We’ve blogged before about how piano teachers wear many different hats… at times it can feel like we do more of the “other stuff” than actually teaching piano! But we’re here with one more task to add to your weekly work.. and it could be the one thing that makes all the difference to your piano teaching studio.
Advertise The Piano… Not Just Your Lessons
If there’s one thing Piano Teachers spend time thinking about, it’s how to get new piano students. But in the quest to advertise and market for new piano students, we forget that advertising the piano is just as important as is advertising our piano lessons.
Why?
Can you imagine if every parent in the world was regularly informed of the benefits of piano lessons? If the documented and proven cognitive, social, and emotional benefits of piano lessons were something everyone came across regularly in their day-to-day activities? If every piano teacher in the world spent just a few minutes of their week advertising the piano, not just lessons? I have a feeling the benefits would be felt by every piano teacher around the world.
I was reminded of this very thought this morning as I chatted with some moms at my toddler’s playgroup. One of them, not knowing that I was a piano teacher, went into great depth explaining to me her surprise in hearing from a friend that early childhood piano lessons benefit mathematical abilities. This was clearly the first time she had heard this information – and as a young mom of a 4 year old, she probably hadn’t needed to pay attention to these facts ever before. Not only was she totally stoked about her new-found knowledge, but she was sharing it with all of the moms in the playgroup with enthusiasm… many of whom also looked surprised at this news. It was super for me that my WunderKeys Piano for Preschoolers poster also happened to be located in that same room (and that I could then introduce myself as the piano studio owner in the area!) but it really got me thinking about how I had seemingly somehow dropped the ball in informing my community about this well-known fact.
Make the Commitment… It Won’t Take Long
We live in an age where the single click of a computer mouse can literally reach hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of hours. And while you may not have an extensive social network, all of us do have a word-of-mouth network… and sometimes this is even more powerful than anything on-screen.
And so we’re challenging you to choose to do one of these three action items every single week, and we’re betting you’ll start to see the pay-offs; more committed piano students, more interest in piano lessons and better retention rates. Because anyone who was completely and regularly informed about what a wonderful thing piano education can be would feel very strongly about having their children involved. What could be better?!
Choose One of These Action Items
1. Commit to sharing one “fact” every single week – This can be as simple as a post on your studio (or your personal) Facebook page, Twitter Feed or Google+ account. Make graphics to share on your timeline… tweet out articles… change your cover photo to an amazing stat… the possibilities are endless. You can also send it as an email to your studio, blog about it on your website or hand it out as a part of a newsletter to your studio families.
2. Stay current and up to date with recent research – the benefits of music are well-documented and the results of the most current research are regularly released to the news. Spend a portion of one day a week searching Google for the latest and greatest to be able to continue to share this information with your community. Be careful what facts you choose to share by ensuring that you are getting your information from reliable and well-trusted sources.
3. Live it! Being relevant, unique and involved makes you more of a trusted authority on the subject of the benefits of music education. If your clients and your community can see that you yourself are on the cutting edge of music education, they’re more likely to take what you tell them to heart. (Pssst… you’re off to a great start by reading this blog!) Consider being involved in our international music events like Return to Music Day (coming up!!), search out the latest and greatest in resources and devote yourself to being a true expert in the field of teaching piano to kids.
And We Wouldn’t Be “Us” if We Didn’t Get You Started!
1. Here’s a sample Facebook newsfeed image and cover photo that could be used to get started on the fun that is advertising the piano.
Sample Newsfeed Share-able:
Sample Facebook Cover Photo (sized to 851 x 315)
2. Below are four examples of great articles with information on how music lessons benefit kids…just to get you started. There are literally hundreds out there just like these…
Music Lessons Improve Kids’ Brain Development…
Making Music Makes Children Nicer
Sorry, Kids, Piano Lessons Make You Smarter
Music Education Can Help Children Improve Reading Skills
Go for it! Are you with me?!
If we all take this to heart and truly spend some effort en masse promoting not only our own piano lessons, but the piano in general, the world will be a better place (and not just for piano teachers!) So…are you with me?
Great article! This is something we ALL should be doing, whether our intention is to expand our studio or not. Parents will surely appreciate this information.
Hi Nancy – thanks for commenting! I think parents will appreciate having this information… and if we don’t tell them… who will?! 🙂 Happy teaching!
Brilliant idea and thanks so much for the examples! Already posted first onto my FB page – the rest are lined up ready to go over the next few days. Thank you!
Go Rebecca go! 🙂 Love that you’ve started already!!
Thanks again for another great idea and inspiration!
I would love to be able to share your picture and the articles but I don’t know how to do it. Perhaps one of my teen students can help. 🙂 I love your blog. So many helpful ideas!
Hi Jan – we share all of our images on Pinterest – and from there you can right click and “save as” or, if you’re on a mac, drag them onto your desktop. We actually have a Pinterest board called “Piano Teacher Share-ables”! If you’re not on Pinterest… you’ve got to check it out. It’s Piano Teacher heaven 😉 http://www.pinterest.com/teachpianotoday/boards/
OK. I will see if someone can show me how to get on there. I’m still waiting for a friend to help me use the books I ordered from you. At the moment they dwell happily on my desktop. Thanks for all of your help and great ideas!
I always stress to the parents of my students special advantages of playing the piano, because it so multidimensional: you read horizontally and vertically in two clefs, develop bylateral abilities,besides general benefits of learning to play music. I just don’t know how to take this information beyond my studio.
Hi Milla – sharing articles or quotes on your studio or personal Facebook page is a great start. If you don’t have a Facebook page, then print out attractive posters and hang them in your studio, rotating them frequently so they’re always fresh. These kinds of posters have their place on public bulletin boards too! We can advertise the piano just as you would advertise your lessons. Being a vocal advocate for piano too is another great way – many people just don’t know the documented benefits! Consider writing an article to your local small newspapers etc. There are lots of ways… and if we make a conscious effort as a (huge!) group to do this we can really make a big difference!
Wonderful ideas and good point about focusing on the piano! You make such lovely facebook shareables. Do you use any particular websites or programs to make them? 🙂 As always, thanks for the great articles and resources.
Hi April – check out fotolia.com for access to stock photos.
Some more really good tips, thank you – I love the idea of shareables with the benefits of taking piano lessons on rather than just focusing on the teacher/services.
Great article, I have had a number of parents mention to me over the years the advantages of playing the piano and how that helps to give the kids a little bit of a leg up in the mathematics department, especially for younger children. The one thing that I think piano playing does help is that it gives that discipline to young children and more importantly coordination. I also like your ideas on sharing and will be looking more into this in the coming months, thanks again.
Hi Andrea, I really appreciate you sharing this information with us and all the information I’ve found in your blog. I’ve been very shy to publish and to grow my own private studio since I’ve worked always for music schools. But with articles like this one I’m encouraged and motivated to try your suggestions. Particularly, this article helped me identify ways in which I can communicate to parents the benefits of learning piano in young children. Thank you again!!!!
Hi Aiko – so happy to hear it was helpful and encouraging 🙂