Before you dive into how to market your workshop, have you read parts one and two of Organizing a Yoga Workshop?
Now you’re ready for the third piece, figuring out the best way to market your workshop to others. Did you cringe a little bit? You’re not alone. So many small business owners dread marketing probably because we associate it with slimy, spammy selling.
Selling is a part of marketing, but there’s more to it than that.
what is marketing?
According to Entrepreneur.com, marketing is a “form of communication between you and your potential customers with the goal of selling your product or service to them. Communicating the value of your product or service is a key aspect of marketing.”
Without marketing yourself as a yoga teacher, you’ll never fill your classes and workshops. If you don’t tell anyone who you are, or how to reach you, how will people find their way to you?
👉 That’s like planning an extravagant party, expecting everyone to show up, but you didn’t send out any invitations.
You have a business that provides an invaluable service and you want people to know about you and find you. And you can do this in a way that’s authentic.
It’s time transform the slimy, spammy idea of selling into the art of attracting, sharing, and developing relationships.
How can you share (and therefore market) your workshop in a mindful and meaningful way?
first solve a problem
When you plan your workshop, whatever topic you choose, develop your content with an eye toward solving a problem for your participants. And you need to go beyond “this workshop will you help you find your bliss.”
Will your workshop ease low back tension, lower blood pressure, build their core strength, help them sleep better at night?
We all have problems that keep us up at night, and we’re all searching for a solution to alleviate the problem. Be the problem solver. The quicker fixer upper.
Plus doesn’t it feel better to tell people you have a solution to their problem than to shout “come to my awesome workshop because I’m awesome.”
Next be a boutique not a big box
When people decide to seek out yoga, it’s usually for a specific reason. They’re not searching the internet for just yoga, but “yoga for autism,” “yoga for golf,” or “yoga for low back pain.”
And this is why it’s important to have a single focus, not only in the workshops you lead, but also as a yoga teacher.
“The riches are in the niches.”
To niche down means to narrow your focus, go from helping everybody to helping a specific audience. When you find the right niche, you’ll more easily find customers and they’re more willing to pay for your solution because it addresses their problem.
Going boutique also:
- Makes it easier to stand out in an already saturated teaching landscape
- Prevents burnout; you’ll be more fulfilled teaching something that resonates
- Improves your messaging, connecting you faster to your target market
- Attracts better quality customers who are less likely to price shop
Need help narrowing your niche. Try 5 Ways to Identify your Niche.
get to know your customers
Your workshop (and your business) is not about YOU, it’s about your community, and the individuals who make up your community. But not everybody needs (or wants) to be a part of your community.
And instead of wasting countless hours “talking” to the wrong people, getting frustrated that no one is signing up to your workshop, get to know the people you want filling the spots.
The first place you might start to understand your customer is learning their demographics (then expanding into psychographics). Keep digging. Find out where they like to hang out and what social media platforms they use (called socialgraphics).
Keep digging. Learn their values, what’s important to them.
This may require you to do research, surveys, and customer interviews to truly understand the heart of your customer. But when you know what motivates them, it’s easier to communicate (market) the benefits of your workshop.
communicate consistently
Once you understand the problem you’re solving, the niche you’re working in, and the customers you want to serve, the final step is to communicate, communicate, communicate.
A marketing rule of thumb is it takes at least seven impressions before an individual remembers enough about you (or your product) to make a decision. So if you only send out one email message two weeks before the event, you’ll be disappointed with the turn out.
Not only do you need to constantly communicate, but you want do it in as many different “channels” as possible, including (but not limited to) social media.
- Send an email
- Post on Facebook
- Create a Facebook event
- Tweet about it
- Like video? Do an Instagram Story
- Facebook Live
- YouTube video
- Blog about it
- Make an event specific page on your website
- Creat a flyer to share with yoga studio owners and complementary businesses.
👉 This is why it’s important to know where your target market hangs out. You wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars to put a commercial on the SYFY channel if your customers are watching HGTV.
final tips on marketing your yoga workshop
Success is outside your comfort zone
NGL, a lot of what you do in the beginning is going to feel way outside your comfort zone. But the more you do it, the more you get your name and services out there, the easier it gets.
Put yourself out there. Share your story, what brought you to where you are. Share what’s going on in your life. Use not only professional images but show the real you too.
People buy from people they know, like, and trust. If you’re not sharing anything about you or your personality, you won’t be able to connect with your audience and it will affect your bottom line.
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