It’s almost back to school time for parents and educators across the country. Shelves are filling with supplies and teachers are enjoying their last days of freedom before the influx of lessons and classes hit in early August. While students remain blissfully unaware of the stress back-to-school puts on studio owners, you must prepare as much as possible for everything that could happen between now and the holiday season. For the best guide on increasing enrollment and gaining new students in the new school year, download our Back to School Guide. To prepare for those lessons to start, here is a checklist of everything we recommend:

And finally, if you want to go above and beyond this back-to-school season, host an open house! This isn’t on our checklist because it is absolutely not a back-to-school must. There are benefits to you and your students when you host an open house. It isn’t just an opportunity to gain new students – you can meet new students for the first time before their lessons and share announcements and business cards with current and future students alike. Parents love open houses because they can build trust with you, ask questions, and see where their child will be spending their time. If you are unsure of how to market an open house, see our Blog on summer marketing for some ideas. Make an announcement, gather your teachers, serve some light refreshments, and celebrate back-to-school. But most importantly, don’t go another year without the right technology in place. Talk to us today and see why more than 300 performing arts academies have chosen opus1 to operate and grow their studio more efficiently.

We’ve talked about attendance declining in the summer months. We all expect some of our students to take the summer months off as it is the nature of our business. Our experts have even shared many ways to increase attendance in the summer, like in our Summer Guide. But what we haven’t talked about is how to market these summer attendance solutions. Where do you market to your potential students? What do you say? Let’s talk about the big three.

1. Organic Social Media

Organic is just a fancy way of saying un-paid social media advertising. Even if your social media following is small, posting about summer lessons, summer classes, and any special offers is a great way to advertise what your studio is doing this summer. Another way to make organic social media go further is to request that your followers and staff share the posts to gain more exposure. Having a social media contest, featuring students and staff in your posts, or creating limited time offers are all great techniques for social media marketing. If one thing doesn’t work, try something else! Every studio, city, and following is unique. This is a place to let your creativity shine!

In the studio marketing world, these visitors are known as “impulse buyers”. While still a valuable customer set, customers that find you via social media are often less educated in your specialty and are at the beginning stages of research for after school programs. We call these top of the funnel leads. The best practice for these individuals is to be prepared with introductory emails or handouts that explain the basics if your course offerings, pricing, and policies to set them and their teachers up for future success. For even higher return, share your course/class schedule in your posts with a link to your Opus1 portal. This will allow parents to browse course offerings, view these introductory materials, and instantly register and pay for courses online.

2. Paid social media

Just like the title, paid social media marketing is where you have to spend a little money. Expert tips for paid social media marketing are 1) keep budgets small 2) use special offers and 3) be specific. Starting with a small budget on a paid ad or boosted post lets you test different offers and information until you find what works for you. These offers are always going to perform the best with a broader audience. “Special Offer” doesn’t have to mean a discount either – it could be the final spots in a popular class, a limited run lesson plan, or a package deal. Anything that encourages a person to make an immediate purchase falls in this category. Now – be specific. What does this mean? Be specific on what the offer is, how they claim the offer, if it has an expiration date, and what your preferred contact method is. For the easiest sale, add your special offering to your Opus1 portal and create a registration link you can share online.

3. Partnerships

Many marketing professionals call this affiliate advertising, influencer advertising, or sponsored posts. The great thing about partnerships is they don’t have to be expensive! Partnering with local businesses, “influencers” or events is a great way to get your business out there this summer. Summertime is when families are “out and about”, making partnerships (both online and physical advertisements) even more beneficial. Your local cafe, coffee shop, activity center, community center, community pool, recreation center, etc. – all great places to partner with! Many times, by simply asking, you can set up a tit-for-tat advertisement agreement with local partners. Trading flyers, business cards, social posts, or promotional offers is cost effective for both businesses, and guarantees exposure to new families. When larger partners host events, becoming a sponsor is an excellent way to gain exposure to your studio as well – especially events for families! Within your Opus1 portal, you can schedule automated email and SMS campaigns to announce your partnerships and sponsorships to your current prospect list to give them the push they need to finally register their child.

Before embarking on a partnership or sponsorship journey, be sure that your online presence is “up to snuff”. Many potential clients who see your business advertised locally will do online research before registering for classes. Online reviews, a quality website or social media page, and easy to find information about your business is imperative to the success of these Google searches. We call these “high intent” customers. While they often have more knowledge of your services and are further in the buying cycle, they are harder to convert because of their propensity for online research. A quality online presence is just the trick to gaining them as new clients.

No matter what you do to market your lessons this summer, keep two very important things in mind. First, persistence is key! Marketing isn’t immediate – but the payoff is worth the work. Second, save your receipts! Marketing is a business expense that brings you returns in more ways than one. You’ll thank yourself when tax time rolls around next year. Our Business Optimization Module makes storing this information a breeze. Not using Opus1 for your studio yet? Get a 30 day free trial of the features listed above to see how Opus1 can help you operate and grow your business more efficiently.