Day Thirteen - This Week in ATCS

Every week I am publishing some of the comments made in the hidden Facebook group (ATCS) with the 47 teachers and students working together on building their Alexander Technique businesses. Some of the comments are public, and the rest are in the paid area of my blog. You can join us now for less than the cost of one Alexander lesson with me a month. On: Can Alexander Technique Teachers Ever Be Widely Successful? Yes it's possible, very possible. If I didn't believe that, I would pack and leave. My understanding though is our profession needs a systemic change of a tall order. Marj did the groundwork is producing a teaching technology that is the core of BodyChance's marketing reach. That, coupled together with advanced business and marketing technology - is how you do it. But it's industrial. That means it takes a clear strategy, a good amount of time, well planned and actioned steps, and a determination based on a deep seated passion. Almost all AT teachers have the latter, very few the former. You need constant, regular support and that is the purpose of ATCS - to give you clarity, keep you focused and put you on task daily. On The Difference Between An Avatar and A Niche The relationship between niche and avatar, is that one is about the activity interest (music, golf, pain relief) the other is about the person. Lots of different kinds of people enjoy similar things, but sometimes for different reasons. Think of "driving cars" as a massive niche (like "computer workers") then you have people who want cars for prestige, convenience, travel, acceptance etc. etc. So find the niche first, then the avatars within it. The avatar exercise was to quickly help people in the AT niche quickly identify the kind of people coming to them so they could/can find more of them immediately! Longer term though - find your niche, then your avatars within that niche. On How Long To Research Your Niche There's a famous saying from Abraham Lincoln that answers this question: "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." BUT, another biz school that I follow suggests the following approach: "Ready - Fire - Aim." So if there is a simple way you can test interest, THAT is part of sharpening the ax. You're talking research methods here - which one will be the easiest and most fruitful to do? On How Content Marketing Works By writing "coming to the same class" from different "content marketing" processes - I mean you might invite Ballet dancers into a sequence of emails on issues only of concern to them e.g. "How to do position X without having Y happen" but they will still eventually go into your learning groups with other dancers. You don't have to create a separate "ballet" group, but you do need to create a separate "ballet" group series of content marketing emails. On SEO, OAO, CTA and Acronyms Generally I would remind people not to get too caught up in the acronyms, but keep thinking about WHO. IS. READING. YOUR. BLOG. The more you blog about issues you know often occupy the minds of your reader - the more you will be read. It's simple. In terms of FaceBook/blog - FaceBook is a party, blog is settling down with a book. Talk about your book at the party. Twitter is bumping into someone in the street and inviting them to your party, or telling them about your book. I don't bother with twitter, because my constituency is easy to reach through FaceBook. It's going to be different for all of you. On Getting A First Time Student To Continue With Lessons Getting her to a clear yes or not, that's all you can do. We had a similar problem with bellydancers (if this is the problem) that they had enough money for bellydancing or BodyChance, but not both. Of course their passion won out because we were not niched to bellydancing. On How Many Lessons To Have Groups solve the problem of the "how many lessons do I need?" question because you offer a "system" with lots of escape hatches and start them on a trial basis. More on that as we go on this month... On All The Challenges That I Face You're waking up to the necessities - just as a student first feels they are worse, not better, when they start lessons. The remaining comments are more specific to the teachers currently in my coaching group, so I kept private. Continuing the blog next week on "To Blog or Not To Blog - What Do I Need To Do To Build My Group Teaching?" [NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid area describing practical ways to implement what has been described above in a Facebook group with 47 other teachers and students. You can join anytime to be part of their discussions.]

*On Defining A Niche It doesn't matter about going wide - when you're specific, you will still attract other people. This is Basil Kritzer's experience in Japan, and I don't see why it would be any different in USA. Speak to one people, one set of needs, one performance context. Your message will be powerful and attract others. Diluting it will not do that, but if you see a common thread of these disparate groups that you can talk to specifically in a unified way, well - go for it! *On Building A Website Any website has about 3/4 pages that attract 80% of the traffic, so please don't obsess too much on getting everything perfect. Start first by creating ONE PAGE, your landing/home page where you 1. Introduce YOU (with the emphasis on your "story" that relates to your niche; 2. Have a juicy invitation to your EDUCATIONAL free "content marketing" email mag that they can join. That CTA and page IS ALL YOU NEED right now to get going. *What Is Your Website’s Primary Function – A Commentary of A Members Website Be happy you got your new website done, now it's time continue the work! We celebrate HURRY! then we go back to work... Your USP “Live Your Dance” is not prominent - it took ages for your site to load as it is top heavy in images, so I didn't see it till the final pic appeared. Ditto about place and contact details. To make a clear critique - please post the niche you are aiming for. The offer for your email list is weak AND IT IS PRIORITY NUMBER ONE. It might work for people already going to you, but it isn't appealing to newbies until you sell them. So now is the time to sell them. Did I say it is the most important thing of your website? People visit and leave the site: you want to be sure to capture their details BEFORE THEY GO. Use your USP to get them to be interested enough to join. I am not a dancer, but my question for you: what is the benefit for me when I "live my dance"? That's not clear, and if you want me to go to you instead of many other "movers" what is it about you that I can not get anywhere else? I want to know that before I am going to join your email list. In fact, I want to know that THIS IS WHAT I WILL GET when I join your email list. Give, give, give. The new saying - the longer you take to ask for their money, the more money you will end up with. *On A Basic Design for a Generic Group Simple though: AT warm-up/game/group activity (get them to arrive, wake up their brains to AT); maybe a theme depending on niche; student activities (70~80% lesson content) and whenever there is an activity during this time -that the group can explore - doing that, even into breakaway groups if possible; ending game/summary/idea. Send them home with a task (sometimes). *On How To Test A Workshop Title Growing Young With Grace. Nice Jann - keep testing it. Have you got baby boomers on your email list Kit? Can you track how many people open your emails? Then you could use this as a Subject heading, and see if you got more openings than usual. *On How Do You Test Marketing Lines? If you REALLY want to know which one to use, the only way is to test it. This a song I have singing for Jennifer and Kit's questions about naming your biz, finding a hook etc. How do you test? Use google adds. Set up SEVEN google adds aimed at dentists using those different wordings and discovering which one has the best CTR (click through rate) and THAT is the one you use. Capice? *A New Download of Games for Members A booklet on games Alexander teachers can used, kindly supplied by Imogen, who got it from two (unnamed trainees) in Daria Okugawa’s with Imogen. Feel free to download and use: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/238694966294877/ *On Blogging Your Ideas Spoken in the Facebook Group By blogging I mean addressing to the issues you know dancers care about. Blogging is how you will initially get them to study with you - make it so compelling, relevant and fascinating so that they definitely want to get on your mail list and will then immediately respond to your CTA (Call To Action) for a live event which you will then use to enroll them in your systematically created course that you designed by the very blogging that got them to come. Capice? *On How To Manage Time I analyze my time in how much per hour I am earning. If I am writing marketing copy for ProCourse, then I am earning $10,000 per hour. If I am paying bills, about $20 per hour. Cleaning the house after the kids - $10 per hour. Not that I begrudge the low paying jobs - it just helps to be aware what is making my income, what is not. Ultimately you can find a PA to delegate jobs that other people can do, and use your time to generate income to pay them and you! Julie - maybe time to hire a cleaner at least? https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/