Digital Marketing Strategy – David Lee-Schneider Marketing Consulting

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Creating an effective marketing strategy for your dance studio can be challenging, and let’s be honest, you probably didn’t start your business to go into marketing. The reality is, however, that marketing is a vital part of creating a profitable business.

Today, I want to show you the exact steps we used to design and implement a fully automated marketing strategy for V-Hub Dance, a Brisbane Dance Studio located in the heart of Fortitude Valley.

Before The Marketing Transformation

Vanessa Friscia, the founder of V-Hub, has been involved in the Brisbane dance scene for almost two decades and her passion for all things dance really shines through. Before V-Hub’s 90-Day Marketing Transformation, Vanessa’s main way of attracting new members was using social media. But it was incredibly time-consuming and not always a strategy you can rely on for consistent business growth. So, what does a good dance studio marketing strategy actually look like and what should it entail?

Here are the 3 core functions of a good dance studio marketing strategy:

Attract new visitors
Convert more visitors into members
Increase member retention

Let’s have a look at what this might look like in practice.

How To Promote Your Dance Studio in 2024

Apart from running ads, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool to promote your dance studio in the local community. But how do you consistently stay active across multiple social media channels without spending hours of your time every week and actually seeing tangible results? The answer can be found in marketing automation.

When working with V-Hub, we designed an entire library of engaging social media posts and completely automated the posting schedule. What’s more, every post is specifically designed to encourage viewers to take some kind of action. Providing a clear next step is the key to social media success. In most cases, we ask people to click on a link that takes them to various pages on the V-Hub website, where they can learn valuable tips, have all their questions answered or watch engaging dance tutorials.

Free Download: How To Completely Automate Your Social Media Content

But simply sending people to your website isn’t enough to grow your dance studio. You also need to have a clear next step to turn traffic into leads and get people through the door.

Social Media Marketing for V-Hub Dance Brisbane

Dance Studio Lead Generation

The biggest mistake I see business owners make in their marketing is not providing their customers with a clear path – or what we call “The Customer Journey” in the marketing world. No matter what stage of the marketing journey your customers are at, we need to let them know what specific action we want them to take next.

Many of your customers will have questions before they are ready to attend a new dance class. Some of these questions will be conscious, while others will be on a subconscious level. Our job as business owners is to help them find answers and make it as easy as possible for them to take the next step when they are ready.

Don’t assume that just because someone has shown an interest in dance classes, that they are ready to sign up. There are many factors at play, such as timing, finances, level of skill and confidence, and their willingness to step outside their comfort zone.

That’s why the first goal of your marketing strategy should not be to make a sale but to get a micro-commitment from your visitors. Asking someone to join a membership will be too much of a stretch for many people and will result in low conversion rates.

“Good marketing helps to make the purchase easy. Great marketing provides value even before people know that they need what you sell.” ~ David Lee-Schneider

The fastest way to attract a new audience is to give them something for free. Something they actually want.

In the case of V-Hub, we decided to offer something with no obligation and no strings attached: A complimentary trial pass for any of V-Hub’s dance classes.

Innovative? Maybe not. But very effective. Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel do do great marketing.

In return for the free dance pass, website visitors simply have to enter their name and email address. No other decision needs to be made at this point, like whether they are actually going to use it, when they’ll redeem it – or if they are going to sign up for dance classes afterwards.

The only decision they need to make is whether or not they want the free trial class.

By eliminating the number of decisions visitors need to make when taking the next step, we increase the number of leads we generate. But the true value in collecting people’s names and emails is the ability to follow up and start a two-way conversation.

Dance Studio Marketing Brisbane for V-Hub Dance - FlySocial Digital

Email Marketing Campaign for V-Hub Dance Brisbane

The Importance of Follow-Up and How To Use it To Increase Your Conversion Rates

Simply put, conversion optimisation is about decreasing our customers’ objections and reducing friction on their path to becoming our customers.

To truly understand what these objections are, we need to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. Here are some questions people might have before they are ready to join your dance classes:

What if I don’t like the class?
What if I don’t jive with the teachers?
What if I don’t connect with other members?
What if people judge me?
What if I’m not good enough?
Do I need to commit to an entire month or can I just attend casually?
I don’t know what to expect, it’s all too scary

If we can answer these questions in our marketing even before people attend a class for the first time, we drastically increase the chances of them actually attending.

In Vanessa’s case, people who had attended a couple of classes usually came back because they loved it so much. The challenge was to get people through the door for the very first time.

By offering a free class pass and collecting people’s email addresses online, we are now able to send them relevant emails that answer all their questions and connect with them on a more personal level.

Did you know that most purchases happen after 5-12 touch points? How many opportunities are you currently missing out on because of a lack of follow-up?

Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid At All Costs

The first thing many dance studio owners look to when trying to grow their dance studio is attracting new customers through advertising. But what’s an influx of leads worth if we can’t convert them?

