Yoga and Meditation

Some yoga teachers are afraid that advertising and marketing may actually turn students off, or infect their own good intentions.

It is fine to think that way, but not very useful in the long run. Consider the following:

Word has to get out about classes and workshops before anyone will come. Expecting results with no outreach is a bit arrogant…

If you feel guilty for charging money for your classes, it may mean that you do not value yourself or your work much. It will be difficult for other people to value what you do, too…

Lastly, withholding your skills and talents from the community is irresponsible. You need to let them know how you can help their lives, because someone out there really needs you!

Consider your marketing efforts as a form of service work

If teaching yoga is your career, then you are in the solutions business — you have answers for stress relief, weight loss, fibromyalgia, you name it!

But can the people who need you even find you?

One of the duties of yoga teachers is to make our expertise available. We need to share ourselves — our experience, skills, and training — to be of service to people in our communities. You can be much more effective at that by doing a little marketing. And the money you charge? Think of it as an exchange of energy. You put your teaching energy out, let money be one way you receive.

This is not against the tradition of yoga. In India, even the most traditional teachers get support from their students. Maybe they don’t have online credit card processing, but every need they have is taken care of by someone. So now get out there and feed your community with your talents… and let the community feed you in return.

Print ads and other traditional advertising are not effective yoga marketing

Most people nowadays look for yoga on the Internet. You’ll get few responses from running ads in the phone book or in the local paper, plus that kind of advertising will really blow your budget. The best thing to do is make sure the people who are looking for your services can find you online.

I have spent a lot of money on advertising in the past — newspapers, local health rags, and the yellow pages. Yes, I got a few students from them, but I lost much more money than I made. Ad representatives will tell you the more you advertise, the better the results. That may be true, but it’s ridiculously expensive for the few results you’ll likely get.

Sometimes you might think that if you had a bigger advertising budget, you would get more students. But the simple fact is, traditional advertising does not work.

Ready for some better news? It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to attract new yoga students. In fact, some of the most effective methods don’t cost anything at all!

While word of mouth will almost always bring you the best clients, you can give it a hand by being in a great location. By that, I don’t necessarily mean where your studio is located (and you don’t need a studio for a profitable yoga career). What I’m talking about is where your business is located on Google when someone looks for the services you offer. The first page of Google results is the best real estate imaginable.

You can be found online through Google even if you don’t yet have a website. A website would help quite a bit, though.

5 free methods of attracting new yoga students from the Internet

1. Write press releases for your events and services and distribute them on press release distribution sites.

2. Post your events to your Facebook business page, and be sure to invite your yoga friends. Not only will they see what you offer, but their friends will too.

3. Use as many categories as possible on Craigslist to post free ads about your private sessions, workshops, and ongoing classes.

4. Write yoga articles and distribute them through article directories like EzineArticles.

5. YouTube is a great place to show videos about yourself and what you do best.

Get started with these free online marketing tools, and you are certain to attract new clients to your business, make more money, and enjoy a great yoga career.

Want to find out more about yoga marketing online, then visit David Morgan’s site and pick up the report on yoga business marketing to boost your yoga career and help your students.