Double Your Yoga Studio’s Income in 30 Days: A Step-By-Step Yoga Studio Marketing Plan

Yoga Studio Owners Should Fortify Their Business Plan Now

Just as Pam and Bridgette’s yoga studio dream began to blossom, the unimaginable struck.

The 2020 pandemic and its restrictions wreaked havoc on many industries, including Yoga studios. As a result, many new and well-established studios were forced to close despite their best efforts to stay afloat.

The temporary restrictions escalated into long-lasting Shutdowns and insurmountable financial challenges.

With no alternative income, accelerated growth tactics, or clear recovery strategies in their business plan, Pam and Bridgette’s dreams crumbled.

Although it is impossible to predict every possible disaster, being proactive and developing a reliable sales strategy can help fortify your business.

Unexpected challenges, including road closures, natural disasters, building construction, or health crises, may all pose a risk to your Studio again.

Now’s the time to perfect your sales strategy to boost your membership and define your bounce-back plan for the next adverse event.

The Yoga Studio Business Plan For Today And Tomorrow

After a setback or decline in profits, it’s important to have a plan to regain any lost members and boost your business. It’s better to develop this plan now while your business is still growing, rather than waiting until it’s in trouble and struggling to stay afloat.

Developing a marketing plan for your yoga studio seems simple at first, but in reality, things can and often do go wrong.

Many struggling studios make the mistake of following the same business plan as other struggling studios.

There’s an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” we have an even more important one, “If it is broke, don’t use it.” We’re going to help you change that right now.

To overcome this, we’re here to guide you in creating a unique marketing plan. Your plan should focus on several key factors, all of which must be defined and work seamlessly together.

We will break down each of these points further below. Grab a pen, prepare to take some notes, and run through a few exercises that will shape the future of your business starting today.

Is There A Market For New Yoga Studios?

To be clear, we need to break this down into two types of studios.

Regular Yoga Studios 

Yoga is still super popular these days, so figuring out if a studio will work in a specific area depends on many things, like who lives there, how crowded the area is, and how many other studios are around. This means digging into statistics and data.

Before you open your own yoga studio, it’s really important to look into all these things. You want to make sure there are enough people interested in yoga where you want to set up, and that you can count on a steady number of clients coming in.

Using just the numbers can be a bit risky for someone starting their own studio, and might be better for big chains that copy what’s already working. We want our studios to have their own vibe, personality, and special offerings, right?

The Market For Unique Yoga Studios 

There’s so much room to play around with cool ideas and fresh takes on yoga! The sky’s the limit when it comes to making a unique yoga studio that people will love. You can focus on a special type of class, create unforgettable experiences, or design a space with a vibe all its own.

We will get into more specific examples in a bit, but the key takeaway is that by doing this, you’ll draw in folks who are on the hunt for something new and exciting that they can’t find just anywhere else.

How To Market My Yoga Studio

Decide Who, First

Identifying your target audience is crucial and can be quite nerve-wracking. The fear is that you’ll lose potential customers from other markets by defining a specific group of people to market to. However, the good news is that this is mostly incorrect. There are two factors to take into account.

First, many studios tend to use the same marketing approach, trying to appeal to anyone who can pay for their services. This means you’re competing with everyone else for the same crowd. Instead, if you plan to focus on a specific group of people, your message will be much more precise and effective for that audience particular audience. Having a strong message for one audience tends to attract non-related audiences. Read ahead for a great example.

The Choice Of A New Generation – The Target Market, Is Not The Market.
When Pepsi introduced its “Choice of a new generation” slogan in 1984, it saw a huge boost in sales and even started challenging Coke’s top spot. Interestingly, sales went up across all age groups, not just the young target audience.

But in 1992, Pepsi got a little too ambitious and launched the “Gotta Have It” slogan, hoping to grab more of the older market. They even had Super Bowl ads with older celebs like Regis Philbin and Yogi Berra, and a young girl saying it’s great for all generations.

Unfortunately, sales took a nosedive, even among older customers, because Pepsi lost its unique appeal.

This story isn’t just about Pepsi – it’s a lesson for all businesses, big or small. Focusing on a specific demographic or market can actually make you stand out as THE expert. And when you do that, you’ll find that you end up appealing to a wider audience even faster than if you tried to be everything to everyone.

How Do I Decide Who I’m Marketing To?

Decide Who You Want To Work With Ideally?

Think about the kind of clients you love working with and who would get the most out of what you offer. This might be a certain age group, fitness level, background, or folks with specific health goals in mind. No matter who you decide to concentrate on, keep in mind that you’ll actually draw in more people, even those outside your target group, compared to not having any focus at all.

Check Out the Group’s Spending Power

Take a look at which folks in your target group can actually afford your services. After figuring out who you want to focus on, it’s important to see if they have the means to pay for your classes or services. Make sure your prices line up with what your target market can afford. If there’s a mismatch between their financial situation and your ideal clients, it might be worth tweaking your target audience a bit.

