That’s not what we need, right?

Right. Dance studios are generally small businesses that don’t have the time, budget or personnel to work like that, nor do we want to engage with our customers that way.

The traditional take on Marketing 101 is that there are 4 (sometimes 5) P’s. These are Product, Price, Place and Promotion, the fifth being Positioning.

Products are what you are selling. For dance studios this may be services like group classes, private lessons, wedding packages, or event performance. They may also include products you sell at your studio, dance shoes and clothing, DVDs, magazines, etc.

Price is how much you sell your products for. For dance studios this can range from inexpensive group lessons to thousand+ dollar products productions.

Place is where your products are selling. This may be a physical location, out of studio lessons, performances in your city. It also includes your demographics, who is buying your product and where you can find your audience.

Promotion is how you get your product in front of your market. We may think of ad pages in newspapers or bulletin boards but there are many ways to promote your products without relying on traditional advertising.

Positioning is where your product fits in your customers minds. This has a lot to do with perception, branding and engagement. Are you the high-end wedding package dance studio? Are you the corporate event performance dancers? Are you the community space for dancers, students and people to gather?

So where do we start out of all of these Ps?

Let’s use an example dance business that we’ll call Urban Jump.

Urban Jump is a small collective of young adult modern, hip hop and break dancers who get together regularly to practice and trade skills. They rent space out for practices. They’ve been asked on occasion to perform at various events and are looking to establish a more solid reputation as performers as well as branch out into teaching group classes in their particular styles of urban dance.

Products

Look at what products (that includes services, goods, etc.) that your business provides.

Urban Jump is looking to provide two different products: event performance and group classes.

Event performances have been usually five to fifteen minute gigs for organizations, community events, and companies that their members have been involved with in the past.

Group classes are new to Urban Jump but will most likely target young adults who are looking to learn basic hip hop, modern and break dance.

Have a core product that your business provides – for Urban Jump they want it to be their event performances.

What is your dance businesses core product?

Have supplementary products that can feed off your core product – Urban Jump is going to teach group classes to supplement their performance income.

Supplementary products are the little bit extra that can make ends meet on tight months or give your dance business a bonus to invest in itself.

What supplementary products can your business sell?

Place

Placing your products means doing some research.

Urban Jump is looking to target large corporate events for performance with their core product.  There are a couple other local dance groups that do similar event performance so the market is existing but not saturated. Urban Jump currently has been getting 1 to 2 gigs a month on average before deciding to pursue it as a business.

Their target market is corporate event producers and the demand is definitely present if an unofficial troupe is getting 1 to 2 gigs a month.

What is your target market?

How much money do they have to spend? Where are they located? What kind of value do they place on your product? What are their values?

What is the demand for your product?

Are there a lot of similar products that saturate the market?

Positioning

Similar to place, positioning will involve some research and some decisions on how you want your products to be perceived.

Urban Jump wants to be a professional performance group. Their work is polished and strong and they’ve always been exceptionally timely working with event producers.

They want to have a professional and smooth relationship with customers and don’t want to haggle over cost.

They should make sure their promotion and pricing reflects this.

Positioning has to do with where you want to be perceived in the mind of your customer. Are you the high end brand that works professionally, looks good and delivers on time? Are you the budget group that gets it done?

These decisions go a long way in establishing your price point and determining how you will market yourself. Good example: Apple Computers vs. HP.

Price

Pricing your products requires a bit of finesse and experimentation but using research of placing and your investigation on positioning will help you determine your sweet spot.

Urban Jump’s principal market is corporate event performance. These events usually involve a good amount of money for production and producers are willing to spend money for a good show.

Urban Jump is new on the scene so it’s unlikely they’ll be able to command top dollar although competition is not fierce and demand is there so prices aren’t driven down by saturation.  Competitive products average around $100 an hour per dance.

They could start by asking for $100 an hour per dancer for their event performances keeping in line with their position.

What are competitive products priced at?

Look at similar dance businesses and see what they are charging for similar products. How would you place your products in comparison to theirs.

Combined with your market research and the demand for your product, you will be able to more easily identify price points that work for your product.

Be aware that competing for the bottom price point is a losing game usually, someone can always undercut you in the long run. Don’t race to the bottom.

Promotion

Now that you have your pricing, your products, your place and position, it’s time to get your products in front of your market.

