3 Marketing ideas for your wellness/yoga business that aren’t social media
One of the most common things I hear from wellness or yoga business owners, especially over the past few months is this absolute burn out and fed up-ness with the algorithms on Social Media.
It can feel like being on a hamster wheel spinning around like mad, endlessly churning out new content that is only being seen and interacted with by other people who do the same as you rather than those potential customers who you want sitting in your sessions.
That’s not to say that Social Media isn’t a valid way to market your business. The vast majority of my own business actually comes through Instagram from people who’ve followed me over the years - and I make more than I did in my corporate PR job.
I do totally get that there is a hunger for marketing in a slightly different way that lessens the ongoing load on you and slows down the speed of that hamster wheel. That is absolutely valid.
In this blog, I’m going to give you some more unusual marketing ideas for your yoga business that exist in the real world.
Let’s get into it:
Marketing in the offline, real world
Social media doesn’t equal marketing. There’s a whole wider world of ways to market your business, that arguably, are a lot more effective than posting and praying on Instagram.
The truth is that most people who would love your classes aren’t on Instagram in the same capacity as you are.
They’re more likely in the town Facebook Group, shopping in the local bookshop or cafe, at the swish hairdressers. Marketing is actually more 360 than just online, especially for service businesses like yoga classes or studios and for true impact - you need to be playing in lots of spaces, not just online.
Here’s my top 3 Marketing ideas for you to try:
Sweeten the deal for your current customers!
If your customers absolutely love your yoga classes, pilates sessions or PT work (or any other wellness, fitness sessions you offer) chances are they’re already telling their friends and family about you. So why not incentivise them to do that even more?
Word of Mouth (WoM) recommendations are hugely valuable - it’s an impartial person offering an opinion on someone’s work, which has value and weight. The more those recommendations are visible, it helps your credibility, expertise and authority which helps build the trust critical to converting eyes on your marketing into bums on the mats in your sessions.
Set up a referral program
Points for each referral and points = prizes (as Brucey used to say) Website platforms like Wix Studio offer you the option of adding this to your account as part of your package, so it’s all done for you.
Incentivise reviews on Google
Getting your clients to review you on Google is great, as it helps your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation - how highly you’re being seen up the Google pages) plus, it puts your ratings front and centre when someone is searching for a service like yours.
I used to do this with huge success in my previous yoga business. Each quarter I would incentivise people to leave me a Google review and run a draw for either a new yoga mat or a 1:1 Yoga session with me - and it typically generated 10-15 reviews each time, so I had a bank of new reviews being added all the time - which Google loves.
It could be a raffle for a free session, a goodie bag or something else that’s a nice added sweetener. My tip is to make it something that your clients will value and enjoy a lot, with some actual perceived value behind it.
create experiences
Experiences are a great way to get people into your world, having a taste your work, try something new and provides you with avenues to pursue marketing wise, too.
There’s good reason to give this a go with 85% of consumers being likely to purchase a product or service after attending a live marketing event. This type of event based, experiential marketing allows you to meet a lot of new people in a short time, have chats, answer questions and pop worries to rest.
Here’s how:
Partner up with local businesses
Partnering up with other complementary local businesses who you share a similar client base with you is a great way of spreading the love, reaching a new audience as well as making connections for you as a teacher/trainer.
Local Wellness events
Many areas have local health/wellness events where you could look to offer a demo, have a stall or offer mini treatments/services. You could even run a special offer to the people who are attending the event as well, if they then come along to your sessions or book in with you after.
The oldies but goodies that you’re missing or not doing enough of
If you offer an in person service, there is so much to be said for having proper signage and visibility in the area you teach.
Don’t assume people know you’re there just because your class has been going a while.
I taught in a village hall for 6 years - had signage up outside the venue (my lovely sign on the left) AND a poster on the wall inside, was in the village group every week talking about my sessions, had a page on the village website and the hall website… and people were still asking “does anyone know any local yoga classes” facepalm…
People are frankly not able to retain information as long as we used to be able to because of the volume of bombardment we all receive every day, so need the information right in front of them at all times, and won’t go searching for it or simply, can’t remember you.
This is why signage and visibility is critical - because it’s always in their eye line every time they go past your venue, and it inspires action.
So, you need to be consistently screaming from the rooftops that you’re there.
Get a sandwich board sign and have it outside where you teach with a QR code/web address on it
Can you have a sign on the location information board?
Can you have a banner up permanently outside the space?
Have flyers in the local shops
Do a promotion flyer for the customers of local businesses and ask if you can always have some on their premises (bonus points for a discount or offer for those customers!)
Flyer all the addresses at least 2 x per year
Get in the Facebook group for the area and share weekly (or as often as you’re allowed)
Search for people asking for classes locally and respond with your details
All of these ideas are absolutely great, and ones that I know shift the needle in wellness businesses just like yours.
If you’re looking to learn more, why not download my Marketing Basics Workshop? It’s an on-demand 2 hour workshop session, ready in the shop for you.
If you’re looking for ideas and the marketing science of how you can get more customers into your wellness business, this is the workshop for you! We will cover what your TT should have taught you about marketing your yoga, fitness or wellness business and the essential, easy to follow principles of marketing that’ll have an impact on clients in your sessions, and transform how you feel about it, too.
