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Opened a Studio!!! (it’s scary) What brought YOU into pole?
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@Freddie, that is def good advice. I also think thats why a pole studio will hopefully work here: there isn’t much in terms of adult dance classes of any sort in this area!
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@oakmama, not sure where you’re looking exactly, but I had the same experience. I found a beautiful place in Poughkeepsie, on Main St, but it was 1100. The inside was PERFECT, but that was still too high for rent, especially considering some people [who’ve obviously never traveled to other cities], consider it a rough section of town. I don’t find it that bad, but really, what will you steal from a small pole studio? Rubbing alcohol and rags? But alas, I also didn’t think i needed a storefront, so paying more for that seems silly. I’d suggest driving around, and calling the numbers on buildings. I had NO luck with Craigslist.
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@romo, that is good to know, because i def had a few people tell me “boosting” your FB posts was really helpful because a lot of people see them… i do see those numbers, but you’re right: who are they hitting? it doesn’t matter if 1200 people saw your post if 1100 of them were men over 50.
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Thank you guys for all the feedback! Its all SUPER helpful. I am feeling like groupon may not be super beneficial for me yet. For timing- i hear ya on all that evening feedback! I currently have classes 4 nights during the workweek, from 6:30-7:45 and on Saturdays from 11am – 12:15, and 12:15 – 1:30. I feel like these are some of the times that are beneficial to ME when I’m looking to move, so i guess we’ll just see what sticks! So far, no one has come to Friday night classes. Every other day has resulted in at least one person.
Do you guys think I should nix Friday night?
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I’d recommend using Fridays for parties instead of classes 🙂
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And saw your post about location. I would never recommend renting in a “rough” area. Mine was in a bad section of town (great rent, high ceilings). We were broken into twice, had to dodge a lot of drug addicts, and always left in groups at night. Not worth it.
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I totally agree @lustyzins! Especially if you want a storefront (which I did not). What also dissuaded me, was thinking about the clientele I want… like if you want to EMPOWER women of all ages, shapes, sizes, having them walk through a group of men smoking a blunt, and hollering at every girl they see while loitering in front of your store, would def be a deterrent for a lot of people. I know I wouldn’t want to deal with it, no matter how much I enjoy the dance class.
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And yes, I think i will keep Fridays free for parties and maybe just add those classes to Tuesday.
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The thread on fitness swings and the AFrame portable stand brought me to this site. Studio Veena introduced me to the pole and aerial fitness/dance community. I suggest representing your classes correctly and following up with walk-ins especially if they never return. Sometimes large employers in the area will allow you to solicit membership from their employees if you offer group rates.
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@NikitaDarling and any other studio owners — Just a bit more elaboration on how to use FB to your advantage. Here’s a few tips and tricks that I’ve seen have worked for local, small business owners.
1 – Create an excellent profile / web page. This does NOT have to cost lots of money, but do put the time and effort to doing it. You can create a nice FB page or a free web page with a service like WIX. If you create a site, connect it up to your FB page.
2 – Add friends on FB. People in the demographic that interest you (ie; Women, 18-50).
3 – Join groups, especially similar stuff – other local gyms in the area, dance classes, etc. You’ll really be surprised to see how many people saw your page from their local gym’s FB page…
4 – List your events. Invite people.
5 – Share! to rack up followers, you need to create interesting content. Users who like your page will see your post. If they like or comment on your posts, their friends will see it, which can cause your network to grow. The most successful FB posts are the ones that drive the most people to comment, share and like. Most of the times these use a visual element (pics are better than videos!).Utilize the following tools:
1 — Page insights – it’s like Google’s analytics and will tell you who’s checking out your page, number of people who saw a post, etc. It clearly illustrates the specific content that engages readers.
2 — Hashtags. ’nuff said.
3 — Scheduled posts – FB lets you create a bunch of content and upload at predefined times. Setting certain posts to publish at certain times will give you a great boost in views. For example, if most people check their FB in the mornings, publish this week’s class schedule at 7:30 am, so it’ll be on top of your followers’ news feeds. Pictures, quotes and inspiration should be posted in the evenings, when people need it.Wishing you all the best of luck! If you ever want any help/advice, please feel free to message me privately.
🙂
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yeah stay away from groupon jeez…. people will suck the pennies out of you…wanting more than that coupon they bought….come after expiry date and will want to use it…and you will of course bend for them and the rest is history lol
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I’m advertising on Facebook. A little research my boyfriend did, using the data we have gained so far, pointed out that returning customers (who come back and book a course after a trial class) are mostly between 20 and 26 years old, so I’m targeting my facebook ads to this clientel. I hope I could help you.
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My studio uses Living Social and honestly that was the only way I would buy classes when I started. Not knowing if I would fall in love with pole it was so hard to commit to the 20 class package up front but the individual class price was so high. They also host a Free Intro workshop every Sat for new customers to get people in the door who are curious and think that they can’t “do pole”. Friday classes are a special of $5 a class. Use facebook and instagram to get the word out about your studio!
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I’m not a marketing person…
but I attend a monthly lecture seminar for my continuing education credits. Personally I like to learn actual dental things, but some of the older dentists would rather learn business things (since they have their technique nailed down)… so usually the lectures are a mix of both. Anyway…. my last lecture was on marketing.
Some fun facts that applied to my field… so the cost of acquiring a new patient through GoogleAds, Direct Mailer or Facebook is coincidentally about the same, $200-$250 a patient. But the average new patient is usually spends $800 in your office (usually people looking for a dentist have a problem).
Those are just the statistics they gave us for dentistry (national average I believe). I know pole is a much smaller industry but it would be interested to see the cost of customer acquisition. Also the average amount a person acquired through marketing would spend. There is also the added bonus that they may refer other people to your business.
The thing that happens a lot in dentistry is people don’t really look at the numbers, if overhead (lab bills, assistant pay, materials etc) is 50% (thats pretty conservative too) … that $800 is really $400 then if you subtract $200 for advertising. You have $200 profit.. If that makes sense? Not that $200 is nothing, but you used to make 400 for that same work.. you have to work twice as hard to make the same profit. A lot of dentists are VERY busy and making not a lot of money and can’t figure out why. Sometimes the ones that are less busy are actually making more money… But again, every new patient in the chair has the opportunity to refer you new business.
Anyway I realize thats industry specific… but the point is… that you really need to look at the numbers and see what works for you. I don’t know about your overhead, but if you have the space and you’re the instructor and you’re willing to put in the time it could be fine.
If you have 10 people who come to you via groupon and they get 50% off… you’re already making half profit.. essentially as much as if you had 5 customers… but then with 10 people maybe they need 2 class times instead of just one…. so right there you’re spending 2x as much time too (and if you’re paying an instructor you have to look at that too).
It depends on whether you’d be holding those classes regardless. Again, more bodies can mean more referrals… and when you’re starting a business, yeah, you’re going to have to put in a ton of work for not as much reward.
I like the ideas of putting in the work by handing out cards, hanging fliers, and going to festivals. Also a good facebook page and website are great too. I like ideas that bring customers to you but don’t really cut much into your profit. 🙂
I hope that wasn’t too wishy-washy and made some sense.
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all of the studios in my area are terrible, which is why i dont attend any. One in particular runs a living social/groupon deal every month and they’ve been open for years. Also, 40$ a month for unlimited classes. I guess when the instruction is so poor and they have to worry more about volume than quality..
Living social and groupon, in my opinion, doesnt attract loyal clientele.
Just been mindful if you run specials, try to keep as a one time deal so people will continue to value your service.
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