Ep 20 - Benefit Driven Marketing in Your Studio

Do you know who you are marketing to in your Studio? If you scroll back through your social media feeds, who are the last 10 posts 'talking to'? 

Join Amanda & Bec on today's podcast as they talk about the biggest mistake they see Dance Studios making in their marketing, as well as tips and tricks on how to post more benefit driven marketing posts that help you attract new students. 

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Show Transcription: 

Well, hi, friends happy Monday! Bec and I were just having a boogie to our music at the beginning. It's all happening for us. Hey, Bec, how are you? I'm absolutely amazing. And so excited to be here. Yeah, how are you going? cannot complain back in the studio back for term two. So many new inquiries and lots of trials coming through, which is so so good. It's good to be back into normal life, but back into craziest Eisteddfod season and all of that coming up as well. Yeah, I think everyone's feeling the same. I've been talking to a lot of studio owners and they're like, it's just so nice to actually be back. Most definitely, and not feel like oh my gosh, this is gonna happen again. What's gonna happen? I feel like we've all just gone. Yeah, it's alright. This is our life. Now. It's okay. But we're not here to talk about the dreaded C word. We are going to talk about benefit driven marketing today, and how to make sure that your socials betray benefit driven marketing. Yeah, totally. And so I wanted to ask you, all you guys all a question today, who are you actually marketing to? Because I, I say this a lot of the time when Amanda and I talk, are you marketing to your peers? Or are you actually marketing to your ideal client, because a lot of us like to market things to the people that we know, like other teachers or studio owners, when we really should be marketing to parents? For sure. I think it's such a common thing. And I think sometimes, you know, taking a look pulling out your phone, opening your Instagram, and looking at it and going, are you marketing to your peers? Or perhaps you by meeting that as well? Like, what do you like to see? Or are you marketing to the parents who are going to be putting their children into your classes? I think it's such a big thing. So what do you often see when you see people that are marketing to their peers? What kind of stuff do you see on their socials and stuff back? Yeah, well, I used to do this myself, so I totally get work. Yeah. So you know, they'll not let anything go on that doesn't have a fully extended beautifully pointed toe. Instead of putting like real photos up of their kids, they'll put like stock photos up of, you know, a beautiful dancer or pointe shoe, things like that. So I think like thinking about that in a different way. And thinking is that really what a parent who doesn't actually know much about dance wants to see, it'll completely flip your mindset for sure. And I think we're all guilty of that. Because as dance teachers, which most of us are to start with, we're absolute perfectionist, like that is just like, you know, everything has to be beautiful and perfect. And you know, the student needs to be in their ballet class with their perfect stockings on their hair back. Absolutely sprayed every bobby pin in place, no bra strap showing. No nothing. But in reality, how many of us actually have that in class every week? Like, you know, and if you do, like props to you that you're getting that happening every week in class, and I'm sure you know, the amazing, you know, Australian ballet school and all those places do have that. But most of us wait to eat. That's not what our most of our students look like, or at least some of them don't look like that at all. Yeah, and it's probably not what your parents are looking for who are coming to your school anyway, because the majority of parents didn't have the same journey as of us through dance, and so they don't really understand it. And I always tell the story about Phoenix is swim school, but I definitely didn't look up that swim school and go, Okay, did they have a Olympic swimmers? Are they is every child swimming perfectly? Like, you know, is it? Is it a really pristine school, I looked it up because it's close. And the reviews on it were that the teachers were really kind to the kids, she meant, for sure. You didn't look at their correct stroke technique in their photos, because that's exactly the same thing. And we laugh at that. But that's the exact same thing as talking about, you know, the perfect alignment for a dancer, we'd laugh or going, Oh, I wouldn't know what the stroke technique is on a swimmer or, or whatever. I don't even know if that's the right word. Let's be honest. But we don't know that. But most parents don't know what the correct alignment is, you know, for a dancer or, you know if that toe is pointed correctly, or whatever that is. Yeah, exactly. So what are some of your top things Amanda that you would show at your dance school? Like what sort of pictures do you think we should be doing?

