make these strategies work.
But, if you follow the steps outlined above, you WILL get LOTS more people finding out that your studio exists…
And, once you implement the strategies, you will attract more students!
PAID dance studio marketing strategies
If you want to see faster results from your marketing, and you want to fill up your dance classes really fast...
Then you need to check out this blog post:
“Paid Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Studio”
Where we talk about 4 different strategies to market your dance studio and increase your enrollment really quickly.
Want us to help you get more students?
If you need help filling up your dance classes, and increasing enrollment in your studio, book a free strategy call with us.
We’ll sit down with you and tell you the different tactics and strategies you can use to grow your studio.
No obligation, or purchase necessary!