Category: Wellbeing Business

Do you run a wellbeing business? Whatever your discipline, our wellbeing business category is full of useful posts to help you navigate your way around the confusing world of wellbeing marketing.

Why you need more than social media to grow your yoga business

Do you feel a bit lost when it comes to social media? Or feel like you’re spending too much time on it, but are just spinning your wheels, wasting your time? This post is going to help you get unstuck and find a different way forward!

Just because everyone else seems to be using social media, it doesn’t mean they’re actually getting good results from it. Even if some people rave about how it’s the key to a successful business, we beg to differ. Granted, you could put some of your marketing efforts into social media but it’s definitely NOT where all your focus should be.

In this post we’ll explain why social media isn’t the be-all and end-all, and give you some tips on what you can do instead to take your business where you want it.

Why we don’t offer a social media package

The simple answer: we don’t rate social media as a truly effective marketing strategy. It’s far more important to focus on your website and email marketing. These are the real tools you need to pull yourself out of the digital ditch that social media has thrown you into.

Now, you might be thinking, “Surely there has to be some benefit to social media?” And we agree, there is. It can be great for real-time conversations, quick messaging, polls and content sharing, and is ultimately an easy way of reaching your audience. But it can take a huge amount of effort to maintain if it’s your only method of growth. As soon as you’re not there, that conversation ends. And that’s less than ideal.

Ok, we understand that what we’re saying is almost a form of blasphemy in today’s society, so here’s a few more reasons to help put our point across.

Why social media is NOT an effective marketing tool

1. It flattens your experience

Social media can leave you with a very 2D view of how everything works. Imagine your first handstand. Whilst the end result was a success (hopefully), it was the process that went into learning it that gave you the biggest lessons! The same goes with growing your business.

2. You don’t own your hard work

When you post to a social media platform – unlike on your own website – you’re practically giving away your content to that platform. So, publish your content on your own website and keep what’s rightfully yours. You deserve it.

3. It can be hard to communicate

The purpose of social media is to be quick and easy to consume, but this can be seriously limiting when you’re trying to really connect and discuss deeper issues with your audience through a tiny character limit and one small photo. After all, yoga isn’t something you can rush. It should be practised with mindful care and attention – just like your communications.

4. It promotes addictive behaviour

In order for social media to really see major growth, it relies on you demanding the attention of an audience and creating a following for you and your brand. It may feel great while you’re riding the wave, but once you hop off, you’ll realise how caught up with ‘vanity metrics’ you’ve become. These likes, follows and shares may even start influencing what you do and how you teach.

5. It’s difficult to accurately measure

If you share an event for a yoga retreat or post a blog on social media, for example, it’s hard to know whether people who engage with your content become customers. There’s no real gauge of how effective your posts are, so you’re really just going on a hunch. Because of this it’s hard to improve, or see what can be improved, to help you focus your energy in the right places. Remember: if you’re not measuring it, it’s not marketing!

6. It’s a consciousness cul-de-sac!

As I’m sure you know, it feels real when you’re immersed in the virtual world, but it isn’t. People often use social media as a way of finding what they think is missing, or searching for an experience they’ll never find. It’s easy to get lost in the digital world and, unfortunately, this can lead to feelings of fatigue, unworthiness and even anxiety and depression.

It’s no coincidence that you’re having issues getting into the flow of using social media, when it’s made up of all the qualities that go against what we know and love about yoga and its philosophy. Quick and simple messages being chucked out thoughtlessly in the name of ‘growth’, but at the expense of your own mental state.

Ok, that got quite deep, but it’s important to know the truth behind the effects and downsides of social media before you commit so much more of your time to trying to make it work. On that note, have you seen The Social Dilemma yet? It’s definitely worth a watch!

So, let’s move on and look at what you can do to grow your yoga or wellbeing business without relying on social media for your growth.

What we recommend instead of social media

1. Perfect your messaging

It’s super important to be clear on what you’re offering and how you can help people. The best way to do this is to refine your messaging and communicate these aspects as clearly as possible.

Consider getting more personal with your audience. Social media leaves little room for personality within marketing and is often quite faceless. So, it’s a great idea to include your own journey and the story of how you got to where you are on your website. People love to know the story behind a brand, as it helps them connect to you in a more personal and relatable way. (But try to avoid navel gazing!)

If you need help getting clear on what you offer and how it helps people, take a look at our Brand Strategy Package. We’ll help you unpack your brand at a deeper level and refine your messaging to make sure you’re resonating with the right people in the right way.

2. Develop your branding

A strong brand is key for helping your audience remember you, whether they’re on your website, your emails, your social networks or any other marketing channel. Your brand needs to be instantly recognisable and consistent across all channels.

It may seem like a small detail, but your logo is absolutely crucial for creating a memorable impression of your brand in the blink of an eye.

Don’t forget: your logo needs a strapline and your business needs a ‘one-liner’ so that your potential customers can instantly see what you do. Check out our Logo & Style Guide Package if you need help developing your brand.

3. Blog to your heart’s content

As mentioned earlier, posting to your website means you’re publishing content that you own yourself, that will be there forever. In fact, if you aim to create at least some ‘evergreen’ content on your site, this means it will actually become more valuable over time.

You should aim to publish regular, high quality, original content in your blog that’ll stay relevant for years to come. This is a great way to keep people coming back to your website, and also gives you ready-made content to share in your email newsletters.

If you aim to publish posts that grow in relevance and popularity over time, this can be a great way of putting your time into something that can really help you grow, and is totally measurable.

4. Grow your email list

Once you’ve got your website set up right, with your messaging, branding and blogging all in place, then you can focus on email marketing.

Email marketing is still the most effective marketing channel and presents an awesome way to directly reach your audience. It even gives you an opportunity to personalise each email and add a nicer, more personal feel to your communications. As this recent Forbes article explains, “Email is the marketing channel most consumers say they want businesses to use to communicate with them.”

There’s no doubt that it’s more effective to promote yourself to engaged subscribers on your email list, than to send out a random social media post in the hopes that it might land in front of the right people. If they’re even paying attention…

The article goes on to say that “Email marketing still promises to deliver the highest ROI [return on investment] of all marketing channels.” Now, we don’t know about you, but if we’re putting a lot of time and effort into something, we want to be sure we’re getting the most out of it as possible!

So, go with what’s proven, start building your email list, and grow that community of engaged subscribers.

You’re on your way!

We know this might be a lot to take in, considering we’re often being told the perks of social media and how it’s all you need to be successful with your business!

But we think it’s so important not to lose sight of the other tried and tested marketing methods that are out there and ready for you to master. Plus, if you don’t feel comfortable using social media, you don’t have to!

As always, we’re just a click away if you need any help with your marketing efforts. So, book a free consultation and let’s get you set up.

Book a free consultation

10 ways to make your online yoga classes rock!

Like most yoga teachers, hopefully you’ve welcomed this new year with open arms, and the hopes that it will be even more fruitful than last year!

The skills you learn on the mat – resilience, adaptability and creativity – can all be put to great use off the mat too, and today these skills are needed more than ever. Despite big changes and doubts that online yoga classes wouldn’t work, they’ve actually been shown to bring their own unique benefits.

Benefits of teaching online

  • Convenience for both you and your students.
  • Easy access with no commuting required.
  • Reduced costs compared to using a studio.
  • Students aren’t constrained to being local only – you now have the potential to reach a global audience!
  • No capacity issues, so the sky’s the limit!
  • Flexibility for your students, so they can join wherever they are – even from a stressful business trip.
  • Online booking allows you to easily collect students’ contact information and communicate with them directly. For more on this, see How to grow your yoga community with email marketing.

How to make your classes rock

So, now you know what a good idea it is to teach yoga, or other wellbeing classes, online, how can you be sure to make an impact? Follow these 10 simple steps to keep your students coming back for more.

1. Keep your website clear and organised

With your teaching taking place online, your website is the central hub that your classes revolve around. This hub of information is critical for giving a clear message with easy-to-read lists of everything you have to offer.

Think of your website as a journey that your students will go through, and the destination is booking onto one of your classes. The key is to make that journey as clear and easy to follow as possible, so that their booking experience is as stress-free as the class itself.

The best way to do this is to create a clear list or schedule of all your classes and provide a neat roadmap of the booking process. Starting from picking a class, all the way through to how to book, how to pay, and finally, confirming the booking via email with information on what will happen next. You may even want to ask someone else to read through your instructions and check whether they understand how to navigate it. What seems clear to you may not be clear to everyone.

This is super important as it provides the foundation for a successful class. No wonder it’s point number one!

2. Create a seamless booking process

Booking is an essential part of the customer journey, so you need to make sure your booking process is easy to follow and seamlessly integrated with your website. This will also help to make the journey of joining a class even more peaceful.

As with any website that takes payments, you should ensure your site has an SSL certificate installed to provide security for your students’ payments. This certificate will let your students know your website is safe and their payments are protected, allowing for a more seamless booking process.

A great way to ensure your process works smoothly is to test it yourself. Go through the entire process from start to finish, as if you were a brand new student, and see if you experience any issues or notice any areas that could be simplified. Whilst this will go unnoticed to your students, their experience will be much more pleasant and will set them on a path to have an enjoyable class.

3. Craft the perfect confirmation email

Now that you’re set up online and widely accessible to a potentially global audience, it’s highly likely that you’ll have some first time yoga students signing up to your classes. In order to ease any uncertainty and ensure a smooth session, it’s a good idea to ensure you have a very clearly written confirmation email to give them all the information they need for what happens next.

Your email could include some or all of the following:

  • The time, date and teacher of the class they’ve booked.
  • Details of how to access the class. E.g. will they be sent a Zoom link an hour before the class starts? Or do they need to login to their account to access it?
  • Can they join a few minutes early to get set up?
  • How much space do they need to be comfortable?
  • Do they need a yoga mat? Or any props? Can you suggest alternative props they might have at home, such as a belt instead of a yoga strap, a thick book instead of a block, or cushions and blankets instead of a bolster?
  • Is there anything else they should do to prepare for the class, e.g. not eat for an hour before, switch off their phone, or have a glass of water handy?
  • What happens if they need to cancel or they’ve booked the wrong class?

