30 "Marketing" Ideas for Yoga Teachers
Even Krishnamacharya did marketing. In fact, he would stop his heart as a marketing exercise, refusing to teach it to his son Desikachar, saying it was a gimmick just to get attention for yoga.
To anyone with a bit of sensitivity, ‘marketing’ is a word with a lot of negative associations. It evokes sleazy tactics, relentless ads, profiteering, and whole buildings full of people trying to make you feel bad about yourself so you will buy more useless stuff.
But in essence, like most things, it is a neutral activity. The dictionary defines it as “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services.”
We are just traumatised because most of the products and services are invented purely for profit, not actually beautiful or useful, and are often actively harmful, even.
If we happen to find ourselves holding some kind of cultural treasure, like yoga, and we are offering it to others in a public way, then we do need to let people know somehow. And therefore we are probably already engaged in some form of marketing.
A signpost on a nearby tree… telling a friend to invite their anxious aunt along… all can be described as marketing.
The difference is that we are not trying to manipulate people into wasting their money on something they neither want nor need. And because 99% of the noise out there IS trying to manipulate people into something they neither want nor need, and because in our dissociated state we are very manipulable (searching for the solution to our feelings of alienation and existential dread), we are traumatised by marketing.
And if we truly don’t want to use that word - we can say “getting the word out"“ or “letting people know” or “being visible” instead.
So this list of ideas is to help people who are genuinely offering something they know to be truly and transformatively useful, a Yoga that allows people to connect with their body and breath. Perhaps some of them will be useful to you.
Brains > Brawn
You may not have half a million to spend on facebook ads, but you do have the most important tools necessary:
sincerity
creativity
empathy, ability to imagine what people are feeling and going through
the power of your own experience and transformation
friendships and ability to connect with people
Here are some ideas for putting these into action, mostly in order from basic to most eccentric.
Make a beautiful yoga t-shirt and people will walk around advertising for you!
If you are teaching in a physical community, first of all think about who might come to your class. Because Yoga is for everyone, it might be best not to stereotype by physical characteristics, but instead by “psychographics” — the psychology of the people most likely to come along and enjoy connecting with their breath and life. Who are the most open-minded people in your community? Where do they hang out? Do you prefer teaching to total beginners or adding in breath to those with existing yoga knowledge? Be careful not to limit yourself - Yoga is for every body, beyond tribe or demographic. That said, you may teach a special class like “chair yoga” or “yoga for exorcists”, in which case you can think about where those people would be, what places they visit, eat, etc.
Make a poster. Think of the “yoga stereotype” where you live, and do something different, so it will stand out. You could draw / paint it by hand, make it extremely plain in Microsoft word, take an idiosyncratic photo or get an artistic friend to help. Please don’t use a Canva template! A photo of you smiling can be good—please not doing gymnastic asana, that will just scare normal people away. For the words, imagine you are someone who would want to come to your class. What phrases and words will nourish their heart? What will create an emotional connection? The poster is not just a means to an end, but a communication in and of itself, a piece of public education! Make it a positive intervention in their day, whether or not they want to come to your class. Look around for a local printer who can use recycled paper and non-toxic inks so your posters aren’t creating a net negative item.
Stick your poster up in the places you thought about in #1. Think about places where your potential people will see it. Print in colour for longterm, safe, high visibility places like a permanent community noticeboard, and black and white for more ephemeral locations like a lamppost. Think strategically about locations. Even if a shop doesn’t have other posters, if your image suits their brand and you can build friendly rapport, they might stick your poster in the door or window. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
Flyers. Pretty similar to posters. Where are places that your potential people might be lurking? What kinds of cafes, restaurants, food stores, etc? Ephemeral flyers could be fun - attach to the back of a bus seat with a single piece of tape, etc. Slip it into new backpacks at a shop. Choose the most creative letterboxes in town. Make the content playful or interesting so it doesn’t feel like advertising / spam. The flyer needs to be a thing in and of itself, a net positive contribution to the world. Have a look at your own ephemeral papers or noticeboard or fridge — have you kept any postcards etc that are actually brand advertisements, but are so attractive or interesting you hold onto them, or even display them? Think of the function of your flyer. Is it a quick black and white wonky thing that just lets people know first class free? Or a precious little treasure designed to keep. A business card can be an extension of the latter.
