Do you own or manage a dance studio? If so, keeping in touch with your students and their families is essential. A newsletter is the ideal vehicle for this.
Read on to learn dance studio newsletter tips, including ideas you can use right away. Learn how to tailor your newsletter to your audience. And get pointers on newsletter design and layout to make it look as beautiful as it is engaging.
Why Write a Newsletter for Your Dance Studio?
Dance classes are typically different from many other extracurricular activities. Parents don’t always get to watch lessons the way they might during hockey or gymnastics practice. They don’t have as much opportunity to interact with dance instructors as they might with basketball coaches. They can feel out of the loop without a newsletter to keep them up to date.
Your email newsletter is also a great marketing tool for your dance studio. You can leverage it for student retention or even attracting new pupils. You might also find other marketing uses for a newsletter, like selling apparel or a paid subscription to another program.
As you’ll see below, there are ways to use your newsletter for multiple purposes. Some examples include:
- Announcements
- Scheduling reminders
- Awards and recognition
- Technical pointers
- Connecting multiple locations
- Fun dance-related activities
Once you start producing a regular email newsletter, you’ll see how essential it is to your dance studio business.
Understanding Your Audience
The first step in publishing a newsletter is deciding who will receive it. Is everyone in the entire studio getting it? Or is it only for certain classes or students?
News for the dance studio probably isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. So, you have several options when it comes to catering to your audience.
To keep it simple, you can compose one newsletter but divide it into sections for various tiers. For instance, you could have a corner for preschoolers, a column for advanced teens, etc.
This method is best if you have limited time to devote to a newsletter. And it’s ideal if you plan to print copies of your newsletter to have on hand at the studio.
The alternative is to compose a couple of different newsletters. Then, segment your email list by newsletter version. Each group gets a newsletter better tailored to them, which comes across as more personal.
For convenience, you can use the same template for all newsletter versions. Keep your hours and contact information consistent on all versions by using headers and banners. You just have to change the body of the email for your different audiences.
It’s important to add a note here about digital privacy and security. Many people prefer to go paperless. However, 69% of consumers were concerned about privacy and how their data is collected. Keep that in mind when collecting email lists and other types of data.
Crafting Compelling Content for Your Dance Studio Newsletter
Before people read your email newsletter, they have to feel compelled to open it first. That means crafting subject lines that make people want to click to read more.
Always make the subject line pertain to something that is presented in more detail within the newsletter. Otherwise, people will think it’s clickbait and hit delete. You can use software programs or email services that track email open rates to see if your subject lines are working.
Some ideas to entice readers to open your newsletter include:
- Major announcements or congratulations
- Time-limited promotions or discounts
- Seasonal or holiday must-have information
- Invitations to events
- Surveys and opportunities for feedback
While your newsletter is a marketing element, you don’t want to make it too promotional. You’ve probably received emails from businesses that only seem interested in selling you something.
You likely felt they were only concerned with making money, not helping you. It’s okay to toot your studio’s horn occasionally. But for the most part, make your newsletter informative, not an overt sales pitch.
RELATED ARTICLE: 10 Dance Studio Marketing Ideas to Find Your Students
So, what valuable content could you include in your dance studio’s newsletter to engage readers in every issue? The opportunities are virtually unlimited:
- Interviews with staff and visiting teachers
- Interviews with famous dancers
- “Student of the Month” column
- Musical notes on soundtracks or live accompaniment
- Technique tips for different age groups
- Advice on purchasing dancewear and shoes
- News for parents (recitals, holiday hours, etc.)
- Injury prevention and fitness how-tos
- Performances to catch live or on TV
- Information about new classes or programs
- Audition and scholarship notices
- Dance activities to try at home
- Dance history anecdotes
- Suggestions for rules and etiquette
- Student and family testimonials
- Birthday and graduation congratulations
- School or dance team news and awards
RELATED ARTICLE: 11 Ideas for Celebrating the End of the Year at Your Dance Studio
Newsletter Design and Layout
You want your newsletter to be visually appealing and easy to skim through. Start by choosing a template that’s attractive and suits your brand.