Not only does a clear email help any new students find their way, but it gives a professional and experienced feel for everyone taking your classes.

4. Create a welcoming atmosphere

Now that the practical aspect of booking onto a class is sorted, you want to ensure you have good sound and lighting set up. A warm and calming atmosphere is the perfect antidote to the potentially cold and impersonal dynamic of online teaching.

Although your students won’t be in the room with you, they’ll often be looking at your video to follow your guidance. So, it’s a good idea to clear the space around you, light a few candles and create a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere for your students.

This will do wonders for minimising distractions and encouraging your students to feel open and expansive in their practice. Plus, it’s a good excuse to keep your space neat and tidy even when you’re not teaching. You might be ok with used tissues, dirty coffee cups or last night’s dinner plates still sitting on the coffee table, but it doesn’t give your students a very good impression! Treat your home practice area the same you would a yoga studio and your students will thank you for it.

5. Check your technical settings

Zoom gives you lots of options for personalising your sessions and it’s a good idea to keep up to speed on these settings, so you can adjust them to your liking.

One useful feature you can decide on is whether you want to allow students to join your session while you’re still setting up, or opt to have them sent to an automatic waiting room so that you can manually allow them entry. This can be great if you want everyone to enter the room together, if you want to allow a few minutes for people to chat at the start, or if you want to avoid any awkward silences with the one student who shows up 10 minutes early. There’s always one.

Another option you can decide on is whether everyone joins your class with their microphones unmuted. By selecting this option, it allows your students to do all of the chatting their hearts desire, until it’s time to start and you can ask them to mute their mics, or mute everyone yourself.

Some other useful settings you might want to take a look at are:

  • Passcode for entry
  • Meeting lock
  • Prior authentication of who can join
  • Access to the chat
  • Sound alert notifications

For more technical info about setting up your online yoga classes, see 7 tips for yoga teachers using Zoom.

6. Make sure your housekeeping is tip top

It may seem obvious, but taking a few minutes before each class to run through any housekeeping points with your students, can help them feel relaxed and reassured.

The best way for your sessions to run smoothly without any interruptions is for everyone to be on the same page and understand what they need to do. These are examples of some of the points you might want to mention:

  • Should students mute their own mics during the session?
  • Should they keep their camera on so you can offer guidance?
  • Do they need any props to take part in the session?
  • What should they do if they need to ask a question? (E.g. unmute themselves or type in the chat box?)
  • A short explanation of the structure of the class might be useful, especially if there’s a meditation session at the end, for example.

Feel free to pick out the points that are relevant to you and best suit your teaching style and run through them before you begin. The aim of this step is to set your students’ expectations and the clearer you can make this, the smoother your class will run.

7. Post a troubleshooting guide on your website

As mentioned above, your website is your central hub for your class information, and you’ll undoubtedly receive emails or messages from students with technical questions about Zoom.

It’s very likely that after some time of teaching your yoga classes online, you’ll have noticed a lot of frequently asked questions and other common technical issues that students face.

In order to plan ahead and cover all bases, create a section on your website (linked to from your confirmation email) with a troubleshooting guide. This should cover all the frequently asked questions you’ve received and any technical guidance that may be useful. It could include where to find the access code and password, how to join the class, and guidance on other technical issues, such as what to do if you can’t join and how to set your Zoom session to speaker view.

It may even be a good idea to mention in your initial confirmation email that students should take a quick look at this guide, prior to the class, in order to prevent any technical issues at the time of the session.

8. Communicate!

As I’m sure you’ve heard time and time again, communication is key. And that’s never been more true than with your own yoga classes.

Personal acknowledgement can help your students to push themselves in your sessions and really get the most out of the time with you. A great way of doing this is to periodically communicate with them during the class. This can be done by complementing students on a great pose, or offering any minor adjustments or alternatives if you see someone struggling.

Another method of good communication is to take a few moments at the start of the session to learn your students’ names. It may seem trivial, but it will give a personal touch to your class, help your students feel more engaged, and also help to minimise interruption if you need to speak directly to a student during the class.

9. Breathe in. Breathe out. And smile.

As much as you prepare, and as many blog posts as you read, there’s always room to make mistakes. So do as you teach, and take a nice big deep breath.

It’s guaranteed that over the numerous classes you give, you’ll make some mistakes either in your teaching or with any technical issues. So, don’t take yourself too seriously, highlight it when it happens and laugh at yourself!

If anything, it’ll help to break down any barriers between you and your students and let them know that you’re just as capable as they are of making mistakes. So, encourage your students to not take their practice too seriously either, and remind them to smile every now and then. It’s a great way to release tension and to hold things a little more lightly.

Give it a go as you’re reading this, it’ll work wonders 🙂

10. Take some time to reconnect

Finally, at the end of the session, come together, unmute mics, and say goodbye.

After spending time together in the session, it’s nice to take a moment to thank your students for joining you and offer to answer any questions if you’re able to stick around. Alternatively, let them know how they can get hold of you if they want to ask any questions following the class.

It’s important to be available as a teacher, just like you would if you were finishing up an in-person session in a studio. Your students will feel connected and supported by you, and it’s a great opportunity to get a feel for how they found the session and whether there’s anything that needs to be adjusted for next time

Need more help?

There’s always room to make your classes rock even more, so that both you and your students can make the most of your time together.

If you have any questions about any of the tips in this post, or you’re after some guidance on how to run your own Zoom yoga sessions, get in touch to book a free consultation.

We’re happy to help.

Book a free consultation

7 tips for yoga teachers using Zoom

With the push for businesses to move online, it’s important to know the best practices and areas to avoid when teaching your yoga class using Zoom. To figure this out, I signed up for my first ever online yoga class to see what works well and what could have been better.

Read on for my top tips to help you find your flow when teaching yoga online.

My first ever Zoom yoga class!

My experience was really enjoyable, with the added bonus of signing up and taking part all without leaving the house! It’s definitely true that attending yoga classes online can be much easier and, I’d go as far to say, even more relaxing for some students.

So, here’s a list of what went well and what could be avoided when you start teaching yoga online.

Clear and simple instructions

It’s very important to give audible and concise instructions. Despite being a beginner and needing all the help I could get, learning online requires clear instruction that is easy to follow while moving into a new pose.

This is why, when my teacher gave short and clear instructions on what to do next, it was easy to follow and allowed me to keep up with the flow of the class.

Easy poses

In a beginner Hatha class like the one I attended, the poses should already be of low difficulty. But, with that added distance from the teacher, simple poses are perfect when easing your students into a setting that they’re not used to. Combined with clear instructions, this is a sure way to give a great first impression to any new starters.

Sound quality

Poor sound quality can make or break your class. I can’t stress just how important this is.

I struggled with the sound when following my class, as my teacher was set up in a large empty studio far from the microphone. In an echoey room like this, at times I found myself focusing on trying to decipher the echoes of my teacher’s voice rather than enjoying the calmness of the class.

Personal attention

The personal touch of wandering around the room and softly giving individual pointers or adjustments is impossible when everything you say is blurted out of everyone’s laptops at the same volume.

An excellent way to address this is by providing easier variations of each pose, especially when a student is clearly struggling. In the class I attended, it was left up to me to choose which variation I felt more capable of trying and I felt all the better for it!

Would I do it again?

Absolutely! I’m not ready to move up to a harder class just yet, and my downward dog could use some more work. But at the end of a working day, taking a relaxing hour for myself in a comfy home environment was a perfect escape from the craziness of the world.

Whilst this was just one class out of the many different teachers and styles out there in the world of yoga, I could see just how important a prepared and tech-savvy teacher is to the success of any online yoga session.

My top tips for Zoom yoga classes

So, here are a few simple things I spotted to make your class flow better and provide an all-round more enjoyable experience for your students.

Remind students to check their junk mail

If I hadn’t checked my junk mail for any million-pound prize winnings, I wouldn’t have noticed my lovely confirmation email waiting to be read. Due to the pesky downsides of the online world, my yoga class email had been sorted into the junk folder, never to be seen again.

To be safe, when someone books onto one of your classes, say a big “Thank you!” and immediately mention that they should check their junk folder for a follow-up email. The last thing you want is to be sitting on your mat alone, while your students wait for the email that “never came”.

Most booking systems allow you to customise the confirmation email to include your own message, or you could do this via email marketing automation if you use this. Alternatively, if you have a manual process, you could save some standard wording that you copy and paste into each student’s confirmation email.

Include housekeeping info in the email

If you’re teaching using Zoom, you (or your chosen software) will be sending out an email to each student before the class, as I mentioned above. I received mine, but with very little information in it.

To ease any uncertainty for new students like myself, a few short lines following the Zoom link would do the trick to get them up to speed and feeling prepared for their class.

Here are some points to include in your email:

  • The link to enter the Zoom class
  • Passcode
  • The time of the class
  • Should they join a few minutes early?
  • What will you be doing in the class?
  • How much open space do they need to be comfortable?
  • Will they need any props, e.g. a mat, belt, block or blanket?

This provides comfort and reassurance to your students before they muster up the courage to press the big blue ‘Join Meeting’ button and follow you in a candlelit adventure of mind and body(-aches).

Politely ask everyone to mute their microphones

In a home environment, we both know it’s a big ask to have complete silence. The slightest noise can get picked up and carried out in the middle of a relaxing pause between poses.

My teacher announced this after all the greetings and chit-chat had been covered, and gave a small notice for everyone to mute their microphones just before the class began.

Although you can and should mute everyone yourself in Zoom, it’s best to remind your students of this also, to prevent any barking dogs or small children from messing up your flow.

Best practice tips for yoga teachers using Zoom

Now you’ve heard about my experience, let’s look at some industry tips for best practices when setting up your own virtual vinyasa.