You can waste a lot of money on Facebook ads, Google ads, print ads, flyers and more if your conversion strategy isn’t working.

That’s why you should always begin by optimising conversions. Then, once your organic marketing strategies are starting to gain traction, you can use ads to further scale your business.

After joining the 90-Day Marketing Transformation, Vanessa now has a fully automated marketing strategy in place that helps her dance studio get found online, convert more members and increase retention rates through targeted follow-up campaigns.

Here’s what Vanessa had to say after our work together

“Before working with David, quite simply, there weren’t enough people attending our dance classes. Every day I would pray that people would turn up. I wasn’t making any profit in my business, so I always had a full-time job to support it. I never knew how to market to new people and would rely on word of mouth. The studio was suffering, and so was I.

When I met David, I could tell straight away that he was passionate about helping small businesses. He knew the journey of transitioning from working for a company to working for himself, so I felt understood and comfortable straight away. He had the biggest smile on his face when he spoke about marketing, and the strategies he designed to help businesses succeed. What’s more, he made it seem EASY – and it was!

David’s automation processes are a game-changer. I never have to worry about my client’s journey, knowing they are safe in the hands of David’s Wizardry! He has made our website so user friendly and very easy to navigate. It’s so in depth and well thought out. He has literally thought of everything. Again, a complete game-changer. With our marketing automation in place, we now have Google reviews coming through, higher instagram traction and a minimum of 20 new people every week coming through our doors.

I would absolutely recommend David to ANYONE who runs their own business, regardless of the size of the business. Sole traders through to big companies, David is for you. His face lights up when he talks about your business. It’s truly humbling to witness.

For the first time in 10 years, I can say I run a successful business that I am proud of.”

Marketing is essential for any small business. It’s the lifeblood of your business. But with the ever-changing digital landscape, it can be quite a stressful task to tackle and result in overwhelm. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, with a little bit of planning and effort, you can have a small business marketing plan that will help your business grow for years to come.

1. Define Your Goals

When creating a small business marketing plan, it is important to first define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing efforts? Do you want to grow your business, reach new customers, or increase brand awareness? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, it is easier to develop strategies that will help you achieve them.

Many business owners assume that in order to grow their business, they need to get more customers. However, if your business already has an established customer base it may be faster and more cost-effective to re-market to your existing customers instead.

2. Create A Targeted Strategy

Once you know what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts, the next step is to create a targeted strategy.

Some questions you might want to ask yourself include:

What are the specific channels and methods that will work best for reaching your target audience?
Which platforms are most effective and provide the best return on investment?
Which types of media do your customers prefer?
What tools or software will you use to achieve your targeting goals?

Once you have a targeted strategy in place, it is important to allocate the right amount of resources to each channel you choose to utilise.

3. Plan For Maintenance And Adjustment

No matter how well you plan, your marketing efforts will not be perfect from start to finish. In fact, it is likely that your strategy will need a few adjustments once it’s launched. This means that you will need to have a plan in place for maintaining and adjusting your marketing efforts.

Some things you might want to consider include:

How often should you re-evaluate your target audience?
What are the best times of year for advertising?
How do you handle it when one of your channels no longer works for you?
Can your strategy be automated or does it require ongoing management?

Remember to work smarter, not harder. There are lots of marketing automation tools available that allow you to implement “set and forget strategies” to free you up from having to actively manage them.

4. Set Your Budget And Timeframe

One of the most important factors to consider when creating a small business marketing plan is setting a budget and timeframe. By knowing how much money you have to spend and how long it will take to achieve your goals, you can create a plan that is tailored specifically to your needs. Additionally, creating a timeline can help keep you on track and prevent unnecessary (and sometimes costly) delays.

For most small businesses, every dollar counts and it’s important not to spend unnecessary amounts on marketing activities that don’t deliver results.

5. Implement Your Marketing Plan

A well-executed marketing plan can help your small business achieve its goals faster and with less effort. It’s important, however, to understand how the different aspects of your strategy connect and how to make them work in alignment.

Looking at marketing holistically creates leverage, meaning you will achieve a much greater rate of success while spending less time and budget.

In my 90-Day Marketing Transformation, I work with Australian business owners directly to implement a set of organic strategies that require very little to no maintenance and thus, make their marketing budget stretch a lot further.

In addition, I can help you automate time-consuming marketing activities, like social media content, lead generation and email marketing to free up valuable time and headspace, so you can focus on what you’re already great at – like looking after your customers.

But will this work for your business?

We have implemented marketing strategies for:

If you need help implementing a strategy that will help you attract more customers while saving you time, confusion and frustration, let’s have a chat. Book your free strategy call.

Conclusion And a Faster Way To Implement Your Small Business Marketing Plan

By following these five steps and planning out your strategy in advance, rather than approaching your marketing ad-hoc, you will significantly reduce the time and money you spend on marketing activities.

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