Stickers. Stickers can be a playful guerrilla marketing technique. Design an image or words with your website or social media link and put in unusual places that will appeal to your people. Make sure it’s not somewhere you’re going to get fined or worse for vandalism / destruction of private property. Maybe it can interact with its environment, such as speech bubble stickers for models on fashion posters saying how they’d rather go to yoga than do this silly pose. Google a sticker company that is not doing plastic coatings and ask around for a good price. As long as it is gentle and not mean, you could “amend” some “yoga industry” posters eg lulu-lemon. Eg add a sticker “Yoga for all us poor sorry losers who cant afford this stuff and have doubts about microplastics in polyester tights anyway Sundays at 8pm, www.yogaforlosers.org.” Think of constructive (not bitchy or mean) comments you would make to friends around the place and make them publicly.
Don’t have a website? Make a facebook page. Yes I know, we all hate FB, but you can make a FB page as a quick and cheap website alternative without having to actually consume FB content. Think of yourself as a water purification tablet in the pond of murk. Provide contact details, a short description of what you do, and a way for people to message you. If you have a website, you can link to it from a FB page. You might like to put a schedule in the cover image. If you want to use the page for posting, just aim to do about 4 useful or interesting posts for every “promotional” post. YOU know that actually your promotional posts aren’t just trying to sell something, they are trying to share something precious, but the average reader doesn’t know that. Think of it as a little spring of generosity. Idea for things to post: Yoga myth-busting, yoga definitions, short little lists, clarifications, short poems. It’s not for self-expression, it’s FOR the reader. What would be useful? What has been useful to you?
Sense of urgency. Without needing to invoke the “DON’T MISS OUT” sense of panic deployed by conventional marketing, it can be good to have events with an expiration date. If you are always teaching perennial classes, some people will always put off coming. But if you are doing a one-off “intro to yoga” series starting July 6th, there is no guarantee it will happen again, and so a higher chance people will take the plunge. Same goes for special events, mini retreats with a specific theme, and special guests.
Specific targeting. Sometimes “yoga” is too broad to really speak to a person. But if they see “yoga for exhausted people” or “yoga for seniors” or “yoga for new mums” or “yoga for ex-dancers” or “yoga to de-stress” they may resonate with it strongly enough to come along. It can be worth experimenting with different niches. Just make sure it’s something that you ACTUALLY want to teach, in case its a success.
Use your experience and networks. Your yoga world may seem completely disparate from old jobs and networks, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Old workplaces are often an accessible entry point for teaching. This could be literally going back to an old workplace or somewhere you volunteered and offering a class or classes; or it could be contacting old workmates to see where else you could teach. When you have experience in a field, it makes you uniquely equipped to understand and speak to those people. It makes you the best person for the job. Additionally, many larger workplaces have large ‘health and wellbeing’ budgets that are looking for things to give it to. If yoga wouldnt appeal, call it “mindful movement for productivity.” Make sure your FB page or website looks professional and not too religious or new-agey. Use a phrase like “no religion, no dogma” to reassure people. For example: Andy used to work in public libraries, but is now teaching Yoga fulltime. So for him, an obvious teaching opportunity would be to go back to the library with a proposal for a weekly class, or even to work there one day a week and arrange/approve it himself. He has specialised insight into the people there and how to share yoga with them in the best way. You can think of these types of classes as “forays” into society with a mission to funnel students into your regular classes, where you can probably teach more freely. Corporate classes and retreats can also be a good source of income. Don’t be a snob, those poor people stuck in their office need yoga too!
Boring and obvious, but check for online community forums and noticeboards and share your class information there in a sincere, non-hyped way.
Think about and talk to people about the barriers that are preventing them coming to yoga. Here are a few: intimated by the gymnastics. Self conscious of their body. Scared that it will be all old people / all young people / all skinny people / all white people / all women / all narcissists. How can you sooth these fears and perceptions in your public communications and actual classes? Eg many men have some kind of programmed resistence to any activity that women are doing, they are afraid it might harm their (apparently extremely fragile) masculinity, plus they’re scared they’ll look silly when all the women are more flexible than them. The solution might be a men’s yoga class, where they can feel comfortable. Yes it’s silly. But the goal is to find a way to share the yoga, to help dissolve this kind of silliness. Be intimate with the hangups of your community. Talk with people and listen. Create safe events like “Try Yoga for the first time day” or “yoga for bros who can’t touch their toes” (that’s a real class in new zealand somewhere).
