I’ve been teaching in my current studio space for over 10 years. In that time, my studio has grown a lot. We’ve made renovations, improved out instruments, created new offerings… and rearranged furniture more times than I’d care to admit. (Grand pianos are so much fun to move, right?)
It’s amazing how much can change in 10 years.
Ten years ago, my studio was primarily young piano students and a few high school singers. Now I find myself leaning more towards voice instruction for teens / adults, and piano for late beginners (10 or so) and teens who want to compose.
You could say that’s just my studio “growing up,” but now that we’re grown up… I’ve been thinking about making a pivot to focus on these two audiences.
That means letting go of some things that would no longer be useful. Last week I was looking around my studio and I realized that some of the things in my studio weren’t aligning with my vision.
And then it struck me: it’s time to practice what you preach, Sara.
It’s time to rebrand.
Rebranding mid-pandemic might seem like an odd choice, but seeing as I have to rearrange furniture / instruments to prepare for the possibility of returning to socially distanced in-person lessons somewhere in the future, I figured… why the heck not?
In this broadcast I decided to “learn out loud” about how I’ve identified the shifts that have occurred naturally, and what I’m going to do about them in the future. You’ll find further thoughts below in the show notes.
I hope you’ll find this info inspiring as you consider the shifts that YOUR studio will be making this year…
Show Notes from the Broadcast:
As I consider this rebrand, I started with a few basic questions to ask myself. These are some of the foundations I use in the Branding Bootcamp course, and with all of my 1:1 clients. It’s helpful to revisit these ideas often as our businesses grow.
- Who do you serve? Currently I’m serving a wide array of clients, but they have through lines that tie them together. I serve vocalists and pianists who are primarily self-motivated, who come seeking lessons knowing that music is on-going journey, and who value individualized support from someone who cares. I could go into a ton more detail, but that’s what my ideal client avatar sheets are for…
- What do you serve them? My piano lessons focus on building theory foundations so that students can easily identify chord structures and intervals. This allows them to play a variety of music — but we primarily focus on whatever genre brings them joy and gets them to the keyboard most often. My vocal lessons focus on building healthy technical skills so that they can work on individual vocal goals. Most of my students are musical theatre nerds, like me — or they have other performance avenues that they want to pursue.
- How are those two things reflected in your studio? This is what made me realize I needed a rebrand. The physical space in my studio has a lot of decoration that speaks to younger piano students, and as I’m no longer pursuing that demographic, it’s time for me to let my studio grow up a bit. I’m also examining how this is reflected in my web presence… so I expect some shifts in social medias and in my website to occur.
I’ll be documenting the changes we make this summer… here’s a quick (and messy) video of what the studio currently looks like. It’s a tad disorganized since I’ve already started sorting through materials that I’ll be retiring. More to follow!
Are you going through a rebrand?
I’d love to learn about what you’re doing in your studio! Let me know in the comments — we can cheer each other on as we figure out the hard things.
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Stay savvy, and stay you!
2 thoughts on “Rebranding My Voice & Piano Studio”
Interesting that you bring this up. As I always do, I ended piano lessons the 3rd week of May. The very next day I took most everything out of my little studio that I could and started wiping down walls and taping off to paint everything. We moved into our just purchased home in 2010 and didn’t do much with the piano room except put in new flooring. My intent was to get this all done before I start my summer sessions, in hopes also to spread things out just a little bit (did I mention this is a tiny room?). I did, but unfortunately I can’t start face-to-face lessons just yet, so I continue to use Zoom. As I am slowly putting everything back together, I to have been thinking about “rebranding” without consciously thinking of it that way but maybe thinking towards it looking neater, more grown up like. Anyway, I am late to the game, but I am definitely going to go and check out your latest class (before Sunday). Thank you. It’s nice to read that I am not the only one feeling this way.
I think we’re on the same wave length 🙂 I’m ready for my “grown up” studio look too. Crazy how 10 years can go by so quickly, huh? Would love to see your new room when it’s finished!
Here’s a direct link to the Masterclass so you don’t have to search around: https://www.facebook.com/saracampbellbizcoach/videos/720012985431681/