Protect your class

Security settings are important for providing a safe and professional class and there are several ways you can do this through Zoom.

Waiting room
This is the perfect way to monitor who is trying to join your class. When someone clicks your link to join, you can decide who to let in and who might not be in the right place. It also gives you some breathing space to hold everyone back if you’re not quite ready.

From the Zoom app, go to: Settings (or Preferences) > General > scroll down to View More Settings > enable the Waiting Room function and select the option of sending all participants into the waiting room. Easy as that!

Zoom Waiting Room Screenshot

The waiting room function can also be switched on and off when you schedule a meeting in the Zoom app.

Passcode
As an extra line of defence, it may be a good idea to set a passcode for the class and only provide this information directly to each student that signs up for your class.

Go to Settings (or Preferences) > General > scroll down to View More Settings > select the Passcode function and edit the passcode to whatever you like (ideally something simple for your students to use).

Zoom Passcode Screenshot

You can also set a passcode when you schedule a meeting in the Zoom app.

Lock the meeting
Once everyone has joined and you’re ready to begin the class, you can lock the meeting to prevent anyone else from joining mid-session. This can be done during the class by clicking ‘Security’ and then selecting ‘Lock Meeting’.

Perfect your tech setup

It’s very important to do a test of your setup before you have students join your class. It may be worth jumping into the class 15 minutes before the start to make sure you have the following set up correctly.

Lighting
Try to avoid any harsh light shining into the lens of the camera, as this can often cause a very blown out or glared image and can stop your students from getting a good view of you.

Visibility
When setting up your camera, do a dry-run of the poses you’ll be teaching to make sure you’ll be in-frame throughout the entire class.

Depending on the class, you may switch from sitting to standing and vice versa, so make sure you have one camera angle that keeps the full mat in view and can capture all of your moves without repositioning.

Sound
Good sound quality is essential for good guidance. A quality microphone is invaluable, considering how long we may be sticking to Zoom classes.

Radio mics are perfect for making sure you’re able to cut out any distortion, whilst allowing distance from your laptop or other device.  They’ll help you to come across as clear and professional as possible. We recommend these.

It’s also worth taking a look at your microphone settings and testing your sensitivity. If you show up in the green when speaking as you would normally in the class, you’re all set!

This can be found via Settings (or Preferences) > Audio > Microphone.

Zoom Microphone Screenshot

Avoid using props

It’s best to avoid the use of props that your students likely won’t have at home. You want your class to be as inclusive as possible and don’t want your students to feel left out if they don’t have access to certain equipment.

If a prop is absolutely necessary for the class, make sure you mention this in your confirmation email and provide alternative options for students, e.g. a stack of your favourite books instead of a yoga block, or a soft belt instead of a yoga strap. This way everyone can join in and get the most out of the class you’ve prepared.

Avoid musical instruments

Sadly, this is another nice-to-have that may be best left out. Chimes, bells and singing bowls might sound pleasant to you, and you may have a nifty microphone that picks up the sound well, but remember that the sound will play out of the varying quality of speakers on your students’ devices and it may come across quite distorted and unpleasant on occasion.

The same goes for chanting. Obviously, you won’t be able to include group chanting with your students unmuted, due to the time lag and varying sound quality. However, you can chant yourself and invite your students to join in whilst on mute, so they just hear themselves and you.

Need more help?

It’s a difficult time for everyone, with constant change and uncertainty in the world, but yoga remains the perfect way to practise mindfulness and release the stress of day-to-day life.

If you follow these key points for your Zoom classes, you’ll be able to seamlessly deliver your services to your existing students, whilst also broadening your reach to new students like me!

If you need more help with your tech setup, or are wondering how to attract more students to your online yoga classes, book a free consultation and let’s tackle it together!

Book a free consultation

Running a remote business part 4: Breaking down barriers

Berlin Wall Art

This post picks up where our Running a remote business blog series left off. It includes both my personal insights since the previous posts were published, and my notes from WordCamp Europe 2019 where I attended a talk on remote working by Human Made. If you’ve never been to WordCamp Europe then do check out Ehron’s post A first timer’s experience of WordCamp Europe Berlin 2019.

Gathering the team

In the ‘Running a remote business’ blog series I wrote about how Wildheart was born, growing a team of Wildhearts and how we productized our services to make it easier for customers to buy from us. During 2019 was also the first time we made a conscious effort to gather together as a team in one physical location. We decided to head to WordCamp Europe and spent a week together in Berlin attending the conference, exploring the city, and working of course!

The challenges of remote working

WordCamp Europe is hosted in a different European city each year and is very affordably priced for a two day conference. In Berlin one of my favourite talks was the remote working talk. A quick show of hands by the audience revealed that around 50% of the audience worked remotely and around 15% worked in their second language.

The talk focused on the social, emotional and even spiritual challenges of remote work, rather than the tools or practices of doing remote work. Here are a few tips from the talk:

Making the world smaller

Two key points were made here, as to how to keep the team connected by making your working world smaller:

  1. Take every opportunity to meet in person, and prioritise this.
  2. Use video calls, e.g. Zoom or Skype, and leave the video running.

The interesting thing about the first point is it’s actually an admission of the biggest weakness of working remotely: namely, that it’s hard to form deep team bonds from a distance. This is especially difficult when getting to know potential new team members. When we started working with Dan, the newest member of our team, we all met up for a week in Brighton and ended the week at the WordCamp Brighton conference. This was a great way to really get to know Dan and for him to get to know us.

We’ve also decided to get the team together at least once a year for a week around the time of WordCamp Europe, combining social, work and conference time. In 2020 we were planning to head to Porto, but due to a certain virus we’ll have to postpone that till 2021 now…

Making yourself bigger

The speaker offered the following tips for making yourself bigger:

  • Be always willing to change
  • Listen in order to hear, not to plan, i.e. don’t ‘endgame’
  • Ask questions
  • Speak and write in straightforward language
  • Slow down, simplify and pause

My takeaway for the points above is to stay curious about each other. I’m always interested in what’s going on with people on a more personal level, rather than staying purely task focused. It feels important to balance both the relational and transactional sides of our team work.

It feels important to balance both the relational and transactional sides of our team work. @wildheart_media #remotework#yogabusiness #remotebusiness
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Embracing the differences

It’s important to embrace all the potential differences within your remote working team, so:

  • Recognise cultural events, heritage and rituals
  • Don’t be afraid to ask

While we don’t have a big, multicultural team at Wildheart, we are spread across 4 different cities in 3 different countries and there’s always something going on for all of us. If I don’t ask the questions, we’ll miss out on each others’ life changes, no matter how big or small. That’s why I have a short regular catch-up with all team members just to check-in, even if there are no external projects on the go. These informal catch-ups have been important to keep the lines of communication open and build our relationships.

Closing the gap

The idea of prioritising quality time together as a team has also got me thinking about how we can spend more quality time with our clients. I realised in November last year that most of our clients travel to Goa each year to teach on yoga workshops and retreats and it struck me that we should be there too!

So, in 2020 we’re planning to spend 6 weeks working in Goa. Instead of separating my work and personal life, I’ll be taking my 5-year-old son along too, and our team’s partners will also be welcome to join us. Of course, in the current climate, this may no longer be possible. Or, we may need to delay these plans until we can safely travel again – but that’s just the kind of flexibility we’re used to with remote working!

Find out more

If you’d like to read more about my experiences with remote working, check out the full series Running a remote business.

Running a remote business

How to start, grow and then sell a yoga business

Thanks to the wisdom of one of our yoga-business-owner friends, Sonja Ostendorf, we have some valuable yoga business advice from someone who’s done it themselves.

Before you can grow a yoga business, you need to know how to start out in the right way.

Of course, if you’re also a yoga teacher yourself, you’ll need to have your 200-hour teacher training certificate and, according to Yoga Alliance, you’ll need to complete Continuing Education credits every 3 years to maintain your teacher status. There are also annual fees to keep your teacher designation up to date. Luckily, Yoga Alliance has a page of benefits that might make the annual fees a little more worthwhile.

You may have wondered if you need a 500-hour or higher teaching certificate to start a yoga business and Sonja‘s answer is “no”. Having more education can always help, but a 500-hour certificate is not a requirement, nor is it any measurement of your business knowledge.

There’s always more to learn, but there’ll never be a “perfect time” to start your yoga business. Sometimes the best way to start is with trial and error. So, if you don’t have a 500-hour teaching certificate or higher, don’t let it hold you back!

How to start a yoga studio

Before you start your business, it’s a good idea to network first by finding opportunities for teaching at events, festivals, gyms and community centres. When the time comes to launch your yoga business, you’ll be able to invite a group of people to your studio.

Sonja doesn’t recommend teaching at another studio long term before starting your own. Why? Because the students at that studio may want to leave and join your shala, which would take away that studio’s business. Remember, there should be healthy competition with any business, but it’s poor form to “steal” another studio’s students.

You may ask, “Should I get a business partner to start a yoga studio?” and it depends. Sonja suggests taking the time to truly get to know a person before going into business with them. She says, “Just because someone does yoga doesn’t mean that you both believe in and follow the same business ethics”.

“Just because someone does yoga doesn’t mean that you both believe in and follow the same business ethics.” @wildheart_media #yogabusiness #yogamarketing
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

You should certainly partner with someone who helps strengthen your weaknesses and you theirs. We recommend drawing up legal documents to make sure that ownership is equal between you and your partner. If you can’t have an open and honest conversation with a potential business partner about legalities, then maybe they aren’t the right partner for you. Regardless, whether you’re beginning or ending a business, why not chat with a legal expert to make sure that you’re covered.

Don’t forget to register your business

Mygov.scot states that new yoga businesses will need to register with Companies House as a Sole Trader to start your business in the UK. If you’re partnering with someone, you’ll need to register a Partnership or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

According to TRUIC, if you’re in the US, you’ll need to register a Limited Liability Company (LLC), usually through your state government’s website. In addition to the LLC, you’ll need to attain an Employer Identification Number or EIN if you want to hire people to work at your studio.