Just literally ask friends to come! Make it personal. Ask your auntie to come, ask her to invite all her workmates. Put it on your personal social media that you are loving teaching and invite everyone to your class. But stay human, speak in your own voice, don’t turn into the language of marketing and business - for the love of god, please no “two spots left” and “tickets selling fast” and “dont miss out!” This language is designed to motivate people through fear, its totally the opposite of yoga, AND its boring and unoriginal. Would you speak like this to a friend? Speak AS YOURSELF in your normal voice. Don’t morph into an infomercial. Stay human. And if your friends don’t get it or don’t come back, no problem. It’s not about you, some people it clicks for and others not. Put them at ease.
Make appealing deals, like “bring your significant other for free” or “if you bring a friend you can come for free.” To keep it non-tacky, choose phrasing the way you’d say it out loud to a friend, just explain it. Avoid exclamation marks.
Discounted ten trips. People use ten trips to motivate themselves through their own attachment to the money they spent! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t (like gym memberships)
Ask friends and family members to let people at their workplace know, offering them some kind of special deal, like an “insider”. Maybe a poster at their work. Ask them individually and from the heart.
Wealthy patron. Think of proposals for a patron to fund, with specific budget, like a teaching tour around remote schools or a series of workshops to fundraise for charity etc. Pitch it to them specifically! Don’t ask, don’t get. You can invent projects that will suit their interests and passions.
Think of interesting collaborations you could make with others in the community. Yoga and mindfulness? Yoga and dance? Yoga before a theatre workshop? Choose collaborations by the quality of the humans rather than the content of their field. Yoga and cakemaking is fine if the person is really grounded, trustworthy and enthused. Just keep them seperate so you have your autonomy, not needing to dilute the yoga. Aim for people with a larger reach than you have, so you can get on more people’s radar.
Festivals. Think about relevant festivals and what it would take to be a valuable contributor. Often it is a cold hard business matter of how many people they think you will bring, so it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. They want to know that your presence will help them sell tickets. This tends to be judged by size of online following (sorry to say). But personal friendships can help, offering something unique that noone else can do, or even setting up your own festival! The goal at a festival is to give a potent taster of the yoga to as many people as possible at once. Some it will completely bounce off, others will receive it.
A local radio show segment. Some local radio shows have a “whats on” free section that you can advertise an event on. Or if you are offering something interesting and unique, some kind of new angle, you could pitch to them to be interviewed. For example “yoga in the forest as forest bathing, based on this person’s 10 years living in Japan”.
Can you spin it into a story for the local paper? “Local teacher takes a stand against yoga injuries” — what would it take to be newsworthy? Something about body image? A public education poster campaign, or formation of some kind of charity, with yourself as spokesperson? A sister city exchange? A chequered past? “Ex-convict turns to yoga”. Something surprising. Back when I was an activist, we had a 6metre high blow-up dinosaur that we took to public events, just because it drastically increased the chances of getting in the news. And of course there’s local paper events listings, which are usually free. One thing that news media love is statistics. You could survey local people or online “how many have been injured in yoga” or similar and present the results as a press release. The bigger the sample, the more newsworthy. Make it a cause.
Word of mouth — explicitly ask your current students to bring a friend. You could have “bring a friend free” day. Sometimes people don’t give any mind to what their actual experience of change is. It is good to get people to articulate it, what they are feeling, what they have noticed. It makes it easier for them to talk about it to their friends. This is perhaps the most important on the list.
Create some one-off events with a unique spin. Eg Yoga in the art gallery, Yoga in the museum, etc. These are increasingly popular. Use these events to meet new people and access the networks of larger institutions. You can approach them with examples of other places that have done it and showed that it went well.
Visibility — a class in a park or other visible public place on a beautiful summer day is a wonderful advertisement. Have flyers or a sign to hand so passers by can take info without disturbing you. Please dont do it in direct sun!!
Create collateral. A zine, a book, cards, a take-home poster, a tshirt — offer things for sale at your classes, not just for money, but because then they become little ambassadors for what you are doing! Make a beautiful tshirt, and people will walk around advertising what you are doing all day long.