How Do I Make My Yoga Studio Stand Out From Others? – Your USP

Deciding on your target audience helps you understand what aspects of your studio matter most to them and their worries and objectives.

Armed with that knowledge, you can figure out what sets you apart from the competition, helping you craft your very own Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

What Do You “Do” That’s Different?

Identify the aspects of your yoga studio that set you apart from your competitors. This could be a unique teaching style, specialized classes, qualifications, features, or a particular focus on wellness or mindfulness.

Is Your Location Different?

The location of your yoga studio can also make it stand out from the competition. If your Studio is in a beautiful or unusual setting, highlight this in your marketing materials.

Do You Provide Different Products Or Services?

Additional services or products, such as massage therapy, aromatherapy, or meditation classes, can also set your Studio apart.

Do You Bring A Different Outlook, Perspective, Or Training?

Your background, training, and philosophy can also make your yoga studio unique. Share your story and passion with potential clients to create a personal connection and establish credibility.

What’s A Value Offer For A Yoga Studio? Why Do I Need One?

A value offer for new members is a special, one-time, high-value, and high-priced signup deal that comes across as an amazing opportunity for newcomers while also letting them continue enjoying your regular services.

Your studio needs this type of offer because it generates cash flow early in the customer journey rather than later. This extra income helps you create a better studio and enhance the overall experience for your members.

These offers often come in the form of a challenge, like:

• Master 12 poses with our yoga bootcamp for beginners
• Shed 10 pounds in 5 weeks with our yoga jumpstart program
• Kickstart your fitness journey with our Yogasweat program
• Find inner peace in our 6-week yoga workshop

Avoid Low Barrier Entry Offers

People are drawn to and motivated by challenges, not trials. That’s why Low Barrier Entry (LBE) offers like “First week free” or “$30 for 30 days” aren’t the best options for a couple of reasons:

1. They attract clients who aren’t really committed and don’t encourage dedicated clients to push themselves to see the improvements you can help them achieve.
   
   
2. These offers create a high initial cost of time and money for yoga studio owners for clients who might not stick around, relying on long-term commitments to make up for the advertising expenses and diverting their attention away from the members that matter most.

Ticket to Free Advertising = The Challenge

Offering a challenge to potential clients benefits your business in three ways:

1. You filter for the most motivated and qualified prospects for future marketing efforts, avoiding time spent on people who want free trials or are not serious about your services.
   
   
2. You continually refine this process by developing more similar and enhanced offers to give your new customers the best possible value and experience.
   
   
3. Client Financed Acquisition – When you profit upfront, you can see your actual acquisition cost in real-time.
   

Once your acquisition cost is less than 25% of your offer, you won’t need a marketing budget anymore. Every dollar spent will generate positive revenue, with your only constraint being your operation’s capacity.

How To Create An Offer For Your Yoga Studio

*GIANT TIP – Owners Think Cash. Customers Think Value, Think Like A Customer.

Business owners and executives often concentrate on cash and pricing. That’s their primary concern. However, customers aren’t just thinking about price; they’re considering value. They might mention price, but it’s always in relation to the perceived value of your offer.

If you tried selling your yoga classes for $500 a week, a customer might say it’s too expensive. They could even think $50 is too much. But, if you told them that the price was for an entire year, and you’d fly them to a tropical destination once a month for a yoga retreat, they’d likely find a way to afford the $500.

Your goal shouldn’t be to lower your prices. Instead, focus on continually increasing the value you provide to your customers.

Let’s Be Realistic

You can’t give everything away and stay in business, but you must find the sweet spot where the offer feels almost too good, to the point it makes you uncomfortable. If it doesn’t make you nervous, it won’t inspire customers.

Over time, you’ll find a way to make it work progressively better. The numbers will start rolling in, and you can refine the offer or get the support needed to make it better and more comfortable to fulfill once you get going.

Get Creative

Think Of Every Problem Your Customers Might Have

Try and recall and write down every complaint or issue you’ve ever heard a client, classmate, or friend say about yoga classes, teachers, getting there, recovering from, or anything to do with yoga and attending a class. Nothing is off the table; write it all down.

1. Not enough time
2. Can’t get there
3. Diet isn’t right
4. Not getting enough sleep
5. Can’t hear
6. Can’t practice at home
7. Struggles with certain positions
8. anything and everything you’ve ever heard and can think of

Solve Every Problem, Somehow

Use these concerns to demonstrate how your Studio solves these problems. Brainstorm ways to improve the entire yoga experience with your studio for your clients, such as;

1. Create Video Sessions and video-on-demand sessions for members.
2. Create an eating plan, diet, or guidelines.
3. Find potential partnerships with other vendors for discounts.
4. Partner with sleep study experts and create a sleep plan available to members as a PDF or video on how to sleep better, stretch, and things to do before sleep. 
5. If the groups are big enough, provide additional spaces for people with hearing, vision, other impairments, or some other accommodation.
6. Provide specialized video progression training for specific poses.
7. Work to create solutions to every problem you provide to your members, and continue to add and improve them. 

