10 Marketing Tips I Wish I’d Learned in My Yoga Teacher Training

By Tristan Katz

One of the challenges of becoming a yoga entrepreneur—and let’s face it, if you’re a yoga teacher, then you’re an entrepreneur—is that most of us aren’t given any training on business or marketing. Most 200-hour yoga teacher training programs prepare us to enter the studio class space, but not the marketing space. We graduate, achieve “certification status,” and are sent out into the world to become teachers to students… but how do we actually attract students apart from studio support? 

Here are 10 (somewhat accessible) ways to grow your yoga business that you may not have been taught in that “business 101” module of your YTT (if there even was one!):

1. Get on Instagram. For better or worse, Instagram is the number one place to be to connect with new clients and students. Facebook is great for staying in touch with friends and family. Instagram is the platform where we more easily build community with people we don’t already know.
   
   
2. Create a content plan. This doesn’t have to be dramatic or involve a ton of time and labor. Maybe you start with one post per week to keep it simple, and maybe you eventually explore posting more frequently. Find a way to maintain some degree of consistency in how often you communicate with your audience.
   
   
3. Show your face. In order to build community, we need to share about who we are, which also includes sharing ourselves, our beliefs, our training history, our unique approach to teaching—and our faces. Faces = connection and relationship.
   
   
4. Go beyond the class schedule shares. Yes, we need to know when and where you’re teaching, online or in-person, what time zone…and aside from the logistics of your weekly classes, we also need to get a sense of who you are. Tell us about what led you to teaching, tell us about your WHY for teaching the style you do, tell us about your values and how you take your yoga practice off the mat. Help us learn about who you are apart from being a yoga teacher. This will create more meaningful connection and community.
   
   
5. Create a simple website. There are a plethora of user-friendly website creation platforms available (Squarespace, Wix, Weebly…to name a few). Choose one that works for you rather than against you. Create some sort of web presence beyondyour social media account so folks have a place to go to learn more about you and your offerings, and to get in touch. This will also help you grow your work over time as what you offer evolves.
   
   
6. Start a newsletter list. Don’t overthink it. At some point in time, we all start from zero. Don’t let numbers intimidate you. Pick a platform (Mailchimp, Flodesk, or Squarespace are great places to start) and come up with a plan for newsletter communications that works with your schedule. Maybe that’s once a month, or once a season; maybe it’s simply when you feel like it. Email marketing is proven to be more effective than any other method. Embrace that and find your way in.
   
   
7. Stay consistent. Consistency is one of the primary principles of an impactful digital strategy. Consistency is a matter of showing up on a regular basis to stay “front of mind” with your community. Consistency helps folks remember you when they are wondering who to turn to for a particular form of support. Consistency is key to ongoing growth and community-building. And remember this: consistency does not have to equal grind culture!
   
   
8. Network. Even in the Zoom era, embrace the connections that can come from meeting people on the digital plane. Every time you attend a class or workshop, remember that your fellow students or trainees are potential connections and collaborators. We can approach every space we show up for as a space where community can be cultivated. We can embrace workshops, immersions, retreats, and social media as places that foster possibility.
   
   
9. Find your voice. Yes, this can be a scary thing to engage with—it is scary to discover and exercise our voices, and it’s also quite simple… simple and complex. The best way into this sometimes elusive practice is to notice what lights you up and what you’re passionate about—and speak to that.
   
   
10. Don’t forget yourself. Practice rest. Forgiveness. Non-perfectionism. Non-urgency. Focus on building community rather than increasing numbers. Embrace the ups and downs, and the learning process as you try on new strategies, systems, and techniques.

Are you interested in learning more? 
I’m hosting a FREE virtual workshop called Making Your Marketing Easeful.

This session will support you in moving beyond the standard weekly schedule share, and we’ll cover topics like:

• Grounding with your marketing timelines and content creation
  
• Connecting with your community and being of service through your marketing
  
• Navigating times of stress, dis-ease, and collective trauma while showing up to grow your work

We’ll also discuss the curriculum and overview of my upcoming online course, Conscious Marketing: Justice-focused Digital Strategies for Yoga Teachers, which begins June 7th.

At this info session, I’ll give away one FREE spot to this 18-hour program! 

Making Your Marketing Easeful
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 
10-11am PDT (1-2pm EDT)
Live online via Zoom
Free

Can’t join live? Register to receive the replay!

REGISTER FOR FREE!