Why do you need to build an email list and use it regularly?  Because 90% of sales happen long after that first exposure to your product or visit to your website. There are 100 reasons someone might land on your site and then not take action–maybe the boss just came in the room (time to look busy!), maybe the baby just spit up all over the keyboard, maybe there was a power outage, maybe you had an interesting link and they followed it like you suggested (and they never came back)…people get distracted; things happen; but if you have their email address, it’s not the end of the relationship.

But what do you do with the list? What kind of content will get them excited enough to take action and call you for a gig, or sign-up for a class? Here are some ideas:

For current and prospective students: Your goal here is to get people excited about taking class with  you. So, all your content should reflect how fun, interesting, educational and exciting your classes are. Here are some content ideas to get you going.

1) Remind your current students to sign up for the next class session.

2) Let them know about nearby workshops, seminars and festivals (and see if anyone wants to carpool.)

3) List all the music you use in class with links for where they can purchase it.

4) Update them on sales going on at your favorite vendor’s website.

5) Teach them how to make a trumpet skirt or make your world-famous hummus.

6) Spotlight a student-of-the-month and interview her about why she loves belly dance.

7) Spotlight a move-of-the-month.

Recommend a dvd, or a cd, or a book they might enjoy.

9) Interview a local (or not so local) celebrity.

10) Survey people on what they’d most like to learn.

11) Post an interesting You Tube video.

For your fans: With this list, you want to encourage people to attend your shows, festivals and restaurant gigs

1) Update your fans on your current appearances.

2) Recommend your favorite dishes at the various restaurants you dance at.

3) Interview the owner about how he/she got started in the restaurant biz.

4) Interview the head chef about his favorite dish to prepare (maybe he’ll share a recipe!)

5) Attach a video of you teaching class (and invite them to come join you)

6) Work with the restaurants and offer a discount coupon for a certain dish once a month.

7) List other ethnic music and dance venues in the area.

Write a travel feature listing great venues across the country.

For your customers: Are you a vendor or have a boutique in your studio? Your list should communicate with your customers to keep them coming back for more.

1) Advertise new arrivals.

2) Interview some designers and ask them to forecast the coming trends in costumes and class wear.

3) Teach them how to accessorize your most popular styles.

4) Add video links to performances of customers wearing your costumes.

5) Advertise seasonal sales (not just Christmas–don’t forget Mother’s day, Valentine’s day and other gift-giving holidays)

6) Set up a "wish list" on your store and make it easy for family and friends to access it when they want to give their favorite dancer a gift. (bonus points if you set up a reminder service for Valentine’s day, birthdays and anniversaries)

7) Write an article explaining how to clean a beaded costume, polish zills, or otherwise take care of the products they buy from you.

Interview authors of books you’re selling (heck, make a podcast so they can listen to it on the road.)

9) Invite them to an open house at your store.

10) Invite them to a workshop you’re holding at your store.

Whatever you do, be sure to post a link or two back to some page on your website. People are programmed to click on links, and every single email will have an unsubscribe link at the very bottom (in order to comply with the CAN-SPAM laws.)  It’s amazing, but people will unsubscribe from your list without really thinking about it just because there was a link there to click on.

Coming Soon…Video Tutorials! (I’m going to take you behind the scenes and show you exactly how easy it is to build a list and produce an e-newsletter)

  You know what you’re selling (holes, not drills…see part one) and You know who you’re selling to (oil drillers, not sheet metal drillers…see part two)

So, how the heck do you get them to buy?  Here’s how–

Step 1) You show your target audience that you understand their unique problem.

Step 2) Demonstrate your unique solution to the problem.

Step 3) Prove that your solution has worked for others with the same problem.

Here’s the scenario: You’re a tribal teacher in a sea of glittery cabaret. Your target market is women who are more interested in being part of a close-knit community than becoming professional performers. So, your marketing needs to first empathize with these women. "Tired of being plugged-in? Remember when you interacted with people instead of computers? When was the last time you had a real grown-up girl’s night out?"   These statements are appealing to working women who spend all day typing at people (rather than interacting with them.) They could also appeal to stay-at-home moms who desperately need some grown-up interaction. You’re showing you understand the problem–isolation brought on by too much technology; a longing for meaningful connection with real women.

So what’s your solution? "Become part of the tribe! Bring your old friends, make some new friends and spend some quality time together. Tribal belly dance is all about laughing, sharing and collaborating. Exercise with a higher purpose–Fun!"  Explain your solution (tribal belly dance classes) but focus on the benefits to the prospect (community and fun.) It’s the old writing adage–Show, Don’t Tell. Rather than saying "I teach tribal style classes for all fitness levels Mondays at 8pm." Be inviting, be personal. Say "Come join Pam, Wendy, Beth and the whole crazy crew Mondays at 8 for our beginner-level Tribal class. You’ll laugh; you’ll sweat; best of all, you’ll make friends…"

Finally, you must prove your solution. Overcome the objections springing up in the prospect’s mind. Is it really fun? (show photos of women laughing together) Am I too out-of-shape? (print a testimonial from a student who thought she couldn’t do it, but joined anyway and became more fit) Is it hard to do? (show a video clip of a simple circle dance or a demonstration of an easy move. Show them they can do it.)  Make a list of all the reasons someone might come up with for not joining the class. Then shoot them down one by one with proof in the form of photos, audio, video and text.

Step 4) Here’s a bonus step for you–Remove All Risk. There’s a reason companies offer money-back guarantees–they take away that last objection "what if I don’t like it?" You never want someone to feel they’re stuck doing something they don’t enjoy just because they paid for it. Not only does it bring down the whole class, but that person can become negative advertising. Anytime someone mentions belly dance, she might say "oh, I tried it and hated it!"  But if you remove the risk with a simple "100% You’ll-have-a-great-time-or-the-class-is-free" guarantee (and you stick by it!) then they may say something like "I tried it, and it wasn’t for me. But this one teacher gave me my money back, so there’s no reason not to give the class a try." 

