The 112 enrollments that I got in, in one term, on my Dance School. How did I do it?
112! Yes. Crazy number and it was crazy busy that particular week. I even had to get helpers as meet and greet people on the door. Which is not a bad little tip. Because new people they’re always going to feel a little bit lost. But it was… pretty full on. But how did I get that number?
And that’s a huge, huge number, right? How did I get it? Right. Tip one, consistency, right? Now you might go, really, Sarah? I thought you were going to say that there’s this way that you do this advert or there’s this little quick tip. No, the way that marketing really works is when you build consistency over a period of time because when you’ve got this little drip feed going on, people will are more likely to see what is happening.
Okay, if you want students tomorrow and you put some marketing out, is it going to get seen? Probably not. But you multiply that by a period of time. The likelihood is in whatever form that you use to market your classes. You’re going to get seen. Now we need to think of marketing as multi layered, but we also need to think of it as a ripple.
So think about dropping a stone into a pond. It’s going to cause a little bit of a ripple. You do that, and then it all goes still. And then you do it again. Ripple, ripple. it goes still. What we need in marketing is a constant drip and a constant ripple because those ripples will reach further. They will have a bigger impact and that’s what consistency brings you.
Now when I say multi layered you have of course online and offline marketing. Now not everybody is going to see what you do online. I find that these days most people seem to focus more on social media than anything else. But the truth is, a lot of people are not seeing what you’re putting out there. So you think, oh I’m going to put a post out about my preschool class.
Out it goes, and then you think, oh there we go, I’ve done my marketing. Hmm. It needs to be multi layered in many ways. So you can put out your sales post about your preschool classes. But how about asking a question another time about your preschool classes? Did you know? That sort of thing. How about introducing a teacher that teaches the preschool classes?
Show us what props you use, or do you theme them? Do multiple posts from different angles about your preschool classes over a period of time. Then people really start to learn what your preschool class is all about. So when you do go in for the sale, they’re more likely to go. Oh, I know about that. That sounds awesome.
So, consistency is really, really, really important, okay? What’s the next one? The stats. The stats is what’s important. Now, we put everything out there, but how do we know what is working? Because if something’s really working, you need to do more of it. And if something’s not having any effect, You need to do less of it.
Now, this isn’t just about going into Google Analytics or looking at your engagement or your impressions on social media. This is also about you analyzing this new students that do come into you. Where are they coming from? How are they hearing about you? Now, I can almost guarantee, ’cause I did this exercise in my own school that anywhere between 72 to 78, if not higher.
Percentage of the pupils that come in your door will hear about you through word of mouth. Let me repeat that. Seventy two to seventy eight, if not higher, comes from word of mouth. That’s a huge stat. So all that time… That you’re spending on social media. Is it the best place to be spending your time? Now that comes with the provider.
You still need a presence on social media, because even if somebody hears about you at the school gate, call it school gate moment, they hear about you at the school gate, they will get on their phone, they will Google you. They will check out your reviews. They will go on your page. And if you haven’t posted in a year.
Or if everything that you ever post about is somebody else’s shares or you’re constantly doing the second hand salesman and say, Come and buy this, come and buy this, come and buy this. They’re gonna be a bit like, Mmm. What do they see in that company? Maybe all your information is wrong or your links are broken.
So don’t get me wrong, you still have to have a strong website. You still have to have a strong social media presence. But that’s not always where the customers are coming from. So it’s important you look at the stats and throw your energy into what is working and what’s not. What’s the next one? The next one is to sell the experience.
Okay, now I mentioned this slightly before when I said about you only ever doing sales posts. Nobody wants to see that, but what people want to know is what is their child going to feel for attending your classes? What’s the experience they’re going to get? How are they going to come out of that class?
And that’s what you need to spare, sell. You sell the magic, or you need to sell the happiness, or you need to sell the friendship, or the confidence building, rather than, just come to my ballet class. Okay, the fact is that you do ballet in that class, that’s great, but they want to know what happens. How that child’s gonna move, or feel, or react to the ballet class.
Yes, so that’s really important. I’m going to leave you with one more. You have to be multifaceted. Again, I talked about this earlier on. You have to be focusing online and offline. And often it’s the offline stuff in this current period that is working better than the online stuff. Okay? But the two have to work together.
So please, do not put all your eggs in one basket. Because when it comes to marketing, we need to be having many baskets and you need to be using all of them in your marketing. So that is how I got my Mega Enrollment. I focused on all the different baskets. Okay. And that’s what you will need to do as well.
If you help with more marketing tips, then join my membership – there is a whole module on it there! Dm/email me and let’s set up a quick call for me to tell you all about it.
In the meantime – Check out these extra resources:
Your Studio Money Finder – https://join.theden.company/studiomoneyfinder
55 Show Theme Ideas – https://join.theden.company/showideas
Sarah is a performing arts consultant, dance business coach and dance business mentor
