How To Grow Your Pilates Studio When Attendance is Flagging
Can I tell you about one of my favourite studio owners I've ever worked with? Her name is Jen, and she's from Iowa USA. She noticed that students started missing classes, and a few had disappeared altogether. She knew it was time for a change, but instead of shifting her focus to new students and paid advertising, she started working on her team.
Did you know it is much more economical to keep a student than to spend money getting a new one? Retention is the key to a successful Pilates studio, or any studio in fact.
Read that sentence again. It's ALL about retention.
Here are my best tips from Studio Evolution's Retention Solution (a module of my signature program) that helped Jen increase retention and fix her flagging attendance problem.
Here's what she did.
She knew most of her students were coming to her studio via word of mouth, so she ensured that her current students felt cherished and valued.
Jen knew that changes had to happen within the team, so she turned to the 5 Love Languages—acts of Service, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Gifts and Words of Affirmation. Every person has a love language, so Jen took the time to get to know the love language of her teachers. She left little notes and presents for those who love gifts, gave compliments to those who needed affirmation and took the lovers of quality time out for coffee so they all felt valued and appreciated meaningfully.
Jen set up a monthly meeting for the whole team to sit and discuss the studio business. What's working, what's not. It was crucial to set this time aside when no one was teaching to keep in tune with her team. Jen says this step made a tangible difference in how her team represented her business.
She observed one class a month per teacher. Not in a Big Brother way, just to see how the teachers interacted with the class and if there were any improvements she could help them make.
The key to dwindling attendance is to create a place where the students WANT to be. The most significant ad spend in the world will be only helpful if you can get your team on board to get your students to feel like they WANT to come back again and again. Otherwise, you're throwing money into the wind to gain new students who might leave again quickly because you still need to brush up on your customer service experience.
Jen no longer needs to market - her studio is self-fulfilling, and she's living the dream.
With all that said, we can't ignore marketing completely. So here is my 5-point checklist of things you can do today to get your Pilates studio marketing looking oh-so-swish.
Combat blank page syndrome by remembering to keep it simple. Simple language, simple instructions and simple calls to action. There's no need to overdo it. Just say what needs to be said.
Consistency of branding. Make sure all your colours, logos and fonts match everywhere. Your studio, your fliers, your website and your social media. If someone picks up your flier from a cafe and visits your website, and they look different, they'll click away. Keep your branding consistent.
Use emotive language. "Have fun and get fit!" How many times have you seen a Pilates studio use that phrase? Let's think of other words - elegant, glide, strength, breath, control, flow, centre. Think rich and evocative!
Keep it short and sweet. No one wants to read a 3-page tri-fold brochure with teeny tiny font.
One ad = one purpose. Don't run an ad that tells people to sign up for your 5 Pilates Principals Worksheet, sign up for a class, and get in touch if they have any questions. Pick one objective for your ad and ensure all your language points to that CTA.
If your studio's attendance is flagging, this combination of foundations and marketing basics will quickly fix your client flow!
If you loved these marketing tips, we have a gift for you - our FREE 61-page Ultimate Studio Marketing Guide, where I share even more tips and tools for increasing your marketing reach without increasing your marketing spend.
You can learn more about Industry Leading Studio Strategist Chantelle Bruinsma and Studio Evolution here. Studio Evolution has been helping studio owners for the past 10 years redesign their studio business for maximum, profit, freedom and joy.
Chantelle founded a thriving performing arts studio in Sydney, Australia expanding to six locations in four years. To meet growing demand for her strategies, she launched Studio Evolution, a program that has since helped studios in 34 countries double student enrollment, achieve 97% retention, and reduce workloads by half over the past decade.
Click below to get their Ultimate Marketing Guide.
https://we.studioevolution.com/The-61-Page-Ultimate-Studio-Marketing-Guide