This is the thing about guarantees–you’ll almost never have someone ask for their money back. I’ve had it happen three times in 20 years of teaching. Each time the fit between student and teacher just wasn’t right, and I was happy to refer them to a teacher they may enjoy more.

The bottom line is this–make it all about them. Every web page, every flyer, every video–think about what the viewer needs to see, hear or read to buy from you. They don’t really care how many years you’ve been teaching or what masters you’ve studied under. They do care about all the ways they will benefit from your years of experience and continuing study with the masters. You’re giving out the same information, but in a way that’s meaningful to the prospect. That’s the way to make a sale.

Understand the problem, offer a solution, prove that your solution is the best–then guarantee it.

So, I’m up bright and early Monday morning, my brain bursting with all the new marketing information I learned at the conference. I planned to write a series of posts and get the newsletter out starting Tuesday. Unfortunately, I managed to bring home a souvenir plague from Chicago. Something about everyone breathing the same recycled air for hours on end, I guess. I shoulda worn a mask.

Anyway, I’m just starting to have longer lucid moments…so look for that new info next week.

Going back to bed now. Sniff…cough.

Quick post today. I’m heading to Chicago for a 3 day marketing conference. I’ll be studying in-depth Internet marketing topics like pay-per-click, keyword research, video, social and mobile marketing. Am I the only one who gets all giddy at the thought of learning new ways to make money? My friends just roll their eyes and can’t imagine something like this being fun. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to it. And I’ll be sure to keep all of you in mind while I’m soaking up the info…anything that applies to our topic will become instant blog fodder.

In the meantime, I wanted to let you know that the next issue of the Belly Dance Business Monthly will be hitting subscriber inboxes late next week. We’re going to talk about how to turn a one-time performance gig (like a wedding) into recurring income. I also have a great idea for how teachers can expand into the corporate market (and no, it’s not teaching at a corporate fitness center–good guess, but this is even better.) It was the brainchild of one of my coaching students who runs a dance school in Croatia. This idea takes belly dance marketing waaayyy outside the box! But I don’t want to spill the beans here. You’ll have to wait for the next issue of the newsletter. (If you haven’t signed up yet, you can fill in your first name and email at the top left section of the main blog page.)

With that, I’ll leave you with a neat little tool called Google Alerts. It’s like having your hand on the pulse of Internet for just about any topic you can dream up. Want to know when someone writes a blog post or article about  AmCab belly dance or gothic makeup or performance art or Bollywood classes in Boise? Just type in the keywords you want to watch and Google will send you an email whenever something pops up. And yes, you can even track yourself so you’ll know when someone reviews your DVD or your latest show. It’s all free, and you can control how often you get the alerts.

Well, I’ve got a suitcase to pack. Until soon…

Watch this amazing video about "surviving high school" in America and tell me the world doesn’t need more belly dance classes.  Nobody "needs" a belly dance class. But everyone (especially young women) needs the gift of self esteem, confidence and healthy body awareness/acceptance that our dance provides. I want to say something smart or witty, but I think the video says it all. (You may want to keep the tissues handy for this one.)

Since we have many readers from outside the USA, I thought we should have a podcast with some pros from there as well. So, this time we are talking with Meissoun of Zurich, Switzerland. She’s a successful performer and workshop teacher and has lots of great ideas for you. So, have a listen!

 

 Standard Podcast [31:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Web sites mentioned in the podcast:

Meissoun’s home page and European dance calendar

Meissoun’s DVDs on Raqs Sharqi and Bollywood dance

German Dance Forums:

Orient4all

Orientalika

French Dance Forums:

Sharqigirl

Irida

We’ve got our own day!

Who knew? Well, I guess lots of people, but I’m a bit late to the party. The second Saturday in May is World Belly Dance Day. Why? Same reason we have National Black History Month or Breast Cancer Awareness Week or Int’l Talk Like A Pirate Day….someone thought it would be a good idea.

Yay!

It’s too late for me to plan anything elaborate, but I’m going to celebrate by actually dancing. (Something I do far too seldom these days.) You can bet I’ll be doing something special next year for sure.

What about you? Got any plans you want to share?

When I was teaching weekly classes, I had a standard policy that your first class with me was always free. I had a number of reasons for doing this. People need to feel safe and under no obligation when trying out something new, and even if the dancer had significant experience with other teachers, that was no indication that she would enjoy my class or my teaching style. A free class seemed like a no-brainer. I thought it would attract students in droves.

But I left out one crucial thing…
(more…)

I’m curious. What happens when you hear phrases like “business model” and “market analysis?” Does your heart race? Do your palms get sweaty? Do you feel a little queasy? Or do your eyes just glaze over?

I used to feel that way, too, until I figured out what those words actually mean.

Here’s a short “real world” business dictionary for you:

Building a business model = deciding what you can offer all your new friends

Market analysis = seeing how many potential friends in your area have the same interests as you

Building your brand = making your business visible and welcoming, so friends come looking for you

Marketing = actually making all these new friends

Tracking your progress = seeing how many friends you’ve made each month

See? It’s all very “friendly”

Got some entries of your own? Add them in the comments.

Have you ever dreamed of owning a big studio with lots of teachers, dozens of classes, and hundreds of students? Well, that’s what this week’s podcast is all about–how to build a studio starting with just one class. Karen Barbee of San Antonio, Texas, shares how she did just that.

Listen or download here:

 

 Standard Podcast [32:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Karavan Belly Dance Productions

Mastery & Mystery Double CD