Love interest filter. If you are dating, get them to come to your class first to see if they are receptive to their breath and a sensitive person in general. You learn a lot about a person by helping them discover their breath! If someone is interested in you, shamelessly invite them to your class. If anyone asks you out, invite them to your class! They may just be interested in the smell of freedom they sense coming off you, and be mistaking it for personal attraction. Even if you are already in a relationship, I believe if someone is attracted to you, still invite them to your class and be friendly. Their attraction may turn out to be for your ease and freedom, and Yoga can help them discover it in themselves. We are adults and we are able to politely and gratefully say we are not interested In that way if it ever becomes specific. I think it’s okay to redirect people’s interest in this way. They are getting what they wanted, intimacy! Just not in the expected way. You might find this one happening more than you expect.
Keep a permanent marker on you and write people little messages on public bathrooms, signs, etc. Similar to sticker strategy, think of funny relevant places. What about a rubbish bin – “get rid of your emotional garbage too, Yoga with Tom 6pm wednesdays, community hall.” Again be careful of vandalism laws. You can always deny doing it and say it must have been one of your die-hard fans — just make sure you’re not on camera.
Think of ways to contribute informative resources to your local society. What do you know about? If you are teaching Yoga for exhausted people, you could pitch an article on Yoga practice to help with sleep to local or online magazines. These things are called “establishing your authority.” Of course this is stupid, as a) you’re not an authority in the sense of a know it all and b) people should assess everyone on a case by case basis based on their energy and treatment of others, but sadly our current social world tends to work off status and expertise. You are not in the mainstream system of “experts” but you ARE and expert on the very thing everyone needs, which is connection, intimacy, relaxation and peace. It’s our responsibility to show this, to translate our expertise into legible terms. We can’t just sit in a cave waiting for pilgrims to find us. That is snobby and not very kind. We make ourselves visible in the language of the world to help people find us. Some examples: write a book and self publish (it’s much easier than you think); pitch an article series on Yoga to a local paper, magazine or blog; arrange an interview on yoga myth-busting; create a pamphlet or poster for your local library; film an amateur short documentary and put it on youtube; start a video series on youtube or IGTV. You dont have to do every media channel, but be seen creating free resources somewhere in your commitment to education. Be seen, be known.
Slip flyers or bookmarks into the yoga section at the library. These need to be playful and pleasureable so it doesn’t feel like spam, eg a beautiful quote on breath and a few words like “yoga in the park every saturday at 12.”
A special fundraising class for a good cause
What makes you stand out is your sincerity. Be human, surprising, analogue, handmade, poetic, original, against the stream. CREATE, don’t duplicate. Cultivate your own original and authentic vibe in your class that is echoed in your communications. The Yoga industrial complex has a look, a language, a demographic — avoid it! Whatever is happening there, do something else. It’s not normal for everyone to be looking/sounding/designing/talking the same.
Finally, this is not serious. It is all a big game, like a video game. The goal is to be effective in sharing Yoga that works, in order to relieve people’s suffering. If what you are doing does not help people in their daily lives, help them feel more and feel better, than don’t advertise it. And of course it does not matter at all if only one person comes to class. What is deep will probably not be hugely popular at this time in history. The best teachers are often just quietly plugging away. Don’t compromise what you are actually teaching to win students or fans.
But conversely, don’t be afraid to spread the word. If the thing you share helps people, isn’t it better if more people have access to it? It is not about me or you at all. None of these efforts are for fame, money or self-aggrandisment. If we wanted those, we wouldn’t have become a yoga teacher. And yet we are not undermining ourselves (and what we share) by deliberately avoiding those. We are not scared to be judged as “looking for fame” etc. That is itself too much image self-consciousness, just forget it. Marketing cannot pollute us. There is no extra virtue in obscurity, just because so many famous people are narcissists. Trying to not be an attention seeker is still a form of caring what other people think. When I didn’t have a facebook, it was still about me, about my image, about the image of having no image! I rejoined because i had been given the gift of useful stuff to share, and it is an easy way to share things. It can be that simple. Convert from inwards to outwards facing. “I’m here to serve.” Life is not a performance and noone cares that much anyway.
I hope some of these ideas are useful to you, please leave more ideas in the comments. You don’t have to do them all!!!