Well, I think it's really important to be thinking about you know, If we want to make sure it's benefit driven marketing, what do our clients want? And maybe that's the first step is asking yourself, what do your ideal clients actually want. Most of them want their kids to have fun. They want their kids to feel supported. They want to grow self confidence. They want them to be part of a team. You know, there's all of these things and no matter, the level of your dance studio, regardless, if you're a super elite studio, or, you know, a recreational studio, most parents most sane parents, still, that's what they want. They want their kids to feel part of a team and feel a sense of belonging. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, always talk about like, you've got to think about the emotion behind things, rather than just selling, we sell dance from two to 18 years. And we do tap jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, acrobatic, circus, whatever you do, most parents wouldn't even know what half of those things are. And so you're really not selling anything. But if you say, you know, we're a school that focuses on self confidence, and school readiness for our preschoolers, and self worth, and gratitude, and all of those emotional things, if you can focus more on that that's really what a parent wants. At the end of the day, not everyone wants to become a professional dancer necessarily, definitely not. And especially not when they're first joining your studio. Maybe that's an education key that you put as they grow up in your studio. But generally, when they're first starting out dancing, it's not about that. It's about them having fun and being part of a team. So I think really thinking about how can you put that benefit driven marketing into your social posts. And, you know, there's so many ways you can do it. And as Bec said, you know, not just doing those generic, come along with it, everyone kind of posts and really think about how you can put the emotion into posts. So, you know, for preschoolers, the couple of things that both Bec and I like to do for preschoolers is talk about school readiness, such a big thing, that's a benefit that they're going to get from being part of your classes. Yeah, um, social skills, making friends is really important at that age. And also just like creating confidence, you know, getting them ready so that they feel independent, because they have to be independent once they go to big school. That's all things that this That's what I'm worried about. Now with my little one and I'm sure man does the same with her little one, we've both got kids of that age. And, you know, that's really what you're concerned about. And that's why you put them in activities is to try and get them ready for school pretty much for sure, I was talking to a press a parent, so their daughter was in year one. And they were saying that's what they were doing last year, the year before school was absolutely jam packing them full of activities because they really wanted to, you know, get past any sort of separation issues, they wanted to make sure they were independent, all of those things before they started school that was their biggest goal. And so you know, if we know that that's what our parents are looking for, our posts need to be around that, you know, both the image and the copy which is the words that you're writing underneath it need to reflect a benefit that you're giving and it can be really direct it can be in our classes we work on Independence it can be that we do this by you know getting them to walk into the classroom by themselves getting them to ask the teacher when it's their turn to go to the bathroom remembering where they stand on their star or their you know, Mark a spot it can be like that, or it can be you know, through stories because telling it through stories are so so great. Like meet Little Susie. When luteal Susie started dancing here at my dance studio, she was nervous, she was scared she wasn't sure. And you know, she cried for three weeks. But now look at our She's grown up into this beautiful, confident independent child who is so excited to take on the next challenge at school. You know, that is a great way to show the benefits of joining your studio. Yeah, testimonial video is so so powerful. And if you can get some footage of Little Susie that in class having the best time of her life as well. I think that's just so beneficial for for your marketing really, but don't it doesn't just have to be for your advertising, even just your normal everyday posts or even your normal stories. You should be thinking less about showing, you know, even for preschoolers, I know a lot of people and it's cute to show the skipping down the room, but it's equally as cute to show, you know, oh, look, they all learn to wait in turn today. And to a parent it's actually equally as valuable, if not more valuable that they learned to wait in turn.

