Yoga Marketing Plan: 5 Proven Advertising Ideas for Yoga Classes and Studios
- Jay Trisko
- Sep 1, 2019
- 3 min read
You got in the yoga business because your work helps people relax and live a happier life. But to make people happier, you first have to reach those people and draw them to your studio or classes.
That’s where a yoga marketing plan comes into play. Here are five proven advertising ideas that need to be part of your yoga marketing plan.
Yoga marketing idea #1: Word of mouth
Nothing beats a student recommending your yoga class to a friend or acquaintance. In fact, it’s the top way (45%) people discover yoga experiences, according to a recent survey conducted by Eventbrite and OnePoll of the yoga trends and habits of 2,000 Americans.
You might think you don’t have any influence over whether your students share your class with their network or not, but you do. Here are two ways to motivate your yogis to get the word out about your event:
Create a customized rewards program: Rather than going with a points-based system (beloved by many a coffee house and yoga studio alike), differentiate your program by offering an elevated experience for loyal customers, such as a free 15-minute posture clinic.Ask for reviews: Cultivating online reviews helps give newcomers a peer-sourced idea of your experience. Simply ask for reviews in your emails and via signage around your venue. (Unlike peer recommendations, though, these shouldn’t be incentivized.)45% of yogis discover a yoga experience through word of mouth.
Yoga marketing idea #2: Email marketing
When new yogis attend your event, it’s important to collect their email address so you can grow your list with interested subscribers. You can also offer a special discount to new newsletter subscribers to collect more addresses.
You can grow your list quickly by collecting yogis’ email addresses when they sign up for your classes. If you use Eventbrite, you can then automatically sync your registration platform and your email tool (like MailChimp) to instantly collect these addresses and segment them by registration type.
Once you’ve built your list, you can nurture these yogis with news, special offers, and more over time. Engage subscribers by sending news and updates from your yoga business, cute or beautiful pictures related to your event, and maybe a few inspiring quotes. Here are some email copy templates written by the experts at MailChimp that you can use as a starting point.
New to email marketing? Get a crash course here.
Yoga marketing idea #3: Micro-influencers
One in four (28%) yogis follow yoga or wellness influencers on social media. Influencer marketing is when you pair up with one of these social media personalities to drive huge levels of engagement for your event at low or no cost.
“We invite local bloggers and Instagram influencers to our events for free and they share the experience,” says Susie Martin, co-founder and creative director at It’s for Charity!
Events. “While we do focus on wellness and yoga influencers, we’ve also noticed that influencers who are just active and social in the area drive a good turnout.”
Once you’ve identified potential influencers and reached out to them, be sure you’re clear about what you will offer them as compensation (even if it’s just free tickets). Here are a few ideas to offer local influencers in exchange for a write up:
Free attendance to your yoga workshop or classAn agreed amount that you pay them per postA special, VIP experience at your yoga eventA joint contest to offer free classes to their followers
Yoga marketing idea #4: Wellness partners
Your local partners play a big role in promoting your yoga event, too. When you team up with vendors or sponsors in your area, whether charitable or for-profit, you can lean on them to help get the word out there in the community.
“We try to bring in as many local companies as possible,” Martin says. “They’ll donate goods like kombucha or cold brew coffee, and we incorporate it as part of the ticket. It’s a fun extra for the experience.”
Fun ways to collaborate with vendors and sponsors include giveaway contests (both online and in-person), free vendor spaces, shout outs and shares on social media (make sure to tag your partners and use relevant hashtags to surface your posts in people’s feeds), and more.
“I usually let vendors set up at our events for free,” says Jimmy Naron from Rocky Mountain Goat Yoga. “Local kombucha companies, girl scouts, meal prep services, or yoga leggings brands come and create a better experience for our attendees.”
Yoga marketing idea #5: Social media
44% of yogis say Facebook is where they find out about yoga events. In fact, for many yoga event creators, social media is the first step they take to market their studio or classes. And it’s also one of the most effective channels, not just because Instagram is a perfect platform for sharing stunning visuals of amazing wellness experiences like yoga classes.
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