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This is the 2nd lesson in a series of five lessons about music studio marketing. Each day this week I’m going to be sending you a thoughtful email about growing your student base, creating realistic goals for your studio, and increasing studio revenue in a rapid period of time.
If you don’t want to learn about music studio marketing anymore, you can click here. You will never receive another email from me again (so choose wisely!).
Today’s studio marketing lesson is about VALUE and how much you can charge for lessons.
To begin with, I want to show you a graph: |
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This is a representation of how much tulips cost in Holland in 1636.
I’m not going to go into depth on the long sad story, but basically… people began to buy rare tulip bulbs for increasingly higher prices thinking that they would sell them at an enormous profit to someone else.
Some were paying the cost of a small house to buy a single tulip bulb!!!!
As with most speculative bubbles, the price of tulip bulbs eventually crashed... leaving the entire country stuck in a depression that devastated their economy for years.
Why?
Well, the simple fact is… that people stopped believing that the bulbs were valuable. They began to see it for what it was… a simple plant that (intrinsically) wasn’t worth all that much.
There are huge implications for your music lesson program in those last two statements. And this leads me to…
Marketing Lesson #2 People only pay for the value they want
I’ve heard studio owners lament that people just don’t care about lessons anymore.
Parents don’t take it as seriously.
Kids are overscheduled, don’t practice, and eventually parents unenroll them from lessons because “they’re wasting their money.”
Why?
What we are seeing is a collapse in value in people’s minds about music lessons.
Now, I can end here and this would be the most depressing email I’ve ever written in the 3 year history of Grow Your Music Studio.
But, wait!
There’s hope!
There are two remedies for this problem…
And this is why I’ve created Studio Marketing Masterclass. We go into great depth on how to solve this value problem.
I’m going to give you a summary of the two remedies here… something for you to think about in regards to your own lesson program.
Remedy #1
Understand what is valuable to the parent
It’s very simple. Classical music, formal music lessons… these things used to be a universal cultural value in many countries.
But, sometime in the last 30 years, parenting has changed. Values have changed. Goals and objectives for children have changed.
Parents now believe that “forcing” kids to do something is an evil.
At my studio, I’ve heard parents ask their child (in front of me!) if they “feel” like practicing this week. This has happened more than I care to remember.
To create value in the mind of the parent, we have to find some part of music lessons that align with the values have with parents now… and AMPLIFY those messages.
This is “pushing” out a message that is enticing and persuasive to parents.
Remedy #2
Communicate the value that we have better
The first remedy was about “pushing.” This remedy is about pulling people in.
We do valuable things for children. We literally help children understand a new language. We introduce them to an incredible part of the human experience.
How do most studios communicate that? Do they communicate that value well?
Well, if you go look at their website and marketing material… or if you would listen to how they talk to parents on the phone… you would have to say NO.
Websites that focus on the goals of the teacher… their policies… their “rules” for lessons… their qualifications… the qualifications of their instructors…
None of these speak to parents.
They do not show the value. In fact, they hide the value behind things that parents do not care about.
I know those are bold words, but in my defense… I have surveyed hundreds and THOUSANDS of parents. When asked what their frustrations about and aspirations for lessons… those topics rarely came up.
If you’d like to know what topics DID come up… keep following along each day as I continue to give more marketing lessons this week!
Conclusion
On March 18, I am going to invite you to apply for my Studio Marketing Masterclass.
This class is focused on “shining your light.”
Finding the hidden value in your lessons and understanding the value that parents will pay premium prices for.
To wrap up the marketing lessons this week, I’m going to be doing a free, live Marketing Q&A this Friday at 1pm EST.
I’m going to be answering YOUR questions about studio marketing, value, pricing, and whatever business topics would be valuable to you.
Do you have a question?
If you do, CLICK BELOW and leave your question on my Facebook page.
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If you don’t have Facebook, just email your question to me.
We will answer these questions this Friday… and then release the recording over the weekend if you can’t make it live.
Very best,
Daniel
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