Marketing

How does your studio stack up against the schools around you?  Do you try to match up with schools,  or to contrast with them?   A studio is a kind of school, so it’s natural to make the comparison.

While many studios probably don’t make a deliberate decision about it, some feel they are taken more seriously if they incorporate elements of regular school, while others see themselves as an environment that offers a break from the school mold.  It would be interesting to hear from you (add a comment below) whether your studios tends in one direction or the other.

The most obvious connection of studios with schools is in the calendar.  Some studios coordinate closely with days-off or vacations of local schools; others pay no attention because it is often precisely during those school breaks that students have more time and flexibility to come to the studio.  Many studios split the difference, recognizing that people are more likely to be away during school breaks, and offering makeups, but still allowing lessons and classes to proceed.

The less obvious but more important comparisons with schools, however, have to do with teaching methods and attitudes.  Although individual teachers have to work in their own ways, the studio can also set a tone in these areas.

For example, is practicing is treated as homework?  Are there studio-wide benchmarks, grades, or tests?  How do students proceed from one level to the next?  Are there achievement awards?  Do teachers use a curriculum of some kind?  These can be discussed either at the level of teaching or at a studio level — but they all live in the shadow of … the Big Question!

Lately I have become obsessed with social media and how I can use it to better and more efficiently communicate with my clients. In my case, I run a music school in Brooklyn, NY (www.BrooklynMusicFactory.com) and so I am in regular communication with about 60 registered students and parents. Let’s review briefly the traditional ways of communicating:

• In person. Networking by being where your clients like to be; coffee shops, clubs, playgrounds, school functions, conventions, etc.
• By phone. Calling regular clients to ‘check in’ or cold calling potential customers.
• Snail Mail. Sending out cards or even hand written notes announcing events, thanking loyal customers, reminding new and old customers of what you offer.
• Email. Essentially the same use as snail mail, with the additional benefit of attaching media files.

The question we, as studio or school owners need to ask ourselves is how effective are these forms of networking and communicating. Are they resulting in an expanded network that is blossoming into a larger client base? Or as my brother, a studio owner in Nashville, TN, pointed out, often it feels as though he keeps running into the same people at every party he throws (his main form of promotion/networking). His client base is not expanding through the channels that seemed to work only a few years ago. The traditional forms of networking can and still do work for some (my connection to and participation in my children’s school is still the strongest networking tool I have), but times are changing and our clients are turning elsewhere for advice and guidance when choosing teachers, studios, schools, etc.