Marketing Q&A

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    • #6390

      Meredith Pizzi

      Keymaster

    • #6472

      Christine Heaps

      Participant

      Do you have questions about how to market your Sprouting Melodies program? Ask them here!

    • #6672

      Kate St. John

      Participant

      I am very discouraged and need some help/direction/encouragement. I own NeuroRhythm Music Therapy Services in Colorado Springs and we launched SM in November 2014. We just started our 3rd round of 6 week classes, but still no new families have signed up. We only have 2 people who have been with us since we launched: one is a client who receives MT with us as well, and the other is the typically developing brother of a client who comes here for MT. In our first 6 week session, we had one drop-in (paid) who found our website and absolutely loved the class. They said they planned to sign up for more classes. I sent a follow up email but never heard from them again.

      We have custom designed SM marketing postcards, a SM page on our website with subpages that have more info, we announced the launch as well as upcoming classes on facebook and twitter, and we have a pinterest board about early childhood music classes with links to our website and Raising Harmony. One of our staff is the social media coordinator who posts fairly regularly about SM. Another staff is the SM coordinator and has a specific time each week dedicated to SM marketing. We have done one presentation to a MOPS group and have tried to secure more, but the other MOPS and MOMs club groups are booked so instead we are dropping off SM postcards. Next we are targeting homeschooling groups, YMCA’s, libraries, daycares and preschools. We’ve also thought about dropping off materials to baby retail stores. Our MT clients are very supportive and have given out SM postcards but no new families have come in from that yet.

      So we’ve put in a lot of time, resources and finances into all the marketing materials and legwork since September leading up to the November launch, but have not grown one bit. I don’t know what else to do. Any advice/thoughts? Please also give feedback on our marketing materials from our website and pinterest.

      website: http://www.neurorhythm.com/sproutingmelodies
      pinterest (see the early childhood music board): http://www.pinterest.com/neurorhythm

      Thank you for your support!
      Kate St. John

    • #6693

      Meredith Pizzi

      Moderator

      Hi Kate,
      First of all I am totally impressed with your Pinterest Page! You have obviously put a lot of effort into developing those boards. Have you tried doing demo groups? We had a great call about that last week and it is a great way to get people in the door and experiencing your program. We offer Test Drives. If you can get people to experience the class, not just see a link about it online I think that will make a big difference. When you did the MOPS group, did you do a parent presentation, or a parent child music making demo? I always find that making music and showing parents how their little one will respond works better than talking about it. If you can set up a demo at a library or community center, you can also capitalize on their network and marketing channels. I do a library program once a month and it serves as a great feeder to our weekly classes. We’ve also looked for oppotunities to do community music concerts for little ones and we always offer a coupon for a discount on the next session. I will say that it sometimes takes a little while. Remember people don’t generally commit to something the very first time they hear about it. They commit to it after they have heard about it a number of times and experience it. Expanding the Neurorhythm reputation to include early childhood music classes will take some time, but as you expand you will develop a reputation for both. I would be curious to hear if you’ve tried demos and what your experience has been with that. Also are there any resource fairs for young children in your area? This is the time when preschools are marketing for next school year and you might be able to get a table and a demo set up.
      I would encourage you to connect with baby stores, and offer to do a music program in their store! 30 minutes maybe, and give out your postcards and coupons! Better yet – Get a newsletter list circulating and email the coupon code! Send them to your website directly from the email.

      Also, about the pinterest page, I’m curious to know if you have ever seen any increase in paid clients or enrollments from pinterest ads. My experience is that people aren’t on pinterest to buy. I think targeted facebook or google ads would be better. I’m working with a company here figuring out all of the kinks with our boston groups so that we can expand it to all of our providers, and I’d be happy to talk with you about how we are running those ads and see if that would help you more than Pinterest.

      I’m clicking follow-up, so let’s continue the conversation!!
      Meredith

    • #6694

      Anonymous

      Inactive

      Hi Kate,

      I am also impressed with what you have done so far!

      I would second what Meredith said about how it takes many times of connecting with someone before they make a commitment to something. I was told, in the business world, it takes up to 7 follow-ups before someone makes a final decision. That was actually recommended to me after I had done a free music class at a local children’s consignment shop and I got four mom’s who signed up for a free phone consult. I called them all and no one called back. I was encouraged to call them at least three more times and make it a quick call to say something like “Hey, I know as a Mom you are super busy. Let’s talk briefly so we can set up a time for you to have a free consult and see how my business can be of service to you.”