Pick colors that match your logo and fonts that work for your unique studio.
For example, if you are an elite ballet academy, you may want something classic in traditional pink and black. But if your focus is hip-hop and contemporary, go for a more modern and vibrant look.
Be sure to incorporate space for images or videos, as dance is so visual by nature. Also, be sure your newsletter is mobile-responsive. That means it looks as good on a tablet or cell phone as it does on a computer screen.
Like your website, you want to pepper your newsletter with clear calls to action (CTAs). This encourages the reader to take a desired action, like:
- Sign up now
- Join here
- Learn more
- Purchase your copy
- Count me in
- Save my spot
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Other Considerations for Your Dance Studio Newsletter
What else do you need to think about when creating your studio’s newsletter? Once you’ve settled on your look and content, you’ll want to think about logistics and information flow.
Here are a few more ideas to help you make the most of both.
Set a Newsletter Calendar and Stick To It.
Decide how often you will email your newsletter and maintain that schedule religiously. People will count on your announced timetable and watch for the newsletter in their inbox.
If you have a smaller studio with a narrow focus, monthly or quarterly might be enough. If you’re segmenting your readers or you have a full roster of classes, weekly might be better.
Model Your Newsletter on a Newspaper for Ease of Use.
Your first few dance studio newsletter issues may be trial and error. But once you find a formula that works for you, don’t veer from it.
Ideally, you want to structure your newsletter like a newspaper. When you get a paper, you automatically know where to go for the sports, weather, and comics, right? Your newsletter should work the same way.
Like a newspaper, big news and announcements should be on the front page. In-depth stories fill the center of the newsletter. Use sidebars and banners for things like summer class hours or reminders about rehearsals and costume fittings.
Do you have a regular feature, like a student of the month or birthday announcements? Put them in the same location in every issue so readers can find them every time.
Consider Making the Newsletter Required Reading.
If you use your newsletter to convey vital information, it could be a rule that everyone must read it. Let families know why you do this:
- Parents will know about schedules for pick-up and drop-off.
- Pupils don’t miss extras like recitals or auditions.
- You won’t be overwhelmed with phone or text messages.
The newsletter can get everyone on the same page—like an online bulletin board that anyone can check anytime.
Leverage Technology for Newsletter Analysis.
Don’t forget to periodically evaluate your newsletter based on its goals. Are students showing up on time for rehearsals? Do you get fewer calls because people get their information from the newsletter?
You can also collect hard data using programs for analysis. We already mentioned tracking open rates above. How many people click through to your website? How many sign up for new programs? How has your student retention or revenue changed since starting your newsletter?
6 Dance Studio Newsletter Tips To Get You Started
If this article got you fired up about starting a dance studio newsletter, great! Here are a few final tips that will help you at the beginning:
- Be realistic about how often you can produce a newsletter. Always under-promise and over-deliver. It’s better to set a quarterly schedule and keep to it than to fall behind on monthly newsletters.
- Not sure what your audience wants in a newsletter? Survey them. Ask students and parents what they would find interesting and helpful.
- Keep a lot of white space on the page. This is known as “verticality.” It will make your studio newsletter easier to read because the eye can travel better down the page. Keep fonts basic for the main sections, and avoid using more than two or three max.
- Use color blocking or boxes to delineate different sections. This will also make it simpler for people to find necessary information. One long page full of type will make your newsletter look like it came from the dawn of the internet. That’s not a good thing.
- Keep your newsletter positive. It’s not the place to scold or call out rule breakers. You can reinforce manners and protocols without making anyone feel bad.
- Make your newsletter part of your overall marketing strategy, not a separate entity. Share it on social media, and vice versa—include social media posts in your newsletter when appropriate. The goal is to create an integrated campaign to bolster retention and boost enrollment. That’s the key to greater revenue and increased profits.
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