Marketing & Enrolment Masterclass w/ special guest Bryce Conlan

We know that one thing all Dance Studio Owners are always chasing is new enrolments! 

Today's special guest Bryce Conlan specialises in just that! How does Bryce help his client CONTINUALLY help his clients enroll students all year around?

Listen in to today's episode as Bryce and Bec talk about the must do items in your studio to book in those trials and CONVERT them to enrolments.

Connect with Bryce

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Show Transcription: 

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Hello, everyone, happy Monday. I hope you are amazing. It's just back flying solo today. Amanda is not with me. But I do have a super amazing person with me. His name is Bryce. He and I met a little while ago. And we've started working together. And I've learned so much from him already. He is a partner in dense motion marketing, which is an amazing company in the US. This is getting insane results with lots of studios and getting them to grow quickly. Hi, Bryce, how are you today?

Bryce Conlan
Hey, Rebecca, it's so good to be here. Thanks for having me.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Oh, thank you so much for coming. I know you're gonna give so much value to our listeners today. I know you're all about all things, marketing, and studios getting people in their doors, but as well as keeping people in their doors, there's they're two separate things, right. And we wanted to talk today to you guys about some top marketing tips that Bryce can bring to you. And also maybe some things that a lot of studio owners are doing wrong. So I guess my first question is, what would be your number one? And I know there's lots of them. But what's your number one thing that you think studio owners could be getting wrong?

Bryce Conlan
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it's, there are a lot of them. And that's not a slight or an insult to any studio owner who is trying to do marketing. The reality is, is marketing is a moving target, the platforms are changing. Audiences change over time, where they're showing up as ads formats become more popular or less popular, what worked yesterday doesn't work tomorrow. So it's not necessarily a dump to be like, well, you're making all these mistakes. The truth is, it's it's an impossible treadmill to keep up with. So there's no there's no shame or you know, shade being thrown here. But I would say the number one thing, if I had to pick just one single thing is focus. The number one thing is most studio owners when they start thinking about marketing, they try to do way too much all at once. And it's the biggest mistake, they shoot themselves in the foot, they end up spending money needlessly on campaigns that aren't getting them the results. And so yeah, if I had to just pick one thing very simply, it's when you're going to launch a campaign, when you're going to open up a new program in your studio, when you're going to open up a new class for a new age group in your studio, every single thing you do, should be geared towards that new offer. You should not be running 10 offers at the same time, pick one, and start there. And we could spend the rest of our time just talking about that. And we could go very, very deep.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah. But I think that's so important. It's like, you know, if I speak to a studio, and they're like, I'm really trying to push my preschool and then I go on to their Facebook page or their social media, and I'm scrolling to find the preschool posts, and then I finally get to the preschool post. And I'm like, that's a parent is not going to do that. You know, so we were actually talking about this yesterday, Bryce. Bryce is a part of my dancer community. And he was doing a call there, and we were talking about exactly this. If you're advertising preschool, you need to have preschool on your page. And you need to appeal to that parent, right?

Bryce Conlan
Absolutely. And it's even like, it gets even more nuanced than that, in truth. So let's say you're doing preschool, but then you have three different preschool offers, right? And we see this all the time with studios in the States, they've got a preschool ballet class, and a preschool intro to tap class and a preschool, get your general wiggles out class, right? And all three of those need to be or can be, in best case scenario segmented differently separately, so that you're not running a like, Hey, here's Gen preschool all the time, because your messaging may change, your follow up might change. That type of parent who wants to get their you know, their three year old four year old into a ballet class is probably pretty different than other parents who are just like my kids are making me crazy. Get them out of the house for an hour. We have different motivations in buying. And so it really does boil right down to intent, knowing what it is that you're trying to accomplish with your marketing with your ad campaign. And then everything in your studio needs to gear towards that until you're until it's full and then your your classes like ready to go or the time has come and you've launched and now you're you know you're now you're in it Everything you just you got to be zeroed in on what is the goal and know what that is for you communicate that to your team, and then message that appropriately to your parents.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, I love that. I love that so much. And we see it so often here in Australia, where people are like, I teach dance from two years to 18 years. And, you know, they're just like doing all the things. And if you think about a parent of a two year old in comparison to a parent of a 15 year old, that's very, very, very different. And, you know, we talk a lot about our superpowers when we're talking to people. And I think like, you need to think as a studio and uh, what are your superpowers? Where are you going to have that niche market? And you know exactly what you're saying, like, when you first start working with a studio is that something that you talk to them about? Bryce is like, what is their thing? You know, because I think every studio has different things that they're really special at,

