Marketing a Pilates Studio

Q:My fiance has recently started a Pilates studio in Central NJ, USA. The area has been good to us, she turned a profit the first month and after only 4 months in business, the studio is running at about 80% capacity. I attribute the success partly to the right location (we are in the middle of a Serenity Center, in an affluent area of NJ), partly to our guerilla marketing efforts ( we distributed our brochures and flyers in an area we deemed likely to be visited by our target clients [spas, hair salons, etc]) and mostly to the fact that my fiance is an amazing people-person who connects well with people and makes a sale by tailoring her message to each potential client and always taking the time with each potential client. A lot of our new clients are arriving because of the great "word-of-mouth effect" and because we offer 10% Referral Discount to all the current clients.

A:Sounds like ur doing a lot of things right. You're smart for preparing for changing market dynamics within your product life cycle ahead of time. You May want to: Short term: 1) Check out 'Vertical Portals' in which you can use directory style promotions to aid your online efforts. (I should be able to look up your service in your town online and locate you through several directories and associations) 2) Brainstorm various 'Viral Marketing' methods to apply to your efforts. (Systematically fuel your word of mouth promotion) 3) Begin Building stronger brand identity while building value perception at the same time by enhancing your company image. You want to think in terms of a) person-as-hero approaches (person being your wife... she should continue learning, writing, lecturing, touring etc) Improved Corporate Identity (Better targeted USP, Logo, Corporate Culture) and Take on a womens cause while you're at it ;). Medium Term: Since we know that spas attract a very targeted demographic, (according to a 2001 ISPA study, the majority of spa users are female, age 41 to 45, married, college graduates or higher, and employed full-time with an average income of $96,000 to $125,000.) Focus on several sub-niches and consider the use of Highly targeted mailing lists to the above in your area... Develop Several series of slightly discounted programs to extend your grip on clients throughout a expanded time frame...basically give them reasons to commit for longer times Make (keep) radical focus on the clients a part of your business style. Long Term: Be prepared to change before you have to by building research (or report cards if you will) into your systems where ever you can, keep watch on the trends and competitors, and be ready to introduce to market new programs as needed to counteract a stemming off of the growing popularity (or critical mass) of your core product. I admit that I didn't look at the website. I agree with McWebber's comments even without looking. Wondering: why do you even want to advertise something as local as an exercise studio on the web? I'd (try to) find out what the intended clientele read in way of newspapers or magazines, and what they are likely to watch on TV (if local advertising can be had, I know we can here, especially on cable - network TV is Honolulu dominated)