Remember, I’m barely a Yoga newbie, so I am presenting these problems and solutions as examples. Your job is to find the real ones that will be the most meaningful to your current and future clients.

List All Desired Outcomes Your Clients have

Brainstorm what outcomes clients who sign up want to achieve, then ask them all directly if you haven’t already, things like Increased flexibility, stress reduction, weight loss, social connection, or mental clarity. Then, showcase how your Studio can help clients achieve these goals through testimonials or success stories.

Create A Wall Of Success

Physically and strategically hang photos and testimonials in a designated area of your Studio of stories of your current or past clients who have achieved the most common desired outcomes of new members. Group each of those outcomes together so they are easy to show to someone who wants that same outcome.

Create Scarcity Without Scarcity

Determine the maximum capacity of new clients you could accept every month. For example, could you take and have room for 5000 new clients? 500? 50? 10? Whatever that number is, prominently list it as your monthly cut-off for new clients. It has surprising effects on encouraging potential clients on the fence to sign up today.

Offer An Unconditional Service Quality Guarantee And Deliver On The Quality

Many business owners may initially react with shock and hesitation to the idea of providing an unconditional guarantee of service quality. However, it’s important to remember that while business owners are naturally focused on making money, clients prioritize value. In reality, such a guarantee has been shown to attract far more signups than it will generate refunds.

It’s essential to structure the guarantee in a way that isn’t a blanket statement, such as “no questions asked.” Instead, frame it as a direct assessment of the services provided: “If you don’t feel we’ve provided excellent services, we’ll gladly refund your payment in full.” This approach also serves to discourage people who haven’t used the service from requesting a refund.

How To Decide The Marketing Budget For Yoga Studios

Determining allowable acquisition cost

If you’ve come this far and are encouraged to launch challenges as ways to get new clients on board, then your initial advertising will have a backwards goal based on what you will charge.

For instance, let’s assume you will offer a 6-week challenge to 10 new clients at $300 each. Members will get regular class access and two private group classes per week, exclusively for this cohort of 10 new members.

First, you will determine your total cost for those 12 private classes. For example, let’s say you’ve determined those 12 classes will cost you $1200 in credit card fees, studio utilities, and payroll over the six weeks for all the memberships. At $300 each, you will have made $3,000, with $1800 left as profit.

Let’s assume you would like to keep 20% of the profit for each month, that brings us to $1440 in remaining profit from the promotion, or $144 per sale. We want to be able to have that $144 pay for both the current member, and the next member, so we would divide that number in half giving us $72.

With this number in mind we know that we can spend $72 per each user we sign up and pay for the next promotion, all of our staff, utilities and taxes, and pocket 20% as profit.

How Much Does It Cost To Market A Yoga Studio?

Adjust Till You Achieve Client Financed Acquisition

Achieving a customer acquisition cost of $72 will require continuous improvement of your messaging, advertising techniques, and target audience selection. It will be necessary to experiment with different advertising channels and messaging approaches based on the information you have gathered about your Ideal Client Profile and Unique Selling Proposition.

The advantage of this approach is that as you become more skilled at reducing your cost per acquisition, you will earn higher profits from each promotion.

Where To Market My Yoga Studio?

Research Where Your Ideal Client Is Spending Their Time

You can start with your best assumptions, understanding they will be wholly or partly wrong initially. Continue researching different platforms and channels your target audience frequents, such as social media, local publications, or community events. Then, focus your marketing efforts on these channels to reach your potential clients effectively.

How To Market A High-End Yoga Studio

Start by researching and identifying the features that high-end clients value most, such as exclusivity, ambiance, amenities, personalized services, exclusive access, or status. It’s important to carefully read between the lines to understand their desires and motivations. Then, focus your marketing messages on highlighting the aspects of your offering that will resonate most with high-end clients.

What is Upstream Marketing for a Yoga Studio?

Upstream marketing refers to long-term goals that provide direction for a business. For a yoga studio, upstream marketing might involve offering specialized classes, expanding to multiple locations, introducing additional disciplines such as Pilates or barre, and more. These goals can position your studio as a leader in the industry and help attract a broader audience.

How To Keep Yoga Clients Coming Back Every Month?

Acquiring a new customer costs 5X that of retaining an existing customer: Focus on building relationships with your current clients and Stay engaged with helpful, exciting email marketing, push notifications, social posts, events, and continually offering informational or actual value.

Share valuable content, such as tips, news, free events, community events, new free services, etc., to keep them engaged and interested in your Studio.

