Advertising
Running a successful dance school is a big challenge. We know this because we have the pleasure of working with the school ‘Wojtek Potaszkin Dance Academy’, which was awarded in June this year in the category ”Best Sports Club in Dublin 2019” in the ranking of the Irish radio station 98FM. I was given the task of making sure that the mission of Wojtek Potashkin’s school reaches out to new students.
Wojtek Potaszkin, the owner of the school, has had many successes to his credit. He specializes in ballroom dancing. He dances in the highest international class “S” in Latin American dances. He is a multiple Irish champion and Polish vice-champion in ballroom dancing. He regularly appears with dance shows with his school on Irish TV including ‘Late, late show’ and ‘Toy Show’. He also choreographed the winning couple of the Irish version of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ show. In addition to teaching dance, he is a choreographer and dance judge at international dance competitions. He was also recognized by the ‘DanceSport Federation of Ireland’ as the best dancer in Ireland.
As a digital marketing specialist with expertise in developing marketing strategies, among other things, we support creative businesses in Ireland. Thanks to this, we can say that without passion and commitment, the owner has little chance of survival in the demanding Irish market. Running such a business can boldly be compared to a vocation. In addition, the profession of a dancer itself brings with it many challenges of a different nature. It requires constant work, self-improvement and great self-confidence. On the Irish market you can see different types of schools. Most are small, created by current or former professional dancers who have ended their active careers, but still want to deal with this beautiful sport. We had the pleasure of talking several times with dancers – owners of their schools. They claimed that they could not imagine doing any other profession in life. What is most attractive to them is the time they spend with their students. They love to infect others with their love of dance. However, as we have seen many times, in the case of artistic businesses, passion alone is not enough. Maintaining a dance or drawing course carries high costs. The main problem facing art school owners is how to find new students.
How to find students for a dance school
There are about 120 dance schools in Dublin alone. Depending on their size and financial situation, each of them needs a dozen or even dozens of thriving groups a week to survive. Each group should have between 8 and 20 participants. The numbers mainly depend on the space capabilities of the school itself. When we open a group we never know how long it will prosper. Over time, people churn out, and groups need to be combined and new courses opened. It is therefore necessary to have a well thought-out marketing strategy to skillfully and regularly encourage people to dance. Many well-known brands use social networks in the company’s business strategy. Social media is not only used for promotion, but is also a capital source of brand feedback, and it is, after all, an easy way to learn about customer expectations. We, too, have relied on social media in the marketing strategy created for Wojtek Potaszkin’s school.
Two important questions to ask yourself at the very beginning of creating a marketing strategy for a dance studio are: what does our dance school offer and who do we want to teach, dance?
What do we teach in a dance school?
When creating a marketing strategy for a dance school, you need to consider what services you specifically offer, such as what styles you teach. Naturally, the spectrum is huge. The most popular are hip-hop, salsa cubana, salsa, kizomba, bachata, ballroom dancing, modern jazz, ballet, pole dancing, Argentine tango, burlesque, belly dancing or Irish dancing. The school can either specialize in one style or have a range of different classes. The second option is more interesting for the recipient, but more difficult to implement. It requires working with more instructors, which increases the cost of doing business.
What do we teach in a dance school?
The second, but equally important, element is clients. From the very beginning we need to dedicate our services to someone. There are many possibilities – women, singles, couples, men, children, wedding couples. A key question is also the purpose of the school. Do we care about training dancers who will take part in competitions and shape their careers in professional dancing, or do we want to infect people with the love of dance as one of the ways to spend leisure time? These are important questions to ask yourself at the very beginning of creating a marketing strategy.
If the school focuses on the entertaining nature of dance, it would do well to create a motto to put on all advertising materials. Since we want to reach ordinary people, we need to convince them that dancing is great entertainment for them. This initial stage is important and we don’t recommend ignoring it. The most important thing for everyone is always a nice atmosphere and freedom. No one wants anyone to judge them negatively or comment on their difficulties. And this is exactly the aspect of Wojtek Potashkin’s school that we focused on, creating marketing strategies for him. We have repeatedly heard from his students that they appreciate their teacher precisely for this ability to create a great atmosphere at school, where everyone feels at home. That’s why we created a series of videos for him that show what happens during lessons at Wojtek Potaszkin Dance Academy. Here is one of them: https://www.facebook.com/WPDanceAcademy/videos/2470681516589781/
Who is the competition for the dance school
When preparing a marketing strategy, remember to research the competition. As I wrote earlier, when it comes to Wojtek Potashkin Dance Academy’s dance school, there are about 120 in Dublin alone, and there are 4 dance studios in the immediate vicinity of Wojtek’s school that are his competitors. In addition to other branch establishments, Wojtek’s dance school competes with all points in the city that are related to sports. Even the gym can pick up potential candidates for the school. People exercise to be healthier. You need to show them that with dance lessons they will not only take care of their form, improve their figure, but also have a great time. Perhaps visiting a dance school will bring a lifelong passion. In such places it is easy to find acquaintances, friends and sometimes even a partner.
