Music Teachers Blog

Advertising is telling students about what you do and your availability to allow them to participate in it. Advertising is the most efficient way to find students, and this is important because without students there is no studio! If you rely on word of mouth or people stumbling on the fact that you teach private music lessons, it will take quite a while to build your studio roster. This may be what you want, of course, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. However, if you want faster action, advertising is the way to go. Let’s get started!

Define what you are selling:
What are you selling? Of course you offer music lessons, but try to be more specific.

• Do you have a computer lab?
• Do you have an extensive recital or competition program?
• Do you teach other instruments?
• Do you go to students’ homes?
• Do you teach in another language (Spanish)?
• Do you teach a variety of styles?
• Do you offer a non-threatening atmosphere for students to explore?

Dissect your program to the last detail. Then describe your studio program in 100 words or less, saying exactly what you are selling.

Define your target market:
A target market is the group of people you want to teach.

• Are you looking for children? Teens? Adults? Teens and adults? All ages?
• Beginners only? Advanced students only? All levels?

Describe your target market in general terms in 100 words or less.

Characterize your target market:
Now, be very specific in your description of your target market in 100 words or less. Here are some suggested areas to examine:

• What are these parents’ goals/ values for their children? In general, what do these people value? (Ex: church, politics, sports, education)
• What is the socio-economic status of your target market? How many children are there, on average, in each household? What is the average household income?
• Do these people live in single-family homes? What is the average price of a single-family home or a multi-family home for this target market? Do these people rent rather than own? What is the average monthly rental fee?
• Where do the children attend school? Public? Private? Both?
• What other leisure activities do these children have and how much do those cost (Ex; dance studios, karate schools, etc)? Based on these fees, what amount do you think parents are willing to pay for music instruction?
• What is the general education level of the parents/adults? Do they work nearby or have a long commute? What sorts of professions do these people have?
• Which media are they likely to read? Which media have you seen that seem to be directed to people like these?

Locate your target market:
Where does your target market live?

• Do they live within a 10-minute drive of your studio? 30-minute drive?
• How is traffic congestion between where they live and where you teach?

When locating your target market, think local. Most parents will select a teacher based on proximity. Within walking distance of the student’s home would be ideal, but a 10-minute car ride would be acceptable. A 30-minute car ride (one way) is the outside limit for a drive to a music lesson, in the minds of most parents. They base their decisions on criteria they understand and value, such as convenience and time.

Using a street map, draw a circle that represents a 5-mile radius with your studio at the center of it. People living in this area are most likely to want to study with you at your location. Now answer these questions about this demographic of people:

• What kind of people live here and might they be the kind I’m looking for?
• What kinds of media might reach them effectively?
• What is these people’s primary criterion (Ex: proximity or price)?
• How much competition lives within the circle? Is it direct competition? Is it a multi-teacher music school, or a private instructor, and what are the teacher’s credentials or programs that might make them appealing to potential students?

Compare this characterization with the characterization of your ideal target market. How close are these two descriptions? If they’re not close at all, you must modify your target market, modify your location, or modify your product/service because your local target market probably will not be interested in what you have to offer.

Perhaps you need to investigate an off-site studio location if you have been teaching at home. Perhaps you need to consider teaching all ages instead of just children, or all levels instead of just advanced.

Define which media will reach your local target market:
It is easy to throw away hundreds of dollars advertising in your city paper classifieds or sending out a neighborhood mailing, and still get limited to no response from your advertising. The key is to advertise locally, and typically, local advertising will be much more cost effective and connect you will a larger mass of enrolled students. Here are some places to look into:

• School newsletters (focus on schools within your target market age)
• Local newspapers and local-focus newspapers
• Homeowners’ association newsletters
• Weekly church bulletins
• Youth sports teams newsletters
• Scout and children’s groups newsletters
• Civic, business, and arts groups newsletters
• Country club newsletters
• Local editions of metropolitan area newspapers
• “Glossy” local-focus lifestyle magazines

Remember: the features you are selling must match what the target market wants or thinks it wants. Working within the budget you have set aside for your advertising, cater to the target market by creating an attractive ad and focusing on the strengths of your studio.

With an all-out effort, including business cards, continuous classified advertising (if this works for you), continuous ads in school newsletters, plus aggressive requests for referrals, you can expect to be comfortably full in as few as six months. In a year, you should be packed to the gills and working from a waiting list, provided you keep up your aggressive campaign.

Posted in Promoting Your Studio |

About the Author

Nebraska native Sarah Luebke completed her MM in vocal performance at the University of Kentucky, and her BM in vocal performance at St. Olaf College. Recently she has been seen performing the female lead, Jane McDowell, in "The Stephen Foster Story" and the ensemble of "Big River" with Stephen Foster Productions. Other performances include the soprano soloist of Bach's St. John Passion, La Fee in Massenet's "Cendrillon" at the Intermezzo Opera Festival, Najade in "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Brevard Music Festival, Monica in "The Medium", Rose Maybud in "Ruddigore", and Fiordiligi in "Cosi fan tutte". She currently resides with her husband in Florida, teaching a studio of 40 students and auditioning and performing locally.