The yoga industry is a $10-billion industry. As of 2022, there are more than 40,000 yoga studios in the US alone. Effective yoga studio marketing is the only way to stand out from the competition.
Yoga studio marketing should be done differently from marketing other products. Remember that a yoga studio is a service business, and marketing a service business needs a different approach than marketing a product-based business. When a client purchases a service, they don’t own what they bought, so they don’t see a tangible benefit immediately. The key is to make sure they feel the benefits your service provides.
In this guide, we show you how to get yoga studio clients and how to strategize for yoga studio marketing.
Before we delve into yoga studio marketing strategies, there are three crucial tasks you need to tick off from your list first. When done well, these tasks help tremendously in making sure your yoga studio marketing plans succeed.
Before considering yoga marketing strategies, the first task is defining your ideal client. You shouldn’t market to just everybody. Instead, it would be best if you targeted the people you want to provide services to—your target market. And when you get to know them—their problems and needs—you can provide a solution and craft your marketing around it.
We can break this down further into the following steps:
Identify the yoga style you plan on teaching
Decide on the demographic (age, gender, location) you want to teach
Do market research
For example, you want to teach gentle or restorative yoga. You set your eyes on the elderly, especially those retired and spend their days mostly at home. Once you set your sights on your target market, you can perform research and survey your yoga studio’s location. Does it have the demand for your service? Can you fill up your classes with the target audience?
If the answers to your research indicate otherwise, it would be best to go back to the first step and think of another yoga service to offer.
A concrete brand is crucial to your yoga business. It represents your yoga studio, your services, the benefits you offer, and your clients. Branding also sets you apart from the competition. Develop a brand that shows how you are different from and better than the competition.
To develop a strong brand:
List all the things that best describe your yoga studio and practice
Describe who you are (if you are the primary yoga instructor), your beliefs, and your teaching style
List all the words that describe your ideal client
From the above list, come up with a unique name and tagline for your yoga studio.
The next step would be to design your brand. You can do it yourself if you are a creative artist, but most hire graphic designers to develop their branding kits. Have the following created:
Logo
Branding kit: brand colors and fonts
Design style guidelines (this will be used as a basis for marketing materials)
Another crucial step before implementing your marketing efforts is establishing your business’s unique selling points. Positioning is important to set you apart from the rest, so that the execution of your marketing campaigns will go smoothly.
The yoga class industry is primarily a service-based business. As such, you need to prove your services’ value to customers—which can be more challenging than marketing a physical product, because we can easily highlight its physical qualities and features.
Here are some unique selling points you need to think about for your yoga studio business:
Price: Set a competitive price point in relation to the value you provide. Simpler terms, like having clear-cut tiers for memberships and fair cancellation and refund policies, are essential to attracting more clients.
Brand identity: As discussed in Step #2, a strong brand identity attracts more clients, especially for service-based businesses.
Benefits/value: Identify the benefits one would get when they sign up for your service
Credibility: Customers are more likely to trust yoga instructors with years of expertise and the necessary certifications.
Environment: Ensure your yoga studio’s location is accessible and your studio’s aesthetics (decor, design, and architecture) fits your brand.
Convenience: Convenience is a main priority for consumers these days. So, make it easy for your customers to book and use your service. Yoga studio scheduling software can help automate this. Have features and tools that allow customers to do things for themselves instead of having to call or visit.
Once you have done the above-mentioned tasks, it is time to craft marketing ideas and map out a marketing plan. Note that most marketing strategies are the same. How you implement it to the right people and use the proper channels (ideally, where your target audience is most active) will set it apart from the rest.
Traditional or offline marketing (any form that uses an offline method to reach the audience) might not be as popular as digital marketing these days. Still, there are distinct advantages to doing it the old-fashioned way. For one, you can reach people even if they are not online. This tactic will be beneficial if your target audience is Internet-savvy.
Some traditional marketing ideas for your yoga studio include:
Hand out business cards. Business cards are inexpensive—hand them to anyone and leave them anywhere potential customers might find them. Include all vital information, including your online accounts. A bonus? Include an exclusive offer to pull customers in.
Print and distribute guides or booklets on anything about yoga. Make it a definitive source to establish credibility and reach your target customers. Include a blurb about you and your yoga studio.
Use posters inside your studio or other local businesses you can partner with to inform current and potential members about new classes, promotions, and schedules.
Do direct mail marketing. Direct mail is an excellent way for your yoga studio to get your message to a highly-targeted audience of potential clients. Instead of a one-postcard or mail campaign, develop a marketing strategy that includes mailing multiple mailers over a designated period (usually three to six months). Repetition increases awareness of your brand and establishes a relationship with your clients.
Here’s a tip: Make sure you have your marketing materials (posters, flyers, banners) placed in high-traffic areas so you can advertise your yoga studio 24/7.
Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing. It’s absolutely free—all you have to do is ensure your existing clients are happy with your service. Yoga studio marketing isn’t just for getting new yoga clients, but also about keeping your existing clients happy so they can keep coming back for more.
Word of mouth usually gets you the most students in yoga classes. Ninety-two percent of consumers trust user-generated content and word-of-mouth referrals rather than brand messaging. That being said, aside from asking students to recommend you when applicable, ask them to leave reviews about their yoga teachers and classes on different platforms, including, Facebook, Yelp, and Google listings.