Most definitely. And it doesn't just have to be for preschoolers. There's ways to do that. I think sometimes people get caught up. They're like, Yeah, I do this for preschoolers. But then how do I do it for older kids because by that age, they should know their correct turnout. They should know their alignment. They should you know, whatever it is, but there's other ways to do As well as, you know, showing your values and the benefits that they're getting out of class, you know, talking about making friendships for life is so, so valuable. But also, there's so many different things you can show through your social posts. Yeah, for sure we actually do a mental health thing, each term with my team. And this last term was gratitude. This term is self worth. And it might be something as simple as everyone sitting down at the end of class and saying one thing that they did well that day, or it might be something as simple as last year, or last term, some of our preschoolers like to say thank you in sign language like, but sharing that on your socials is so valuable. And most schools that we talk to are already doing this stuff. Right, Amanda? Like, they're already they're doing this stuff without sharing it. And that's the that's the problem. Like, I'm sure you're all helping the kids set goals, I'm sure you're giving them self worth teaching them gratitude, even if it's by saying thank you to the teacher at the end the class, we just forget to share it for sure. And I think sometimes because we think our, you know, it's not a direct thing, we haven't thought, how are we teaching the kids self worth today, but as a teacher, we just do it naturally. We, you know, we build that child up, we do those things. But yeah, don't forget to use it as part of your advertising. Because that's what parents want to know about. That's what they care about when they're enrolling their child. Regardless of you know, there does have to be good to that's technique. Dude, I know I say this sometimes. And I think people get the wrong idea. Of course, there has to be a foundation of good dancing underneath it. But it also needs to be about what you're promoting in your studio in terms of values, and the benefits of being part of your team. Yeah, exactly. It's very, I've never spoken to a studio owner and said, Why do you do what you do? And their answer is to make every single child, the, you know, elite dancer who goes on to a career in dance, like every person is like, because I had such an amazing journey through it, I want to create the same confidence in kids that it created in me, like, that's really our reasons for doing it. And I think that's what we forget to share. And and that's, that's what resonates with parents, you know, that's what they're going to love about it as well. Sure. That's such a great idea. Even just talking about that, because like, you know, sharing the stories of of you and your staff as well, as a benefit driven, you know, talk about that, you know, you started dance as a three year old and, you know, you had moments that you just weren't sure it was for you, you wanted to quit because you weren't in the front line, or you just couldn't ever nail that double pedal wet. And you thought about giving up. But you know that it ended up being this amazing journey for you. And yes, you ended up in a career with dance, but you might not have been and the skills that you gave gave you gave you life skills, not just dance career skills. Yeah, I love that. And we've, we've all seen, I'm sure that post of the dad who says why he spent so much money on his daughter's dancing, but like, every single one of us would probably have that dad in our studio, and would be able to reach out to them and get that quote from them. Like, just think about it, everyone's creating that amazing stuff in their studios, we've just got to learn to tell everyone about it. I was just gonna say like some other things, even just with friendships in the studio, sometimes I'll get my admin staff or my teachers to just take some little photos of the kids, you know, chatting to each other, like showing that we create those lifelong friendships and talking about that in our socials can be really beneficial as well. So, so nice. Like, that's what you want, you want to see, especially if we're talking about like, the teenage years where, you know, so many parents are thinking, Oh, my kids just at home just scrolling on their phone. That's all they're doing. But seeing, you know, a group of girls, you know, chatting together in your waiting room. They're like, Oh, I wish that was my daughter. I wish she was out doing something instead of like holding up in her bedroom, in my house on a phone, you know, giving that kind of like glimpse into the benefits of coming to your studio. That's why we're talking about benefit driven marketing.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think like have a look through your socials actually think about it from different parents perspective. So it's good to go in there and go, Okay, right now I'm going to be a mom of a 10 year old and then have a look through it and think about that, or I'm going to be the mom of a teen, I'm going to be the mum of a preschooler. Like if you actually go to your socials and look at that it can become very interesting because Amanda and I always get people saying to us, I really need to grow my preschool program. And then we go through their socials and we're scrolling and scrolling and then 10 scrolls down. There's one little preschool posts, no one's going to scroll that much. They're going to go to the school where they see a preschooler straightaway. So you've got to be really, if you've got lots of age groups and lots of different things in your school and different people that you're trying to appeal to try and post regularly for each different thing that you're trying to appeal to essentially, for sure, we gave the tip at ADF that if you whatever the percentage breakdown of your studio is, perhaps think about that as being the percentage breakdown of your socials. So for example, if you have Have 25%, preschool 25%, recreational, 25% elite and 25% full time like if that's what your studio is, then you know that every fourth post should be about one of those because you should be doing 25% of your social on each one of them. Think about it that way. And whatever that is for you, for me, you know, I have a large number of preschoolers, so I have more preschool posts. And also, that's where I want to grow. And it just depends, it can be what you've currently got, or what you're trying to focus on. If where your building is, you know, perhaps you're trying to build your junior age group, then that's where you should be focusing your socials on as well. But we'd love to get you that tasks. So if you're not driving, because you know, that's not safe. Jump and, you know, grab your phone now and jump onto your Instagram grid, because we know that that's where a lot of stuff's going down these days. And have a look at that first page, those first nine squares, what's on them? Is their benefit driven stuff. Can each parent see themselves and see what they want, you know, for their children. And, you know, if they were sitting at as a new parent who had never been to the studio before, what are they seeing? Or what are the benefits that I've seen from looking at your socials? Yep, totally agree. And I guess as well with your story, like, I'm very big on allowing your staff to take, you know, videos in class or photos in class, if you really want to be full on about it, you get them to send it to you. But my staff, obviously, they're very on board with knowing our values here. But they will post on the story every single class they can. So we're showing lots of different content, we're showing lots of different genres. And I think that's something to let go of a little bit as well. I know a lot of studio owners want to hold that really close. But I think the story, it's not there for very long. And I think that's a great way to start to really build your socials and to show different aspects of your school. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, think about how you use social media. For me, I spend most of my time looking at stories. And that's what it is. So make sure you're also doing that. And as Bec said, Let your staff do it. Sometimes we've got to let go of that perfection is perfectionism. And you know, just get it out there. Because when it's just out there, it's better than nothing at all. Because sometimes we spend so long trying to be perfect, that nothing happens. And that's the issue. Yeah, even if you started as a little boomerang for hardest worker in different classes, like tag the parent, then the parents shares it, which is great. It's free advertising for you. And it's a great way for your staff to give incentive to the kids to work hard. So little things like that is you know, people love being on social media now, right? Like, it's the whole thing. Sure, for sure. It's all about it. So we would love for you to have a look at your social media, make sure that everything you're putting on there is benefit driven, what are they getting out of it? And also have a look at it? Are you advertising to your peers? Or are you advertising to yourself and remember that your social media is for future clients? Not for your current clients? I think that's a big trap we get into as well. You're meant to be using it to advertise to future clients. So really make sure you're giving that a thought. Yep, couldn't agree more. So we'll be interested. Drop us a line. Let us know what you think about that guys, and let us know whether it was a big eye opener for you or not. Sounds great. Can't wait to see you next Monday or chat to you next Monday on the podcast. We'll see you then. Bye