First Question: What Yoga Class (or Offering) Would You Like to Fill?

 

 

Day 1: Know your person!

 

Today is all about getting to know your ideal student for your class. We know, we know “yoga is for everyone” and we totally agree. BUT your specific class is not for everyone. Here are some examples:

 

Prenatal Yoga –                  not great for people who aren’t pregnant

Yoga for Runners –           not the best for people who aren’t runners

Power Yoga –                      not awesome for people with weak or injured knees

Restorative Yoga –            not ideal for children

 

While these are more obvious examples — you get our point. Not all classes are built for all people so getting clear on who your ideal student is for that class is where to start.

 

NOTE: if you teach more than one type of class, we both highly recommend that experienced yoga teacher niche down and focus on filling that/those classes. If you need help with that process, check out Amanda’s freebie download or Shannon’s digital course that you can take today!

 

Here are some questions that will help you understand more about the ideal student for a specific class:

 

• Who shows up to the class consistently?
• Who is a raving fan of your class and often invites friends?
• How does that person make your teaching experience amazing?
• How does your ideal student describe your class?
• How does your ideal student feel before class?
• How does your ideal student feel after class?
• Does your ideal student have any limitation either medical or otherwise that hinders their life?
• How does your yoga class help with their limitation(s)?
• What is your ideal student doing before they come to class? After class? What does their typical day look like?
• What does your ideal student do for a living? How much money does this person earn per year?
• What is your student’s schedule like? When can they go to class?
• Who don’t you want in your class?

 

Example:

Class: Yoga For Pelvic Health 8-Week Private Yoga Sessions

Ideal Student:

• Margaret: 45, corporate executive, married with kids, earns 100K+ per year
• Very busy day that starts early, consists of a lot of sitting in meetings and at a desk. Arrives home to have dinner with family but often carries the stress home so she tries to fit in a yoga class before going home to be in a better state before going home.
• Struggles to tie her shoes
• Mentioned once that she can’t jump on the trampoline with family
• Feels tired due to lack of mobility
• Starting to feel hip pain

 

The more you know about your ideal student, the easier it is to know how you can help them. But know that this is a process that you will learn from for as long as you’re a teacher. You likely won’t know all the answers today and if you do, the answers will likely evolve over time anyway. Continue to learn about your ideal student and every single thing you know about them will help you invite them to your classes (and other offerings).

 

DAY 1 ACTION STEP:

Choose ONE class or specific offering that you want to grow. Then, outline your ideal student’s demographics/characteristics/pain points. Whatever you know about this one person, write it down.

 

Day 2: Know your (aka: their) channels!

 

There are about 548 social media platforms out there. Not really but you know what we’re getting at, don’t you? There’s a lot and we feel like we have to be on all of them in order to fill our classes. But we have GREAT news for you – you don’t have to be on most of them. As a matter of fact, we suggest that you start with just one.

 

That’s right, pick just ONE marketing channel that you will focus on.

 

Did we just hear a sigh of relief? We both did the same thing when we started out too because it’s overwhelming. You will see an expert saying “post to Instagram stories 7 days a week” and another saying “create a Facebook group” and others saying “start a YouTube channel” and another saying that social media is the worst! So. Many. Opinions!

 

But it all comes down to 2 questions:

1. Where are you comfortable in terms of marketing channels?
2. Where does your ideal student already hang out?

 

From there, you find the common denominator and you saturate that platform. It makes things so much easier.

 

DAY 2 ACTION STEP:

First, we want you to take a look at where you are spending time communicating with your students now. This can be online and in person, it’s not just social media. Make a list of all the places you share information.

 

Second, within that list that you create, find just one platform that you know your ideal student already spends time. Is it on Instagram, your email list, YouTube or in a coffee shop? Once you have this identified, congrats – you found your sweet spot!

 

Next, identify how often you want to interact on that particular channel.

 

We’ve created a cheat sheet that lists a lot of the marketing channels you have available to you. Remember though, choose just one. Consistent content is key!

 

Channel Ideas:

• Yoga Classes
• Email
• Facebook
• Conferences
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Website
• Teacher Training
• Workshops
• Talks in Your Community
• Articles (online or in print)
• Word of mouth
• Local TV or radio station

 

Day 3: Know Your Message!

 

Words are hard but they get so much easier the more you know and interact with your ideal student. All that work we did on Day #1 is about to come in really handy today.

 

But before we get into how you can use your ideal student’s words as your marketing messaging, here is one lesson that we both picked up along the way but it’s so easy to forget (so we are kind of reminding ourselves now too).

 

Clear is better than clever when it comes to words.

 

We (all of us) often try so hard to be clever with our words but if our students don’t understand what the heck it means, they won’t know what to do with the information. So take it from us and be as clear as possible.

 

 

DAY 3 ACTION STEP:

Choose ONE topic that your ideal student asks about often, then brainstorm 5 to 10 messages that are related to that topic.

 

Example of Topic: Yoga for Pelvic Health

How to Strengthen Your Core

What is the Core?

Should I Kegel?

How Can Yoga Help with Incontinence?

Is it normal to leak urine as you age or after having kids?

Breath and Pelvic Health

What is Pelvic Organ Prolapse?

How to Test for Diastasis Recti

Why Breath Holding During Childbirth Isn’t Helpful

Yoga for Hip Pain

Get to Know Your Pelvis

Why Yoga for Pelvic Health?

 

We have had so much fun doing this 3-Day Challenge with you. We would love to hear how it is impacting your yoga offering.

If you have any questions at all please reach out (our email addresses are below).

 

Amanda & Shannon

 

Shannon Crow – shannon@theconnectedyogateacher.com

Amand McKinney – amanda@ammarketing.co