Location is everything

When searching for a location for your studio, you could consider renovating your own home to create a home studio. That can be quite costly, though, so the next step is looking for a location in your nearest town or city — the outskirts tending to be more affordable.

Sonja chose a location that was close to her home, which made things convenient; she also chose an area that had no other studios in the vicinity so that there was no competition. If you find a location near other studios, consider the possibility of teaching a style of yoga that the other studios don’t offer, e.g. teaching yin if the other studios focus mostly on power yoga.

After you acquire your venue, decide whether you want to provide and/or sell props. Pro tip: In the US you’ll need to get a vendor’s licence if you want to buy props at wholesale and/or if you want to sell products, i.e. yoga mats, as the government wants to track your sales taxes. Whether you want a vendor’s license or not, Sonja suggests researching your state’s or province’s individual tax process and contacting your local government to ask questions.

What are the top 9 ways to grow a yoga business?

  1. Creating a simple, clear name for your studio and forming a strong brand around that name. What do you stand for? What makes your yoga business different from the rest?
  2. Setting up a website with beautiful images of your studio, of any teachers you have, and of you teaching if relevant. It’s a good idea to list your classes, events/workshops, and teachers, and to have an about page and a contact page on your website.
  3. Keeping your website optimised using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so that it starts to rank higher in Google for relevant searches.
  4. Using social media as your free marketing tool, inviting all your contacts and friends to like and share your business on their social media channels.
  5. Hiring teachers who specialise in different styles of yoga to diversify what you offer. Then, asking your teachers to promote your business across social media and invite their contacts to come to the studio.
  6. Attending yoga and health-related festivals and events — some allow stalls at their event where you can advertise your studio.
  7. Starting an email list to keep in touch with your students. Ask for people’s email addresses in exchange for an incentive, like a discount on their first yoga class.
  8. Creating non-yoga related events, like a board game or movie night, to engage with your students on a personal level.
  9. If all the above sounds like too much work, consider hiring a marketing company like Wildheart Media to help you with your website, emails, social media, etc.

What’s the best way to sell my business?

Sonja recommends being open and honest with your community first. When she went to sell her business, she talked one-on-one with her teachers first. Then, she invited all students and teachers to attend a meeting. She broke the news to her students and made her studio available for purchase by anyone from the studio’s community before she went public.

She then went on to create a Facebook event, inviting everyone she knew to take a look at the event and tell their friends that she was selling her studio. Next, she listed her business at her local chamber of commerce. Lastly, she wrote letters to the other yoga studios in the surrounding areas, letting them know that she was selling. This is a powerful move to make because you’re letting other studios know that if they purchase your studio, they’ll expand to another location, get all your props and have access to your student database.

However, you may not want to sell your business to another studio. Why? Because they already have a brand and a name, so they won’t need to buy yours. Taking your brand out of the equation will lower the value of your business. Remember that your brand has power, as your students, locals and other businesses may recognise your business by name. So, selling your business to an independent buyer may just give your business a higher value.

“Remember that your brand has power, as your students, locals and other businesses may recognise your business by name. So, selling your business to an independent buyer may just give your business a higher value.” @wildheart_media #yogabusiness #yogabrand
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Ultimately, Sonja sold her business through word of mouth. Your connections will be your biggest asset when going to sell.

Our takeaways for getting the most from your business

  • Cultivate a student database or email list.
  • Promote your business’s name, showing that there’s value in your brand.
  • Keep your physical studio looking nice and make sure it follows all safety rules and regulations.
  • If you have a landlord, make sure you have an agreement on a contract change for a smooth transition with the new buyer.
  • Make sure your props (blankets, bolsters, etc.) are in good condition.
  • Keep your website up-to-date.

Buyers might be mostly interested in your email list, location and props, but a good website and strong brand name can greatly increase the value of your business. If you’d like help strengthening your website and brand, reach out to us and we’ll provide a free consultation to help you on your way to helping more people.

Book a free consultation

How to create a yoga logo that resonates and inspires

For a business, a robust logo is like a great first impression. It’s a firm handshake and a warm smile, a symbolic way of communicating that instantly expresses the values of a business on a conscious and subconscious level. It’s a tall ask for a single graphic, and a challenge to get right without employing professional design skills.

After all, we’re not used to identifying ourselves with a symbol (unless you’re Prince). Balancing subtle communication with raw aesthetics – that will look good on-screen and off – is enough to have anyone stuck at the drawing board. Luckily, with these tips we’ll put you on the right path to creating your own logo, or communicating your vision to a designer.

What is a logo?

Logos are a part of everyday life now. We’re so accustomed to seeing them on our coffee cups and emblazoned across our chests, we rarely stop to think about what they actually are. In fact, that’s the true power of a logo. To be able to influence us without us even realising.

A logo can be many things to many people, but at the core of it, a logo is a symbol – and symbols have always been a powerful means of communication. From ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to modern day emojis, our history is littered with compelling symbolism… and silly smiley faces.

Consider the ancient yantras of Indian tantric traditions. Mystical diagrams, constructed through specific compositions of sacred geometry. “Yantra” literally translates to machine, which is why each confer a unique purpose in meditation. As the meditator gazes upon the yantras, they’re able to better focus their minds.

It’s through shape and composition that symbols convey their meaning and purpose. Like the iconic Nike “swoosh” and its representation of motion and speed, your logo is your means of conveying your brand purpose. In Nike’s case, the drive is to “just do it” – what would your logo inspire your audience to do?

If you can distil the essence of your brand down to a single symbol, you have yourself a powerful logo. Your logo should be your magic symbol, one that resonates with your audience and inspires them to take positive action. @wildheart_media #branding #yogalogo #yogamarketing
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

What’s the difference between logo and branding?

Logos and branding are intrinsically tied, but separate concepts. Like our senses of taste and smell, you can’t truly perceive one without the other.

A logo is a single graphical representation of a brand. It’s clear, defined and tangible. Branding on the other hand, is a much more ambiguous concept. A collective of thoughts, practices and purpose that gives a brand – and therefore the logo – its meaning.

Being the sum total of your brand experience, there’s a lot to consider with your branding. As Jän Ostendorf of Purpose Branding says in our article, From verbal to visual: How to bring your purpose and mission to life, “It takes time and diligence in communicating a purposeful and intended message that is clear and reinforced in every experience, colour, typeface, website heading, email, Facebook post and so on.”

Although Jän recommends starting the whole branding experience with a purposeful vision in mind, don’t get bogged down with analysis paralysis. Both branding and logo design are a fluid exercise, and it’s okay to iterate over time.

Why do you need a logo?

Your logo is the tip of the spear when it comes to your branding. It’s likely to be the first thing your audience sees, and so it’s your first means of communicating your brand and its values.

If you have an audience, a relevant logo is necessary to connect with them. Without it, you’re just another faceless business. Even in the most practical sense, a logo is needed so your audience can identify you.

A website without a logo is like a town without a signpost. An empty spot on the map. You can’t be sure where you are, and you can’t recognise when you’ve arrived. @wildheart_media #branding #brandidentity #logo
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

This is true everywhere your brand exists online. Social media profiles are given their authority through trust. If your audience can’t be sure who you are, they won’t engage with your message.

What are the parts of a logo?

Whilst a logo is a singular expression of your business, it can still be broken down into several parts. Three to be exact, as discussed in our article, The 3 parts of a logo and why they matter. In short, you have a:

  1. Brand mark (the graphic element)
  2. Brand name (the main text element)
  3. Strapline (the short phrase that adds context)

The brand mark is perhaps the easiest part, with symbolism being so deeply rooted in the yoga world. From universal symbols like the tree or lotus flower, to the more religious symbols of Ganesha and Shiva – there’s a lot to use as material for a brand mark.

Despite this (and much to our confusion), so many yoga businesses continue to copy each other with the same generic symbols. This is the area to get creative!

The brand name is generally just the most succinct version of your business name. Nobody needs to read your limited company status in your logo. And finally, the strapline. This is your way of explaining the “what” and “how” of your business.

Do you need a logo now?

If you have a yoga business and you’re reading this article, the answer is probably yes. In any situation where you’re representing yourself and your business – both online and offline – having a logo is a good thing.

That being said, there are some caveats. For new yoga teachers working with established yoga businesses, having a logo needn’t be your top priority. As long as you represent another brand, you can focus primarily on developing your teaching skills and your network.

Having a logo becomes necessary once you step out as your own business entity, and have an audience of your own. Or at the very least, are taking steps towards building one. Which is why new independent yoga teachers, studios and retreat centres should look to get a logo at the earliest possible time.

For everyone else, if you’re at the stage where you’re ready to build your own website, you definitely need a logo now. If you need some direction in that area, read our article on which website platform should you use for your yoga business.

And before you rush out to get a logo made, it’s important that you spend the time to really consider your new brand and what it stands for. That way your new logo can be designed with these things in mind (and your designer will be grateful for some direction).

Examples of logos we’ve designed

Yoganatomy

yoganatomy logo

Yoganatomy is the world’s leading yoga anatomy brand run by David Keil, author of Functional Anatomy of Yoga and a series of online anatomy courses. We refreshed his original logo by simplifying it. The Yoganatomy brand has continued to evolve over the years and the strapline has evolved from “Anatomy for the mat” to “Educating & inspiring”. The original strapline reflected what Yoganatomy offered, while the new iteration written by the client is more aspirational.

Stillpoint Yoga London

Stillpoint Yoga London Logo

Stillpoint Yoga London is a busy Ashtanga yoga studio offering ‘Mysore style’ Ashtanga yoga and inspiring workshops and retreats with founder Scott Johnson. We designed his logo around the concept of the mandala, a meditative symbol reflecting Scott’s integration of Ashtanga yoga and mindfulness. The strapline ”Supporting your practice” emphasises how Stillpoint supports practitioners rather than the authority of the teacher.

