6 Feb 2025 · 19 min
Amanda Barr and Rebecca Lou Brennan discuss how dance studio owners can enroll new students year-round. They cover practical marketing, social media engagement, and proactive lead generation to grow your studio without waiting for peak enrollment seasons.
Hello, friends, I'm Amanda Barr. And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan. And welcome to Dance Principles United, the podcast. Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio. Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between. This is the Dance Principles United podcast. Hi, friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United Podcast. We are so exc to be talking about getting new students in your door still now at this time of the year. Nath, how are you?
I am very, very good, thank you. Sitting here in lovely air conditioning today because it's really hot outside.
It's freezing. Can we stop this? Do not say that, because I am sitting here absolutely freezing my little tits off.
And look, this is one of the main. Look, one of the biggest points of tension in our marriage, guys, just to really let everybody in is that the air con levels, I prefer meat locker, whereas Amanda prefers not.
Sauna.
Yeah, sauna. So, like, it's, it's a balance.
Oh, I am not enjoying recording in here at all. I wanted to sit upstairs away. Anyway, we will not have this. All right, tell me, Life Update, do you want to share with everyone a bit of a life update? What's going on?
Life update for us. Look, super exciting. I think this is going to resonate with a lot of the audience. Kids went back to school this week.
Thank God for that. I love my children dearly, but, God, it was time for them to go back to school.
It's been so hard to do work, right?
Yeah.
Like we, you know, both of us working from home now and our kids are 6, 9 and 12. And look, let's be honest, our 9 and 12 year olds are pretty, pretty self sufficient in terms of being able to let us do work. Yes. So being able to sit down and get deep into work. Yeah, we love work, right? Absolutely. And being able to get into that is just good for the soul for us. Right, how about you? Apart from that, any other specific life updates?
Oh, we go to Melbourne this weekend. I'm excited for that. We're meeting some new friends in Melbourne for our one day enroll more students event, which is super exciting. We're getting deep into the expo planning. It's going to be incredible. Today's job is decorations, which I love doing and making it all pretty. But my other big drama is what to wear. So that's going through my head. So anyone that wants to like, you know, suggest any brands to me, feel free to shoot them through. I really need some help with what to wear.
It is Taking up a lot of time.
It takes up a lot of headspace.
Yeah, absolutely. But we, believe it or not, we're not here to talk about our air conditioning dramas or Amanda's outfit choices. What are we going into on the podcast?
Okay, so today we're talking about, you know, that it's not too late to be enrolling more students in. Into your studio. What? You know, there was that old school mentality that you get to, you know, depending where you are in Australia, you might be in week one, two, three, depending on where you are, but you kind of get to that period and you stop.
Yes.
That's the number that you're done at and that you have all the students for the year and it just goes from there, basically. Yes, occasionally, if you might come in, but that's it. Now what I really want to do is encourage you to change that mindset and, you know, really drastically.
Oh, 100. And that's it. Yeah, Like, I can't. I always, like, sit here on the podcast and, like, draw a little, like grass with my fingers, which doesn't really translate. No, but like Amanda said, like, just that we really need to change as businesses. That old school mentality of you would enroll in January and then you would teach and marketing and enrollments and things like that would just be a bit of a. Always be the afterthought. But as businesses. As businesses, especially if you're a business that wants to grow, if you're a dance studio that wants to grow, then constant lead generation, constant enrollments into your studio is absolutely key and should be. Should be at the forefront of what you're doing whenever you're working. On the admin side, obviously, we understand that lots of people and lots of studio owners love teaching and still do loads of it, 100%. But focusing on the admin side of your studio, your marketing important. Yeah. And lead generation and nurturing needs to be just as important part of that. So what would you be doing, Manda, or what did you do when we had the studio? What would sort of be one of your focuses now on how to generate more leads and get more students in the door in this important time.
