Yoga teachers often don’t want to promote themselves or their businesses through advertising and marketing, as it seems somehow contrary to the spirit of the yoga tradition.
That is all well and good, but here are a few things to consider:
Expecting classes to fill with no outreach is arrogant, even if you polish your attitude with a spiritual veneer…
Guilt over charging money for yoga means you may not value what you do, so why should anyone else…
And not letting the community know about the many ways you can improve their lives is simply irresponsible!
With the right intention, marketing is another way of being of service
If you’ve made yoga your career or have considered it, then you already know that as a teacher, you have a multitude of tools to make people’s lives better, whether to reduce stress, increase strength and flexibility, to reduce symptoms of some illness, or simply to allow people to connect with themselves and the world around them in a way they never have.
Here’s the rub: Can someone looking for the kinds of services you offer find you easily?
As yoga teachers, it is our job to make yoga available. It is our responsibility to share our knowledge and skills to help others. And, with a little marketing, you can do just that! Reach the people who need you. And let the money be their way of thanking you. There has to be an exchange of some kind, or you will burn out from playing the martyr.
This is not against the tradition of yoga. In India, even the most traditional teachers get support from their students. Maybe they don’t have online credit card processing, but every need they have is taken care of by someone. So now get out there and feed your community with your talents… and let the community feed you in return.
You don’t need a yoga advertising budget. Traditional advertising doesn’t work well.
Most people nowadays look for yoga on the Internet. You’ll get few responses from running ads in the phone book or in the local paper, plus that kind of advertising will really blow your budget. The best thing to do is make sure the people who are looking for your services can find you online.
I have spent a lot of money on advertising in the past — newspapers, local health rags, and the yellow pages. Yes, I got a few students from them, but I lost much more money than I made. Ad representatives will tell you the more you advertise, the better the results. That may be true, but it’s ridiculously expensive for the few results you’ll likely get.
A bigger budget will not solve the problem. You will not likely get a flood of new students by spending more on advertising. It just doesn’t work.
Well here is good news for you. There are cheaper, easier, and much more effective ways to attract new yoga students than using print advertising. Some are completely free, and work like gangbusters.
Word of mouth will bring you your most loyal clients in the future, referred by existing loyal clients. The other thing to think about is your location — not your physical location, but your location in Google search engine results when people look up keywords related to your services.
Even if you do not own a website, there are still ways for your offerings to be found on the Internet.
5 free methods of attracting new yoga students from the Internet
1. Use free press release distribution sites to get your events, services, and news online.
2. Post your events to your Facebook business page, and be sure to invite your yoga friends. Not only will they see what you offer, but their friends will too.
3. Craigslist is a free site where you can post your events, classes, and services.
4. Write yoga articles and distribute them through article directories like EzineArticles.
5. Create a YouTube account and post videos about your yoga expertise.
Get started with these free online marketing tools, and you are certain to attract new clients to your business, make more money, and enjoy a great yoga career.
Looking to find the best ideas for building a fun, rewarding and profitable yoga career using effective marketing, then visit www.yogawebmaster.com to get David Morgan’s yoga marketing report.