The dance school has a big advantage over the gym in one respect – here we practice in a group not alone. We repeat the instructor’s moves, pair up and laugh about mistakes together. Together we also celebrate the end of a level by receiving certificates. We see exactly the same group for several weeks. If students perceive the school only as coming in, dressing up, dancing for an hour and forgetting about it until the next week, we are missing a great opportunity to increase revenue. We are not getting the most out of our business because students do not become emotionally attached to the school. Thus, a great asset of our business is lost. If we manage to arouse excitement in students and infect them with a passion for dance, and associate our school with exciting moments, they will not pay attention to rainy weather. So the goal of a dance school or other creative business cannot be solely about profit. Without a sense of deep meaning in what we do and being aware of our mission, we will not succeed.
In the case of Wojtek Potashkin’s school, it was immediately obvious that its owner is very conscious of who his competitors are and what mission he has in mind. Wojtek’s students love going to his school not only because of the great atmosphere, but also the person of the teacher himself. Our main marketing efforts focused on promoting dance among children, informing them of the school’s change of address, and presenting the expanded offer of Wojtek’s school to include hip-hop, and theater classes. Here is one engaging post that shows the atmosphere at Wojtek Potashkin Dance Academy school:
How to promote a dance school?
It is necessary, first of all, to bet on the Internet. Social media channels are mandatory.
Today, social media are an integral part of many people’s lives. They not only help in communication, but are increasingly fundamental in creating and advertising a brand or business. Proper and consistent management of them in accordance with current trends will allow you to increase your reach and expand your audience.
A well-managed Facebook fan page is half the battle. Fans of the school can keep up to date with what the dance studio is offering at any given time. In this branch, in addition to information about new courses, you can post dance-related photos, as well as materials from competitions. One of the most valuable opportunities is live coverage. Nothing is more interesting to students than what happens in the school when it is closed. You can show how the teachers are warming up or how the students are preparing for training. Above all, you need to create engaging posts with attractive visuals. You can also engage the students in the courses. You’ll get new students faster when they hear from someone about what the atmosphere is like at the school, or why they like coming to classes. Even the best marketing advertisement is no substitute for talking to a person. Here’s another video we created, showing what happens in classes at Wojtek’s school: https://www.facebook.com/WPDanceAcademy/videos/552632745495721/
Of course, we can’t forget about a well-managed account on Instagram. Instagram has recently become an extremely powerful source of inspiration and a place where you can find a huge number of ideas – in cultural, pop culture or dance aspects. The possibilities are enormous, and practically anyone prudently directing their brand is able to get a satisfying audience on Instagram. So, not forgetting the latest trends on Instagram, we not only created hashtags specifically dedicated to Wojtek’s school to categorize content on this channel. We also designed a Facebook-integrated series of posts that looks like this on this channel:
Numbers speak more than words!
So in conclusion, taking into account the business goal of Wojtek Potashkin Dance Academy, we have created a marketing strategy integrating the 2 most important social media channels to professionally promote Wojtek’s business online.
On Facebook, we achieved an increase in user engagement in October reaching almost 126 clicks for each of Wojtek’s thousands of school fans. This is a really great result compared to the competition Wojtek Potaszkin Dance Academy, which achieved a score of 40 clicks.
The situation is similar on Instagram, where we also recorded a huge increase in user engagement reaching almost 70 percent of Wojtek School’s total fan base.
Of course, we realize that there are specialized industries where other forms of marketing strategy work better. Therefore, a good advertising agency will approach each brand individually and advise on how a particular company should advertise.
Would you like us to create a social media strategy for your company? Our team is available from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm at contact@kasiaforest.com. We respond within 24 hours of your initial contact.
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