Urban Jump needs to reach out principally to corporate event producers for their core product.

Their first move is to let events and event producers they’ve worked with in the past that they are officially open for business, then contact other event producers to let them know.  This could be a press package including a demo reel of compiled footage and basic information about services.

Having a professional website with media and contact information along with business cards would be a good place to start.

How does your target market get their information for products like yours?

Are they web savvy, on Facebook and Twitter? Do they rely on classified ads and event listings to find dance classes? Or are they used to traditional press packages from performance groups.

Have the basics.

This means have a website, have basic promotional materials like business cards and flyers, and make it easy for people to pass this information around.

It’s easy to have the basics these days and quite affordably for many small businesses. Don’t neglect them.

Put up your shingle.

Nobody knows you’re open for business until you tell them. Hell, tell everybody. You’ll never know when a simple referral will get you a new client and it doesn’t help to keep quiet about it.

Have any questions about dance marketing 101 for your dance business?

Please contact me with any questions you have or if you want professional help with marketing your dance business.

If you want an impossible way to do business, it’s to never mention it.

Your first priority in a dance business, whether you are advertising private lessons, group lessons, or performance availability, is to put the word out.

Then repeat it.

Whether you a performer looking for work, a dance teacher looking to organize a class, or a studio owner looking to fill their classes, you need to learn to spread the word that you’re there–ready, willing and able to fulfill the needs of students or theaters.

These days it’s cheaper than ever to target your market with online tools, and even more important to keep track of which tools work best for your target market. Traditional print advertising is expensive and untargeted, you don’t have the budget of Coca-Cola and you don’t want to emulate their marketing strategies.

People look to Google to find local classes, events and performance artists, not your local classifieds section anymore. Location-dependent networks like Yelp.com showcase businesses of all types within specific neighborhoods and cities, are you listed?

Putting the word out is really about hanging out your shingle for everyone to see.

Tell everyone you know that you are teaching dance classes, looking for teaching opportunities, opening a dance studio, putting on a performance or looking to perform at events.

It rarely hurts to ask, it never helps to remain silent.

Services to Get The Word Out

Google Local

This is Google’s local business index that comes up in Google searches before even the the top ranked websites. It’s incredibly easy to add your business to Google Local, all you have to do is go here and they walk you through the process.

Yelp.com

One of the most trafficked location-based index of businesses, Yelp.com is a great way to add your business to your local digital map (you’ll have to create an account and tag your business). Yelp includes ratings and reviews, so it helps to get a few current customers to jump on Yelp and give their feedback.

Facebook

Creating a Facebook following allows you to tap into an existing and very active online community.  You can create a Page for your business and create events that users can share with their entire network with the click of a button. A great way to take word of mouth to the next level.

Twitter

While not a location service, Twitter is an incredibly vibrant and active information network. Local communities often employ hashtags to post local events and happenings which can help spread the word about your business. A word of mouth information network that can spread swiftly.

Website

If you don’t have a website for your dance business, you’re missing out on business. The internet is #1 when people look to find dance classes usually, and if you don’t have a website it’s very unlikely they’ll go to you first.  There are some exceptional and affordable options out there for basic website creation that let you easily manage your own content.  If you need a website created, I offer basic services to that effect – just e-mail me.

E-Mail Newsletters

In this day almost everyone has an e-mail address and collecting them is even better than collecting phone numbers. Creating a mailing list of individuals who have attended your events, and classes, gives you the opportunity to easily reach out to them again. And former customers are often your best customers.

Flickr photo by Caveman.

One of the biggest downfalls of dance events – particularly Lindy Hop ones – is the effort to make an event something it is not.

If you host your event in a hotel it is unlikely it is going to ever feel like an intimate gathering or a street-style event.

If you host your event in bars and speakeasy’s it is unlikely that it will feel very family friendly or unified.

If your dance venue is a gymnasium it’s not going to feel vintage like an old ballroom.

Those aren’t necessarily bad things.  But they are things you have to take into consideration when you are planning an event.

If you want a studio environment where the atmosphere fosters collaboration and learning then you will want to plan your schedule and spaces accordingly.  The same goes if you want a vintage dance night – holding it in a dance studio with mirrors isn’t likely to evoke the atmosphere you are looking for, while a classic bar with a dance floor or a proper historic ballroom will.