Okay, so first thing I want to talk about is, you know, just kind of touch on the importance. I want to pull back to that for a moment because I think it's important that we sort of understand that the student numbers keep rising, especially, like, the first term, especially. You know, I've been chatting to other studio owners, you know, depending on the size of their studio, that at the moment, especially if they're in New South Wales and it's week one for them, they should be aiming to enroll five to ten students a day, new students every single day. That should be the goal that they're setting. You know, they're for larger studios. Of course, if you're a smaller studio, you know, what is it? Is it five or ten a week maybe? You know, whatever it is that's right for you. But setting those goals. The other thing as a studio owner, especially if you're the one in there doing all the work and doing the majority of the admin and doing most of the stuff, is prioritizing your time around chasing enrollments. And to me, that should be a minimum of an hour a day, every single day, absolute minimum, hopefully going up from there, depending on the growth trajectory you want to have. But actually putting that time aside. And I'm going to jump into some ways to kind of like chase students and not wait for them to come to you. But don't just go, oh, I've got no new inquiries today, so I don't need to spend that hour. That hour should be spent on finding new people. So that's what I wanted to kind of talk about. Don't wait for them to come to you. Go out and find them.
Yeah. And that's what we're seeing too, too often with studio owners is they just sort of. Yeah. That. That expectation that. Yes. Oh, no, I've always done it. I've always got students by word of mouth and just sitting there and waiting for them. But in 2025, like, one thing we always hear from studio owners is that just feels like there's a new studio on the court, like on every new corner and things like that. And we're not just competing with dance studio owners for. For the attention and enrollments of students nowadays as well. Guys, we're competing with karate schools. Like, there's just so much competition. Everybody else has tapped into this notion, guys, that kids want to do lots of activities. So it is becoming more and more competitive, not just in the dance industry, but. But in that overall space that we operate in, that we need to be proactive in seeking out new enrollments for our studio.
Absolutely. Okay, so some things I'd be doing on social media every single day in that absolute minimum of an hour that you're like, fully focused and doing it. I would be doing organic marketing strategies and different ones, not just a post, making sure your stories are always going and they're always live, using a lot of engagement techniques. Inside your stories as well. Things like the sticker buttons, you know, comment here if you want to know that. You know, thumbs up. Which one do you like more? You know, that sort of style thing. Actually, the. Which one do you like more? I don't love because that's aimed at current students. You know, you like jazz or tap. Like, it's good to get, you know, people engaging in your stories. But things that are, you know, want to know more. You know, does your dancer, little girl love dancing around the house? You know, like, things like that. That's more aimed at potential new students, I think is more valuable.
That's the key that we've. We've got, you know, and I think you were talking about in one of our. Maybe it was the SGC call the other day that yes, it is important for our socials to be. One of its purposes is to be showcasing to our current students and families all the amazing, fun things that they're part of our wonderful communities for. That is one part of it. But just as important, if not sometimes more important, is showing. Showcasing what we do to new potential parents as well.
Absolutely. The other thing I'd be doing, so obviously making sure. Obviously making sure your social media is looking great. We're not really talking about that today. The posts are great. They all have calls to action. Calls to action that actually work as well. You know, that the stories are on all of those things. But I'd also be getting a little bit more. Have a little bit more fight in you, I guess, is what I want to say. A little bit more hungry for it. Shutsva. That's a good word. I would be also, you know, engaging with new followers, people that have liked your page. You know, you can go. Or your profile or whatever we call it on Instagram, going back through and seeing the people who have started following you and dropping them a message. Hey, thanks so much for the follow. Are you looking for dance classes for your little one question mark? You know, a lot of people are going to ignore that message for sure. There's a lot of stalkers that start following you. Stalkers meaning, you know, parents of, you know, grandparents or, you know, parents of, you know, kids at other studios or whatever that is. Right. But just reaching out, you might get a response from someone. Someone might go, oh, actually, that is why I decided to start following you. Thanks for reaching out. You know.
