Why You Need to Promote Your Instructors
Pilates COREterly - Courtesy of Balanced Body Pilates
Spring 2014
Pilates Marketeer
The Importance of Promoting Your Instructors in a Big Way
by Dana Auriemma
Show me a successful studio, and I’ll show you a team of instructors who are loved and respected by clients and co-workers alike. You’ll see instructors who are supported and promoted by their studio, and who are publically recognized, praised, and appreciated for their talents.
Promoting instructors is an important and valuable practice for studio owners to engage in. It builds morale and enables the studio to grow. What exactly does it mean to promote your instructors? It means that studio owners publically feature, advertise, and even brag about their instructors. It puts a spotlight on the instructor and gets clients excited about working with them.
When studio owners regularly promote their instructors, clients:
Are more open to working with different instructors, and therefore have a better workout experience as they learn and benefit from a variety of talented teachers.
Are more likely to take more sessions, workout more consistently, stay longer, and speak highly of the studio.
Better embrace new instructors who join the studio, trusting that they will be equally talented and great to learn from.
Additionally, promoting instructors positively impacts the instructors too! It helps to fill their classes and teaching schedule. It makes them feel respected, valued, and appreciated – which in turn causes them to be more dedicated to their work and the studio. And it inspires them to also be more respectful of the studio and their fellow instructors. They have greater pride in their work and are more motivated to continue investing in their professional development.
There are a few fun and easy ways that studio owners can promote their instructors. The goal is to help clients get to know each instructor, feel a connection to their personality, background and/or teaching style, and want to sign-up to work with them!
Go beyond the basics with your online instructor bio page. Feature your instructors as loudly and proudly as you can. Include a beautiful and professional photo for each instructor. Coach them to write bios that talk about their teaching and/or exercise style, philosophy, and personality. That is what’s most interesting to potential new clients! Then try these two bonus options:
Bonus #1: Bring it to life with videos! Interview instructors and create a video montage that shows them answering questions like these:
What do you love most about teaching?
How do you want your clients to feel after their sessions with you?
What has been your biggest challenge in your own workout practice?
What are your favorite exercises and why?
How would you describe your teaching style and personality?
How can your clients get the most out of their workout experience with you?
Bonus #2: Create an in-studio version of your online instructor bio page. Build a bulletin board or wall display to feature each instructor, just as you do online. This will better help your clients get to know all of your instructors, especially the instructor(s) they don’t usually see around the studio.
Create ad hoc instructor promos for email newsletters and social media. Rotate through one instructor at a time and write-up a short feature that says something great about the instructor’s talent, experience, and expertise. You could:
Mention a recent continuing education workshop that the instructor attended.
Include a quote from a client, praising the instructor.
Show a special photo or video clip of them teaching.
Write your own personal compliment.
Advertise their classes and any upcoming workshops.
Recommend and sing the praises of your instructors in-person and around the studio. Speak highly of your instructors when talking to clients. Praise them and be generous with your compliments. Point out what makes them uniquely talented and a valuable part of the studio team. And recommend clients try a class or session with different instructors, giving specific, personal reasons why the client would love them!
Bonus #1: Teach your instructors to do the same. Take time during staff meetings to talk about the importance and value of being a positive and supportive team. How can each instructor brings something special to the team that everyone can learn from and appreciate? Reiterate how beneficial it is to publically support and praise one another around the studio and in front of clients.
Bonus #2: Regularly take classes from all the different instructors at your studio. It is the ultimate form of endorsement, and shows clients (and instructors) that you find each instructor to be so talented, that you want to work with them yourself. Plus, it then gives you great opportunities to publically compliment and praise the instructor afterward, either in person or on social media.
Promoting instructors is an essential part of creating a positive studio environment and successful business. It’s simple and enjoyable to do, and the work that an owner puts into it will always come back to them tenfold!
Dana Auriemma started her professional career in marketing and sales working for Fortune 500 companies, but later moved out of the corporate world to pursue her passion in fitness. She opened, grew, and sold a successful Pilates studio and now offers one-on-one consulting and online courses to help other studio owners and instructors learn the business and marketing skills they need to reach their full potential. Visit her at www.danaauriemma.com and on Facebook.
