Lots of dance studios have a flurry of enrollments in the Fall and then new students sort of trickle in during the rest of the year.
If you’re like most dance studios, you probably are also limited to enrolling new students during certain times of year. Maybe you have to close enrollment for recital prep. Maybe you’ve got some Summer programs in place that only make sense to accept enrollments at the beginning of the Summer. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to ensure a constant flow of new students throughout the year, all year long?
Think about it. Gymnastics studios and Karate schools accept new enrollments all year long. Yoga studios aren’t limited by season. Fitness gyms and even the indoor soccer facility just down the street from my own studio accept new clients year round. But that’s not possible for dance studios, right?
Let me let you in on a little secret.
Not only does allowing enrollments all year long help your cash-flow issues at your studio, it makes your marketing costs plummet, and it also increases your student retention.
So, how would your life improve if you could increase your CASH FLOW drop your marketing COSTS, and increase your STUDENT RETENTION all at once?
But, that’s not possible for dance studios, right?
“Marketing has momentum.”
It does take some creative thinking and planning to make the shift, but I’d like to give you three hints to get you started.
SECRET #1
Schedule “interim classes”
For the few months that lead up to our recital we schedule some “interim” classes that run during our less prime times specifically to catch the new beginners that want to enroll during that time of year. These students know they won’t be in the recital this year, and also that they’ll have the first crack at enrolling in the regularly scheduled beginner classes as soon as they’re open again.
These classes are hugely popular at our studio. They create a feeling of SCARCITY in the minds of the students in them, and allow us to accept new students that our competition is turning away at that time of year
SECRET #2
Never stop marketing
Marketing has momentum. The longer it’s in place the better it works. If you market for the month or two before you’re pushing for enrollment and then stop, it’s going to lose momentum. If you keep up the marketing pressure all year round it will start to work better and build that momentum back up. You’ll be getting inquiries in January, in May, and a ton throughout the Summer.
Most studios turn their marketing down during most of the year and try to ramp it up when it’s most convenient for THEM to get more students in the door. If it takes most marketing techniques 2-3 months to really build momentum, that means they’re cutting it off right as it’s getting ramped up and starting to work
SECRET #3
Run a 12-month beginner program
The late Spring and all Summer long are GREAT times to fill your studio with beginner students that don’t know that they’re “supposed” to enroll at a specific time of year. If your marketing is set up right that’s super easy to do.
Think about it. Even if your enrollment drops a little at the beginning of the Summer, if you’ve got regular classes running all year round, you’ll catch a ton of new students that are eager to get started right away. (Summer is a great time to market for beginner students in regular classes.)
Once again, your marketing momentum comes in to play here. You’re not trying to sell one product for most of the year and a different service during the Summer. You leave your marketing in place and let the new students in the door. (Not to mention how much better your students’ training will be if they’re not missing 2 or 3 months every year.)
At my studio (and many of the studios I work with) we run a full schedule all year long. We are able to accept new enrollments at any time of year because of the interim classes, and our marketing is WAY LESS EXPENSIVE than everyone that doesn’t follow this system. (We have advertising strategies in place right now that are only costing us 85 cents per lead.)
The key here is to make sure that you’re implementing everything the right way.
I’d love to help you work through that. That’s a big part of what I do.
Click here to schedule a free 30 minute consult where we can talk about exactly this.
I’ll show you the EXACT STRATEGIES to get your studio from where it’s at to where it needs to be.
Then, if it makes sense to work together, I’ll show you how I can walk you through each step personally.