      Meredith had encouraged me to connect with local children’s business and offer a free music class. The one I spoke about above brought out 12 caregivers and their children. Out of that I got the 4 to sign up for a free phone consultation. I have also offered to give free presentations at a local pre-school on how to add music into their home. In exchange, I get to make a offer like a free consultation or a $ amount off their first session or free registration.

      I am currently connecting with the local Macaroni Kid in my area. The cost to advertise with them is very reasonable here and they are always looking to partner with local business to do a free demonstration for their subscribers. The one in my area reaches 2000 families through their e-news mailings and Facebook page.

      Another thing that was recommended to me, that I am in the works of doing, is creating a “list” of people, with their permission, to start e-newsletters and emailings about topics that would be of interest and/or helpful to them or families they know. I am hoping that this not only is of use to people on my list but it will get my name out and hopefully I will get potential clients or people who will refer potential clients.

      I am really glad you posted this to the board! I know this is an area I need to start working more on myself!

      I look forward to hearing what you find works for your company!

      Erika

    • #6695

      Kate St. John

      Participant

      Thanks Meredith and Erika for the feedback and ideas!
      By the way, before I posted my first post, I listened to the last two SM Provider calls about marketing and demo classes.

      I have never payed for any ads on social media. The only one I might do in the future is facebook.

      We’ve only been able to do 1 presentation so far and it was to a MOPS group, but the one we have coming up is for a MOM’s club group where part of it will be a demo with their kids. All the other related programs are booked so we’ve just dropped off our postcards.

      I have it in the plans to do a newsletter sign-up and resource fairs, but that’s a little further in the future than the other things we can do right now. Baby stores are on the list but one of them (Gymboree) already told us we cannot leave our materials there or in any way market/demo, etc. because it’s against their corporate policies. But Babies R Us is on the list and we haven’t contacted them yet.

      We currently have an early bird discount and a 1 time drop-in higher rate, but we don’t currently offer free classes, demos, or coupons. I have a real hang-up about providing anything for free at this stage in my business because our time is valuable and you get people taking advantage or not seeing the value in something when it’s free. Also I still have to pay my staff and can’t justify free services with no guarantee on return investment. Essentially I would be paying the families for a free class because I would still pay my staff! I can’t get past that and don’t know if I will ever feel comfortable with that. But I could see maybe doing a coupon for their first class.

      I guess I was under the impression that SM would grow so much faster than MT because of how successful it’s been for Meredith and Beth, and because we have a significantly larger target market as well as better access to finances for early childhood than we do for MT. So maybe I had unrealistic expectations? Any more ideas/feedback?

      Thanks!

    • #6696

      Meredith Pizzi

      Moderator

      Kate, I will try to be organized in my response here, but I want to try to respond to as many things as possible.
      I’m glad you’ve been able to listen in to the recordings. What do you think of the idea folks brought up to charge for a demo class and then apply that fee to the cost of registering for a session? That does value your time, and covers your costs, and attracts folks that are willing to pay for a valuable service, rather than people looking to take advantage of a freebie.
      Related to paid ads, I didn’t mean to suggest that you were paying for pinterest ads, but technically, it is costing you to have someone on our staff focus on creating and maintaining a presence on that platform, and as visual boards, they are in effect ads for your company. And while they may increase visibility, your ROI on time (and money) spent there may not be as valuable.
      What does MOPS stand for? What other groups have you looked into that are booked? Keep in mind your target audience and think about where these moms and dad’s gather. Have you found any nursing support groups? babywearing support groups? parents of multiples support groups? For local retail stores, are there any small independent baby retailers around? The parents who will seek out your group will probably be the same parents who would drive further to a local baby store than go to Babies R Us. That being said, I just noticed in our Babies R Us that they were doing some parent events. As far as target market, the parents who seek out our class are most often first time parents, both parents working, highly educated 50% or more have graduate degrees, and they care a lot about the quality of education and early childhood experience they provide for their children and they want to share, play and engage with their kids. The question is how you can you find those parents in your community? Also, have you connected with local early intervention (0-3) services? We often get referrals from them. Sometimes connecting with pediatricians or developmental psychologies who do evaluations can be great resources for referrals. You can leave printed materials in their lobbies and make sure the providers knows who you are?
      I understand your reluctance to offer anything for free, however, there is a time and place for investing your time, or your staff’s time to increase your visibility. It’s through community involvement and being seen and recognized as someone who is willing to give, share and contribute in your community that your reputation in early childhood circles will grow. The library programs I do get paid for, and we usually are able to charge something for community music events, but sometimes the rate is lower because I recognize that the promotional value is worth it to my business.
      Unrealistic expectations? It depends on how long you thought it would take to develop a solid following. Sprouting Melodies can definitely help you increase your revenues and it is a significantly larger market, but if I’ve learned anything in my last 10 years in business and starting 3 businesses along the way, nothing in business is a quick fix. You have a reputation in your area for a specific service and now you are branching out to a new market and service and it does take time to develop those connections. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to grow your connections, grow your network, build your reputation for early childhood and get people in the door!! You will never get a 100% conversion rate for anything, music therapy services or Sprouting Melodies, so you need put out a ton of touch points and invite them in, again and again and again. And even once you get things going, kids age out, so you need to continue to market to the new families in your target audience. Early childhood is always developing. That said, we have many families returning now with their 2nd and 3rd children, so that helps, and they continue to tell everyone they meet about the class. (And about our other services!)
      Remember you have to give to receive! Be generous with your knowledge and passion for music and young children in your community. Be will to give parents a credit if they refer others, give discounts to get people in the door and consider using the time of your team as an investment in growing the program.
      More thoughts?? 🙂

