10 Biggest Marketing Mistakes Studio Owners Make

Plus , I'm going to share some actionable tips to help you avoid these common pitfalls and take your business to the next level . Stick around . Well , hi there , I'm Saren Glanfield . I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you . If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact , you're in the right place .

All you need are a few key strategies , the right mindset and some support along the way . Join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio . This is the Pilates Business Podcast . Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast . I'm Saran .

Thank you so much for being here with me again today , and you know I wanted to talk up to you about some of these very common mistakes that I see studio owners making , not because I want you to feel bad about what you might be doing and some of them you might be doing in your business I want you to feel bad about what you might be doing and some of

them you might be doing in your business , because sometimes having awareness for some of these things actually helps us to perhaps see things a little bit differently . And when it comes to building and growing your business , I want you to just take some things into consideration ahead of listening to these 10 mistakes that I'm going to share with you today .

First of all , no one taught you how to build a boutique fitness studio business , and that's because there is not one way to do it , and so , as you're listening to what I'm going to share with you today , you might hear yourself in some of these situations .

You might actually be experiencing some of these challenges right now , and so I want you to be open to hearing perhaps some of the action steps or perhaps different ways of thinking about how you can build and grow your business as we highlight some of the mistakes I see other studio owners make , and what I found is that , once we have awareness for some of

these the way that some of these things work inside of our businesses we often are able to shift gears very , very quickly , and it's not always about doing these big things . Might not be huge , sweeping changes .

It's often a series of very small shifts and tweaks and upgrades and refinements and enhancements that actually make a world of difference to help you to ultimately attract and retain more clients , which leads to higher revenue for you and for your studio .

So I'm going to share with you 10 mistakes specifically related to marketing , 10 mistakes specifically related to marketing , and I think , like I said , most studio owners are making at least one or two of these mistakes , and even if you're not making the mistake per se , I always find that there is often room for enhancements or upgrades or lingering in additional

strategies . So I'm kind of excited to dive into this one , because there's a lot in here that I want to share with you and I think you're going to find a ton of value from this episode today .

So the first mistake that many , many , many , many studio owners make and it's not even studio owners , I think , business owners or entrepreneurs in general often make this mistake and that is a lack of target audience definition .

So , failing to very clearly define and understand who it is , you're wanting to become your client , who your target audience is , and this is a really critical mistake because without knowing who it is that you are talking to or who it is you're trying to serve with your business , you'll probably find yourself spinning your wheels with your marketing messaging , with

your market positioning , with where you should spend money on which platforms for marketing , and so it really can be one of those sort of pivotal changes that you can make in your business , because when you're marketing and it's ineffective , it's probably because you're not in the right place or your message is not resonating with the right people .

So if you want your message to resonate , you kind of need to know who it is you're targeting with your marketing messaging and who it is you're serving with your business right targeting with your marketing messaging and who it is you're serving with your business right .

So it's really critical to identify and understand the preferences and struggles of the people that you most want to have as your clients in your studio , and that is honestly where we find so much opportunity existing for most studio owners , because once you dial in here on this very first thing , you'll find that you'll see where there might be opportunities for

better scheduling , better hiring as well as , obviously , better marketing . So this is pretty fundamental and often overlooked , because when you open your studio many years ago , or maybe that was last week .

You'll find that you probably skipped this because you were focused on getting that lease signed , the build out , getting equipment set up in the studio , hiring your first teachers and so on . So if you haven't got that , if you haven't got your target audience all defined and clear , then this is the time . This is the time to do it . It's never too late .

It will always serve you and help you more . So a lack of target audience definition is probably the first mistake that I would encourage you to sort of have awareness for in your business and make sure that that is not something that a trap that you're really falling into . The second mistake is neglecting your online presence .

So many of you listening are really excellent at your online presence , really enjoy that part of it . Or even if you don't enjoy it , perhaps you still see it as a necessity and you know that it's a part of doing business in today's world , and that is absolutely the case .

In today's digital age , having a strong online presence is absolutely critical , and if you're someone who perhaps shies away from social media , digital media , email , then I'm going to have to encourage you to step a little bit out of your comfort zone , because , yes , you do need a website , yes , you do need social media presence and , yes , you do need to make

sure that you are present on a few different platforms . So if you're someone who is not that comfortable , then this might be an area where you're going to have to do it anyway . If you want to build and scale your business , and if you're someone who is doing this well already , then you can skip over this one because great job , keep on going .

