When you have a studio-based business, you know how important it is to not only get your business known to as many people as possible but to attract and retain customers who will be loyal to you for many years. However, since it’s likely you don’t have a large advertising budget, you’ll need to get creative with your marketing efforts. As for which marketing channels will work best for your studio-based business, here are some ideas you may want to try.

Social Media

A marketing avenue that can be free, easy to use, and can help you get the word out about your business to thousands of people at once, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can get you known in a hurry. By making regular posts, offering special deals to new customers, and maybe using some humor along the way, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results. Before using a social media platform, studios should consider their target customer and consider what platform will reach them the best. Additionally, the type of content you share on those social platforms should be catered to both the platform and the audience. For example, on YouTube, how-to videos that walk you through different exercises can be in a 16:9 ratio and be as long as 20 minutes or longer for people to follow along at home. Whereas, a how-to video on Instagram should only be a couple of minutes long and showcase the movements without the full walk-through. Additionally, videos on Instagram perform better at 3:4 ratio.

Flyers and Posters

Contrary to what you may think, plenty of people still loves to go shopping and to other places as well. Therefore, make up some eye-catching flyers and posters and put them up anywhere and everywhere. By using bright colors and creating tabs on your materials that customers can use for discounts, you can blitz a neighborhood and its various stores with your flyers and posters. If you are running a yoga marketing campaign, it would be ideal to go to places such as a natural food store or a local coffee shop where people in your target audience frequent. By using the right text, colors and eye-catching design, your target audience will see the flyer or poster and keep you in mind for their next yoga session. 

Partner with Other Businesses

If you want to try something that will benefit your business and someone else’s as well, try establishing a win-win situation with a business related to yours. As an example, if you own a yoga studio, you may want to establish a referral network with a local massage therapist. Since clients who are into massage therapy may also like yoga, you may just find a new way to get clients who finish their massage to come by your studio for a yoga session. This can even be an arrangement with another business where you bundle their services with yours. For example, you can bundle a massage session and a yoga class for a discounted price so the customer is more enticed to purchase. This gets one customer to convert to both businesses and can be very beneficial for both businesses. Another way you can partner with other businesses is by recommending their business to your customers through a referral. Most referrals get compensation, however, as a business owner, you can arrange for the compensation to be that they display your business or your business deals at their studio or business. Before reaching out to different businesses, consider their target audience and your target audience. Ensure that they are similar, if not the same audience, before partnering with them.

Trade Shows

Should you decide to go all-in on your advertising budget and want to have a way to meet potentially thousands of people face-to-face in one or two days, consider attending a trade show. Whether you are an artist, fitness instructor, or have another type of studio-based business, giving demonstrations, handing out your business card, and offering a few free products may soon make your business the most well-known in your town or city. There are trade shows and conferences in almost every industry so it shouldn’t take long to find one that fits your target audience. Once you make arrangements to go to the show, make sure that you do your work to bring awareness to your business being at the tradeshow to drum up foot traffic. Additionally, it’s ideal to work with trade show hosts for sponsorship opportunities so you can get your information highlighted on their social media advertising or at the big events surrounding the show. Most businesses bring some sort of giveaway or free item that potential customers can take home with them and will remind them of your business. Before deciding to do this, consider what your target audience would actually enjoy getting and consider if you want to spend the money on getting a quality product to hand out. If you end up giving away something that breaks after the first time using it, it can reflect poorly on your business and may make customers feel like the quality of your business matches the poor quality of the product you provided them.

Since you can start small and work your way up to bigger types of advertising campaigns, you may start with a few Facebook posts and soon find yourself attending the biggest trade show in your industry.