A how-to-guide on Approaching your Marketing Strategy with Intention
If you’re a yoga studio or fitness studio owner—you know about intention. You cultivate your classes with intention, hire your staff with intention and manifest your business into the world with intention. But what about your marketing strategy? Unfortunately, this is often where intention ends and the fingers-crossed, “build it and they will come,” mentality takes over.
This lack-of-marketing strategy approach might get you so far. But with 40,582 Pilates and yoga studios in the U.S. alone as of January 1, 2022, you’re quickly going to be in some tight competition. Creating a marketing strategy starts with identifying your marketing goals, and all of this can be done with careful planning, thought, and yes, intention.
To start, you need a marketing plan. Your plan needs to be competitive, attract new clients and help you differentiate your business. At Telomere, when we start working with clients, we always begin with a few key conversations: What is your personal vision? What is your business mission? What is your business vision? Studio owners often start their businesses with these goals at the forefront of their minds, but after a bit of time and the day-in, day-out of the business, they lose track of their direction. Revisiting your business mission and vision statements will help you define your goals and from there you can devise a marketing plan to help you reach them.
Once you have your marketing plan in place that’s where the strategy kicks-in. Your strategy will align your goals, tie your efforts to your objectives, and allow you to track your progress. Here are our 5 tips for an effective strategy:
1. Identify Your Goals
We are definitely fans of a good acronym and the SMART method is a useful tool.
Specific: Your goals need to be specific. Instead of “I want my business to grow,” try “I want my membership to grow to 300 members.”
Measurable: Your goals shouldn’t be vague. As in the example above, choose a goal that you can quantify and measure.
Achievable: We all want a million-dollar business, but set achievable goals for both short-term and long-term. Looking at your business vision statement can be a guide.
Relevant: What really matters to you? Choose goals that are important to you and the success of your business.
Timely: It’s easier to stay on track with your goals if they are time-sensitive. If a goal is vague, i.e. I want to eventually double my studio, it will not only be hard to measure, it will also quickly disappear from the forefront of your mind.
2. Create an Avatar of Your Customers
This is a very important step in your marketing strategy and one that is often overlooked. Who is your ideal client? Are you reaching these individuals, or should you adjust who is drawn into your space? Are you trying to be a hip, young studio when your supporting community is 50+? You should be able to write a one-sentence statement describing your ideal client. If it gets too long, you need to refine your avatar.
3. Profile Your Competition
This can be a slippery slope, but you want to know who your competition is, who they market to, how they are successful and also perhaps where they aren’t. Knowing your competition will help you set yourself apart in the marketplace. But keep in mind that you are a unique business, so when looking at your competition do your best to keep the “comparison-is-the-thief-of-joy hat” on the shelf.
4. Research Your Market
This goes back to your avatar. Who are you trying to attract? What kind of interest do they have? What kind of income? This will help you establish yourself in the industry with the proper pricing and messaging. According to GloFox, a typical yogi will spend $62,640 on yoga classes, workshops and accessories throughout their lifetime; these clients need a yoga home so this is your step in figuring out what they are looking for!
5. Define & Refine Your Tools
How are you going to reach your potential clients? What organic methods can you use? What social media platforms are you using, and are they in line with what your ideal client spends time on? What assets do you have at your disposal: images, video content, website, email marketing, podcasts, blog—and how are you going to use them to mindfully work toward your goals?
Telomere Consulting provides business consulting and marketing services to studio owners in the boutique fitness and yoga space. The Telomere team helps you navigate business strategy from conception to implementation. We provide end-to-end marketing support and would love to hear from you. Click here to book your free intro call. We want you to treat your business the way you treat your body – making the right choices now to optimize its potential for a long and healthy life. Visit us here to learn more.