Bryce Conlan
you know, we've never asked it directly, but it does tend to surface in the kind of onboarding, getting to know you conversations. We, I think, share a general philosophy that when it comes to building a business, a dance studio, in particular, start from the bottom up, but I'm stealing that from you, right? Like you, you don't need to necessarily advertise your 15 and 16 year old classes, because you're probably not going to get them. The reality is you're going to spend a lot of money and you're going to come up kind of empty handed. Because a 15 year old who's dancing, who wants to dance is probably dancing already. And they're happy in their dance home, right, but the littles are where you want to get them and keep them in build them into those higher level dancers. But um, so we generally always say like, if you don't have a rec program, or even in here in the States, we have a lot of like Junior competitions, like even the little kids get to participate, focus at that level first. But when it comes to actually understanding your superpower, that can fall across a variety of domains. So it may be in the classroom, like, you may be just an exceptional teacher when it comes to the littles. Or maybe that's what the advanced students, or maybe it's not in the classroom at all. And you're just incredible at making people, you know, remembering their first name and greeting them with a smile when they walk through the door. And that counts that superpower. You know, maybe you're an incredible administrator. And so everybody knows exactly what they need to be doing. That's a superpower lean into that, or you're a team builder and all of your, your your instructors love working for you and they feel like family. That's all superpower. And so, while that's not necessarily like marketing specific, you do need to know what that is for you. And lean into that, because that's where you're gonna get the most done in the smallest amount of time.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally agree. And I think like, think realizing that within your own self, like, I know, for myself, I am terrible at Facebook marketing, right, like, I'm atrocious at it, I tried it, it was not for me. And so I pay someone to do that. And, and that's just me, like, I'm the sort of person that's like, I know what I'm great at. I know, I'm great at leading my team. That's what I focus on. And the other stuff that I'm not so great at, I'm gonna get other people to do that. And I think it's important as a studio owner to not try and necessarily do all the things because when you try and do all the things, it's so overwhelming and so crazy, and you're not going to be great at all the things you know. So I think focusing on that superpower is so so important. Give me another thing that because we talk a lot you and I Bryce about, you know, you can definitely get people in your doors, like you can get leads, you can get all of that. What do you think is going wrong with people not keeping those leads, like what's going wrong there?

Bryce Conlan
So Rebecca, there's so many things, right? Like, there's so many things. And from personal experience, like I have a seven year old who is interested in dance, through the pandemic here in the States, there weren't a lot of opportunities for her to do that. And so we would have liked to start her younger. But here we are. And we just went through the process of auditioning dance studios. And that's a really interesting thought as a parent. Now I'm using language that most parents aren't going to use. They're going to try to find a studio that they like or that is close or that their kid likes or whatever. But I saw it as an audition. And we really truly didn't go studio to studio style to style to find where is our home in there were several studios that we walked into, where within the first three minutes we knew we weren't going to be back. Like for example one of them we walked into and it was pure chaos we happen to catch in between one class letting out in the next class starting there were kids everywhere and there was nobody there to see us in greet us and welcome us in even though by the way, we had called well in advance in giving them our name and information, and they knew we were coming. Like we lay it was a layup, all they had to do was say, Hi, are you Bryce, and that's it, you have my money. But if they didn't, like, we just kind of stood in the doorway, and we're like, I don't even know who to talk to right now. I'm not coming back here. And that's just my own personal experience. That's like one of many things, right? I'm not offering the next step, the number of times that we hear studios that they'll that we work with, or that we don't work with, but are worth considering working with. And they say, We get great leads, like we're on a busy street corner, there's a lot of foot traffic, we're across the street from an elementary school. We have tons of people coming in, and we're like, so why are you failing? Why is your business struggling? And it's because they bring people in, and it's all friendly, nice and kind. And then they try the trial class, and they love it. And nobody ever says, Do you want to sign up for next week? You know, it's like, this is a, this is a business. So we need to make that offer and ask for that sale. Yeah. And I think a lot of studio owners are just really gun shy when it comes to actually asking for money for what is really ultimately a very valuable product.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally. I talk about this a lot in my staff training, like you've got to learn to close the sale, it is a sale, because yeah, it is. And we're so passionate about what we do that we don't like to see it that way. But you do have to close that sale. And you definitely do have to do you know the things to make sure that that person enrolls. And the way that I always talk about it is, imagine if that child then doesn't get the amazing journey of dance. Like rather than thinking about it as a money thing, think about the journey of dance that you've had as a studio and a teacher, whatever. And then you're going to be able to give that to that child if you close the sale. But if you don't, they might go play netball or something instead, right? Do you do netball? In the States, you probably don't even

