How to Market Your Piano Lessons
Do you have a landing page dedicated to your piano lessons? A landing page is a page devoted to a product or service you sell. You want your landing page to have the look and feel of a home page. If someone Googles, “Piano lessons near me,” Google’s going to take them, most likely, to your piano page, not your home page. Maybe your homepage will rank above it, but there’s a good chance Google’s going to direct this potential customer to your piano landing page. This might be the only page that they ever visit during the sales process.
Creating a Landing Page for Piano Lessons
They want piano lessons. They Google, “Piano lessons near me,” they land on your piano landing page. They land on your landing page and they think, ‘Oh good. This is what I’m looking for. I’m looking for piano lessons, they’ve got piano lessons.’ The sales copy, and the featured image on this landing page, hopefully, stirs up some feelings. Hopefully, your prospective customer thinks, ‘Wow, I really like what these guys are about. I’m really excited now to reach out to them.’ As the excitement builds they spot a call to action button they can’t wait to click so they can start their piano lessons today.
Piano Lesson Marketing Do’s and Don’ts
I’d like to address a few things that you want to avoid in your piano lessons sales copy, I encourage you to avoid the following.
- Avoid writing about what is taught in the lesson. If you start talking about chords, scales, music theory, or repertoire, you’re not speaking to what you’re customer is interested in. They also might not know what all those words even mean!
- Avoid writing about the details of the lesson.
- Avoid writing about the quality of your lessons because anybody and everybody says that, “Our lessons are great, we’re the best in town. High-quality music lessons.” It goes over people’s heads. It doesn’t resonate with their hearts.
Here are two ways to connect with the reader.
- Talk about the transformation that their child will have in the piano lessons.
- Paint a picture of what their child’s life will be like playing the piano or what their life will look like after they learn how to play the piano.
Using Stories In Your Marketing
These are things that parents can relate to. My personal approach to writing about piano lessons is to come out on a story and then transition into the transformation. The story in itself shows the transformation. I like to follow the story with some of my core beliefs about my music lessons. Before you jump into writing about any of your private lessons, you should really have a long-form sales message that details your core beliefs, what you stand for, what you believe in, and what you’re hopes are for your students.
Bring Your Vision to Life
You can incorporate your vision and core beliefs into your sales copy when you’re writing about your piano lesson. What you want to avoid is copying and pasting text from one section of your website to another. So let’s say on your website you have an ‘About Us’, and that’s where you have your long-form sales message. A few paragraphs that focus on the benefits of your music lessons. I would always follow my story with some of that similar language but without copying and pasting it. Your SEO could negatively be impacted if Google sees duplicate text on your website.
Market Your Piano Lessons With the Element of Surprise
The nice thing about using a story is that people don’t see it coming. They expect you to come out and talk about what goes on in the lesson. They try to pay attention but after a sentence or two, they lose interest and they don’t read anymore. If you come out on a story, you have a better shot at hooking them right away. People want to hear what happens at the end of the story.
The story doesn’t have to be a long tale. You can write a story in just 1 or 2 sentences. I’ll share an example later in this episode. The Heath Brothers in their book Made to Stick, talk about breaking people’s “guessing machines.” People have certain expectations as they read the first few words of your sales copy. If you can break their guessing machine, if you can throw something out in that first sentence that’s completely unexpected, you’ve bought yourself a little bit of time. You might have successfully hooked the reader into your text.
Picking Your Story Line
When I’m writing sales copy for piano lessons, I like to open with a curveball; something completely unexpected. When writing about piano lessons I like to tap into a fantasy or dream a parent might have regarding their child and playing music. This helps hook and hold the reader for the duration of the sales copy. These different scenarios pretty much apply to any instrument. My go-to story settings are…
- Family gatherings
- Social events
- Recitals and concerts
- Talent shows
- Later in life scenarios
How To Market Piano Lessons Sales Copy #1: Family Gathering
Warning: Feel free to borrow this scenario but do not copy and paste the text. Google will flag duplicate text which could impact your entire website’s SEO.