The Yoga Spot

Thy Yoga Spot Logo

The Yoga Spot is a yoga studio run by Michele Ross located in the heart of Aberdeen. Feedback from students led to the ”Serene in Aberdeen” strapline.

Need more inspiration for your logo? Take a look at all the other logos we’ve done for our clients in our case studies section.

Tips for creating your own yoga logo

  • Think carefully whether you actually need a logo.
  • Consider and capture your values and personality as a teacher/studio owner. These notes will be useful when you get someone to help you bring your ideas to life.
  • Do hire a professional freelance designer or agency (how about us!)
  • Always look at examples of their work (we’ve done some great stuff).
  • Ask what the process is so you know what to expect.
  • Be as specific as possible with your feedback when you review.
  • Make sure the designer provides different formats for your logo, e.g. stacked and horizontal. It needs to be flexible.
  • Your logo should come with a colour palette and complementary fonts that all work well together. You’ll need this for designing a website and other marketing.
  • Remember it doesn’t need to be perfect – you can, and should, refine your logo and strapline over time.
  • If/when you change your strapline – make a list of all the places that it needs to be changed, e.g. website, email templates, flyers, social media channels, videos, etc.
  • Keep it simple.

Avoid these common mistakes

  • Being too literal. Keep it abstract: it should allude to meaning, not spell it out!
  • Avoid getting too complicated. Logos that are too detailed and complex in design, or those that have very light fonts and delicate lines, are difficult to read at small sizes on screen or when printed on fabric.
  • Never use a lotus flower as the main graphical element. It’s been done to death, and you want to stand out, right?
  • Don’t use delicate decorative fonts that are hard to read.
  • Avoid constantly tweaking your logo and strapline – once a year should be enough for small tweaks.

Are you ready to create your own yoga logo?

Designing a logo seems to start off as a simple exercise, but then often turns into a beast of branding, ideation and existential dilemmas (what is the moral purpose of my business?!)

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article. From abstract theory to practical implications, we hope you’re feeling more prepared to tackle your own yoga logo.

With so much to consider, it’s incredibly helpful to get expert assistance right from the beginning. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’d be in good hands with us. Our Logo and Style Guide Package is based on our tried and tested process, developed over 25 years working with clients.

Ready to take the first step? Book a free consultation today.

A first-timer’s experience of WordCamp Europe — Berlin 2019

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll know that Wildheart Media is a remote business. This is why WordCamp Europe 2019 was an extra special event for the Wildheart team. It was the first time that Guy Anderson, Hannah Moss and I (Ehron Ostendorf) all met in person.

As a first timer to WordCamp Europe, I highlight some of the talks and workshops we went to and give you some top takeaways from each. I give you my overall impressions on the event and also share my feelings about spending time with the Wildheart team at the end, so read on if you’re curious what each of us are like in ‘real life’.

What is WordCamp Europe?

WordCamp Europe is a yearly conference all about WordPress, a free open-source content management system (CMS) also referred to as a website hosting platform. Over 30% of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.

WordCamp Europe takes place in a different European city each year and this year, Berlin saw the largest number of attendees to date (about 3,000). In order to not have too many people crammed in one space, there were simultaneous conference slots throughout the day with topics ranging from content and SEO to design and coding. Below I highlight the conferences we went to as well as a workshop we attended.

The big, bad content planning workshop

On the first day of the conference (Friday 21st June), the Wildheart team participated in a workshop with limited space. I was the last person to get a spot for this workshop, so you can imagine how special I felt! Our workshop leader was Vassilena Valchanova (Vassy for short), a communications specialist from Bulgaria.

Highlights from this workshop

  • Learning tips for Facebook Insights and AdsManager
  • Studying Google Analytics
  • Gaining knowledge on new tools to use, such as:
  • Creating customer personas (which we’re also familiar with)
  • Great content ideas

Takeaways from this workshop

Through Facebook Insights, we walked through Vassy’s PowerPoint presentation and practised creating our audience based on location, age and sex, interests and other pages they liked. Google Analytics was similar, but it was interesting to learn the differences between the two.

We also took time to create customer personas so that when we write content we can aim it towards this type of potential customer.

The new tools Vassy shared with us were fascinating — Hotjar is a user feedback and behaviour analytics service that allows you to add different tools to your website, such as polls, a heatmap (to see where people go on your site), visitor recordings (which takes no personal info), and many other tools like surveys and feedback forms.

Hotjar Screenshot

AnswerThePublic is a great way to help you form content. I searched ‘yoga’ as an example. What’s fascinating is that you can see how certain searches are more popular than others, e.g. you can see that ‘yoga vs pilates’ has a much larger search volume than ‘yoga vs massage’, which can help you decide on topics for  your next blog post.

AnswerThePublic Screenshot

AnswerThePublic only gives you a few free searches per day, so you can also use Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. This is a less advanced tool and similar to AnswerThePublic, but you get unlimited searches.

SimilarWeb gives you the tools to research your competitors and see what keywords are working for them, how their website ranks and what brings people to their sites. SimilarWeb can also help identify trends to help with your SEO strategy and blog writing.

Matt Mullenweg

After lunch we saw Matt Mullenweg, a web developer, entrepreneur and most importantly co-founder of WordPress. He gave everyone a warm welcome and discussed the launch and upcoming changes to WordPress’s newest page builder, Gutenberg.

Matt Mullenweg WCEU 2019

Variable fonts: The future of web design

After Matt’s talk, I saw a conference on ‘Variable fonts: The future of web design’. The big takeaway from this talk was that using heavy text throughout your site (imagine if everything was in bold on your site) will actually make it load slower than if the text was thinner, i.e. Roboto ‘thin’ vs Roboto ‘black’.

Understanding what makes a website landing page convert

I ran to another building to catch the next talk, ‘Understanding what makes a website landing page convert’. This showed us how we need to create a customer persona and then take that persona on a journey through our site. For a yoga website, this would mean creating a landing page with text and specific pictures to reach a particular type of audience.

Semantic content in a block editing world

The next talk was on ‘Semantic content in a block editing world’ which focused on the WordPress Gutenberg plugin. The speaker discussed the need for websites to be more interactive and to keep the content structure distinct from its presentation. So, formatting our text to make it easier to read, not simply shoving all the content into one, large text block.

How better performing websites can help save the planet

On Saturday, we started the day off strong with a talk on ‘How better performing websites can help save the planet’. This taught us how the internet as a whole leaves a CO2 footprint larger than most countries. If that statistic got your attention, then keep an eye out for Hannah’s upcoming blog post that covers this talk in detail and gives you tips on how to reduce your own website’s carbon footprint.

Get things done! 7 tips to save time

I watched ‘Get things done! 7 tips to save time’, which mostly reminded me of processes I already follow and tools I use. The speaker mentioned using online organisational tools like Trello to keep track of your tasks, following a regular routine, and allowing yourself micro breaks to check your email, walk around and stretch, etc.

Copywriting tricks, techniques, and CTAs for bloggers and marketers to improve conversion rates

The last two talks were wonderful back-to-back content talks. The main takeaways from ‘Copywriting tricks, techniques, and CTAs for bloggers and marketers to improve conversion rates’ were: find a strong headline for your blog post (question, call to action, address concerns, etc.), and pair that with a striking image, because images and strong headlines will draw people in.

Reduce, reuse, and recycle — 7 ways to repurpose content and maximise your efforts

The takeaways from this talk about recycling content were:

  • Seasonal cleanups — taking an audit of all your blogs, updating posts, getting rid of irrelevant posts, etc.
  • Content splintering — chopping up content into smaller pieces to share on social media.
  • Content stacking — combining blog posts into larger pieces like an ebook.
  • Media swaps — taking blog posts and making a video out of them and vice versa.

My summary of WordCamp Europe 2019

The whole event was tiring, yet energising and invigorating. These talks and the whole conference gave me the tools, knowledge and confidence to take all the information and actually turn it into actionable goals. I think WordCamp is a very useful and well-organised event and I look forward to going again.

So, what’s the Wildheart team like?

I clearly saved the best for last. The team had a wonderful time visiting the sites of Berlin from walking the streets around the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) to taking a boat tour along the Spree river. I also had an amazing time at a shared co-working space called Space Shack where the team discussed the future of Wildheart and worked together on some projects.

But that’s just the surface stuff, I’d rather share something more authentic. Before I left for Berlin, I had a whole approach to the trip figured out. I was prepared to be professional and business-like, yet courteous and polite. We all have certain ways we think we should act around certain people, right? Although we did accomplish work and attend a professional event, I was immediately made welcome and within the day, our barriers melted away and we had deep, meaningful conversations. I had dinners and outings with Guy and Hannah and if I could explain the Wildheart dynamic, it would be as if we were friends, siblings, and coworkers to each other all at once.

This was highlighted further during the WordCamp after party, which was ‘80s themed — one of my favourite moments was dancing with my team, having fun and being able to be myself.

I’ve worked remotely before and I’ve had the opportunity of working for different kinds of people with many different temperaments. This has been nice ‘world experience’, but from my perspective, getting closer to those businesses wasn’t successful for me. So, I had grown to be more cautious and skeptical while I was at work.

Spending time with the Wildheart team was the first time I could legitimately say  that I felt part of a team — somewhere I belonged. As yogis, I’m sure you understand what I mean when I say that I’ve found a tribe that I vibe with, a place where I feel respected, where I can contribute something meaningful.

The Wildheart team also got to hang out with Russell Hrachovec from Make It Red, a design agency in London, and Nick Schäferhoff, a freelance blogger and online marketer based in Berlin. They both made great companions and we had a lot of fun together!

WCEU Berlin 80s After Party

Thanks for reading my in-depth overview of my WordCamp experience. If you’ve thought about getting more knowledge on improving your site and business, consider attending WordCamp Europe 2020 in Porto, Portugal — we’ll see you there!