Bryce Conlan
we don't we don't do that fall in the States. But I actually grew up abroad. And this is another conversation for another time. So I grew up playing netball. So I do know exactly what you're about. Right. But you know it, you bring up something really interesting. And it's this idea of? Well, I talked to a studio owner, probably about a month ago. And she she literally with tears in her eyes, struggling, she's having a really hard time. And with tears in her eyes said, I love what I do. I wish I could just give it away to everybody for free. And I said to her, but why do you wish that? She said because it's been so meaningful for me. I said, Well, what about it's been meaningful. And she told me her life story. She grew up in a really rough environment. It was not a happy home life, the studio became the second home. Her instructors became the mentors and the guides in her life. It influenced her career decision. And now she bought the studio where she was raised, like where she kind of grew up. And that studio she owns now. Very cool story, right? And I asked her it said, well, knowing what you know now, what would you pay? If I asked you to put a price tag on that experience? What is it worth? And she was like, oh, it's it's an incalculable amount? I can't put $1 amount I'm like, that's what you're providing to everybody who walks through the door? Why? Why do you feel uncomfortable for asking for $1 amount to embed life skills and teamwork and confidence and all of these things that by the way, it gets sold and packaged to adults in the self help industry, which is a $50 billion a year industry. Like we're selling the same things in the studio. As we are in the books in the seminars and the conferences, it's all the same. You're just doing it to a younger audience in a more fun way. So it's totally valuable. And you've got to know that if you're going to be successful in this business.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally. And did you turn her mind set around because I was that person, Bryce. Everyone was on scholarship, you know, I wanted to do everything for free. I was totally that person. And my business was drowning, and I was making no money. And I really had to change my mindset on that. And, you know, I think when you can change this to your owners mindset on that, that's when they're going to do really, really well. And again, like if you think about it in a different way, it's like you're going to affect more lives if your business is really viable and doing well. And that's another way to look at it rather than Oh, I should just be doing this for free because it changed my life and I could change another child's life if I do it for free for them. It's like just flipping that mindset. Yeah, so she did

Bryce Conlan
it. Yeah. Well, she did she did flip it's taken a while is the truth is because I think the reality is, is that we're all coming to our businesses with some with our with our life experience with how we were raised with beliefs about money, with beliefs about entrepreneurship, with beliefs about philanthropy, and all of that. It's filtering in and factoring in and so, it can be a struggle to overcome some Have them. But if we want to be successful, you've got to look at your business through the lens of reality. And so I take exactly what you said and said, All right, great. If you could impact one student, give them that experience. Is it worth it? Yes. Well, what if you could open a second location now? How many more kids? Could you impact? Oh my gosh, so many. Don't you think you owe it to all of those children to open the second location? Well, I never thought about it like that. And it's like, well, yeah, like business I genuinely genuinely believe is a force for good, right. And a dance studio is a business. And so you have an obligation to be profitable. Because the more profitable you are, the more you can do. The more programs you can offer. The more locations you can open, the more kids you can impact more communities you can serve. Like you have a moral ethical obligation to be profitable.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally agree with you. I love that so much. Hey, I'm gonna flip it back and say to you, what was the dance school that did appeal to you? Because we talked about the one that you hated where there was no one there? And yeah, nobody. So what was the difference? Like, did you choose a dance school for your daughter?

