Marketing is an important part of starting a new business. You need to get your name out there and let your community know about your offerings so you can build your customer base. With the right marketing strategy, you can get a strong group of students to make your first year as a dance studio a success.

Email marketing for dance studios

Email marketing is useful if you already have a list of email addresses from reaching out to the community or running previous programming. When you send marketing emails, it is important to know you are fighting for visibility in busy inboxes. Keep these tricks and tips in mind to be successful with email marketing for your dance studio.

• Use a strong subject line to hook the reader. One of the main goals of email marketing is to get your email opened. Create a sense of urgency, intrigue the reader, and showcase your value with a strong subject line. Here are a couple of examples:

• ~Only 10 spots left for beginner ballet!
• ~Book now! Dance summer camps are almost full
• ~See what families have to say about our dance classes

• Offer incentives. If you can provide incentives like discounts or promo codes, email is a great place to do that. And if you are able to do this, you can really hook the reader by including that info in the subject line! 
• Keep it short. People are busy and their inboxes are crowded. It is important to get right to the point with marketing emails. Tell them why you are emailing, show them your value, and give them an easy way to purchase.
• End with a call-to-action (CTA). At the end of your email, use a strong CTA that encourages the reader to make a decision. Sometimes, the decision will be registering for your classes. However, other times it might make more sense for the CTA to be “schedule a call” or “learn more” if the reader is not yet ready to make a purchase.

Review our guide for more in depth information on email marketing for small businesses.

Social media marketing for dance studios

Social media is a very important platform when marketing dance classes for kids and adults. Pew Research reports that 72% of all adults in the US use social media. When it comes to parents, they found that number to be even higher: 83% of parents use social media. Therefore, social media is an important medium for reaching potential customers. Consider these recommendations when you use social media when marketing your dance studio.

• Utilize high quality photos. Professional photos are best, but you don’t need to pay for high quality photos. Smartphone photography is a great alternative. These images are the first impression a customer will get of your studio, so make sure they are full of smiling faces! And if you use photos of children in your classes, remember to always get permission from a parent or guardian beforehand. 
• Highlight user-generated content. Ask customers to share pictures in photo contests, reshare positive reviews, and get the excitement flowing with social media takeovers. Check out our full guide on user-generated content to see even more ideas.‍
• Interact with potential and current customers. Social media is such a great tool because you can easily interact with your community. By making connections, you are increasing the likelihood that they sign up for your classes and refer friends.

For more guidance on social media marketing for camps, check out our article, which includes helpful information about setting up business accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Advertising for dance studios

Google Ads are a useful, and often cost-efficient, marketing tool. Google Ads follow a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising model, allowing business owners to bid on search terms, rank higher, and pay for the clicks their ads receive. There is no spending requirement, which means you can set your own budget. Follow these steps when setting up your Google Ads strategy.

• Do your research. Before you can create your Google Ads, you need to decide which keywords to target. Keywords are the words or phrases that people search for on Google that trigger an ad. The first step is to see which keywords your competitors are targeting. You can find this information by searching those words to see what ads appear.
• Choose your level. Google Ads have two different levels: campaigns (higher level) and ad groups (lower level). Creating different ad groups for different keywords will help your ad be more effective with customers. 
• Create your budget. You need to consider two different elements that go into your account’s overall spend: daily budget (the amount of money you spend on each campaign each day) and bid (the cost when someone who searches for your keyword actually clicks on your ad).
• Pick your keywords. Google Ads has a free Keyword Planner tool, which you can use to generate a helpful list of keywords for your campaigns. The Keyword Planner helps you see if certain keywords are too expensive. You also need to decide the match type, which refines where your ads appear. 
• Choose your devices. Do you want your ads to appear on mobile, desktop, tablet, or all three? In our 2022 Children’s Activity Business Trend Report, we found that 60% of parents booked activities on mobile, 39% on desktop, and 1% on tablet.
• Write your copy. Write something catchy and enticing and don’t forget to include the keywords in your ad copy. Plus, be sure to add a call-to-action (CTA) like “Sign up today” or “Learn more”.‍
• Activate and monitor. Turn your ads on and then see how they are doing with Google Analytics, which is free and connected to Google Ads. For more advanced tracking, you can also install a Google Ads pixel on your site.

Looking for more details on setting up Google advertising for your kids camp? Check out our guide!

Making connections with schools

When you teach classes to children, making connections with schools can help you build customer trust, increase your enrollment numbers, and find new families in your community. And, for a new dance studio, school connections can help you get your first batch of students. Here are some of our top tips to help you make connections with schools.

• Reach out to the right contacts. Try finding members of the school board, administrators at the school, and/or the PTA to start the conversation.
• Write a strong outreach email. Be straightforward but polite. Catch their attention with your subject line, then in the body, introduce yourself and explain what you are offering. Let them know why the students would benefit from your classes and how you can make life easier for the school, too. End your email by thanking them for their time and let them know how they can get in touch with you to continue the conversation.
• Use our outreach email generator. With our outreach email generator, you can easily input the above information and create an email that will help you make strong connections with local schools.

Use our guide to learn more about how to make connections with schools.

‍