Yes. I think the key to that is getting over your fear of failure. I think that's what talking to dance studios. I think that's what I See, holding so many of them back around, things like that is that we think that whenever somebody says no to us or ghosts us, then it's just the worst thing ever. And it's that, oh, we failed at this. What we're talking about basically in like, in everything we're going to talk about today, guys, is that it's. It's a numbers game. It's a volume game.
Absolutely.
That. Not, of course, everybody's not going to reply to every message, but if we send 10 and get one, great. That is, that's a great strike rate.
Absolutely. And so don't be worried that, you know, nine people ghosted you. Who cares? You got one new potential client from it or one new trial. I think that's really important. I'd also be scrolling back through old messages, old comments, anything like that, to see if there's anyone who perhaps had inquired on Instagram or Facebook or whatever that ghosted you. Maybe in November, maybe in November, you know, they reached out saying they wanted some classes and then they just kind of disappeared and it was concert time and you just didn't really chase it again. You know, what is it like scroll back through your messages on all your social platforms and have a look and just re engage with some of those people. I'd be doing that. I'd also be trying different techniques on Instagram. Instagram lives, for example, you know, and even doing something like then sharing those kind of things to community pages, for example. You know, one tactic I've seen that works really well is, you know, an Instagram Live teaching your audience something. For example, at this time of the year, we know that there's a lot of kindergarteners starting school that could be really nervous about starting school. So what about doing a little, you know, Instagram Live, talking about, I know so many little ones are starting school this year, but I want to let you mums know you've got this. We often see little dancers that are nervous to go in, but after a few weeks, you know, of love and reinforcement and positive reinforcement, you know, they end up loving their classes and, you know, whatever that is, give them a tip. We find that, you know, what's the little groovers thing that they sprinkle courage dust on them. We find that courage dust on our little dancers works so well. My daughter had jitter juice in class.
For kindergarten year one.
Sorry, year one start and you know, her class did jitter juice on day one. You know, you could give a tip like that to parents that could help them for school, but could also Help them for dancing and then share that to your community page as like a tip from someone who seen lots of little people, you know, go through that process. Because you're an expert in your field, you're an expert in encouraging little people to start dancing or start whatever it is that they're starting.
And all the amazing benefits that.
Absolutely. So doing anything like that just really gives to your community, but also talks to potential new people, not just your current students. And I think, once again, that's the confusion that can sometimes happen. You know, introducing your staff, for example, and talking about, you know, that I had this staff member who, you know, did this contract or was in this ballet or something. It's all well and good, but that's usually dance parents that actually care about that.
Yes.
Current dance parents. Obviously some other people that are, you know, looking for absolute best of the best. But a lot of like, you know, preschooler parents don't actually care about that, but they love to hear about the courage dust that you sprinkle.
Yes.
So make sure you're talking to the right parents person.
Yes. And. Or like, like you were saying, those teacher introductions can be amazing as well. But make sure you also talk about a random fact. Like talk about how much fun they have in class or talk about just random facts with them as well.
Absolutely.
Away from the dance. Yes, obviously. Talk about their dance qualifications.
Absolutely.
You want their position. Yeah, yeah, it's important. And you want to position them as an expert. But give those other parents that are not in the dance world already, give them something to relate to as well. And see what amazing, incredible, friendly staff that you have at your studio.
Yeah. So the things I'd be doing, social media. What would you be doing else, Nath, that you think would be really beneficial to get more students through?
Yeah, Sort of the first ones along the same lines as you were talking about scrolling back through your Instagram and Facebook DMs. And again, like I said earlier on, it's just a numbers game. Right, everybody? Every single dance studio that I've ever spoken to always finds people when they scroll back through their old inboxes. Because it's just the reality of life. We're humans, sometimes we let things slide. Unless you've got like a top notch customer relationship management software that you've got using it. So scroll back through that and create that hit list. But then on the same note, also go in and do the same in your email inbox, because again, we're only humans. And how a lot of studios and a lot of businesses, if we're honest, handle their inquiries is whilst it's at the top of their inbox, it gets replied to but it slides down the bottom slides out of our. Our memory and we don't get back to them. So everybody's most people. If you've got a website inquiry form comes into your inbox with the exact.