But if you're someone who is perhaps not sure if this is something that you're doing or doing right , or if it's serving your business right now , then this is an opportunity perhaps to consider how you can be implementing social strategies , social media strategies , that can serve your business , because a really well-maintained , a really strong online presence really helps

to retain and engage your existing clients and can help you to attract new clients as well , because what that presence does is creates visibility for your brand , which raises that brand awareness and keeps you top of mind , as well as build credibility and create engagement and connection with your existing clients , which we know is one of the fundamental drivers to

long-term retention . So there's a lot wrapped up in this one thing , but it's really critical to not neglect your online presence . Okay , number three the third mistake I often see studio owners make is inconsistent branding . Now , inconsistent branding can look like one of two things .

Number one it can look like perhaps switching and changing your colors , your fonts , your logo too often , and for some of you who perhaps haven't quite found your rhythm with your visuals for your branding yet , you might find that you're kind of changing these quite frequently . I would encourage you to pick something and stick with it .

We are so visual in our world today that we are able to really process something so much faster when we see colors and that those colors and that font is consistent . And so you can probably think of those top three brands in our industry today , and you probably know what colors they have in their logo , and that's because they haven't changed them ever .

So be consistent with your branding , with your colors and your fonts , like switching and changing your marketing messaging . And this is where we want to make sure that our messaging and our marketing messaging is rooted in and aligned with your brand and your brand values .

So not only do you need to make sure that your logo is consistent , but you also want to make sure that your messaging is consistent as well .

So you want to make sure that consistency is there and is consistent across all the different platforms , from your website to your social media , to your emails , as well as all of the things that you have in your studio as well , because a consistent brand really or branding , I should say consistent branding really does help to build a very recognizable brand and

also creates that sense of trust and credibility because you show up consistently in lots of different places .

All right , number four so this is an interesting one because it can open up a whole can of worms , but I do think that from time to time , it is quite important and it's something that many studio owners shy away from or maybe it's never crossed your mind to do this , but reviewing your feedback and customer reviews is something I recommend you do .

They are so powerful when you are able to understand what it is your clients are sharing about your business and what they're telling other people about your business .

So if you have reviews on Google or anywhere else online , or you've ever asked for testimonials , or even if you've asked for feedback about the studio experience , that's such incredibly valuable information for you , but it also can serve as very , very powerful marketing tools .

So if you're not utilizing your reviews and your testimonials in your marketing already , now is the time , because positive reviews really helps to build credibility , and responding to those reviews positively as well shows that you value your clients' opinions , which will lead other clients and other members of your studio to feel valued also .

So do not ignore your reviews , your testimonials or feedback that you might be getting for your studio

. Now we've talked a little bit about your online presence already , but I do want to dive into this a little bit more and think about specifically your social media strategy . So having a presence is absolutely fundamental , but what often happens is that studios fail to use social media effectively .

Poor , sporadic , poor posts or sporadic posts will not create that engagement consistently with your followers . If you're not there , engaging with them too , they will not engage with you .

So you want to be thoughtful about how often you're posting and the type of content that you're posting on social media , because if you're posting just for the sake of posting often , there's not an intention there that is really deep and meaningful , which means that that is going to come across in that post .

So the more intentional and purposeful you can be around the posts that you share and what you share in your content , whether that is on Instagram or TikTok or LinkedIn or Facebook or all of those places , as well as on your website , your blog , as well as in your emails . You want to make sure that it has purpose behind it , that it's there for a reason .

So when you're consistent with sharing valuable content that is well-planned , that is regular and that is engaging , it really can help to drive more leads to your business , as well as to create engagement amongst your existing clients , which we know boosts retention . Now , in the same vein , we've mentioned social media a few times .

We have yet to talk about email marketing , which , by the way , is my favorite way for you to create more revenue in your business . Underutilizing email marketing is one of the areas that really has a profound impact on your revenue .