Come on, play us a song. Grandma demands. The family gets quiet as your son or daughter lifts the piano cover. Your child takes a deep breath and in an instant, music fills the room. Toes started tapping, two-year-old cousin started dancing, and everybody sings along.
From here I would transition to writing about the benefits of music lessons and close on the idea of this could be your child’s story. When I talk about the benefits, I’m going to bring in some of the ideas in my long-form sales message.
I love writing about talent shows. You can do a lot with talent shows because that’s something that parents obviously can easily fantasize about with their child. It’s something that they can relate to. Perhaps they’ve been in a talent show as a kid. They most likely attended talent shows during their school days.
How To Market Piano Lessons Sales Copy #2: Talent Show
Do you remember that kid in seventh grade who became an overnight sensation after playing the Charlie Brown theme song on the piano at the school talent show?
From here you could transition to how their child’s life can be transformed through the piano. This is where you could start leaning into those key personality or character traits that kids develop through music. I would then close on a sentence such as “this could be your child’s story.”
How To Market Piano Lessons Sales Copy #3: Talent Show
Do you remember your high school talent show? It can be a make or break moment for a kid as they put their reputation on the line. Imagine your child having the confidence to take that risk. Imagine your child stepping out onto the stage to polite applause, that’s followed by cheers and shouting after playing an Elton John classic.
This example focuses on a change in status. Within a moment the child transforms into an overnight sensation. The story talks about the rewards of confidence and risks.
How To Market Piano Lessons Sales Copy #4: School Performance
Reminder: Feel free to borrow any of these scenarios but do not copy and paste the text. Google will flag duplicate text which could impact your entire website’s SEO.
I stepped out onto the stage to be greeted by a light trickle of applause and heckles from some of the varsity football squad. But when my hands danced across the piano keys…
This story is similar to example 3 in that they both talk about an underwhelming response from the audience. This example amplifies the disappointment by actual heckles from the audience. This could be interpreted as bullying; a real fear that parents have. “But when my hands danced across the piano keys…” uses a descriptive verb “danced” and doesn’t complete the story. The reader completes the story in their mind. I borrowed this idea from the famous John Caples ad “They Laughed When I Sat Down at The Piano”
After completing this short and incomplete story you could transition to the benefits; “Learning how to play music can change a child’s life. It’s a great way for kids to connect with peers and make new friends.”
How To Market Piano Lessons Sales Copy #5: Picture of the Future
Fast forward a few years. Your son or daughter is now 23 and in grad school. Your child is exhausted from a long week of studying and is ready for a little RNR. He or she meets up with some friends at a party. “Hey, look who it is. Dust off the piano”, the host shouts and jumps up to hug your kid. The party doesn’t start until the musicians arrive.
From here you would want to transition into the benefits or the moral of the story. “Learning how to play the piano is a great way to meet people and make new friends.”
When you have strong persuasive sales copy on your website, you will naturally begin to incorporate it into your phone sales. You might find yourself coming up with new sales concepts or language on the phone which can then be incorporated into your website.
Telling Stories to Customer on the Phone
Telling stories to prospective students on the phone is also a really powerful selling tool. Let’s say, for example, the parent on the phone has to tell you about how her child’s really shy, how she has a lot of social anxiety, and then you can share a story about a student in your studio who has similar challenges and how through music, she was able to overcome those challenges.
The Power of Story Marketing
Story marketing is a very powerful form of marketing. It’s key when it comes to how to market piano lessons. The better you can break people’s guessing machines, come out on a lead on an opening sentence that’s unexpected that’s surprising, that makes someone think to themselves, “What’s this about?” And then lay out a two to three sentence story that pulls them into your copy, transition into the benefits and lead to the close, the call to action.
If you follow this approach, I’m confident you’ll be pleased with the results.
