The 4 places you need to be to attract more Students

Welcome to the Art Studio 2.0 era!
When you suddenly had to go virtual, you lost some (or a lot of) students. Everything you did was no longer working. And that includes your Marketing. Word of mouth is no longer enough; your online presence got much more important, a must for your survival.

As an At Studio Owner, you do not have a large marketing budget, or maybe you do not have a budget at all. The good news is that what I am going to tell you is very important for you online marketing and it is all free. It will take work, but there is not much shortcut you can do if you want your students back.
 
These should be the first steps of your marketing strategy before you spend any money. Once you defined your ideal customer, you need to be in front of them regularly and here are the 4 core areas you have to be:  
 
1. Website

You may say, that is pretty obvious. But I researched Art Studios recently, and 40% of them did not have a website. If you don't have a website, please send me a message, and I can help you started. If you do have a website, please review it for its efficiency.
 
The goal of your website is to convert visitors into paying students. It does not have to be pretty or elaborate as long as it has the right content. Otherwise, you are wasting money. So when people find your website, they will know who you are, what you are offering, and what steps to take to get the offer.
 
Every page on your website must have:

• a clear description
• an incentive
• a action to take (call to action).

 
For example, HOME page: Description: What is your Art Studio about; Incentive: free trial class or 7 classes for $10;
Call to action: Sign up for free trial class, or grab coupon for the 7 classes.

2.Blog

The Blog shows that you know your stuff, positions you are the authority in the Art Studio space, and child education (if you teach kids). You can write how-to about your medium (what type of brush to use for different effects) or how to handle kids (how to engage different age groups). It does not have to be about your Art Studio or even art classes. The goal is to share your wisdom, which leads to trusting you. People do not buy stuff, they buy people.  
 
What is important is that you need to produce content consistently. It sounds like a lot of work. It will be initially, but once you have enough content, you can re-purpose your ideas in different chunks and formats. Like I already created a live video about this topic. Now I am writing a blog that is more detailed. I will also create a masterclass with even more insight. You can do the same. You can also break your content in separate chunks. For instance, if you write about how to engage different age groups, you can divide that content into each age, and have separate live videos with those (5 age groups, 5 videos).

3. Facebook presence

Facebook has 1.8 Billion user visits per day, 77% of them Women, your prime target audience. You cannot miss out on that. 
There are two types of Facebook presence you can have -- each with a different purpose:
 
a.) Your Art Studio Business Page. It is, just like your website, mainly for new students to get to know you, sign up for your classes or check out your website. Add your incentive to the top with a call to action button (free trial class/sign-up here, for instance) and set events for all your classes with a register button. Post your Blog links, interesting bits of information about your art teaching.
 
b.) Your closed Facebook group. This is for your community only: your staff, and existing student or parents. It serves as a communication tool for reminders, class updates, and anything that adds value to them. You can offer things to purchase for classes, new teacher announcements, or things happening in your Studio. You can also add your blog links or share other content form your Facebook page. The purpose of the group is to build a community and increase your students' lifetime value, in other words to have them stay longer.
 
4. e-mail list

Many Art Studio Owners don't worry too much about their e-mail list. But every marketing guru will tell you that one of your biggest marketing assets is your e-mail list.

And the reason is that you do not own the content and connections on social media. They can change their algorithm, block your account, or anything in between, and your connection with your customers is gone. And this is why your e-mail list is golden. Make sure you increase your e-mail database consistency. Jeff Walker calls an e-mail list in his book "Launch" a "License to print Money".  

"License to
print Money"

You will have 2 separate e-mail lists: one with existing students your "active list", and one with previous students or the ones who have not signed up with your Art Studio, "inactive list."

• Send weekly e-mails to your active list with updates from your Studio (behind the scenes, new teachers, or classes), products you are selling, and links to your Blog. Not everyone will be on your private Facebook group, so this is an additional way to reach them.
  
• Send quarterly e-mails to your inactive list with incentives (like free trial class) or studio news (like milestones). The goal is to keep your Studio in their mind.

 
These 4 places are free to set up and add content to. Each one has its own purpose of connecting with your future and present students and building a community around your Art Studio with a:
 
1. Website -- that converts visitors to sign-ups
2. Blog -- that establishes you as an authority
3. Facebook presence (Business page and group) -- that builds community and leads to student sign up
4. e-mail list -- that connects directly with your customers
 
If you have all these 4 areas covered, paid marketing will have much better results in converting leads to paying students and keeping them longer.  
 
So, take the next step to become a Marketing ninja: review your website, or create one, come up with content for your Blog and e-mail list, establish your Facebook presence and post regularly. You can do this!

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Let me know in the comments what challenges do you have in your Marketing.