Running a remote business part 3: How to productize your business

From a consultancy to packaged services

While running my first agency I read the insightful book Built to Sell. It’s about how to create a sellable design business and is a great, short read.

Wildheart started out as a consulting business and has changed into a ‘productized’ business to use Brian Casel’s own phrase from his online course called Productize. I’ve never done the course, but creating a systematic approach to delivering bundles of services called packages has been my mission for a few years.

Why productize?

The reason for this is that a consulting business is not scalable because it’s based on the in-depth knowledge of highly skilled individuals. If those individuals are not around, the expertise is lost and the work stops or at the very least the quality of work suffers as it’s picked up by someone else.

A productized business relies on deep knowledge, experience and expertise in order to package the consultant offering into repeatable steps. These steps can then be done by anyone with the right attention to detail and with minimal training. This standardises the quality of the work delivered regardless of who’s doing it – if the process is adhered to.

A productized business relies on deep knowledge, experience and expertise in order to package the consultant offering into repeatable steps.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Handmade to assembly line

To use a manufacturing metaphor, in a consultancy business the consultant is a craftsman who uses their expertise to hand assemble a car. A productized business looks much like Ford’s assembly line to produce cars.

Making craftsmanship count

While I love the idea of the craftsman, and have spent 20 years honing my craft, I also value efficiency. I believe it’s more desirable to use this craftsmanship to design an awesome digital product assembly line rather than hand-crafting bespoke one-off products. That doesn’t mean that the results of our products aren’t bespoke or tailored to the client’s needs. Instead it means we add craftsmanship to both the process and the products.

Productize what’s important

I’ll be straight up with you and say that my first attempt to productize Wildheart was a complete flop. I spent a lot of time documenting and taking screenshots of how to set up servers and migrate websites – repetitive tasks that I had been doing for decades over and over again.

What I quickly and painfully learned is that these multi-step processes are surprisingly complicated when you break them down step by step. And are only part of a product or package. As a marketing agency we can’t sell a server set-up process to a client because it’s only one cog in the machine. The problem was my focus – I was zooming in too closely on only one part of a potential package.

Productize reloaded

The next attempt to productize Wildheart was more successful for two reasons:

  1. Firstly, and most importantly, because I didn’t attempt it on my own.
  2. Secondly, because we were focused on whole packages that could be delivered to customers.

We were focusing on packages or products that could actually be sold, which means we could quickly generate revenue from them.

We started by analysing the projects we had already delivered for clients and seeing where the logical breaks were, so that we could split them up into packages. Over several months, Hannah (our queen of content) and I created spreadsheets capturing all the tasks needed for each of our new content marketing packages. We also looked at what our customers needed but hadn’t bought.

We then began delivering these packages with both new and existing customers. We currently have 8 packages and most customers buy between 2-4 packages initially. Our most popular package is our SEO Package followed by our Website Updates Package. Interestingly, we still do consulting work for most of our existing clients, but new customers usually start by buying a fixed price package.

Consulting versus packages: what’s the difference?

The difference between consulting work and packages is that we charge by the hour for consulting work and invoice when the work is complete. Packages are a fixed price and paid for upfront or on a payment plan.

Packages and remote teams

Packages are essential when working in a remote team because they minimise the ‘what do we do now?’ conversations. From a sales perspective, we also have a matrix of clients with the packages they’ve bought, so we can quickly see what their next steps should be with Wildheart.

Packages are essential when working in a remote team because they minimise the ‘what do we do now?’ conversations.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Tips for starting to productize your business

If you already run a business and you want to start productizing what you offer then the job is fairly straightforward. (But still a lot of work!)

Start by thinking about what you already deliver but perhaps haven’t been delivering in a standardised way. Pay special attention to things you find yourself doing over and over again. Where there’s repetition there’s likely to be an opportunity to standardise.

Create a spreadsheet of all the tasks you need to do and allocate time to each task. This will give you a package price.

Pitch your product

Pick an existing customer who you have a good relationship with and pitch them the idea of them buying a fixed price package. If they go for it then you’re off.

If they don’t go for your pitch, then you may have chosen the wrong thing to productize, or that specific client doesn’t need your product. Maybe it’s a timing thing: a good product is still useless to a client who’s not ready to make use of it. If your first pitch doesn’t go so well make sure you understand why it didn’t and pivot accordingly.

Either move on to another client who you think may be a better fit. Or, re-evaluate your product then repackage and re-pitch it to the same client or another existing client.

You may not want to offer your package prices upfront on your website, as you may need to refine the tasks that make up a package. Our experience has shown us that we’ve needed to deliver each package several times to dial in the process and assess profitability. There were things missing that we needed to add in, which we only learned through the actual delivering of the packages.

For us this has been an 18 month process! But it could be a lot simpler and quicker to dial in if you only offer 1 or 2 packages.

One-off versus monthly packages

One-off packages are easier to sell as they’re a smaller investment for the client, both financially and time-wise.

But recurring monthly packages are a good fit for a client who is serious about their content marketing.

Most of our packages are one-off investments, but we also offer recurring monthly packages for clients looking to grow their audience and business using regular content marketing.

Drop us an email if you’re interested in productizing your business. We’d love to hear from you!

Contact us

Read the other posts in this series

Go back to Blog series: Running a remote business to read the other posts in this series.

Running a remote business part 2: Growing a team of Wildhearts

A great business is made up of a combination of good people, knowledge and processes that can be repeated consistently.

But business is mainly about relationships – good relationships are profitable in many ways, and bad ones aren’t.

We spend so much of our lives working that it makes sense to surround yourself with people you love and respect. I can’t imagine spending 50 years of my life surrounded by people I could hardly tolerate or who I find downright annoying. But this is not conventional wisdom. And I notice a strong tendency for people to live different lives: a work life and a private life. Personally, I have a much more integrated approach and I’ve built Wildheart around my own interests with people I admire and respect.

This isn’t for everyone of course – many people do only want a transactional relationship, but they simply aren’t going to be working with or for Wildheart. This also means that growth is slow because finding clients who are a good fit takes time. What takes even longer is finding good people to work with who share our integrated approach and also value their freedom and accountability.

Finding good people

Over the years I’ve noticed that the best workers are doing it for themselves. The paycheck is important, sure, but that’s not the main reason why we do what we do here at Wildheart. By agency standards we charge very competitive rates and when you take into account that we’re experts in our niche of yoga and wellbeing, it makes for a very powerful combination.

In my experience good people need three things:

  1. Challenge – they need to be stretched to their limits, be faced with challenges outside their comfort zone and be always open to learning.
  2. Respect – they need the freedom to choose their own hours and working location.
  3. Reward – those who put money first won;t be working at Wildheart. But of course everyone needs enough money to live a good life.

The paradox of employment

Companies need loyalty and they buy this loyalty by employing staff. Often employees are then treated as if they are owned by the company and have to do whatever the company needs, regardless of their skills.

People, on the other hand, need a stable income and they get this by selling most of their time to companies. But it’s an uncomfortable deal and it never lasts. If it does it’s often the individual that pays a heavy price in terms of health and wellbeing.

Employees gain more power by acquiring more knowledge and experience and small companies can really suffer when an experienced team member moves on. Most small consulting firms are built around the skills of the principle.

In the case of Wildheart that’s me, Guy the founder, with over 20 years’ experience learning and growing, making mistakes and having some successes along the way.

Freelancers: feast vs. famine

Historically, freelance consultants are normally those who have acquired enough skill, knowledge and confidence to break out on their own and offer their services to companies at a premium rate. This can suit both parties because there are much lower costs to the business to do this. But if you’re building a knowledge business then it can be tempting to use freelancers and never build the knowledge in-house, which puts the company at unacceptable risk.

If you’re building a knowledge #business then it can be tempting to use #freelancers and never build the knowledge in-house, which puts the company at unacceptable risk @wildheart_media #remotebusiness #remoteworking
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

The big challenge for freelancers of course is to find enough regular work. I’ve been a freelancer myself before running two agencies, so I’ve experienced both feast and famine. It can be hard not belonging or being part of a team, and can also feel quite isolating, although the rise of co-working spaces in recent years has helped in this area.

The other big problem that companies face using freelancers, besides not retaining knowledge, is the lack of loyalty. Freelancers are normally good at delivering a project, but then they move on. It’s the nature of the work. But companies are built on being able to deliver high quality work consistently.

Working remotely

Finding people who are a good fit both as clients and as part of the team is the most important task. Finding the right tools to get the work done and share information follows. Tools should never take priority over people. The wrong person using the right tools is never the right person for the job.

Tools should never take priority over people. The wrong person using the right tools is never the right person for the job @wildheart_media #remotebusiness #remoteworking
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Never has remote working been easier! And there are so many choices when it comes to collaborative tools – which can also be a bit overwhelming. We’re always experimenting with new tools and here’s what we’ve settled on for the moment.

Free consultation

At the front-end, or sales side, of the business we designed a simple but effective process when people book a free consultation with us. This is an email automation sequence and a short questionnaire that allows us to get all the information we need to assess the suitability of the application. We discuss each application internally before responding with an invite to a free video consultation over Skype, Zoom or Google Hangout.

Each free consultation has a standard format and lasts around 45 minutes. The majority of our customers are located in other cities or countries so this meet-and-greet is a very important step in building our relationship. Video is the next best thing to meeting in person because it allows us to get cues of body language, facial expressions and tone of voice.

One of the neat features of Zoom is that you can record video calls so that team members who aren’t on the call can review – we use this feature in conjunction with shared Google Docs to capture notes.

Our favourite tools

We often send new customers handy guides like our Guide to Yoga Photography after a free consultation. To send large files we use the free WeTransfer service.

If a customer signs up to one or more of our packages they also get an invoice and we always recommend they use Transferwise to make bank payments. It’s fast and offers better exchange rates than standard bank transfers.

We run all our calendars and email through GSuite and we use Trello as an organisational tool, both internally and with clients.

