Bring up marketing to a typical yoga studio owner or a yoga teacher, you may be met with a blank stare. Far from a peaceful topic, many yogis struggle with yoga marketing, watching helplessly as class sizes shrink. If you are trying to find the balance between yoga teaching and your marketing, keep reading.
Whether you’re a freelance yoga teacher or run a successful yoga business, your digital marketing strategy is key to growth and building your brand. To build your tribe, nurture your yoga community and grow your business, you need to market your yoga business.
Of course, for a business to grow, marketing is just a part of that process. Your marketing attracts new clients and retains old ones. Most marketing efforts aim to attract new customers to the business so that they buy a service or product. In a crowded marketplace, it’s crucial that you find a way to make your business stand out from the competition.
Whether you have a yoga retreat, yoga teacher training, yoga studio, or looking to take your online yoga classes to the next level, knowing how to market your business is key to growth. Understanding yoga marketing could be what sets you aside from the competition rather than being lost in the crowd.
Why Should You Market Your Yoga Business?
Marketing makes many yoga studio owners and teachers uncomfortable. They may think that it’s manipulative or fake. For people who are used to assist others in finding their authentic selves, this perception can turn them away from yoga studio marketing.
But the truth is that you can market your studio in a way that is genuine, whole-hearted, and completely true to your studio’s mission.
The rising popularity of yoga and the variety of places that offer this practice means that it can be hard to stand out in a sea of yoga pants and singsong “Oms.” Competition in this non-competitive practice is fierce, and yoga studio marketing is crucial to help you attract (and keep) new students in your area.
Latest Statistics On Yoga Industry
The yoga industry is worth over $88 billion worldwide and it’s expected to reach $215 billion by 2025. What’s interesting about yoga is that the average yoga practitioner will spend a lot of money on yoga. A typical yogi will spend $62,640 on yoga classes, workshops, and accessories throughout their lifetime. With yoga being a lifelong love, it will be interesting to see the new business opportunities that arise for the industry off the back of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From helping to reduce stress and anxiety to improving flexibility and strength, the myriad of benefits yoga offers has led to a steady increase in yoga practitioners around the world and will continue to grow further.
You need to market your yoga business to stay competitive, to attract new students, and to differentiate your business.
Marketing Ideas For Your Yoga Business
Like most businesses, there are several marketing ideas you could implement. By utilizing the right channels for your yoga business, you can invest your time and resources into marketing strategy ideas that are completely relevant to your target market.
- Capitalize on social media marketing
In general, yoga marketing is very visual. A quick Instagram yoga search will return beautiful images of yogis. Social media marketing is an essential marketing tool for any business. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok naturally lend themselves to visual content. Yoga studio social media marketing is where authentic relationships with potential students are built off the mat.
Embrace social media and develop an organic digital marketing strategy that leverages the beauty of yoga. Share clips of yoga classes, helpful tips, student testimonials, motivational type of content, and the services you offer. Share an authentic view of your business. You can find useful tips on choosing the right social media marketing strategy here. After all, you’re looking to gain loyal followers in your community.
2. Build your Google profile
Google handles over five and a half billion searches a day, with almost 91% of the search engine market share across the globe. Your Google profile is your studio’s digital calling card. It is important to make sure the information is complete, compelling, and correct. Make sure to list your studio address, have a profile picture, and post studio hours. You can also link to your website for a complete class schedule.
Have more than one location? With the 900% increase in “near me” searches over the past few years, it’s crucial to optimize your Google profile for all locations, too.
3. Use Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool that comes with your Google Business account. Announce promotions, add pictures, and publicize events, all for free, and all shareable to social media.
Just as a vinyasa links one pose with another using breath, so, too, does Google link other yoga studio marketing strategies so you get the most out of the time spent off the mat (and on your marketing).
4. Leverage email marketing
Email marketing is still a cost-effective and compelling marketing tool that businesses can utilize. Whether you’re a yoga teacher or a studio owner, email is an effective way to communicate with your members and promote your services. An email marketing strategy is a great way to engage with students on a regular basis. Think welcome emails, class reminders, blog posts, notifications of special events and promotions, and other useful information that your students might need.
You can also start an email newsletter and send a weekly or monthly email to your list. Your email content should focus on always providing value to your subscribers rather than selling something for the sake of it. This could include your class schedule for the week, helpful tips for at-home yoga practice, or exciting announcements from the business.
5. Utilize paid ads
Paid ads can be useful in kick-starting your marketing efforts and focusing on specific marketing campaigns. An organic marketing strategy is a long game. Whilst it’s important, it takes time to build an organic online community. Paid ads can target potential customers based on specific demographics with your relevant messaging. When setting up your paid ads, define your goals and objectives. This is important because it will help you to track the success of your paid ad strategy over time. For more information on paid ads, we’ve pulled together a quick guide on how to skyrocket your Facebook ads conversion rate.
6. Create and share meaningful content
When sharing content, the aim is to promote your business and target new customers, but it shouldn’t stop there. Try to create and share meaningful content that is authentic and builds trust. Appeal to your customer’s motivation and share content that shows you’re human and relatable. When you engage with your followers on social media, and make meaningful interactions, you should maintain a united voice across your business and content marketing efforts. Your blog, podcast, website, and social media channels should be consistent in voice, tone, and branding. You can still create a sense of urgency and use a call to action to provoke the next step while adding value.
7. Strengthen your online presence
Evaluate your current online presence for strengths and weaknesses. Think about how often you post on social media, the quality of the content, and your paid ads strategy. Consider partnering up with online and local businesses that complement your business. For instance, if your yoga studio is located next to a juice bar, both businesses complement one another. You could offer a free juice with a yoga class and vice versa. Run social media challenges, utilize hashtags, and encourage members to share content. User-generated content is a great way to show authentic content that’s completely relatable to your target audience.
8. Find your niche
You will likely already have a niche, but it’s a good idea to define it. Your niche or type of yoga style will help you to market your business more effectively. Your yoga teaching style or studio niche will feed into all your marketing activities like your yoga website, social media marketing, and the overall yoga experience. In a saturated landscape, like yoga, your niche will help you to stand out and create more relevant messaging that will resonate with your target customer. In the yoga industry, authenticity is key as you’re looking to create a long-lasting community with loyal members.
9. Ask for reviews
These days, word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is some of the best marketing out there. Ask students to review teachers and classes on different platforms, including:
- Trip Advisor
- Yelp
- Groupon
Negative reviews? Make sure you respond compassionately and in a timely fashion.
Summary
From online yoga studios to brick and mortar yoga establishments, yoga retreat centers to yoga teacher training courses, knowing how to market your business is key to success. Converting strangers into paying and loyal customers is a journey. By setting a strong foundation for your marketing plan, you can implement effective strategies that allow you to target your customers with relevant messaging at the right time. As you continue to cultivate your yoga community and strengthen your online presence, standing out in a crowded landscape will be key to differentiating your business and elevating your brand.
Being true to yourself and your studio’s mission is always the best yoga studio marketing strategy. At Brands Oxygen, we can help you figure out the rest. If the marketing has you bent up in knots, get in touch today.