I wrote an article for the July edition of The Piano Bench Mag called…
“32 Ways to Market Your Studio.”
Below is a teaser excerpt, but to see all 32, you will have to visit The Piano Bench Mag in iTunes! The app is free to download and you can either purchase individual editions or pay for a yearly subscription.
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32 Ways to Market Your Studio
Students; finding students, drawing students, getting students, however, you want to put it; this is the foundation of our profession. Without students, there’s no piano teacher. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like what I do and would like to keep doing it, so let’s figure out together how to make the dilemma of finding students a thing of the past!
For years I dreamed of opening a piano studio from scratch – doing it “right” and creating an image from the start. After 12 years of teaching piano part-time, including 4 years earning a choral music ed. degree, 3 years as a choir director, 3 years living overseas, and 2 years in grad school, I couldn’t wait to see my dream studio take shape. I finished my Masters in June 2011 and signed a lease for a 500 sq. foot space month later.
Having a dedicated location was part of my opening strategy to build quickly. I wanted visibility and to establish a reputation in the community for quality. Fresh out of my studies, I was so excited to be the best teacher I could be that it was very easy to want to spend a lot of time perfecting lesson plans and creating new materials. My husband, however (who has an entrepreneurship degree-lucky me!) kept saying, “Honey, you have to get yourself out there… what did you do this week to market yourself?” “OK,” I would whimper and whine (just a little). It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get students quickly; it was just easier spending my time on the fun teaching part! Thanks to his urging, I forced myself to keep pushing forward, trying anything and everything I could to get myself out there. Because of all these efforts I had 23 students register in the first quarter and hit 45 after two years. For a teacher in a town of 10,000, I was thrilled!
Today I’m going to share with you the five types of marketing I engaged in over the last five years including 32 specific things you can do now to get yourself out there.
On-line Marketing
1. Create a Facebook Page. Invite everyone you know to like the page because a page that only has 20 likes does not say that you’re something people are talking about.
2. Register with Google My Business
3. Open a Twitter account. A lot of schools in our area use Twitter. Connect with as many local schools as you can. Include principals, teachers, and music teachers.
4. Create a LinkedIn profile.
5. Create a Yelp Page for your business.
6. Piano Teacher Lists. Register with online piano teacher lists like Maestro List. (I would recommend more for those who are in larger cities.)
7. On-line Classifieds. Put an ad in an online classifieds site such as Craigslist.
8. Design a website. Weebly is a great and easy site for anyone to use.
Traditional Marketing
9. Fliers. Hang fliers in locations around town where customers sit in a waiting area such as tire stores, doctors’ offices, and dentist’s – this costs nothing!
10. Location / Signage. If you’re lucky to have a good location or even if you’re not, make sure you have quality, visible signage.
11. Logo marketing. Give out t-shirts, piano bags, car window decals, and yard signs to anyone willing to use, wear, or display.
There’s more where that came from! Check out the July edition of The Piano Bench Mag!
