Dance class advertisement message | Introduction
In this article I’m going to give you the foundation for writing a dance class advertisement message that helps get you more students in your dance classes!
If you’ve never written advertisements before then this is a perfect place to start.
Once you read this article you’ll understand the number one principle that every ad needs to have in order to work....
I’m also going to give you a couple of examples of good and bad ads so that you can see you can understand how to apply the principles that I’m teaching you here.
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Dance class advertisement message | Who is your ideal client?
Before we get into the most important principle when it comes to writing ads, we need to talk about something really important as well, which is “who is your ideal client?”
That question is super important if you want to have an effective ad that brings you lots of students.
In order to illustrate the point I’m going to paint the picture using an analogy:
Fishing:
Imagine going fishing, except you don’t know anything about fishing, and you don’t know which fish you want to catch...
You go to the store, and you see that “stick bait” is on sale, so you buy that and then head to the lake.
After fishing for many hours, you notice that the only thing you seem to be catching is bass fish.
Well, it turns out that you actually don’t like the taste of bass so much, but now you’re stuck with a bunch of bass…
This exact same scenario could happen with your advertising…
The first thing that you need to do before thinking about what to write in your advertisements is deciding what kind of people you want to attract to your dance studio.
Who is your ideal client?
Think about that question for a while…
What qualities does that client have?
Are you looking for people that are friendly who want to be part of a community.
Maybe you want outgoing people who are looking for a social activity to do afterwork...
Are you looking for people who take dancing a bit more seriously?
Perhaps you want parents who want their kids to participate in competitive dancing.
Or maybe you’re looking for more senior students who want to take it a little slower because you enjoy teaching the elderly!
Do you want to attract a younger demographic, or a more sophisticated demographic?
As you’re thinking about who your ideal clients are, think about the different qualities that they possess…
The clearer the picture of what your ideal client looks like, the better the ads you’re going to write.
This is important because if you don’t know who you want to attract, then the most likely scenario that will happen is that you’ll attract clients that you don’t want.
The other reason why it’s important to know who you want to attract needs to be illustrated using the fishing analogy again!
Fishing (part 2)
Let’s imagine that you’re going back to fish again, but this time instead of deciding to buy just 1 kind of bait, you buy different kinds of bait to see what happens…
The next evening, as you finish your day of fishing you realize that you’ve caught many different kinds of fish…
For the next few weeks you cook all kinds of fish, you find out that trout is your favorite one, and you start to wonder…
How can I catch more trout?
You open up your laptop, and start to browse through fishing articles…
After a bit of Googling you learn that each kind of fish has particular bait that they are attracted to…
Then, after more research you find out that the best bait to catch trout is to use bugs and critters…
Armed with that knowledge you go back to the store, buy a bunch of bugs and critters for bait, and head down to the lake…
This time it’s a success, you catch a bunch of trout, and you live happily ever after.
The end (lol)
Back to your dance class advertisement message
By reading the metaphor above it should be clear to you right now why it is important that you know who your ideal client is, but I’m still going to spell it out for you…
Every person has different things they like, things that they are attracted to, things that cause them pain, things that motivate them, and things that they want to avoid…
Before you write any advertising messages it is important that you know what those things are for the ideal clients.
What does your ideal client like? What causes them pain? What motivates them?
Just like with the metaphor above, where if you want to catch trout, you have to use the right bait...
If you want to attract your ideal client you need to know the things that they are attracted to ahead of time, so that you can use those things in your advertising messages…
For example:
If you know you want to attract younger kids to your studio, then you know the ad you’re going to be writing will most likely be for moms.
Knowing that ahead of time will give you a better idea as to how to communicate with them, and present your classes to her.
Maybe in your ad message you talk about how great dancing is for getting a kid to develop focus and coordination because you found out that mom’s priority is for their children to develop focus and coordination…
Or maybe you want to attract moms who want their children to develop discipline, so you write a completely different ad message.
On the other hand, if you want to attract young professionals, you talk about how dancing is a great activity to network, and socialize after work…
You see, thinking about who your ideal client is, and the things they care about is one of the main keys to writing a successful dance class advertising message that brings you lots of clients because you will be able to write ads that are relevant to those people...