    • #6697

      Christine Heaps

      Participant

      Hi Kate,
      I’m sorry to hear that you’re frustrated. I became a Sprouting Melodies Provider in February 2014 and didn’t have my first paid family until June 2014. For one month, I had just one mom/baby. The class was at an independently owned baby store. In July, the group had three moms/babies. Two of those moms (one a friend, the other an acquaintance) I contacted personally. Do you have any friends/acquaintances with babies/toddlers? My first mom was a part of a moms Facebook group. She hasn’t been able to come much but actually advertises for me some times on the Moms Group Facebook page. Since then, 90% of my “drop-ins” have head about SM because of that moms group on Facebook.

      I have had many “free” demo classes and have become annoyed by the people who come just for something free and who are not interested in SM. I started charging $5 for a demo class and have still had people come! However, I have not received any new signups recently. I am thinking about having a demo class every 2-3 months and putting up flyers everywhere advertising for the demo class. My current classes are at a local kids play place called Connect 5 Family Center. They print flyers for me and tell new families about SM classes. I also offer SM classes through a neighboring town’s Park and Rec Department.

      Hope this helps!

    • #6718

      Anonymous

      Inactive

      Hey Kate,

      I was thinking and wanted to post last week, but got so busy didn’t have a chance to get back. If I remember correctly, you are in Colorado Springs. I have a ton of friends who lived there at one time or another, because of the military. We have a few participants in the trainings who are military wives and they have shared how the military families need a community pretty badly since they move so much. If you could tap into their community and be a place for them to come together I think this would be a great resource for you.

      I also wanted to share I have, officially, been offering SM for 1 year! In that time I have had a handful of “1 timers” and then about 6 families who have been really committed to the program. I have not done as much as I would like to bring in new families. Mostly because I am a Full Time Mom and part time business. But, in the year I have slowly connected with these 6 families and they really value the program. I have also spent this year doing a lot of networking and I can see that this is starting to pay off, slowly, but still paying off. So, I am confident as time goes on my program will grow. I think the same will be for all of us!

      I hope we can all continue to stay in touch and share things that are working! I got some great ideas from what you have done and others too!

      Erika

    • #6744

      Kate St. John

      Participant

      Thanks everyone for all your input and ideas. I’m sure this is a common concern among all of us so I was also glad to see an email that went out about this recently. Meredith, MOPS stands for Mothers of Pre-Schoolers. We definitely try to focus our attention on groups where parents would be looking for community activities with their kids. We have tried or planned to try most of your ideas. We will probably add a first class discount and a military discount but I don’t want to offer anything for free or to apply toward registration. We don’t have a registration fee and I don’t see the need for it at this point because our registration is all computerized so it doesn’t take us hardly any time to process.

      We may start looking into doing SM at a library 1x/month like Meredith, but we only offer clinic-based services so I am concerned that offering this in the community may spread our staff too thin and also may give parents the impression that we can do community-based services. What do you think?

      Good points about needing to keep at it. Erika I don’t know why I didn’t think about targeting military groups, especially since we have 5 military bases here! One of my staff had a good idea about setting up a table outside a baby store like girl scout cookies do, where we can have handouts and tell them to come back at a certain time for a demo (1-2 songs every 30min or 1hr). That would be if the baby stores don’t allow us to do something in their store.

      Is there a way to have this forum alert us through email when there are posts because I have not been on this forum since we were assigned to do postings during the training. If we knew through email that there are posts, it would probably help to keep us all involved.

      Thanks!

    • #6745

      Anonymous

      Inactive

      Hey Kate,

      On the very bottom of this page, underneath “Tags” is a box you can click and it will send you notifications when people post on this thread. There is one in each new topic in this forum too.

