Let’s cut to the chase: you probably don’t love advertising. When it comes to figuring out marketing practices for your music studio, many teachers feel a bit lost. And it’s no wonder: marketing woes are a hugely common topic in teacher forums.

You want to be able to book students who are a perfect match for your studio, but something about “selling” your services feels a bit icky.

Why do music teachers struggle with marketing?

It’s my belief that this issue stems from the lack of business training we receive in academia programs. Most education and performance degrees neglect to include business classes in their requirements, so while we get a TON of experience and training to help us become great educators and performers, we rarely get any advice on how to market our services or run our businesses.

Dear academia programs… we must do better to educate our next generation of music teachers in this area. I’m beginning to see some programs step up to the challenge, and I hope to see many more. Side note: If you know of a program that requires their music majors to take business classes, I’d love to know about them!

Marketing your music studio doesn’t have to be difficult.

We often confuse the term marketing with the term advertising. While they have similarities, they’re actually not the same thing.

In the simplest of terms: Marketing is identifying the needs of an audience and knowing how to answer those needs. Advertising is the act of promoting your services or products via a paid channel. Advertising is a part of a marketing strategy, but it’s not the whole picture.

There are simple ways to create GOOD marketing practices in your music studio without delving into the realm of advertising. And yet so many studios neglect to establish good marketing before they start trying to run Facebook or Google ads.

In this video I’ll share 3 marketing strategies that will help you network effectively, tell your story, and lead people to contact you…. WITHOUT feeling icky or salesy.

Tip #1: Participate in forums and social groups

Networking is key to create a successful business. There are so many opportunities for us to connect with potential clients (or people who know potential clients). I’ve split this into two categories: in-person networking and online networking, and I provide specific examples of these groups throughout the video.

Depending on your studio’s needs, one category might be more useful than the other. Or you might choose to use both! The point is this: If we don’t show up and tell people about what we do — they won’t know that we exist. So it’s up to us to be able to say loudly and proudly: I am a music studio owner, and here are stories about the magic that I put out into the world.

Tip #2: Practice your storytelling.

“People do not buy goods & services. They buy relations, stories & magic.” – Seth Godin

One of the most powerful ways to market our music studios is through the art of sharing stories. It could be a simple behind-the-scenes post about how you’re preparing for lessons that it. It could be a story about how a student had an “Aha!” moment. There are so many ways to highlight the magic that happens in your studio.

The first step to telling good stories is to curate them. Have a notebook handy in your studio where you can jot down story ideas. Take screenshots during your Zoom lessons to celebrate the good moments. (And don’t forget to make sure you have permission to share them on social media!)

Tip #3: Have a mobile friendly site.

I cannot stress this item enough. Having a mobile friendly site is a key element of good marketing. Most people use their phones to check out websites… and if your site isn’t easy to navigate (or doesn’t look good) on mobile, then they’re gonna bounce. Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile experience.

Know what the experience looks like — try visiting your own website on your phone. Here’s a quick checklist of things to look for:

• Is my menu easy to find?
• Are pictures showing up correctly?
• Do the font sizes look good?
• Is there a clear CTA (call to action) for people to take?

Optimizing your music studio’s website for mobile viewing will be different depending on the type of website builder you’ve used. If you’re not sure what steps to take, start with your website builder’s FAQ / help section.

Don’t let this overwhelm you…

When it comes to creating a marketing plan, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities. Pick ONE thing that you’d like to improve on, and focus on that for a month. Once you build that habit into your routine, you can consider adding another strategy to your plan. Which one of these marketing practices would YOU like to work on in your music studio? Let me know in the comments — let’s start getting your plan in place!

Further Resources:

If you’d love to learn more about marketing your music lessons, I’d highly recommend listening to Dave Simon’s Music Lessons & Marketing. He’s a powerhouse of ideas, and I LOVE every episode of his podcast!

And you can also check out these three blog posts:

• Rock Your Studio’s Social Media
• Goals, Strategies, and Tactics for Your Music Studio
• 3 Important Strategies for a Music Studio Website

Thanks for reading and listening! Stay savvy, stay you.