So if you're not utilizing your email marketing efficiently and correctly , that will impact your revenue negatively , and what I found is that when we start to work on those emails and we are thoughtful and strategic about how we're using email marketing and sales emails for sales as well , then we find that does really have a huge impact on revenue and it is one

of the most cost-effective ways to communicate with your current and potential clients and also to win back past clients as well . But most studio owners are not utilizing this in the most effective way .

So , again , if you're sporadic about when you send your emails , or if you're sending emails that are consistently promoting something in your business in that you're offering a sale or a discount , or that you are doing something where you're consistently asking for your clients or your people who are receiving your emails , to buy something from you , then that will very

, very quickly turn subscribers off and they may well unsubscribe , and we are seeing this happen increasingly across all businesses , not just fitness and wellness .

So you want to make sure , again , that whatever you are sending to your clients is intentional and has a purpose and is going to be content and is going to have something in that email that is going to make them excited and interested in it so that they don't unsubscribe , because once someone unsubscribes , it's incredibly challenging to get people back on to your

email list . So a consistent email marketing strategy that offers value and also insight and information and inspiration , can really help in building a very loyal community . Now , again , we're going to stick with digital for our seventh mistake , which is overlooking local SEO .

So search engine optimization and this is critical for your brick and mortar boutique fitness studios , as you primarily serve local clientele . So social media is fabulous because we could get our brand out there very easily .

It is very visual , but it's not helping us if someone on the other side of the world is seeing our post and clicking like right , it's not actually going to help you grow your business .

So one of the things that will help you grow your business is when you show up on Google or on the Apple search , that with your business , when people are looking for what you do in your local town and community , and so you want to make sure that you have optimized your website and all of the profiles online for local SEO .

So you want to make sure that it's very , very clear where you're located and that that shows up , so that you show up everywhere that you want to show up .

And if you don't do this , what happens is you will be at the very bottom of the list and there will probably be other studios ahead of you or further up the page that will be at the very bottom of the list , and there will probably be other studios ahead of you or further up the page that will be the first to get clicked on when someone perhaps goes to

Google yoga in my area or Pilates in my area , and so we know that SEO is important . I do not overlook it . If you haven't checked this for your business in a while , then maybe now is the time to go and just make sure that you have optimized that for your business .

So , moving on to more of an internal business activity , and that is looking at your metrics , and one of the biggest mistakes I see studio owners making is failing to track their marketing metrics , or even sometimes any metrics at all other than revenue , and this is something I don't think you can ever avoid .

If you really want to grow a successful business , you definitely need to get comfortable with your numbers , and it might not be something that comes naturally to you , but I do think it's a skill that you can learn , and once you learn how to look at numbers and learn what they're telling you , then you will find that it doesn't actually bother you that much and

maybe you turn into some of the folks like I have inside of my Thrive group coaching program where they actually start to really enjoy looking at the numbers . I have this .

This comes up so often and one of the things that I do very early on when people join my program is show them how to look at the data inside their business so that they can understand what's driving their business and how their clients are behaving in their business and where that might lead to more opportunities for retention and conversion and also revenue .

But without knowing what that data is , you don't know what is working or what is not working , and if you're someone who is kind of relying on your gut , I can tell you that that might not be something that is actually accurate a hundred percent of the time .

When you don't measure the performance of , say , your marketing campaigns or of your new intro offer , perhaps that you're sharing , then you might find that it is in fact not supportive of your business or of your business growth .

So you certainly want to track some of those KPIs or key performance indicators that will tell you whether or not your marketing is working and whether or not your business is growing as a result of your marketing efforts . It truly is one of the most important and most fundamental activities that you will want to achieve in your business .

All right , moving swiftly on to number nine , so many many folks who open boutique fitness studios are opening that studio because they love and want to build a community of like-minded people who enjoy the movement method that you're offering as much as possible .

However , there are some who build and open their studios and are perhaps neglecting to engage within their local community .

So , although you may love the community that you have inside of your studio , you may not be engaging beyond the four walls of your studio and outside , within your local community , where you can perhaps make connections and collaborate and build that word of mouth marketing .

And what I found is that when you can tap into that local community engagement and engage with them outside of the studio , you will find that your network grows and that ripple effect of your studio and its impact spreads through town like wildfire . So do not overlook the importance and power that comes from having connections in your local community .

It really is truly , I think , one of the biggest factors in your long-term business success . So do not neglect your community outside of the studio that is local to you .

