Marketing Tag

First piano lessonSummer is the time when many families begin to consider what activities they will be enrolling their children in for the fall. Potential clients will be calling and e-mailing, checking out your website, and asking for word-of-mouth referrals.

 

Now is the time you’ll want to make sure that you are communicating to families what YOU have to offer.Here are some things you will want to think through when it comes to selling yourself — and telling others what sets your studio apart.

1. Your credentials. Do you have a degree in your field? Do you participate in ongoing education? Have you been running a studio for years on end?

music money

So often, when talking to my music teacher colleagues, we lament how difficult it is to make a living as a music teacher. Teaching during after school hours each week day limits our working hours, and you can’t raise your rates every single year without driving yourself out of business!

So how do we as teachers make sure that we are maximizing our earning potential without exhausting ourselves? Here are some ideas to boost your music teaching salary…

charityEach December, I like for my students to participate in some type of performance for charity. This year, we held our second annual “Piano Play-a-thon“, where students put together a program of up to five minutes, solicited sponsors to donate money to a local organization, and performed their pieces at a casual recital. This year, we raised almost $1,000 for a local non-profit who provides in-home services for families of children with special needs and had the chance to perform at a fantastic coffee shop. I love being able to rally some community support and bring attention to one of the many fantastic charities and the work they are doing in our area.

I think there are so many ways that we can use our studios to give back to our communities. Not only is performing a great way to motivate students to work hard, but charity events teach them the ways they can use their gifts to serve others. As a bonus, you’ll also be reaching members of your community with your studio’s name and services!

music workshopAs a piano teacher, the bulk of my job is offering weekly lessons to my students. But if I stopped at that, I wouldn’t be setting my studio apart in my community or creating a wholistic learning experience for students of my studio.

Yes, learning technique, repertoire and theory on a weekly basis is of the utmost important. But I also need to provide my students with opportunities to perform, compete, create and engage with other music students and music professionals and in doing so, expose them to a variety of things within my scope. This creates well-rounded, motivated students and lets my students, their families and the community know that I am an active and thriving studio.

Here are some suggestions for things we can offer to our students that go above and beyond weekly lessons:

farmers marketYou’ve finished your last lessons of the school year, thrown together a final recital and are ready to take a breather from all things studio-related. Rest and rejuvenation are important for studio owners, but don’t put your studio work on the shelf for too long — summer is a great time for advertisement and provides many opportunities to get your studio name into the community.

Here are just a few reasons the summer is a good time to advertise:

  • Parents have completed many activities from the previous school year and are beginning to think about what extra-curriculars they wish to enroll their child in for the fall.
  • As students move, graduate or decide to pursue another activity — you may lose some of your currently enrolled students at the end of the school year and need to replace their spots to maintain your current income.
  • Getting your name into the community during the summer helps current families along with your community see you as an active studio owner.