Bryce Conlan
We did. Yeah. So we did we we did pick a a dance school. I didn't go to this one. My wife took my daughter. And we are in our heritage, we are Irish. And so she ended up kind of settling on Irish dance. That's what she wants to do. She wants to do Irish step dancing. And when we went into the school, it was a free trial offer sort of deal. Got it. Word of mouth, like heard about it from someone that we knew not real? Well, it wasn't like we didn't know the instructor. We were coming in cold. And my wife said, because I asked that very same question. I said, Are you going back? Absolutely. And the reason wasn't that my daughter was in love with the dance, necessarily the style of dance, she didn't say, because of our heritage, I want Irish dance. She literally walked in the teacher, it was warm and welcoming to my wife, she got down on, you know, bent down to my daughter's level, eyeline and welcomed her into the studio when they went into this into the space, made some introductions to some of the other kids. So she had like an in class buddy. And all of that just made for a wonderful experience. So my daughter comes bounding out with a giant ear to ear grin on her face. My wife has a great experience, because she feels seen and known just by walking through the front door. And when it came time to inch, by the way, she asked for the sale. Great. We're gonna see you next week. Yes, you sure? Well. And it was easy. It was just a done deal that was on the spot it was seeing next week. And now we're working towards recital and we're invited to all these things. And now mom and mom and dad are getting sucked into the community as dance parents. And that's exactly what you should be doing. As a studio owner, just creating your, your local business, your community business, right. And if you can create that sense of community, you will thrive.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally. And I love what you said about the teacher getting down to her level and introducing her to friends. And I think we lack this so much as studio owners, we forget to teach our staff how to do that. Because we would do that naturally, because that's just who we are. And we just think that staff members would naturally do that. But they actually don't always know how to do all those things. And even I've had staff members who haven't done any of that. And they've been practicing a routine that was going to be in a concert. And so they've just set the trial down for the lesson. And then the trials walked out the door. So it's even teaching them things like that. How do you integrate a child into a class if they already know their dance? You know, there's all of those things that we've got to throw at our staff so that you're not just spending money for those trials to come in and they walk out the door. There's nothing worse than that, you know, it's not theirs. You've got to think about that conversion when they actually come into your studio. I think that's so so important.

Bryce Conlan
Yeah, I mean, sales and marketing, tend to be on the front end of things, right like that. And that's it, it makes sense because this is how we grow like this is how you get people through the front door. The bottom line is organic posting doesn't work nearly as well as it did five years ago, the algorithms have changed. Facebook has figured out they have something valuable and if you want their access to their audience, you have to pay to play. That's the truth. Right? And so it makes sense that that's where everyone kind of starts is I need new bodies. And it's true. You do you need new fresh blood walking through the door. However, the delivery side is the other part. Like if you can't deliver a world class warm, welcoming experience. It doesn't matter how many new bodies you have walking through the door, they're going to be walking right back out. And so training your staff, training yourself, right like if you don't know how to do this, get plugged into a community to where you can learn how to do this, so that you can build that experience and look at your processes critically and say, This is what we're trying to do here. This is what we're going to do here, and it's going to be amazing. But you've got you've, you've got to kind of look at the whole package, the front end and the delivery.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, I love that. Hey, random question with Facebook marketing, would you suggest that people are continuously marketing on Facebook? Would you suggest they do bits and pieces because in Australia, we have this whole mentality that you can only get enrollments in in January? And then because that's the start of our year. And then you know, that's it for the year. And I'm a big believer and continually marketing on Facebook, but you're the expert. So what would you suggest people do?