Do not limit your communication to promotional messages. Promotional emails or notifications should be less than 20% of your messages.

Create a community: Host special events, workshops, or social gatherings to foster a sense of belonging and connection among your clients. A strong community can help retain clients and attract new ones through word-of-mouth. A Facebook group with automated interaction is the bare minimum to get you started. 

How To Get Referrals For Your Studio?

The Simple Task Is To Ask

Encourage satisfied clients to refer friends and family to your yoga studio. Sometimes, getting the word out about your services only takes a simple request.

Referral Bonuses

Incentivize referrals by providing discounts, free classes, or other rewards to the referring and new Clients. This encourages your current clients to spread the word and makes it more appealing for new clients to join your Studio.

How To Sell $1,000 Private Yoga Lessons

The Real Purpose Of The $1,000 Lesson, The $200 Session

Let’s assume you currently offer private lessons for $75, and you would like to charge $100, $150, $175, etc.

To begin, take out a piece of paper and list what would have to be included for a private yoga lesson to cost 20X your goal price. So at $150 times 20, that would be $3,000.  

What would you need to provide a person to justify a $3,000 private session? Let your mind explore and devise every possible scenario you can think of. The crazier, the better.

*These are non-researched, off the top of my head, exaggerated examples. I highly recommend you work with other yogis and potential clients to develop a much better list than this.

1. You would arrive at their house to set up a private studio completely at their convenience, anytime they wanted.  
2. You might bring two other specialists to observe them and one for them to follow. 
3. You might record the session and provide detailed feedback.
4. You might provide them with a video of the session in an elegantly composed 60-second video for them to share. 
5. You might bring a traditional musician with you. 
6. You could provide them with company-branded blocks, mats, tools, water bottles, towels, etc. 
7. You could follow up with guided instructions and videos for positions they had challenges with.  
8. You might bring a dietician to talk with them about improving their diet for their health.
9. You might even charter a helicopter to take them to the top of a building to do yoga on a rooftop, cliff, or a local island. 

You can continue this list until you run out of ideas (you will have more later). Then you will take those ideas and realistically look at what you could do for $1000 if you stretched it to the absolute limit.

The Low End

Now you’re going to consider what you could provide to a client if you had to give them a private session for 1/20th of your desired price, or in this case, $7.50.

*These are non-researched off the top of my head examples. Be sure to come up with additional items for your list.

1. You might be able to provide them with a pre-made pdf file of routines, poses, etc. 
2. You could provide them with a detailed video of all of the positions.
3. You could provide them with videos on mindset, diet, spirituality, yoga, or any other unique information you’ve already produced. 
4. You could provide them a link to a web service that allows them to video their sessions and upload them to their account on your website, which they could optionally pay to have someone review their form. 
5. You could provide them with a list of Yoga destinations with links to trips that you may generate a commission for referrals.   
6. You can provide them discounts to Nutritionists, therapists, and fitness facilities. Again, these could be discounts that also give you commissions for referrals.  

The key here is to get you thinking about ways to automate the process of delivering a $7.50 service that you would still profit on. Of course, these would have already been created for all of the above-listed features, so your $7.50 would be all profit.

Putting It All Together

We will use your $1000 offering as your “Price Anchor,” the anchor establishes a base price for your most valuable offer of three.

For the lowest price that we would prefer people upgrade from, we will list your previous offer at approximately the exact final price. If your private lessons cost $75, leave that as is and add about 25% or $95 (before discounts). We won’t add any $7.50 price points features you created to this level.

Your middle-priced point offer is our target that we want new clients to look at. This price should be $180-$200. For your middle price point, you should list every possible automated solution you came up with at your $7.50 price exercise, plus any other potential benefits you could add to make it look similar to the $1000 price point’s features without adding the high cost to you, to provide the service.

Here’s the craziest part: from time to time, you will get people who want to purchase the $1,000 sessions. Some people will take you up on it, so make sure you don’t make it too unrealistic and be able to fulfill that item at a profit if needed.

For the final touch, you will run limited-time promotions offering dollar amounts of $20 – $200 discounts on services.

*Tip – When listing discounts, list dollar discounts for items at or over $100; list percentage discounts; for items under $100.

Your final offering may look something like this:

In Conclusion

While there are numerous components to crafting an effective marketing strategy for a growing yoga studio, the results are repeatable, and a clear path to success exists. 

Following this article’s outlined steps, you can develop a tailored plan that drives growth and fosters a thriving yoga community. 

If you’re a studio owner who would like assistance in creating your unique offer, setting up promotions, automating your emails, building your community, or implementing this type of strategy, our team of experts is here to help. 

We understand the challenges and opportunities in the yoga industry and would be delighted to work with you on your journey to success. So reach out to us today, and let’s elevate your yoga studio to new heights.