And finally , number 10 is all about referrals . I get asked all the time , sarah , what should I do for my referral program ? How should my referral program look ? And I have a lot of thoughts on referral programs that I don't have time to share with you here today .

But if you're inside of my program , you know how I feel and here's where I kind of come from . On referrals , number one word of mouth referrals are powerful . You know that already .

This is not something that is new to you , but we do want to make sure that we are the ones who are driving the perception of our business so that those word of mouth referrals happen as frequently as possible . And far too often what I find is that studio owners make the mistake of waiting for those word of mouth referrals to come their way .

And so I'll hear often people say to me you know , sarah , and I get most of my clients through word of mouth and it's great because they're easy and they really kind of show up already wanting to buy .

And that's amazing because what that means is that someone else in your business has gone out there and spoken about you and what you do and has inspired someone to take the action . The problem with that is that you're not in control of when that conversation happens .

So you are therefore not in control of how often you are being , how often you are able to bring those new clients into the business , and so imagine what might be different for your business if you are the one driving those word of mouth referrals , if you were doing things in your business to encourage and support word of mouth referrals .

There's a lot of different ways to do this , but one of the things I actually don't necessarily recommend is to try to create an incentive for your existing clients to become your salesperson , and what I mean by that is sometimes people will offer discounts on 10 packs or a free class if you bring a friend and then they buy .

I think most clients are not too excited about working on commission for you , and I find that oftentimes the incentive is not enough for it to make a difference for your business . But there's a lot that you can do with creative engagement events , workshops , as well as appreciation gifts that will help you to support that word of mouth referral in your business .

So be mindful of that , because I think it's so powerful , because the reason why we love word of mouth referrals so much is because , most of the time , those people who come by way of referral are often pre-qualified . They've already heard about what you do and they probably are already pretty much ready to buy .

Okay , so don't overlook how powerful word of mouth referrals are and make sure you have strategies in place in your business for driving word of mouth referrals and make sure you have strategies in place in your business for driving word of mouth referrals .

All right , so a quick recap of some of the mistakes I'd want you to avoid , and I would love to help you to avoid these mistakes . So if you've got questions , please get in touch and let me know . But the first mistake is a lack of a target audience definition , so you don't have an audience that you've defined , that you really want in your business .

You perhaps are neglecting your online presence . That can be on your website , social media profiles or online listings . Perhaps you're inconsistent with your branding . This is another mistake I often see studio owners make Ignoring customer reviews and not utilizing them as the powerful marketing tool that they are Not having an effective social media strategy .

This is a big one for many people and when you turn this ship around , it can make all the difference for your business . If you haven't been utilizing email marketing in your business . Oh , my goodness , now is the time . Please , please , please , please , utilize whatever automations and emails you can . It's really powerful .

Don't overlook the power of local SEO , search engine optimization . Please always track your marketing metrics . Please don't neglect your community outside of the studio , your local community . Please don't neglect your community outside of the studio , your local community .

And please , please , please , drive word of mouth referrals with events and activities within your studio business . And that wraps up today's episode of the Pilates Business Podcast . Now , if you went through that , if I read that list to you and you said , nope , I'm doing everything absolutely perfectly . Wowzers , you are a unique unicorn .

Because I will guess that many of you out there are thinking I wonder if perhaps there's a couple of things I could do better . And that's the name of the game as you build and grow your boutique fitness business . It's all about layering on additional strategies , refining what you already have and up-leveling the strategies you already have .

So please do not expect to be perfect on every level . We are not in the business of being perfect . We know it's impossible , right ?

So I wanted just to raise awareness around some of these today for you and , like I said , if you would like to really take your studio business and your marketing to the next level and you're looking for a more tailored strategies , don't hesitate to reach out .

As always , I am here to support you on your journey to building a thriving and successful studio business . Whatever success looks like for you For now , don't forget to subscribe to the Pilates Business Podcast .

Please leave a review and share this episode , maybe with that studio owner who you started out with when you went through your teacher training program , who might also benefit from this insight . Thank you so much for joining me today and I look forward to seeing you again in the next episode . Until then , keep moving , keep growing and keep studio business .

And before you go , one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do , only your way . So whatever it is that you want to do , create or offer , you've got this . Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day . Thank you .