In this modern age, we are lucky enough to have tons of marketing tools at our fingertips – and many of them for FREE! 
Although it may seem like a mindfield – with many choices to make – here are our Top Ten Musts for Marketing Your Dance Class – we’d love to know yours:
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Branding – do you have a strong brand? Will people recognise you when they see your name? Are you easy to remember? Is your website easy to remember? Branding is key and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Even if you used a simple font and created a simple brand yourself if budgets are tight, but stick to the same colour, font and look and feel to create consistency and brand awareness.
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Target – who is your perfect client? Children? Adults? Schools? Parties? Who do you want to be telling about what you do? Write it down and concentrate on these people when you are doing every aspect of your marketing
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Be found – do you have a website? These days it’s easy to create a simple basic website – check out wordpress or wix – gone are the days of spending thousands of pounds on one
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Be up to date – ensure your website is up to date – no events that have already passed etc. ensure your site is fresh and exciting – feature everything you have to offer, classes, parties, events, merchandise – people need to know what you offer
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Traffic – wordpress have easy, free plug ins such as all in one seo, that help you to ensure your website is as search engine friendly as possible – if tags and keywords scare you, take time out and watch a video on google – here’s an example – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I41TsKQ0rU to have it simply explained to you – it will make a massive difference to how you write content on your site
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More traffic – look at facebook groups, such as “[your town] Mums” – or “[your town] parents” – there are lots of parents groups – ask to join and always message admin to ask permission before posting anything. Never just post an ad or just say “come to our dance classes on Tuesdays at 8pm” – no-one likes a “spammer” – in social media you need to be social, so join in the conversations and try to write the benefits of attending your class or make it attractive to the reader, i.e. “looking for ways to get your teens active? Free trial at the studios on Tuesday – all welcome”.
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Netmums and Mumsnet are fab free places to list your events and there are tons of others in your area – google “dance classes in [your town] or birthday parties for kids in [your town] and look to see what comes up – listing sites usually offer a basic list free of charge – it’s worth spending a bit of time adding your events and classes
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Word of Mouth – get your information up on your facebook page and email the link to friends – ask them if they will kindly email their friends etc. Networking groups are definitely worth attending – there are many to choose from – lots that don’t have membership fees – some where you just buy a coffee and get chatting. Spreading the word works really well.
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Data capture. This is extremely important and a great way to communicate with your customers and potential customers. We love Mailchimp to looking after our data. Constant Contact is also a good one. Add a form to your website giving your customers something of value (e.g. free taster class, free tips on how to be active and healthy, free worksheet on health ideas for kids) in exchange for their email address. You can also ask additional questions such as location, what interests, so that you can tailor your messages accordingly – i.e. informing all customers who were interested in kids activities based in London
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Be consistent. Never stop marketing. There’s no point marketing for 5 minutes each month – it has to be consistent and this is what builds your business – plan ahead – get stuck in and go for it!