Three examples of events that play to their authentic atmosphere:

Canadian Swing Championships

CSC is held far outside of Montreal at a secluded resort hotel.  Participants are almost guaranteed to be staying at the resort, eating on site and wandering the halls at all hours.  CSC prides itself on being a competition event but even more so on being a party event.  You can’t beat the resort atmosphere for a closed party event.

There is plenty of time for social dancing divided between the main ballroom and a smaller (usually west coast swing) room and DJs are booked purposefully till the breaking hours of the morning so that attendees can filter in and out throughout the wee hours.  Two party rooms are provided with open bars (bartenders work on tips only) each with their own unique atmosphere which run every night until people pass out or filter back to their rooms.

The enclosed nature of the resort, the late hours for dancing, and the easy flow of attendees between the dance spaces, hotel rooms, and party rooms makes for an incredibly welcoming party atmosphere.  CSC doesn’t try to be the “hot live music” event or the “friendly and intensive learning environment” or even the “carnival of swing” because that’s not what it is about.  It’s about the party and the competition and those are clearly prioritized.

Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown

ULHS changed its game this year when it moved to New Orleans.  Previously it was just the most badass competition event in the world, now it’s one of the most unique events out there.  It is an event that is part of the city of New Orleans and the culture of jazz music.

Attendees are scattered primarily throughout the French Quarter or close to downtown where jazz is on nearly every corner and in every bar.  Events are located at prime jazz clubs and bars giving an intimate connection with the musicians, on a Riverboat and on the very streets of New Orleans.  The dancing is tied directly to the musicians rather than to a DJ.  This gives a unique live music experience which most competition events lack.

Competitions are structured without levels – meaning there is only one playing field and you better step up if you’re going to be out there.  ULHS prides itself on a no-rules kind of environment, if you can rock it and convince the judges, then you’ve got it.  The live music requirement also drastically changes the Show division from other events, forcing dancers to work very closely with the band and putting them up against all types of showcase pieces.

The city-wide nature of the events, the no-rules no-level competitions, and the deliberate relationship to live music set up ULHS as an event that has carved out its own niche among so many standard-format events.  ULHS isn’t an “enclosed hotel” event or a “highly structured competition” event.  It would fail at these things and those who expect tons of space, DJed music or the best dance floors in the world are sure to find fault with it.  But ULHS has its niche – and you damn well better be prepared for it.

Midwest Lindy Fest

MWLF isn’t on most peoples dance event maps but it should be.  Especially if you are an amateur looking to make a name for yourself, interested in great classes, or a friendly and inviting social atmosphere.  MWLF is a weekend of workshops, a friday night show, and two very specific competitions.

The friday night show kicks off the whole weekend similar to the Jump Session show of Camp Jitterbug (on a smaller level albeit).  Choreographies and dance pieces are presented by instructors and attendees.  The show sets the tone for the entire weekend giving it a professional yet approachable feeling – inviting participation and viewing of non-competition choreography.

The competitions are geared only towards amateurs.  Unlike most competition events where the biggest and best names are out there trying to rock their names, the competitors at MWLF are the aspiring dancers looking to try their hand at some real competition.  They are the main event and have a chance to shine with all the support of the crowd.

With the lack of excessive competitions, social dancing is a high priority with excellent local bands and national DJs providing the music.  Dancing runs relatively late and people can either be out dancing or socializing in the side room.  Spontaneous jams that are welcoming and for fun instead of for showing off spring up within the friendly atmosphere of the event.

MWLF is an amateur showdown prefaced with a mood setting show, full of excellent classes and instruction and packaged in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.  It’s not your “typical workshop weekend” focusing only on classes, nor is it a “full blown competition” event.  It’s about showcasing the up-and-coming dancers and providing a rounded dance event experience – not too much of any one thing and all things in excellent taste.

In conclusion – event organizers need to determine the atmosphere that they want their event to project and them make them remarkable.

Ask yourself these questions when you start planning an event.

What kind of words would you want used to describe the event?

What is the principle focus of your event, i.e. what does it showcase?

What kind of dancers do you want to attract to your event?

Write a mission statement for your event around the answers to those questions.

You can’t make everyone happy so you might as well appeal to the people you really want at your event and make it the best kind of event by making it remarkable in a niche.

Flickr photo courtesy of Adjustafresh.