Same subject line every time, like, you.
Know, website inquiry, new website inquiry, semicolon or whatever, whatever that is, take that exact line, put it into your inbox and search it.
Yes.
Then go back, I don't know, four months and just scroll back through every single one of those and just quickly check. Are they enrolled? No. Cool.
Let's reach out. Reach back out to them or the sent ones as well. You know, for example, you know if you do the same for your scent folder, ones that did that and you sent them something, you sent them a timetable or a price list or whatever you did, but then they're still not enrolled. So try them again.
100%. Just going back through. Create a hit list of 20. Yeah. Day one. Find the first 20. Just copy and paste. Like don't. You don't have to write as individual email to all of them because again, we're just creating a numbers game. We're just trying to get a bite. And what we've found working recently is not to sound too salesy in the email, like don't send them the big. Don't think you've got to send them the big professional email. Hello, it is Nathan from Dance Sensations here. Here is the full time. Like don't send the big long email because parents at all times are busy, but especially at this time of year, there's a thousand bits of information coming home from school.
Oh, my God, the amount of emails from school this week.
Yep. So be the. Be the quick email to read literally one line or two sentences. Hey, I know you inquired last year. Were you interested in classes this year? Do you want me to send you some more info? Question mark? You're just looking for that bite back.
Yeah.
You'll send 20 out. You might only get two bites, but they're the ones that you invest more time in the next.
Absolutely.
Be smart about it. Work smarter, not harder.
Yeah, I love that. So, so good. I think also, you know, reaching out to that. If you've got a cold email list, make sure you're still engaging with that. For the same reason a cold email list is a big list of email addresses that you have that is old inquiries. It is anyone who is a past Student that never returned. It's anyone that's ever touched base with you and given you their email address, no matter what. Bas 100%.
It's the most undervalued thing that we see with studio owners is not keeping, maintaining, updating that list because it's just so, so valuable. You know, we used to run like one of the big campaigns we used to run was an open week campaign. I'm certain we've talked about it in other podcasts, but it was essentially a week where loads of students, like we would have over 200 students come in for trials in one week. And we would run big Facebook, big paid Facebook campaigns to it, obviously. But within those 200 signups or over 200 signups, we would get about half from the ads, but we'd also get half from that cold email list, that old email database, because we maintained it, we nurtured it, we looked after it and we grew it.
Yes.
To a list of, I'd say three to 4,000 people at the time. And when you have that list, it is just so, so valuable. You, you, you spend money on marketing anyway to get people's information. Please don't waste it.
And don't forget, it's not always that same student. It could be their best friend, their neighbor, their sibling, their cousin, you know, they might share that information with someone else. So don't ever undervalue that as well because exactly that. You know, I forwarded an email that I thought a friend would like today, you know, I was on their marketing list, you know, and I just sent it across to her because I knew she would like it and it wasn't for me, but it hurt. And people do that. So never undervalue that. I think that's probably all of our best top tips today.
I think that's definitely enough to get people started because that's the biggest, that's the biggest thing holding people back is that first step. Right. Don't feel like you need to over complicate it. Yeah, don't feel like you've got to.
Go and do systemize it or something.
Is it just like we. Like I've said a few times already, it's just a Numbers game. Get 10 to 15 Facebook, Instagram, DM sent, get another 10 email sent. Like whatever it is, try and do that every day for a few days and you will definitely get some people on the hook and get some enrollments going.
I'd love to hear it. If you try one of these tactics and you get a trial from it, drop us a message. I want to celebrate with you. I want to have a champagne in your honor. So please make sure you reach out. We'd love to hear that. I don't need excuse for that. Thanks so much guys for listening to the podcast. We cannot wait to chat to you again next week week. Thanks Dai.
Thank you so much. Bye bye.
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