How To Market Guitar Lessons
Can you handle the truth? People don’t read all of your sales copy on your website. Think about your own behavior when you read a web page. Time is of the essence. You probably scan the text and look for…
- Headlines
- Bullet points
- Bolded text
Marketing Guitar Lessons Secret #1
See, I just did it right there. I created a bullet point list hoping to capture your attention. It worked. You’re still reading. ☺️ The secret to marketing your guitar lessons is to consider the reader’s attention span – or lack of it.
Before anyone reads your inspiring sales copy about your amazing guitar lessons they scan, they skim, just to get the gist of what’s going on, and then maybe they’ll take the plunge and start reading.
5 Marketing Tactics For Guitar Lessons
Look at this copy so far. I’m fighting to keep you engaged. I know it’s unlikely you’ll read to the end but damn it, I’ll do my best to keep you engaged. So far I’ve used a few marketing tactics to keep you hooked such as…
- An unexpected lead or opening “can you handle the truth”
- Bullet points (this is my second list already!)
- Casual conversational tone
- Light humor
- Speak directly to your reader (that’s you!)
Music and marketing are very similar. The name of the game is keeping the listener or the reader engaged. Every note counts. Every word counts. Your audience will disengage the moment the emotion fades
How to Write About Guitar Lessons
So how in the world can you talk about your guitar lessons on your website that will actually be interesting to a prospective customer. Most likely your prospect is a Mom looking for lessons for her kid. Mom most likely is not a musician. She could care less about your guitar lessons. All she cares about is how your guitar lessons can help her child be a better person.
So don’t talk about your guitar lessons. Talk about what your customer cares about; their kid. Talk about what her child’s life will look like after learning guitar at your music school. Talk about the character traits her child will develop by taking guitar lessons at your school. Tell her a story that sets her imagination on fire to the point where she feels compelled to jump and declare “SIGN ME UP!”
Marketing Guitar Lessons Secret #2
Have you ever purchased a new car before? Does the salesperson tell you about the details of the engine? Of course not. They would most likely be speaking over your head if they did. Besides, do you really care about the cylinder to duplex conversion and combustion ratio? Do you even know what that means? I certainly don’t. Most of us purchase a car based on how it makes us feel. Most of us purchase a car based on the story we tell ourselves. Perhaps it’s a story of status and luxury. Perhaps it’s a story of being thrifty and smart.
Do you remember Charlie Brown’s school teacher? When she spoke she had no voice. It was the sound of a wah-wah trombone. That’s what you sound like when you say “Your child will learn about chords, scales, riffs, tab, and music theory”. It goes right over their head.
The second secret to marketing guitar lessons is storytelling.
It only needs to be one sentence long. That’s enough to trigger a parent’s imagination. Once you trigger your prospect’s imagination they begin to tell their own story.
How to Tell a Story In Just a Few Words
Way back in the early 20th-century copywriter John Caples wrote a simple headline that changed the world of sales copy. It just so happened to be for a piano correspondence course. How apropos! It went a little something like this…
They Laughed When I Sat Down At the Piano. But When I Started to Play!~
That’s it. It’s a complete story. It’s a classic story of the underdog. Everyone roots for the underdog. Why is everyone laughing at this guy? Clearly, they underestimate his abilities. Our imagination fills in the blanks as to why they are laughing. We all tell ourselves a different story as to why. “But when I started to play” What happened when he started to play? It was clearly a transformative moment for our underdog. His playing was beautiful.
Everybody Roots For the Underdog
Within a moment he went from being the laughing stock at a party to the hero. Imagine what happened to him once he finished playing the piano. Perhaps prior to the piano, he was standing in the corner feeling and looking awkward with no one to talk to. Within an instant. That all changed. Our underdog, now the hero is making a toast with some of the guests. Perhaps he’s talking to an attractive woman. Perhaps she’s his future wife.
Our minds fill in the blanks with our own stories. We can all relate to the underdog. We can all relate to feeling laughed at or simply feeling like we are being judged. It doesn’t matter that no one is really judging us. If we feel that way, that’s our internal dialogue. That’s our story and it’s real to us.
Mom most likely is not a musician. She could care less about your guitar lessons. All she cares about is how your guitar lessons can help her child be a better person.
Story Telling and Marketing Guitar Lessons
Are you still reading this? Great! Some of my writing secrets and tactics are working such as breaking off text. (See above “mom most likely…) Since you’ve come to terms with the cruel reality that people don’t read all of your copy it’s important to make the copy they do read, count!
People are likely to read your headlines, bullets, bolded, or text with italics. If you’ve successfully sparked their curiosity, they’ll read your lead or your first sentence. They’ll read beyond your first sentence if it is…
- unexpected
- funny
- thought-provoking
- invokes emotion or curiosity
The lead for this post is “Can you handle the truth?” That qualifies as unexpected and invoking curiosity. It got you to read my next sentence. You can use this same approach when writing about guitar lessons on your website.
Set the Stage
Before you get ready to write your sales story I encourage you to brainstorm some storylines or scenarios you could reference. Below are some that I like to use for guitar lessons.
- Playing air guitar
- Outdoor family gatherings
- Campfire scene
- Summer camp
- Playing on stage
- The college dorm room
Guitar Lessons Story #1: Playing Air Guitar
Your daughter opens the closet door and out spills a world of clutter. She grabs a broom or tennis racket and slips into a rock star daydream. She purses his lips, bobs her head and plays air guitar like she owns the world.
Imagine how you would respond if you were going to sign your kid up for guitar lessons and this is what you read? Would you be inclined to keep reading?
From here you can transition into your pitch. Something like…
Tell your son or daughter to put down the tennis racket and pick up a guitar. He or she will love how the real thing sounds and feels. Imagine you will feel seeing your child performing guitar to a supportive cheering crowd of family and friends.
From here you would want to transition to your close.
Sign up for guitar lessons today to help your child’s dreams come true.
Guitar Lessons Story #2: College Dorm Room
Remember that kid in your college dorm room with the acoustic guitar? His room was always the place to hang out. Perhaps your child will one day be that kid that provides music and a sense of community for his or her friends.
Just like the previous story, you could then transition into talking about how your private lessons help kids and you close.
In Conclusion
First of all, I just want to say you rock! You made it all the way to my final paragraph. Using stories puts the customer in the driver’s seat. It allows them to see the future. It allows them to dream about how music lessons will change their child’s life. Using stories is a great approach to how to market guitar lessons for your teaching business. Fortunately, you know from first-hand experience that this is not an empty promise. Look at how much it has changed your life.
Today’s sponsor
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