Here’s some ideas for Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

All of us want to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to grow our businesses. But this is especially tricky for dance studio owners. First, Black Friday and Cyber Monday don’t have to be only one day. However, having a timetable on it does increase the interest in the deal. But how do you, as a semester-based studio owner run your specials without creating the havoc below:

  1. Pissing off your current customers: If you are offering 50% off for all new students, how will the students who started in September feel.
  2. Having a 50% sale in December (or any other discount for that matter) can condition families to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to register in the first place.

Here are some ideas to take advantage of both heavy spending days and give your current and potential students the gift of dance!

Big Ideas for Black Friday:

  1. Offer a new kind of class: Create a special new class where you can wildly cut rates: For example, offer a Dance Exploration Workshop Series and offer it at half price for all new and returning students. In this class, you could expose your students to a new teacher and style every week. Every Saturday you bring either a new teacher (specialist) or one of your current teachers to teach a class in their style. Like the rest of your classes, you can charge a flat rate for the Spring Term, or you can charge a drop-in rate for students who want to try out the series. You could even split this into three categories, beginner, intermediate, and advanced for all your students no matter what level they are. By adding this weekend workshop, you expose students to new styles potentially leading them to sign up for more classes, and it gives them a break from the same classes that they take week to week. Your students will be happier and more motivated as the semester progresses PLUS you can get new students that can sample all your genres of dance.
  2. Offer a masterclass at 25% or 50% off! What a great holiday gift for a dance family to give to the dancer in their life.

A little too huge to offer right now? Here is a list of smaller ways to discount and still create goodwill for everyone!

Smaller Ideas for Black Friday:

  1. Discount your dancewear by 50% (up to December 5th)
  2. Discount costumes paid in full (if paid by December 5th)
  3. Discount an extra class by 50% (if paid in full by December 5th)
  4. Discount one class for new students by 25% if paid in full. Offer current families a discount on one of their current classes IF THEY PAY IN FULL by December 5th—cash or checks only so you don’t have to pay the credit card fee.

Happy holidays everyone! Here’s to a great second term!