branding Archives - Music Studio Startup

Writing a Better Welcome Message

August 27, 2018

branding, communication, customer service, goals, marketing, new students, student experience, student retention, studio management

Last week’s blog post spoke about the tremendous value that comes from communicating well with students and (especially) their families. Today’s blog is an example of how we can practice good communication at the beginning of a new term (or anytime a new student joins our studio), with a strategically-written welcome message! At first glance,…

Episode 006 – Wendy Racer on Designing a Studio for Profit

July 4, 2018

branding, studio decor, studio management, systems

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts! Summary Wendy Racer is an interior designer and the owner of Way Interiors. In this episode, she shares her five profit-boosting interior design tips for music teachers and studio owners! Takeaways 1. Keep the look of your website, business card, and studio…

Music Studio Branding Lessons from Magnolia Market

June 25, 2018

branding, customer service, marketing, student experience, student retention, systems

Full disclosure: I have never seen an episode of Fixer Upper and couldn’t tell you much about Chip and Joanna Gaines beyond their names. My sister, however, is a huge fan. When she heard I would be in Waco, TX last week to speak at the Texas Music Teachers Association Convention she insisted I go…

Episode 003 – Regina Ngo on Teacher Development and Accelerated Learning Programs

June 13, 2018

branding, marketing, multi-teacher studio, professional development

Apologies for the scratchy mic noises in this episode! (Still getting the hang of this podcasting thing. 🙂 ) Summary Regina Ngo is the owner of Regina’s Music Studio in South Pasadena, California. In our interview, Regina shares how she went from teaching at a music school to travel teaching to teaching from her home,…

Sizing Up the Competition

April 30, 2018

branding, competition, focus, marketing, niche

If you’re trying to start or grow your music studio in a crowded market, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the other teachers and music schools in your area (geographic or virtual). These are your competitors. In this post, I walk through how to do a competitive analysis AND how to use the insights you glean from it…

Studio Photos Checklist: Make Your Website Come Alive

February 19, 2018

branding, marketing, website

As a freelance web developer, I’ve set up a lot of websites for clients and the images and content always seem to be an afterthought. Eager to get started, the clients often want me to create the whole website and leave empty boxes for them to fill in later with their own studio photos. I…

Three Questions You MUST Answer Before Designing (or Redesigning) Your Studio Website

February 12, 2018

branding, focus, marketing, new students, website

There are two kinds of “bad” studio websites: the ones that are bad because of poor decisions (color scheme, typography, font size, etc.) and the ones that are bad because of indecision. The first is becoming less common since we have website builders and templates that take a lot of the guesswork out of the…

Using a Style Guide to Speed Up the Graphic Design Process

December 18, 2017

branding, graphic design, marketing, online marketing, systems

In the last blog post, I shared five SIMPLE ideas for marketing your studio to take advantage of the spike in students searching for lessons around the new year. Maybe you’ve already implemented some of the ideas (way to go, you!), or maybe you’re a perfectionist, like me, and you’re still trying to get that…

Features Don’t Matter

October 9, 2017

branding, marketing

Have you ever gone shopping for something you knew you needed or wanted but you really didn’t know enough about the product to be able to judge whether or not you were getting something of value? I imagine this is how a lot of prospective students feel when they’re searching for a music teacher. A…

Getting Studio Reviews Effortlessly

August 28, 2017

branding, marketing, online marketing, reviews, social proof, testimonials

If you’ve ever made a purchase online, you know how much a product review can influence your buying decision. A few months ago, I was looking for a drum to get my nephew as a gift. I knew I wanted a wooden drum and I saw one that had a design I really liked, but…

Why I Use WordPress for my Websites

August 7, 2017

advertising, branding, marketing, online marketing, website, WordPress

There are a lot of options when it comes to building a website. You may have heard of Wix and Weebly and SquareSpace, just to name a few, but I chose WordPress. There are a lot of reasons why, but today I thought I’d highlight the top three: 1. Ownership This is probably the most…

1 Year of Music Studio Blog Ideas

April 10, 2017

blogging, branding, marketing, website

If you’ve ever found yourself lacking creativity to come up with studio blog ideas, allow me hook you up… Here’s a blog post topic for every month of the year! (Want even more blog ideas? Like 52 weeks worth of blog ideas?? An entire year of blog ideas??? Check out the download at the bottom of…