How Dance Studios Can Use Public Relations To Grow Your Business

This is a guest blog post from our PR Intern, Jordon Cloud.

How Dance Studios Can Use Public Relations to Promote and Grow Your Business

What does PR (public relations) mean for a dance studio? Community building! Dance studios have the chance to become a vital and enriching aspect of any neighborhood, but this cannot be done without good communication and close involvement within the surrounding community.

It is more than imperative that dance studios participate in public relations to be sure that their company is an important part of the community around them. This can mean that the studio is meaningful and pertinent to those who live in a nearby neighborhood, or even that a students’ grandparents who live across the country know all about your upcoming events and fundraisers. It’s important not only that a dance studio be well known for the talented students that they teach, but also for what they give back to their students’ families.

There are some dance studios that have managed to stay busy even without extensive advertising plans. However, what these companies lack in advertising, they make up for in public relations and community building efforts. What these studios excel in is creating a unique environment for their students and their families that causes a word of mouth appeal. They also most likely make sure to perform and participate in community events and frequently go out of their way to connect with those who are not directly involved in the day-to-day happenings at their studio. This can mean anyone including the extended family members of students, nearby businesses, friends of students, local journalists, and even people online who can help to draw interest to a business that they see to be in important aspect of the community.

Here are ten ways your dance studio can participate in public relations to become a larger part of the community and in turn, receive more business:

1. Take your dancers to perform at community events such as art gatherings and county fairs. This will introduce both your art and your students to the neighborhood. Be sure to network with those who run community-based events in your neighborhood. Performance opportunities both inside and outside of the typical theater environment will gain a sense of exposure that the usual performance space will not allow for.

2. Create an environment in your studio that allows for communication between the dancers, their families, and the studio faculty. Be sure that there is always someone working in the office who can answer the phone during business hours. To avoid conflict, be sure that your rules and regulations are always available online and in print at the studio.

3. Bring in new teachers from different cities to conduct master classes. This will add a sense of networking to your business and will bring in new students who want to take class from a fresh new face. Make connections with people you’ve never met, or hire professionals that you have had longstanding relationships with.

4. Participate in social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to reach out to potential business affiliates, clients, and community members. Utilizing social media as a PR tool will also allow you to create a voice and branded image for your company, as well as a platform for your clients to say good things about you! Send out tweets to your favorite businesses to make connections and reply to any questions or praise.

5. Create a monthly newsletter so that every family and prospective client has access to what’s new at your studio. Be sure to offer both hard copies and e-mail versions of the newsletter.

6. Allow for studio rentals when classes are not in session. This will generate revenue for your business and put you on the radar for smaller dance companies looking for space to rent.

7. Encourage your students to help organize an impromptu performance to raise money for a charity. This is a hands-on idea that may be appropriate to coordinate in a small scale within the boundaries of your business. Not every studio has the finances to conduct an event like this, however, if your students attach or relate to a specific story or organization they may feel inclined to organize the event with the help of your staff, of course.

8. If you feel that your students are ready, have them come along with a teacher that they look up to and take classes at a more “adult” studio. Be sure that whomever is teaching knows where your students come from and if they are impressed, they may point potential students in the direction of your studio.

9. Hold parents night out events and invite families that do not have students who belong to your studio. If the kids have fun they will likely want to come back! Show them a good time and create a theme that boys and girls within a specific age range will relate to and have fun with.

10. Be sure that all of the local newspapers and schools know about your performances and events. You can inform them in the form of a press release, poster or flyer. It is a great idea to make connections with local journalists. Let them know what is unique about your business and what you are doing to stand out in the community.

In addition to an educational and enriching teaching curriculum, it is vital that any dance studio utilize community-building tools available to them. Public relations allows for transparency and can be a great way to invite new students and business partners in to your studio. If community members can get an idea as to what your organization is all about, they will be more likely to participate in your upcoming events.

Dance is a very people-friendly business. While it is important to maintain a connection to people on social networks including Twitter and Facebook, it is also very important that people who are directly involved in your neighborhood community know all about your studio. These locals are your potential clients, donors, and event-goers so a vital aspect of public relations within dance studios involves connecting with these people on a personal level.

Have you used any of these techniques to promote your dance studio in your local area? What PR strategies have worked best for you? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts and feedback.

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This is a guest blog post by Jordon Cloud, PR Intern at Kiner Enterprises Inc. You can check out her blog at, http://socialrhythms.wordpress.com.