Bryce Conlan
You know, it's funny, because we see that here in the States as well. Our season is a little bit different from yours tends to start in September here and run through about May. And then we have concert and recital and all of that. And then summer is it's a disaster, because everyone goes on vacation, and nobody wants to be in the studio. And then we're back in September again, and the whole process repeats. I know in Australia, it's more January to December, which is honestly I wish more Studios here in the states would do it that way. But the reality is, is you've got to have an offer something on the table that you can offer year round, it's an evergreen offer, you can offer it in September, you can offer it in January, you can offer it in July. And it's something that people can say yes to. And yes, you absolutely want to be running those campaigns constantly. The biggest mistake, one of the biggest mistakes you can make with your marketing. First of all, stop boosting posts, it doesn't do anything. You're just like, you may as well just lay a stack of cash on fire, like don't do it. Because it literally will get you nowhere, it's just an echo chamber, the people you already know see it like it and you don't need them to, you need other people. But develop an offer. We call this your core offer, this is the thing you can offer year round, run add to that until you are packed to the gills. And when you are full up. Now you can start expanding into other territories offering to different age groups or different segments of the market or whatever, but fits and starts to kill you. Because you try it for a week. And you're like, Oh, it didn't work and messaging doesn't work, marketing doesn't work. And then you throw the baby out with the bathwater until you get desperate and the name of the game is never want to be desperate. So just build a campaign if you don't know how to do that, find a professional who does and start small. You don't have to blow your entire budget in the first three days like start small, and work up to the point where you are producing leads at a positive ROI. And now you have a FREE MARKETING SYSTEM. Totally just mint kids and money.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally consistency is key. Right. Like I think people think that studios, like my studio is quite big now. And I think people think that it just happened overnight. And like I always talk about the seven year journey, like it's been a seven year journey. It takes time to build, it takes time for your community to think that your school is the go to studio in your area. It takes time for you to get out there. Like, you know, I know you have insane results in very short periods of time with your marketing in the US. But I still think people need to realize that consistency is key. And you know, you've got to be consistently marketing properly. I feel on socials to get the results. Like you say it can't just be a week of, okay, I'm gonna put all this money into it for a week and then it doesn't work or even a month, you know, a lot of our studio owners put money, a lot of spend into January and December because we're enrolling for February. And then they're like we spent $4,000. And we didn't get enough leads and in my head. I'm like you'd be better off spending that $4,000 over six months and continually getting leads.

Bryce Conlan
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. One of the things it's, it's funny, we do get really big results for for our clients. Like it's not it's not uncommon for our studio clients to sometimes double or even triple enrollment within a single calendar year. And that's probably a mind bending statistic for a lot of people listening like wait, I can go from 100 to 300 students in in under 12 months. And yes, like, one of our clients literally went from under 100 to over 300 in eight. You know, I mean, it's it we do a lot. But she does a lot, too. And she does a lot, right. Like she's been very coachable. She's been willing to learn. And it didn't start that way. You know, the first month it was slow and sloppy in the second month it was in the third month it was okay, we're gaining traction and by month four. Now we've hit it and I think it was month five for her we like hit the goose that laid the golden egg and now she's just minting cash. But I just got off a call with this client that we on boarded 20 days ago and she's like, how come I don't have 300 students? Well, because it's not magic, it takes time, it might seem like magic on the outside. But the truth is, we're consistent with our clients as well. And so we're, instead of maybe a Facebook, or a studio owner, who's busy, who has 15 Other things to do might check in on our Facebook ad. Once a week, well, we're checking in on in on it, like every four hours, you know, and it's the same thing, same process, just highly compressed. And as a result, with intentional focus, we're able to produce some pretty remarkable results for our clients.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, I love what you're saying about, like, the fact that they're doing all the things we find that in the tribe as well, like the people who do all things. And you know, they're all the time and actually implementing it are the ones who see the growth and the ones who don't do all the things and just expect it all to get done for them, or the ones that don't necessarily see the growth. And I think that's a good eye opener, too. Like, I know, when I first started with a mentor, I went to him for six months crying my eyes out every single time I went to him. And he finally said to me back, you can keep paying me exorbitant amounts of money for you to sit here and cry, or you can actually start doing the stuff. And if you start doing the stuff you might actually grow. And look at that was a big thing for me, because I was in that victim mentality. And then that was the changing moment in my life where I was like, okay, stop whinging, and actually start doing the stuff. And as soon as I did, of course, you know, we start to grow, and things start to happen. So it's, it's interesting, like, you know, you think you think you're running, but sometimes you're just running in the wrong directions, and you're not actually doing the things that you need to be doing. Hey, I've got a question for you. Are you in Free Trial or page trial?