    • #8853

      Christine Heaps

      Participant

      (I originally posted this in Shout-outs, because I was so proud of myself for finally doing this! I guess it is more of a marketing topic, though!)
      Hey Everybody! So far I have been a little hesitant to sign-up to be vendor at an event. It seems like it would be a great marketing opportunity, but I have never really felt “ready” to do that. I have no idea what I was waiting for, but I guess I’m ready now. I signed up for my first event on March 19. I will let you know how it goes! Have you done marketing events?

    • #9072

      Christine Heaps

      Participant

      Hey Everybody!
      Here are Meredith’s Trade Show Tips as discussed in our March 2016 Conference Call. You can also download a PDF here.

      Trade Show Tips
      1. Communicate. Send a pre-event notice to your entire database of clients and prospects. Be sure to include your booth number for the event! i.e. forward the Expo Emails to at least 10 clients. Let your customers know about a special giveaway at the Expo and the companies exhibiting.
      2. Have a goal. Clearly define the objectives you hope to achieve. Write them down. It could be making contacts in the community (how many do you hope to make), taking orders (again, set a goal of how many orders you hope to get), setting appointments, shaking hands or whatever. Just make sure you have some sort of goal or objective for the show. At the very least, decide to bring back x-number of business cards.
      3. Work the booth. Many booths are left unmanned for long periods of time. Try and have someone at your booth at all times. Don’t sit at your booth. Be approachable and friendly. Create a reason for people to come up to your booth (a raffle, free gifts, candy).
      4. Business Cards/Flyers. Have a healthy supply of business cards and your basic sales brochure or flyer at your booth at all times. Remember, too much material is often wasted printing. A basic representation of your product line is the best, with a promise to mail more specific information to those interested. Collect information from the attendees (email addresses, phone numbers)–a drawing for a prize is common to collect this info.
      5. Dress professionally but be comfortable. Wear comfortable shoes and try to stand as much as you can. Rarely do people have much success sitting down while attendees (prospects) walk by. Be aggressive but not annoying.
      6. Be happy! Nobody wants to talk to someone who looks intimidating, bored or unfriendly, so make sure you smile at everyone. Act like you want to be there and are happy to meet them.
      7. Condense your message. You cannot do your usual sales presentation in just the few seconds you will have to spend with attendees. Let them know in a nutshell what you do and how you can help them. Tell them what to do next–call, visit your website, come by your store, etc.
      8. Acknowledge booth visitors. Many times you will get an influx of booth visitors and it can get overwhelming to talk to everyone. Try your best not to exclude a visitor because you are already engaged in conversation with another visitor. Say “hello” to booth visitors, even if it’s brief while you finish your conversation with the other booth visitor(s).
      9. Always be engaged. If traffic slows and you get bored, find someone to engage. Talk to the vendor next to you or the next attendee coming down the aisle. Do not sit around looking bored. Do not check your cell phone messages or make calls or play Tetris. Talk to somebody about your business.
      10. Arrive early! Be ready when the doors open. Be sure your booth is staffed at all times until the show closes.
      11. Eliminate physical barriers. Make it open and inviting. Place the table in the back, or along the side. Get out from behind the table; invite people into your booth to sit/stand/talk.
      12. Giveaways. Raffles, contests, and activities will make your booth inviting to visit. Use your imagination!
      13. Survival Kit. Before you leave the office, plan and pack a ‘survival kit’ for the event. This survival kit should include, Collateral: Extra business cards, Extra promotional materials, Notepads and pens for each staff member to keep proper track of contacts made, promises for follow-up information and anything else that needs to be remembered for post-show action.
      14. Ask questions. Ask questions about a prospective client’s own business or business needs. The more you get them talking about themselves, the longer they stay at your booth before moving on – and the more you learn about their needs, the better you can promote solutions.
      15. Follow up. A trade show is only as good as the sales it generates. As you meet attendees or other prospects who give you their business cards or information, make notes on the back and then follow up via email or call them for coffee. If you have a tradeshow list or a fishbowl full of attendee’s contact information, send them a postcard with a special trade show discount.

    • #10627

      Christine Heaps

      Participant

      Hey SMP’s!
      I have a marketing question for you. It seems we are in the season of holiday boutiques! Have you ever had a booth at one? I would like to have a booth at one in December. I was thinking of selling gift certificates for Sprouting Melodies classes and maybe have a drawing for a “music gift” of some sort. It seems that most of the vendors at boutiques have actual products to sell so I wasn’t sure if this would be an appropriate venue. What do you think? Have you been a vendor at a holiday boutique? I would love to hear about your experiences! Thanks!

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