What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a type of direct marketing that uses electronic mail to deliver commercial or fundraising information to a target audience. In its most general definition, email marketing refers to any message sent to a potential or existing client via email. However, the phrase is usually used to designate:
Sending emails with the goal of improving a merchant’s current or previous customers’ relationships, increasing customer loyalty, and increasing the revenue of your yoga studio.
Finding new students or convincing current students to purchase something immediately, Sending emails to reach new clients, or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately.
Why do you need to build a yoga community?
You know how crucial a good teacher-student relationship is, how essential word-of-mouth marketing is, and that you need a consistent stream of regular clients to keep your business afloat. But it’s not all yoga mats for bums.
Yoga instructors probably know that there’s a lot more to running your yoga business than what happens on the mats. However, the good, encouraging, uplifting energy you generate in the studio is just as essential for what you need to accomplish outside of it. And that’s where the strength of a community comes in handy.
When you start and develop a yoga community, it becomes its entity. Your students become motivated and involved; they feel part of something significant. And this self-perpetuates itself.
The more people join the community and interact, the more energy and excitement there is. In the end, your company will become well-known and respected, with your students returning consequently.
How can email marketing help?
Did you know that email marketing is still 50 percent more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined in acquiring new consumers? Of course, you may send out news across your social media platforms as often as you like, but there’s still a grey area regarding who owns the information you share, and it’s still somewhat difficult to assess actual outcomes.
With email marketing, you may personalize campaigns with relevant content to the right individuals and monitor who opens your daily emails and which links are clicked most frequently. You can also generate an air of exclusivity by sending out special offers or early booking privileges, which will help you develop a list of devoted followers who are completely engaged with you and your brand.
Email marketing is the finishing touch on top of your website’s icing. The cake (your website) must come first since it is the basis, or heart, of your marketing. You want it to be moist, fluffy, or well-structured with easy navigation and a call to action!
But, without icing, no cake is complete. As a result, you must spread the delectable email marketing on top to ensure that your audience continues returning to your website. Of course, social media is the cherry on top of the cake – it’s a nice-to-have that boosts brand awareness and encourages community involvement. Still, it isn’t especially effective at converting visitors into customers (and may be difficult to stomach if you don’t enjoy cherries!).
The benefits of building your mailing list
Whether you’re an independent yoga instructor or a studio or retreat center owner, your goals and objectives will differ. So let’s look at each one separately.
Independent yoga teacher
Attracting regular students to your classes is critical if you’re a yoga teacher based in one or two locations. It would help if you conveyed what you offer that’s different from other teachers around you.
- What’s your teaching style?
- What’s your email marketing strategy for the practice?
- What is your tradition or belief system, and why do you adhere to it?
Sending out frequent news, updates, and links to your blog post will help you spread the word about this information. You’ll be able to build a sizable following of local kids who enjoy your unique approach and want to keep attending your lessons.
Your focus will be slightly different if you’re a traveling yoga teacher. You’ll need to think broader and appeal to a more international audience.
- Which areas of the globe do you travel to most?
- What type of material would appeal to individuals in those areas?
It’s critical to prepare ahead of time for your occasions and ensure that you inform your audience where, when, what you’ll provide, and how they may book.
It’s remarkable how a minor issue, like a missing fact, a broken connection, or an inaccessible button, can prevent people from booking. But on the other hand, you may develop a devoted following of students worldwide through email marketing and entice them to visit wherever you’re teaching next.
Yoga studio owner
If you own a yoga school in a physical location, you’ll need to grow your email list so that regular students will attend your classes. Creating a devoted following is critical because you want them to choose your studio above all others. This implies gathering frequent feedback, addressing their issues, and implementing improvements as soon as possible.
Your email list is essential for interacting with your customers since it’s the most direct method to notify them about any changes to your class schedule, news updates, or new services you may have.
You may request testimonials and reviews on your Facebook page or send out special deals and booking opportunities to keep your target audience engaged and feel a part of a unique community.
If you own a retreat center, you also want to develop a community of returning regulars. The center has a physical presence, and you want to encourage people to seek it out as a unique place they can return to time and time again.
It’s critical to get feedback from your visitors via email. Word-of-mouth testimonials and recommendations will all be essential aspects of the success of your business, all of which you can encourage with your mailing list.
To get started with email marketing, you must first set up an email account on any marketing automation platform and an email marketing service.
If you’re a digital yoga business that offers online courses and other digital goods, you’ll want a provider with solid automation capabilities. If they add a product to their cart but don’t buy it, send them an email invitation to leave feedback, offer discounts or special promotions, or send re-engagement campaigns if they haven’t bought from you in a while.
Pro tip:
Most email marketing platforms have email marketing analytics functions. It can be really fascinating and helpful to look back at what worked for you and what didn’t!
Segmenting your email list
Whatever email marketing provider you use, it’s critical to keep your mailing list neat, tidy, and up-to-date. To ensure that your email subscribers are still interested in your material and company, you may prune your list from time to time.
It’s also critical to nurture your community by segmenting your email list. For example, you may use opt-in groups to divide your subscribers and then send them personalized email campaigns based on their requests.
As a teacher at a specific location, you may establish groups for beginners and more experienced practitioners or distinct types of classes. If you’re a traveling educator, you might want to form groups focused on different parts of the world where you teach or conduct various events.
A yoga studio might have opt-in groups for the different services provided, such as types of classes, times of day, therapies, etc.
This way, you can send more targeted content to your subscribers and ensure they get material that appeals to them.
Email marketing tips for yoga instructors
Here are a few email marketing for yoga studios tactics from our team of experts to help you get started:
- Keep your email list clean and up-to-date
- Nurture your community by segmenting your audience
- Use strong email marketing software to save time, manage important subscriber information and segregate invalid email addresses.
- Request testimonials and reviews from your students
- Offer discounts or special promotions to keep your audience engaged
- Conduct surveys to gather feedback about your classes, services, and products
- Promote your events with eye-catching images and compelling copy
- Use social media to connect with your audience and encourage them to sign up for your email list
- Make it easy for people to sign up for your email list on your website or blog
- Keep your emails short, sweet, and to the point
- Include a call to action in every email
Test, test, test! Constantly be testing different subject lines, images, copies, and calls to action to see what works best for your list.
Email is still one of the most effective digital marketing tools available to promote your online yoga studio, so if you’re not using it to reach your yoga community, you’re missing out! By following these tips, you’ll be well on how to nurture relationships with your students and keep them returning for more.