Bryce Conlan
Yeah. Okay. So this one comes up a lot. I mean, like, every day. And I'm a believer in whatever is gonna work best for your market, your offer and your business. Yeah, there are some teams, for example, that are really, really great. Like my daughter studio, if if she said, we're not working with them yet. But if she said, Hey, what do you recommend, for me, I would say, for her run a free trial, because I know that every person who walks through the door is going to get that same sort of high touch, environment like encounter that I had, and, or that my wife had my daughter had. And that's what sold us, like, you're so good at creating that welcoming environment, you want as many bodies through the front door as humanly possible, right? That is a strategic business decision that it might make sense to lose money on the front end, just for the privilege of an introduction. On the other hand, there's certain studios, maybe the style, maybe it's higher end, maybe it's more of a conservatory, where it's not as warm and welcoming, it's not as friendly, it's a little more business, it's, maybe it's all competition all the time, again, not as friendly. In those cases, you might want to make a decision to market a paid trial, to not only cover your costs, but also to just weed out people who are looking for more of the hand holding, you know, you're looking for people who they know, this is what they want. And they're going to come through the door, and they're going to find their way. And they're going to do whatever they need to do to kind of make their way in your studio, again, a strategic business decision. And so there is no hard and fast rule of free or paid if you can't do it is a case by case based on what kind of studio are you? What kind of culture do you have? Who do you have in the lobby when people are coming in? What are you about what are you trying to accomplish? And those are all business decisions that have to get made by the owner. And when we bring on a new client, we just have these conversations and try to help them think through probably questions that they've never thought through before.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, totally. I'm definitely a free trial person at my studio. But I think it's interesting to look at some, you know, gyms and places like that, where they get you to come for a week and try things a few times. And I've just joined a new gym. I was at my old gym for seven years. So I've just run a new gym. Yep. And I hate it like I hate it with passion. I've told the gym owner, I hate it right. And I hate it because it's different. And I think we need to think of kids like this sometimes. And I've been thinking a lot about this the last couple of weeks because I'm making myself stick it out for at least 10 weeks, because I think it takes time for you to get used to something and get addicted to something. And some of our tribe members do things like they'll do three lessons for a certain amount of money so that the kids are actually giving it a go a few times because that first experience they might be a bit scared and hesitant and then they get a bit more comfortable with it. The second time and then by the third time they're in love with it. And I think that's an interesting way to look at things sometimes as well is, you know, maybe that one trial isn't enough, we always say, especially to our preschoolers, come back and try again, come back and try, like, all they can try 10 times for free. I don't mind because I know it takes time for that preschooler to necessarily feel comfortable, but also for mum to feel comfortable sometimes, you know, so it's allowing them to try things more than once. I think sometimes we think well, they tried it once they didn't like it. So see you later. Whereas actually, if you let them try a few different times, and then we get to them to try different classes, like if they say, Oh, they hated ballet, well, you know what, they're probably going to love circus. So try circus now. So just trying to get them to try different things as well, I think you know, that that can be really valuable. Once they're in your doors, you may as well give them all the things right.

Bryce Conlan
That's it, I tend to embody that same philosophy. I know Christian, my business partner at the especial marketing does as well. It's like if you're going to spend the money to acquire them. And when that's not true, you're going to spend something to acquire them. Maybe it's your time in running around town, hanging up flyers at all the local coffee shops, like you're spending something, that's your time. If you're running paid advertising, then you're spending money and but you're spending something to get people to come through the door once and if you can get them to come once. The goal is not necessarily to get them to commit for the next 10 years, is to get them to commit to coming back again. And we take these tiny like dating, it's almost like dating versus marriage, right? Like, hey, I want you to date my studio for a while. And if and if you didn't like the the hip hop thing, come and try ballet. If you don't like ballet, then see if you'd like jazz. We have tumbling, too, you know. And it's just just get them in there. Like you're building relationship with them. The goal is to habituate the habit every Thursday night, like I know, today, when I'm done with work, I'm going upstairs. I'm going to make dinner, my wife is going to be packed in my daughter and she's going to dance class. I know that why? Because it's a Thursday. Right. And that's what happens on Thursdays. And if you can start getting your dance families, just in the habit of getting in the car and driving to your studio. That's literally half the battle. And so it's like, again, it's you're not trying to to marry them on the first time they walked through the door. It's just checking in. How did you like it? I did like it. Will you be back? I don't know. I don't know if we liked it that much. Is it that you didn't like the class, the time the style, the instructor the find out? It curious, asked for that critical feedback. And now you can collaborate a solution that works for mom, the daughter, the kid, the son, whoever, and you as the owner?