All our files are created in Google Docs and Google Sheets and shared across Google Drive. For our design tools we use Creative Cloud, mainly Illustrator and Photoshop.

Close collaboration

We don’t follow the ‘always on’ model internally when we work, so we don’t use any chat tools like Slack or WhatsApp. At Wildheart we don’t like checking and replying to instant chat messages all day long.

Instead we have lots of collaborative work sessions where we’ll often work together on projects whilst on a video call. We even work like this with some of our customers. But this only works if the customer is very comfortable with the collaboration tools.

It can be an intense but powerful way of working because there’s no need to send emails and wait for responses. You can also stay on a single project longer, rather than hopping from project to project, kicking the can along doing superficial tasks.

This kind of close collaboration takes 100% focus and energy but it’s really satisfying and productive. Of course, we don’t do this all the time but balance it with periods of uninterrupted solo deep work where we don’t check our emails.

What tools are you using?

Don’t miss the final post in this series, How to productize your business. We’ll be diving into how we transformed Wildheart by switching our services into standard packages with fixed prices – yes, our prices are listed on our packages page.

We did this in order to move away from the consultancy model, which relies on the knowledge and skill of the principle. Offering packages allows us to train the team and standardise the delivery of our services. But the results are anything but standard, as you’ll see from our new case studies section.

Read our case studies

In the next post, How to productize your business, I unpack how we’ve organised our services into packages so that they can be delivered to a high standard of quality with minimal training.

Go back to Blog series: Running a remote business.

Running a remote business part 1: How Wildheart was born

Wildheart was founded in Brighton, UK, in 2014 and 6 months later I found myself in India, a place I’d always dreamed of visiting. After 7 months I moved to Stockholm to start a family.

Fast forward to December 2018 and I’m a full-time single dad still running Wildheart from my Stockholm office. And I’m happy to say that 2018 has been our best year ever, both in terms of growth and profitability.

Let’s rewind – where did it all begin?

I’ve always been into technology: I grew up on a diet of Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Knight Rider, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tron, ET, Back to the Future, Robocop, Blade Runner, Alien and the Terminator. Blade Runner is still my favourite film and I must have seen it over 20 times now!

I’ve always understood that technology is shaping our world and that the line between man and machine would eventually disappear. Have you seen this demo of Google Assistant – where a Google AI makes appointments at both a hairdresser and a restaurant? It’s quite something!

I started my career in the 1990s as a web designer. I made the move from Cape Town where I grew up, to London, and then down to Brighton where I lived for 11 years, before finally settling in Stockholm.

The missing link

I noticed that designing and building websites was becoming commodified with the rise of web standards and open-source software. I also realised that building websites was not going to be the problem that needed solving for very long.

Over the years as a web designer I poured a lot of energy, passion and expertise into designing and building websites that no-one ever saw. My clients were happy with my work but their businesses weren’t growing through their websites. Most business websites were nothing more than expensive online brochures back then.

There was something missing; it was marketing. How do people even find you?

Remember, I started designing websites before the iPhone, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and even Google! I realised the problem that needed solving was how to be found. And 20 years later this is more true than ever.

Corporate vs creative: a collision of two worlds

In 2006 I started my first marketing agency and eventually took on two business partners. My partners had decades of traditional business experience and I learned loads from them. In fact, the lessons I learned in this real-life business school still help me to keep Wildheart on track today.

Like many in business, my ex-business partners were obsessed with growth. The idea is that growth is almost the only thing that matters. This is a fundamental core principle of modern capitalism and global economy.

Their approach to growth was all about pounding the pavement and pressing the flesh (an English metaphor for shaking hands!) – building relationships with individuals in person.

The problem with this approach is it’s both expensive and time-consuming. You can only be in one place at a time. It’s also not what a digital business owner should be focusing on. There are other ways to grow which I’ll get to later in this series.

Having physical offices with the right addresses was also important for them. It was important to them to have their staff on location under the watchful eye of their managers. They invested heavily in all the infrastructure and management needed to make this a reality.

They created a high pressure and competitive environment for themselves and their staff. They employed a lot of staff and had a high churn rate, meaning staff came and went – often. This meant they also had high recruitment and training costs, as their management team constantly had to replace staff and train the new recruits.

A high churn rate also affects the quality of work you’re able to deliver. This is not always true and depends on the sector you work in – but in digital, which relies on teams of highly skilled individuals collaborating well, it’s a train wreck.

The shift from web design to marketing

By 2006 WordPress was gaining popularity and I’d shifted design and development exclusively to this platform. But WordPress is just a tool and while today it powers around 32% of all websites on the world wide web, it’s only one part of the business marketing puzzle that each business has to solve in its own way to find success.

One of the problems with running a web design agency is that when the website is built, the relationship ends and you have to look for a new project. As a generalist rather than a specialist, I’d been working with email marketing and social media since my early days of building WordPress websites back in 2006. So, offering marketing services was not a huge leap for me; it felt like the natural next step.

Growing the team, but at what cost?

With the fancy office provided by my business partners came the expensive team of full-time employees.

In order to make full-time employment palatable to creatives the salaries are high – because being told what to do is not an easy compromise for creatives to make! The high salaries mean high costs to the employers. Both parties are also locked in with a notice period and the law protects full-time employees (as it should) from being let go without proper cause. But for a small business with variable income, the high fixed costs of offices and full-time staff can be a real weight around the neck.

With a team of 6 full-time staff and fancy offices in central Brighton, I felt the weight of those costs around my neck every month when it came to pay day. Without a recurring revenue model of repeat business that’s a lot of pressure on one neck!

We had started to move towards monthly retainers with some clients and this helped ease the pressure, but a lot of our work was still pure consultancy. This is time intensive and requires lots of expert knowledge.

As one door closes, another opens…

By now you might be wondering how and why I got myself into all of this?! Well, it wasn’t as clear then as it is now. A lot of it came down to lack of business experience and confidence on my part. Of course, it takes courage to run your own business but it takes a different type of courage to run it on your own terms using a method that your business partners don’t understand or believe in.

And this is how I came to shut down a growing agency and part ways with my business partners.

And out of all this experience Wildheart Media was born.

What’s next?

In the next post of this mini-series, I share my experiences into what I’ve learned so far from running a remote business.

And if you want to find out more about how we can put all this experience to good use for your own business, why not book a free consultation?

Book a free consultation

Go back to Blog series: Running a remote business.

The 3 parts of a logo and why they matter

You have literally seconds when it comes to making an impression on new visitors to your website. Having a well-designed logo is the foundation of appearing professional. Your logo is normally located top left of your website and is the first thing your website visitors are likely to see.

Your visitors will judge your business and brand on the strength of your logo – in seconds and mostly sub-consciously. But giving a brief to a designer can also be a challenge. In this post we’re going to unpack the parts of a logo and show how they successfully fit together, so that by the end of this post you’ll know what makes a good logo.

If you already have a logo, you’ll be able to look at it with freshly informed eyes, and you’ll be able to fix it if it’s not working so well. If you don’t already have one, you’ll be able to give a designer a sensible brief so they can do a great job for you!

Before we get stuck in

A note to new businesses: If you’re a bootstrapped start-up or a freelancer embarking on a consulting business, a logo is not the only thing you should be focusing on. You need to make sure you’re keeping your existing customers happy and finding new customers as well as developing your brand. Bear in mind that you can change your logo as your business grows and you develop more budget for marketing. So, your first logo doesn’t have to be perfect, and if all goes well it certainly won’t be your last.

The 3 parts of a logo

Let’s dive into what makes a good logo. At Wildheart we consider a logo as having 3 parts:

Part 1: The brand mark

This is the graphic element of your logo. It’s usually an abstract or stylised shape. It should be striking and easily recognisable. Big brands (think Nike and Adidas) often use this graphic on it’s own, but if you’re a small business this is something you should avoid, as you’re not likely to be a household name any time soon!

Not every logo has a brand mark, and the brand mark can also be created using just the brand name. Here are some practical examples:

Wildheart Media
Our logo is a bear’s face made in the shape of a heart:

Wildheart Media Logo

Authentic Yoga Marketing
In this case there is no brand mark and the logo consists only of the brand name contained within a frame:

Authentic Yoga Marketing Logo

The Yoga Spot
The brand mark we created here is a mandala (a mystical symbol representing the universe) in the shape of a flower:

The Yoga Spot Logo

Part 2: The brand name

This is the main text element of a logo and is normally a shortened version of your company name. It should be no more than 2 words; one word is even better. There needs to be a common thread that runs through your brand name, company name and website address.

The brand name we chose for our logo is Wildheart. Our company name is Wildheart Media Ltd and our web address is wildheartmedia.com. Notice how we dropped ‘Media’ from our logo. Why? Because Wildheart Media is just too long as a brand name in a logo. The common thread here of course is the word Wildheart.

Here’s another example. Authentic Yoga Marketing is a series of marketing courses for yoga teachers and studio owners. This is a partnership between Wildheart Media and David Keil from yoganatomy.com. The brand name is Authentic and the web address is authenticyogamarketing.com. But that’s quite a mouthful, which is why we’ve dropped ‘yoga marketing’ from the brand name. However, we’ve managed to include this by using the strapline ‘Marketing for yogis’.

Part 3: The strapline

The strapline is a short phrase that appears underneath the brand name. It’s useful to add more detail to the brand name and it usually consists of the ‘how’ or the ‘what’ a company offers.

In our example of Wildheart we explain the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ with ‘Authentic content marketing’. This is still problematic because most people don’t know what content marketing actually means. But we can’t solve all our problems with our logo, can we?

In our second example, Authentic Yoga Marketing, we explain the ‘what’ with the strapline ‘Marketing for yogis’.

The strapline we developed for The Yoga Spot combines the ‘how’ and the ‘where’ in ‘Serene in Aberdeen’. This strapline came out of the language that Michele, the founder of The Yoga Spot, uses to describe her yoga studio.

