As the new year kicks off, people make their new year resolutions; whether it’s going to the gym more, eating healthier, or vowing to save up the money for that dream vacation. But for those of you who own businesses, specifically yoga studios, here are some nuggets for you for the new year.
Not only do you need to get ready for those new clients with the resolutions to get healthier, be less stressed, or simply wanting to be more flexible, but it’s a good time to vamp up your business with new ideas.
Penelope Trunk, a bestselling author on career advice, states personality is key to yoga studios. When people go to a yoga studio, they automatically seek out peace, Zen, serenity, etc. But what keeps people coming back for more is the personality of the teachers. Perhaps an instructor is perky and tells jokes every now and then during class. Or perhaps an instructor has a very soothing tone of voice and their verbal instruction along with the class calms them. Maybe an instructor likes to inform their students about the perks of each move, how it helps and what exactly it benefits. There’s no ‘correct’ personality, however, it is critical that there is a personality. Anyone can give instruction, but it’s how it is given that makes the experience.
Workshops are great ideas! What’s not to love about being able to instruct a hundred people in a single go rather than only fifty students throughout a week? Not only is it a great way to reach and help more people, but it’s a great way to gather new clients.
Another route is to offer up your services for private classes. You can do this at your studio certainly, but be willing to be mobile as well! By that I mean make yourself available to corporate offices to give that CEO an hour of peace, do events for mommy groups while their kids are at daycare, and seek out apartment complexes with small gyms you may use to hold class. Not only do these options make you versatile, but it also gets you a wide variety of clients who could potentially recommend you to their friends. Just remember to require your payment upfront for these types of functions.
Further, YouTube is the second largest searched website behind Google. Making miniature yoga videos your clients can follow at home is a great tool to keep in touch with your clients and to keep your business name out there. Also, keeping an up-to-date email list of your clients to send out newsletters, updates, workshop information and the like is a great tool to keep your clients ‘in the know.’
One more nugget to keep in mind, contests! Perhaps challenge your clients to bring a friend and whoever brings the most, gets a free private session. For an hour sacrificed, you gain a lot of exposure to new potential clients!
Let the creativity flow in terms of marketing yourself and your business and keep these little tips and ideas in mind for the new year and may it be successful for you!
Namaste!
