We are getting toward the end of my Workshop Series. We have Pitched and Planned our Workshops – now it’s time to Promote Your Yoga Workshop.
Let’s get this part out of the way … I understand promoting yourself can feel all itchy and wrong. We try to remove the ego in yoga – now we have to pat ourselves on the back for being some type of quasi-expert. The world loves social media, if you’re a Mormon Wife, AI dancing cat, or whatever is filling up my feed today besides local yoga content. I understand that you can feel lost and that it doesn’t even matter.
Promoting is necessary. Rather than feel like a “used car salesman” as my friend Debbie calls it, realize you’re not trying to unload something that is no longer valuable. Your workshop is unbelievably valuable! You’re not unloading candles, nail polish, kitchen appliances, or whatever. You are sharing knowledge & ways for people to understand their body, relax their body, heal their body, function better in their body! Whatever your yoga workshop – it’s valuable.
So first things first – understand the value of your workshop. If you’re feeling like a used car salesman you might be focused on the wrong thing or most likely, you’re telling the wrong people. That’s the second thing – find your target audience.
Your target audience for these workshops is not your Facebook family and friends. If I post to my Facebook Friends, my church-going non-yoga practicing friends who live 10 states away, yeah they’re not coming either. We have to promote to yoga workshop attendees, and this is why the studio should take full responsibility for promoting, they have the yoga membership!
Promote Your Yoga Workshop
The studio / host takes responsibility for promoting your workshop for you. Use their member base to bring in excitement. They should market the workshop themselves and then later – key word here: later – you can share it with your yoga friends and followers. You want the location to promote you – they should be excited you’re coming and sharing your knowledge.
Make sure this is discussed when you are negotiating your workshop, price, percentage you’re earning – and they understand they will promote it. “And you’re going to promote this to your members 4 weeks before?” 4-6 weeks is a great time to start getting on people’s calendars! We’re all busy, we need more heads up time.
If it’s in their monthly email, a poster hanging on their bulletin board, or cute marketing on their social media – they promote you first. You can provide the description and bullet points you will be covering, but make sure they are sharing it with their studio members. That’s the target audience! Studio members are loyal and promote their own studio events!
Don’t forget – the studio is making money, so they want your workshop to do well. It is in their best interest to promote it. But I encourage you to wait until you share the info. If you both share it once at the same time on the same day – you both bury the news.
Stagger the sharing on social media. Don’t be an echo, be the reminder.
Ask other teachers to share your workshop in their classes. We have an awesome group of yoga teachers – we are always sharing events that are happening at the Rec Center. Someone else’s endorsement goes a long way! I have had a few people sign up for my upcoming Restorative workshop because “Gwen mentioned it in her class”. You can’t reach everyone – ask other teachers to mention your workshop.
Hit your newsletter list, website event, Facebook page, etc. but don’t blast them every week with reminders. That constant harping can be why you feel like a broken record or used car salesman.
Utilize your friend group who don’t teach at the studio. For instance I have a few friends who aren’t teachers and they still share my events with their friends just because, “I loved Stef’s event – try to go if you can make it you won’t regret it.” You know your ride or die friends who will share your stuff if you’re doing a workshop, garage sale, or lemonade stand.
If you are part of Facebook Groups – drop the info in those community groups. You don’t have to leave all the details. Just a short note of a date, a link to info and registration is plenty. Be active on those pages not a drive by self promoter. No one likes those types of people and those are the ones where people struggle to get attendance because they aren’t really part of the community and everyone knows it.
Cross promote – if you work at 2 studios ask one to share. If you work at a bookstore or coffee shop – or a friend owns a bakery – print out a flyer and post it on their bulletin board. Everyone thinks bulletin boards are outdated, but when you’re standing in line for the restroom guess what becomes really interesting? Bulletin Board Info! Use locations that are close to your studio – you can always ask to put something up, meet a new biz owner, invite them to your studio. Community events do well when the community cares.
The Truth About Marketing
Fun fact, back in the day I used to work as a marketing consultant for a homeschool curriculum company. The Rule of 7 still matters, today. Which means – someone needs to see something MORE THAN ONCE to buy. So you might feel like you are exhausted with your workshop promotion, because you feel like you are on repeat, but people need to see it more than once to pull the trigger and sign up. This is especially true if you’re at a new studio or it’s not your home location.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing is still KING! When someone else chats you up, that’s a referral and great endorsement. Think of the last book you read, the restaurant you tried, the movie you saw, and the supplements you buy? The red light therapy, the weighted vest, the Pilates class, the halo hair extensions or lipstick stain … this is why Instagram Influencers are killing it. They aren’t doing anything new. We’ve always been sharing what we love with our besties – they just now have the platform for it. Women love to share what they love. This is why you want other teachers sharing your workshop in their classes. It’s a gold star endorsement.
I hope you are more confident to share your events in your own classes. Your students know your style and if they keep showing up for your yoga classes they will love your workshops too. If it feels awkward just be quick about it, “oh I’m teaching a workshop in 2 weeks a few spaces are still left. You can sign up at the front desk.” Done.
You can chat with the studio owner to decide max and min numbers. For instance, our studio holds 22 but 16 is the perfect amount for Yin & Restorative workshops. We haven’t had to discuss the minimum number of attendance for canceling purposes. But something to consider. 3 people might not be enough (worth it) to drag all your crystal bowls, chakra lava lamps, truck load of Palo Santo, and fairy lights. You might want to decide what is your minimum.
My last post for this Workshop Series is Present Your Workshop with Confidence! I have really enjoyed sharing my tips on this topic. I hope they’ve helped you.
from my mat to yours ~
Stef
