Dance studio marketing tips | Email, social media, and more

If you want to successfully open a dance studio and start teaching dance to children, you need to get your name out there! Marketing is the way to do that. There are so many different types of marketing strategies and some might be better than others for your business. Deciding on the right tactics takes a mix of research, trial and error, and luck.

At Sawyer, our goal is to help children’s activity providers efficiently run and grow their businesses. In this guide, we will outline the different types of marketing tactics that you can explore and where each one works best.

Email marketing tips for dance studios

Email marketing is a useful tactic if you already have a contact list of potential or former customers from reaching out to the community, running previous programming, or participating in community events.

To be successful with email marketing, it is important to remember that 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

The first goal of email marketing is to get your email opened. If you do not have a strong subject line, you will not succeed at this goal. Strong subject lines create a sense of urgency, intrigue the reader, and/or showcase your value. Here are a couple of examples:

Only 10 spots left for beginner ballet!
Book now! Dance summer camps are almost full
See why families love our dance classes

Offer incentives

If you can provide incentives like discounts or promo codes, showcase these offerings in your email marketing. This is especially useful to include in your subject lines because you will hook the reader and get them to actually open your email.

Keep your emails 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 sending this email, 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 strategy for dance studio

Social media marketing is a good strategy for new and existing dance studios because there are so many people, especially parents, who use social media everyday. In fact, Pew Research found that 83% of parents frequent social media. Therefore, if you are looking to get your name out there to families in your community, social media is a great tool.

Consider these social media marketing tips for your dance studio

Utilize high quality photos. Smartphone photography is a great alternative to professional photos if you don’t have access to those. 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, check out our article, which includes helpful information about setting up business accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Event marketing for dance studios

When it comes to getting your name out there, participating in community events like school fairs, local markets, street fairs, pop ups, and more can be very useful. Whether you are just opening your dance studio or looking to increase your customer base, making your presence known in the community, offering tours of your studio, and providing incentives can help you gather a large group of potential customers quickly. Follow these event marketing steps to be successful!

Step 1: Build excitement

After you sign up for an event, or plan the event yourself, get people excited! Post about the event on your social media channels, post fliers at your business, and remind customers when they come for classes. As the event gets closer, send out an email blast to your customer list and invite them.

Step 2: Prepare

If it’s a school or local fair, will you have a booth? Will you run a dance game? You need to prepare what you will be doing and how you can best showcase your studio. If it’s a block party and you are doing an open door day, what will families who wander in be able to do? How can you best highlight your offerings to capture the attention of these potential new customers?

Step 3: Provide incentives

Can you offer discount codes, coupons, free trials, or other incentives to new customers who learn about your dance studio at the event? This is a great way to encourage them to come back for an activity at a later date.

Step 4: Gather contact information

This is one of the most important parts of participating in an event. You need to gather email addresses and/or phone numbers for these potential customers so you can get in touch with them again after the event. You can ask for their information in exchange for the incentive or you can just request they fill out the sign-in form so you can reach out to them later with more information.

Step 5: Nurture these relationships

Once the event is over and you have gathered contact information for all of these new customers, you need to make connections! Reach out to them and thank them for coming to visit your booth or business. Give them an overview of the types of activities you offer and remind them of the incentive or offer a new incentive to get them to come for a paid activity.

Check out our guide with everything you need to know about event marketing for your dance studio.

Marketing is a very useful tactic for dance studios who are just starting out as well as ones that are more established. Beyond email, social media, and event marketing, you can also explore Google Ads for your dance studio as well as making connections directly with schools. With all of these tactics, you should be able to find the right mix to fuel your business’ growth.

If you are looking for guidance on managing and running your children’s education and activity business, the team at Sawyer is here to help.

With our suite of tools, like custom forms to record allergies and t-shirt sizes, flexible payment options like gift cards and installment plans, and seamless scheduling and registration on any device, Sawyer saves business owners 28 hours per month. If you are ready to spend less time on admin and more time doing more of what you love, see how Sawyer can help with a free trial or demo.