Develop A Brand

As you are about to embark on a new journey and possibly a new career let us help you. Your foundation teacher training course will teach you the basics and then it is over to you to start building a brand and find and retain a group of loyal students.

Don’t forget that this is a competitive industry - you need to be able to stand out from the crowd.  Marketing yourself is an important thing to consider.

The feedback which we receive from graduates is that they do not know where to start, when they graduate. 

Here are some facts:

• The yoga market is dominated by females - 77% of class participants are female 
• The industry’s biggest market segment is those aged between 25 and 44. (IBIS World 2014) 
• There is lots of literature surrounding how important it is to create and brand and how often people need to see it before they react to it. The Rule of Seven,  says that a prospective customer needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you. 

How do you spread the word?

Develop a Brand

It is never too early to do this or at least start thinking about this. Here are some things to consider.

• Brand starts with a name - meaningful, distinctive, unique, easy to remember, visual, positive
• Logo/Colour - simple, memorable, timeless, versatile, appropriate
• Spread the word - logo - spread it everywhere
• Consistency - use the same logo on everything to build brand recognition
• Check out your competition - what are they called/doing? Look at online classes, gyms/leisure centres 
• Identify your target market 
• Differentiate your offering, offer good service, experience, reliability, safety, unique, value for money
• Build a personality to your service - energetic, cosmopolitan, positive
• Build an elevator pitch - a few words which summarises what you do
• Identify how you would like your customers to feel after they do a class - relaxed, energised, challenged, safe, privileged
• Word of mouth - what will customers emote about your business? Great experience, luxury, life changing, fantastic service, brilliant value
• Talk about your business, what you offer, benefits, experience, contact info
• Network - join local groups attend events, meet peers

There tends to be two main routes to market yourself to clients:

Local promotion

• Design your own flyers. We can design flyers for you, which you can then print and start distributing to your local businesses, cafe’s and community halls. This is an effective way for people to find classes in their local area;
• Design your own business cards and give them out to everyone you meet.  We can offer this service to all members. 

Online promotion

Online marketing is where it is at.

• Embrace social media, set up Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, the more of these you have the faster you will spread the word and these help you to be found on Google Search Platforms;
• Use us on social media - if you do something exciting or come across interesting articles - get involved, tag us in so we can share these, this gives us both exposure;
• Build a website? Consider carefully whether you need one in the early days;
• Our teacher members area will get you found in Google searches, you can be contacted through this and you can direct customers to this instead of having a website;
• Use video marketing

Why get into video marketing?

In terms of investment, video marketing is hard to beat!

1. Videos work 24/7. Upload to your social media, YouTube channel, newsletters, website and let them work their magic. The more videos you have, the better.
2. Videos help you move up Google Rankings. Search engines LOVE videos!  why? …because Google owns YouTube.  When people search for a particular keyword or phrase, Google lists links to videos related to that keyword first!  Google wants you to go to YouTube because they know you will see a lot of ads there. That’s how Google makes money.
3. As a yoga teacher, you want people to like you and trust you. There is no better or faster way to do this than through video. Videos help you show your personality and allows people to connect with you in a way that words cannot do.  
4. Video marketing is only going one way and that’s up!  Statistics project that, within the next 5 years, nearly 80% of all online sales will come from some sort of video marketing.
5. Videos allow the viewer to look and listen to the content, using multiple senses that have the ability to transport your mind from the environment you are in and place you inside the environment of the video.