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, I always do this in staff training, and I throw it at them. And I'll say, because we act out who's who. And so I'll say to the person acting is the child. Okay, teacher, I want you to ask how the class was, and then charter wants you to say you hated it. And it stumps them every single time. Like they're like, I don't know what to say to that. And I'm like, Cool. Well, that could happen. A kid could actually say they didn't enjoy the class. Same as me with my gym right now. I hate it. You know? And what's that? What's that person gonna say back? And look, my gym instructor was really great. You know, he was like, yep, well back, it's gonna take you time to change the way that you're doing things. And I want you to give it that time. And, you know, when you start hitting goals here, you're gonna really start to enjoy it. So he was smart about turning that around. But we have to be smart as teachers and as studio owners to turn that around as well. And go cool. There's heaps of other classes and, you know, try all the other things and all of that stuff. Look, we've had so much gold today, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to give one more thing. Before we finish up. I don't know, if you want to give some advice, or your top marketing tip or anything like that for us, because you are a wealth of knowledge. I know. And, yeah, it's been an amazing conversation. But give me one more tip for everyone.

Bryce Conlan
You know, the only other tip that I can that I can really truly think of is when it comes to marketing, give yourself enough time. Right? Like we always tell our clients, I noticed like as a small business owner, as a studio owner, you are spinning a dozen plates at any given time, right? And it's really easy for things to slip through the cracks and to come crashing down and every crisis is the crisis that requires your full attention. Right? And what inevitably ends up happening is because marketing is not it's not visible. It's not the red faced parents standing in your office yelling. It's not the kid crying in the corner. It's not visible, it gets kicked further and further down the line. And then inevitably, you come up to the opening of enrollment in you know, in Australia, you're coming up on December, January, February. Here in the States, we're looking at September, and it's that big enrollment month, and you're like, oh my god, it's three weeks from now, and I don't have anything. And so give yourself enough time. And how much is enough time? Well, it's gonna be different for every studio. But I'll tell my American listeners right now, if you haven't started pushing your fall programming today, and it's the beginning of June, you're late, you're late Australia, it's probably going to be the same thing like, November is like your cut off time, like you've got to be starting to really ramp it up. Give yourself enough time. And if you don't have that time, or you can't keep yourself accountable to that, find someone who can either hire them on your team, or find an agency like ours to hold you accountable and make sure that you've got those campaigns rockin and rollin when they need to be going out so that you can win. You don't want to be doing the last minute sliding into home plate on this. It's a mistake. So get out ahead of that. You'll be you'll thank yourself. Your future self will thank you. And you'll start to see the profit really rolling in and you can really design the studio you'd love to own. Yeah, we always thought would be my that'd be my number one.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Yeah, I love that design the studio of your dreams, right? Like that's what you want, essentially. Well, thank you so much, Bryce, you have been absolutely amazing. Where can everyone find you? If they want to look you up? I know you've got an amazing Facebook group.

Bryce Conlan
We do. We do have a Facebook group. It's called the dance business. Nope. It's called the dance studio business accelerator. It is free. And it's an amazing community of dance studio owners from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, and will just really come together to help grow. If you're looking to grow your studio specifically. And you're like, Yeah, I heard what you said today. I need that I want that I tried Facebook, I don't want to do it. Then you can always reach out to us through our website at dance motion marketing.com. We have resources there as well. And we'd be happy just to get curious with you to see what it would look like to really build a system to grow your business. And that's all we'll do. We won't sell you anything until you tell us that you want to.

Rebecca Liu-Brennan
Amazing. Thank you so much for your time Bryce. Thanks so much studio owners and we will chat to you next week. Bye