You don’t really have to come up with an elaborate program. You can start with simple campaigns. For example, you can offer yoga students a free class after they have joined six classes, or give discounts to those that bring a friend.
Not only will a rewards program increase brand loyalty, it will also give insights into getting to know your clients better. You will notice what they spend more on and where their interests lie.
Events are a great way to meet potential clients face-to-face and promote your yoga business. They don't necessarily have to be in-your-face promotions - the point is to create memorable experiences for your target audience.
Do not take events lightly—84% of event attendees usually have a lasting positive impression on brands after events. This can potentially increase your number of yoga clients.
Hold occasional events where you give free trials of your yoga class. Free trials’ conversation rates are pretty good (around 25%). Amplify it by getting sponsors or even a famous celebrity or influencer to grace your event.
You can effectively marketing of your yoga studio by standing up for a worthwhile cause. Consumers would want to feel connected to a brand’s values, placing more importance on their advocacy than their promotions.
Community building is often the most neglected marketing strategy. But what many fail to realize is that it has endless potential, and its effects are felt long after its implementation. Some ideas are outlined below.
Depending on your target market, collaborate with other businesses by offering them a win-win situation. For example, reach out to a vegetarian restaurant in the area for a collaboration to target health/wellness-conscious customers and do a cross-promotion campaign.
You can also partner with similar but non-competing businesses to offer packages. For example, you can offer your services with a hotel or a spa to do a "Rest and Wellness Package." It works three ways—you increase exposure for your yoga studio, customers get a discount, and your partner businesses also gain something from the campaign.
Holding meet-up groups in your yoga studio to establish communities is also a great idea. It doesn’t even have to be yoga, but rather a topic related to health and wellness. For example, you do a meet-up group for healthy cooking, a book club on nutrition, a mindfulness workshop, and more. Even an opening day party or a monthly informal meet-up could go a long way in building your community.
It is always recommended to do a healthy balance of traditional and digital marketing. Almost everyone is now online, and so should you, especially if your target audience is tech-savvy.
Ensure your website stays true to your brand. It should reflect what people see in your yoga studio, marketing materials, and you! Your website is your online store and forefront marketing material online. Keep it updated. And add features that will allow people to book classes directly from your website.
If your website is your online store, you need to find a way to make people discover and visit it. One way to reach websites is through search engines, and Google is the most used search engine on the Internet.
Search engine optimization (SEO) might be overwhelming at first. You can start by making sure you use the right keywords most people look for when searching for your services in your website copy. For example, make sure to use the words “yoga studio” and your location to target those who live near your area.
If you have the budget, consider investing on pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. This marketing strategy allows you to rank in the top position of search results, especially if you use the right mix of keywords, ad copy and bidding strategy.
Since very few yoga studio owners have the budget for paid advertising, registering in Google My Business can do wonders for your business already. It is a free tool with your Google Business account and allows you to get listed on search listings with Google Maps directions.
Same as online marketing, content marketing helps your website show up on top search results on Google so more people can know about and book classes in your yoga studio. In this type of marketing, you create and share content or information through videos, blogs, podcasts, and more that do not explicitly promote your services but are intended to increase brand awareness and recognition.
Consider doing some of these content types:
Some content marketing you can do are the following:
Do long-form blog posts to establish expertise. Make it informative.
Convert these blog posts into an infographic. Infographics are more easily digested and shareable—increasing its chances of going viral (seen by more people)
Record yourself in video demonstrating yoga poses. Make it quick. Post it in your social media channels. Better yet, start your YouTube channel.
If you have the bandwidth, start a podcast. If you can’t yet, pitch yourself to popular podcasts in the same industry to reach more audience.
Pitch article ideas on top health and wellness websites for a guest post.
A very powerful way of digital marketing yoga studio owners should make time for is email marketing. Similar to traditional marketing, it specifically targets your potential customers—you know they are interested in what you offer because they are in your list. And unlike other forms of digital marketing, email marketing goes to the customer—the customer doesn’t need to search for it online, and you don’t need to compete with other businesses in their social feeds.
Email marketing is especially effective in retaining existing clients, so consider developing it together with your customer loyalty campaigns.
If you already use yoga studio software, it can automatically collect your clients’ email addresses as they book your service online. If you have an opt-in on your website, you can start building an email list.
Some email ideas you can try sending out are:
Welcome email
Follow-up email
Re-engagement emails
Feedback email
Newsletters (weekly)
Announcements (sale events, promos, and discounts)
The secrets to a successful email marketing campaign are personalization and automation. As long as you keep your messages segmented to specific groups of people in you are list, the more chances they are to be engaged and willing to book yoga sessions.
Social media marketing helps get your yoga studio business right in front where people are lately—social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more. When done right, it increases brand recognition and even fosters brand loyalty, resulting in brand advocates.
Don’t try to go everywhere, all at once. It will overwhelm you and can be counterproductive. The key here is to identify where most of your target audience is active, then go there.
When starting out, focus your efforts on one or two channels. Build these channels first before considering adding more. Most yoga studios are on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest; you could start there.
Once you have decided on the social platforms, it’s time to share valuable and engaging content. Aside from promos and discounts, share motivational messages, yoga tips, demos, and more. Do not treat your social channels as an announcement hub only. See them as channels to engage with your customers.
Social media marketing is all about engagement. You are more likely to convert followers into paying customers if you engage with them—ask them questions, respond to their comments, like their messages. In short, make them feel seen and valued.