Yoga Marketing Tip Of The Week
Here’s A Question I Received From Karin
“Do you rent space from a local studio? If so, how much do you pay?”
My answer was…
“Hi Karin,
Why pay for a venue when with a little imagination you can get it for free. Plus you can instantly get a “full yoga class” without any advertising? That’s a nifty double whammy.
Sound impossible?
Yes it is if you follow the traditional way of getting a venue for your classes (e.g. call up your local fitness studio).
It’s possible if you use the “piggyback formula“.
Local Golf Course
I was able to get a room for free at my local golf club and the golf pro even put up flyers, sent an email to every member letting them know about the class, and even came to the class. All this for free! I positioned it to the pro as a way for the golf club to retain more of their members (member rates always drop when the economy is struggling).
Most golfers have back problems and are over 40 years old which are prime prospects for a yoga class.
Other Sporting Venues
You can apply the same strategy to athletic clubs, football (soccer) clubs, running clubs. Basically any sporting venue that has a venue and members who would love to join your class.
Local Businesses
You can even go to a local business and give a discount to their staff in exchange for using the venue. Providing a yoga class for their staff makes brilliant business sense. Employees get fitter which means less days off work sick. And employees get to know each other better (bonding) especially if you add a bit of partner yoga. You are doing the business a favour by having the class at their business location (therefore you don’t need to pay them).
Empty Venue
If you know a premises that has been empty for a long time, you could find out the owner and ask to use the space for a yoga class (while he/she is trying to sell it). There’s a place where I live that has a huge premises that used to sell kitchens. It’s on a second floor overlooking a busy roundabout and is glass fronted (meaning everyone driving past the roundabout will see us practicing yoga (which means no need to advertise much). It’s been empty for more than three years. That means the business owner may be open to a maverick yoga teacher approaching them with a request to use the venue for yoga. The worst case scenario is that the business sells the premises in a few months time, but by that time my class would probably be pretty full and I can simply pick up the phone and find another free venue.
Your Students
And don’t forget your current students. My mum is a yoga teacher and a student at her class offered a huge room in her house as a yoga venue when the one she was using suddenly became too expensive. The student who offered the room got free yoga for life and my mum got a free venue.
Recap
Yes, this strategy does take a little bit of courage, but when you factor the up side (free venue and oodles of prospects to fill your class) it’s worth a go. If you asked ten venues I guarantee that at least one will say yes. If you teach 100 classes a year and pay £15 per class for the venue, that’s £1,500. Just be picking up the phone and calling ten sporting clubs and/or businesses you save £1,500 and don’t have to fork out any money to advertise because the venue has members/staff/employees.
Give it go. Good luck!”
* For more yoga business tips take a quick peek at the Yoga Teacher Business Kit