Which brings me to the most important principle when it comes to writing advertising.
Dance class advertisement message | The #1 principle for writing ads: making it about them!
The number one mistake that people make when writing advertising messages is making it about themselves.
I have seen so many ads where all the ad talks about is how great their studio is, how they are rated number one in their city, how they have excellent teachers, and state of the art facilities…
You see, people don’t really care about all of that…
In today’s world people are really busy, they have lots going on, and their attention span is smaller than ever.
Especially if you’re writing social media ads where you’re literally competing for their attention along with hundreds of other things…
So, then what do you do?
You make it about them!
“What’s in it for me?”
That’s the question that most people are subconsciously thinking about most of the time…
The brain is selfish, and it’s constantly thinking about “I”.
The brain wants to be comfortable, it looks after itself and it’s survival, and it’s constantly looking for ways to benefit without any effort…
So anytime that you’re writing advertising messages, put yourself in the shoes of the reader and think “what’s in it for me?”
This will put you in the right state of mind, and you’ll be able to come up with better ideas, instead of bragging about your studio.
Now, you might think “people care about the fact that I’m the highest rated dance school in my city!”, and you’re right a FEW people might care, but NOT the majority!
A young professional doesn’t care so much about going to the highest rated dance school, as much as he cares about being able to network, do something fun after his work schedule, and being able to meet new people.
Parents looking for dance classes for their kids don't care as much about going to the highest rated dance school as they care about their children feeling comfortable in the dance school, and their kid being with other children their age…
Again, that’s why it’s so important to know who the ideal client is that you want to attract because you can then make your advertising message about them…
You can talk about all the things they care about, and write advertising messages that will be compelling for them!
Dance class advertisement message | Ad Examples
Bad ads:
Example #1:
This is an example of what most dance advertisements look like.
This ad doesn’t identify who the ideal client is, it doesn’t talk about things the ideal client would care about, instead it just brags about itself.
Bragging about your studio doesn’t make people go: “they’re the best! I need to hurry and go check them out!”
On top of that, the picture used here in this advertisement is not relatable.
The only people who care about a dance team picture are the parents of those girls in the picture.
Example #2:
Unless this ad is shown ONLY to the people who know who “Emma Fire” is, they won’t pay attention to it.
If you’re advertising hip hop classes to an audience that doesn’t know who you are, then this is not the way to do it.
Again, think about your ideal client and talk to them in a way that resonates with them.
What do they care about? What’s in it for them?
This ad does none of that.
Side note: never use flyers as your advertising picture.
Good ads:
Example #1:
As you can see from the top text, this ad is speaking directly to parents in Miami.
When a parent is scrolling through Facebook and sees this advertisement, he/she will know it’s something relevant to them!
Then the ad talks about the benefits a parent might want for his/her child.
The ad it’s making it about them, and it’s talking about what they want!
Example #2:
This ad uses the picture to identify who their ideal client is.
Once you understand who the ideal client is that you’re trying to attract, then you can do some research and find out what they like, and what they don’t like…
Here you can see in the top text that the ad mentions the gym feeling boring…
If the ideal client resonates with that they will think “yeah I do feel like that… Let me keep reading…”
It’s really important to tailor your message to your ideal client, and this ad is a good example of that.
Dance class advertisement message | Conclusion
Always remember: Identify who your ideal client is, and make it about them!
These are the 2 keys for writing advertisements…
Before you begin writing your advertisement message, dedicate a good amount of time thinking about the ideal client you want to attract, and what things they like, and don’t like.
Doing this will put you ahead of all your competitors when it comes to writing advertising messages.
Now, if you want to go deeper, and learn more about writing good ads that get you lots of students, check out our blog post below
“Dance Studio Ad: Recipes For Writing Your Dance School Advertisement”
In that article we’ll dive even deeper into writing advertising messages that brings you lots of new students!
If you’re interested in doing that, go check it out!
Need help with your social media ads?
Book a free strategy call with us, and we’ll help you put a marketing plan in place so that you can fill up your dance classes, and get lots of new students.
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