Writing a good strapline can be hard to do and requires good collaboration. Remember it doesn’t need to be perfect straight away. As you refine your marketing and messaging, your strapline will most likely go through a few iterations before it settles and feels right.

Pulling it all together

So far we’ve broken down the 3 parts of a logo into:

  • Brand mark
  • Brand name
  • Strapline

Now that we know what the 3 elements are, it’s time to look at how they fit together.

Your logo needs to look great in any context, for example:

  • Website viewed on a smartphone, tablet and desktop
  • Printed flyers and posters
  • Social media accounts, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
  • Emails
  • Signage if you have a physical location
  • Merchandising like t-shirts, hoodies, caps and bags

Is your logo robust?

A common mistake is to come up with a brand mark that is too intricate or to use a font that is too thin. This is a problem when a logo is viewed on screen at small sizes or printed on merchandising. When the logo is viewed in these contexts, all the lovely detail gets lost. The solution is to make sure that during the design process you see and approve your logo in both large and small sizes.

Is your logo flexible enough?

Every logo should have at least 2 formats so that it looks great in as many contexts as possible. The 2 most important formats to think about are landscape and stacked.

Landscape format
This is the version you’ll use the most. It’s the best choice for your website because the format is a horizontal rectangle. Normally this is achieved by positioning the brand mark to the left of the brand name and strapline. This format makes efficient use of space, especially on smartphones and in emails. For example:

The Yoga Spot Logo

Stacked format
The stacked format is often great for signage and merchandising like t-shirts and bags. As the name suggests the elements are all stacked on top of each other. The brand mark often needs to be bigger in the stacked format to look well-proportioned compared to the brand name. For example:

The Yoga Spot Logo (Stacked)

In conclusion

In this post we’ve identified the 3 parts of a logo and showed some different examples. We also explored how these 3 parts fit together to make a robust and flexible logo.

But there are 2 other visual elements that are also really important when it comes to your branding. These are your colour palette and fonts, and we’ll be exploring these elements in our upcoming blog posts.

For more on this topic, check out this video of Wildheart founder Guy talking about the 3 parts of a logo.

And if you’re ready for a new logo for your business, why not sign up to our Logo and Style Guide Package.

See how we’ve helped our clients

Do you need to create digital products for your yoga business?

In the penultimate post of our Art of Marketing Your Yoga Business series, we looked at how important it is to create videos in order to run a successful yoga business.

In this final post, we go one step further to find out whether you should be creating digital products for your yoga business.

What are digital products?

So, what exactly do we mean by digital products? Well, these are any products that you create online that you sell or give away through your website or other online marketing methods. For example, online courses, video tuition, e-books, audio files, digital images or manuals and other written materials in electronic format.

How do digital products relate to your yoga business?

Digital products can be applied to almost any business. In the case of yoga, the most obvious example is an online yoga course, or a series of instructional yoga videos. But you could also create an e-book about some aspect of yoga, a downloadable PDF guide to practising at your yoga studio, or perhaps a series of digital images that can be purchased for use online.

Of course, there are many physical products related to your yoga business that can be sold through your website, such as t-shirts, mats, bags, books, DVDs and so on. But in this post we’re specifically considering products that are made electronically.

Examples of digital yoga products

We’ve worked with lots of yoga businesses, many of whom have found great success in selling digital products online. Here are a few examples:

Yoganatomy

David Keil of Yoganatomy is one of the world’s leading authority figures in yoga anatomy. He’s been running his website and blog for over 15 years, and in the last few years has moved into creating online courses. All of his video-based courses are very popular and his anatomy courses for Yoga Teacher Trainings are used by yoga teachers all over the world.

David is obviously very experienced at what he does, and is very comfortable talking to camera. Because he works in such a specific niche – yoga anatomy – he has gotten to know his audience very well indeed. This means he can provide very relevant digital products exactly suited to their needs.

Ashtanga Yoga Leeds

Joey Miles of Ashtanga Yoga Leeds offers various digital products in the downloads area of his website. These include audio files of him counting through parts of the Ashtanga yoga sequence and a PDF chart showing all the postures in primary series, as well as a larger poster version of this, which is physically posted to the recipient.

Again, Joey’s products relate to a niche area of yoga – Ashtanga. As an advanced practitioner, he’s very familiar with the correct Sanskrit count and has a clear, steady voice, which is important for good quality audio files.

Ashtanga Dispatch

Peg Mulqueen of Ashtanga Dispatch has a shop section on her website. This mainly consists of hard copy magazines and clothing, but more recently she’s created digital versions of her magazine, available for download.

Again, Peg’s content lies in the niche area of Ashtanga yoga, and it takes a lot of work to create an entire magazine. However, the feedback and engagement she receives from her local and online community encourages her to keep creating these products.

Should you be making digital products?

As with making yoga videos, the decision to make digital products for your yoga business lies entirely with you.

Do you like digital products?

How do you feel about digital products in general? Are you attracted to them in other businesses? Do you find them a useful tool? This is the first question you need to consider, because if you’re not really into the idea yourself, this will definitely come across in any content you create. You don’t want to be making products for the sake of it, or because you feel pressured to.

Does your audience like digital products?

The next question you should ask is, “How will your audience react to any digital products you make?” You probably already know who your audience is, and if you don’t, you should definitely take the time to get to know them. You should never assume you know your audience without having the data to back up your assumptions.

You should never assume you know your audience without having the data to back up your assumptions.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

A great way to track your website visitors is to use Google Analytics, as we explain in How do you know your yoga marketing is working? You can also check your email marketing statistics and social media activity to find out more about the kinds of people engaging with your content online.

And there’s always the tried and tested survey method too. You could devise a survey using free software like Survey Monkey to find out what makes your audience tick, what they’d like to see more of, and what kinds of digital products they’d find most useful. This also gives you a great reason to reach out and interact with your mailing list subscribers or social media followers.

Free vs paid products – where do you draw the line?

As we mentioned above, digital products for your yoga business can be sold for hard cash or given away for free. So, where do you draw the line?

It can be hard knowing how high or low to pitch your pricing. You don’t want to be so expensive that no-one buys your products, but you also don’t want to undervalue yourself either. A good point of reference is to check what other people in your yoga niche are charging for similar products.

When it comes to giveaways, these can work really well as a promotional tool. For new visitors and people who don’t already know you or your yoga business, freebies are a great way to give them a taste of what they can expect in your paid products.

For new visitors and people who don’t already know you or your yoga business, freebies are a great way to give them a taste of what they can expect in your paid products.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

For example, you could give away the first module of an online course so people can try before they buy. Or you could create a video showing how easy the course is to use, as David Keil does for his Online Anatomy for 300-hour Teacher Trainings. If you have an e-book, you could give away a sample extract to set people’s expectations for the rest of the book. If you’re selling audio files, you could include a sample of each track, as Joey Miles does for each of his audio downloads.

Have a think about the kinds of digital products you could make for your yoga business. Then see if there’s some aspect of it, or some additional content you could create, to give away for free in order to promote it.

Membership sites

One additional point that’s worth mentioning here is the difference between membership sites, which take a regular monthly payment but require ongoing content creation, versus a one-off payment for content that will not change. Membership sites take a lot of work and we don’t generally recommend going down this route, as it’s a huge time investment and requires large scale, e.g. thousands of people signing up for $10/month, in order to be profitable. Our recommendation would be to focus on digital products that support an existing yoga business rather than running a digital yoga business. There’s already a lot of competition out there!

Don’t do it alone!

The final point we’d like to make about creating digital products for your yoga business, is this: you don’t have to do it alone! In fact, we’d avoid doing it alone if at all possible. Two heads are always better than one, and having other people to bounce ideas off, talk through the process, and help create the actual products is highly recommended.

Even if you don’t have other people you can readily work with, do ask your students, other teachers and your online community for their input. Constructive feedback will help you refine your ideas, provide new inspiration, and keep you on track with creating good quality digital products that are highly relevant for your audience.

Constructive feedback will help you refine your ideas, provide new inspiration, and keep you on track with creating good quality digital products that are highly relevant for your audience.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Specialist technical skills

Of course, creating digital products does require extra technical skills from both a production and delivery point of view.

On the production side: video editing is a specialist skill; shooting video requires good lighting and sound; and audio requires high quality recording equipment.

On the delivery side: if you’re looking at taking payments you’ll need an SSL certificate for your website; if you’re making videos you’ll need a video hosting platform; and if you’re running courses you’ll need to decide how people will access your content. You may need online courseware like LearnDash, Teachable or Thinkific, or if you’re using WordPress there are lots of plugins that can do this.

Will digital products help to grow your yoga business?

Digital products can be great for generating passive revenue, but they do require specialist skills and a significant time investment in order to do it right. This can pull your focus away from the actual running of your yoga business. You’re looking at a medium term investment for your business, so think carefully and do lots of planning before jumping in.

In fact, it’s just as important to have a solid launch strategy as it is to create the digital products in the first place. Good website traffic and a healthy growing email list are very important here.

Remember that with each passing year it gets easier and easier to create and deliver digital products – so keep an eye on this space.

How Wildheart can help

Although we don’t have a package specifically for making digital products, we do have a great deal of experience in both the yoga world and the online marketing world.

If you’re thinking of creating digital products for your yoga business, we’d love to help you get started. Book a free consultation, or take advantage of our competitive hourly consulting rates.

We know yoga, and we know digital marketing. Used in the right way, they can be a match made in heaven for growing your yoga business without losing your soul.

See how we’ve helped our clients

We know yoga, and we know digital marketing. Used in the right way, they can be a match made in heaven for growing your yoga business without losing your soul.
Powered By the Tweet This Plugin
Tweet This

Read the other posts in this series

Go back to Blog series: The art of marketing your yoga business to read the other posts in this series.

Explore our Marketing Blog
     
Join our mailing list
About Wildheart

We work between Stockholm and Brighton and welcome clients from all over the world. We’re passionate about helping wellbeing businesses grow.