Avoid These Writing Mistakes on Your Music School’s Website
The secret to great marketing is one word; “words”. Words communicate what makes your music studio so amazing and what impact you have on your students. In this episode I discuss…
- Adjective overload
- Keyword stuffing on your website
- Bragging
- Details
- Selling the idea of playing music
Adjective Overload
Adjective overload is when you use multiple adjectives to describe your music lessons. It’s the equivalent to writing an ad for yourself, let’s say one of these dating websites, and you were just to come up with a long list of adjectives to describe yourself. As the list grows, the reader then becomes confused and they’re not really sure which adjective best describes you. You’re much better off just focusing on a couple of adjectives.
Confidence and self-esteem are really two good adjectives to focus on. I’ve seen music schools where they just begin stuffing, making lists of adjectives; confidence, self-esteem, creativity, work ethic, self-discipline, motivation. These are all really nice attributes, but the impact is lost as you begin to overwhelm the reader with all these descriptions. I encourage you to just focus on one or two attributes; one or two adjectives that are going to drive your sales copy.
Keyword Stuffing
Keywords are words that you want to rank for on Google. “Music lessons in Olivette”, “piano lessons in Ladue”, “guitar lessons in Frontenac’, different counties near you. Google knows where you’re located. Google’s gotten a lot smarter over the years. So if you’re going to start dropping in the names of counties, it should sound natural.
For example, if you were to say, “When we first opened our school in Olivette,” okay, well that sounds pretty natural. You’re identifying the location of where you opened your school. But when you say, “Serving Olivette, Ladue, Frontenac, Clayton, Creve Coeur,” readers pick right up on that. And Google does too.
It’s important to identify your keywords, but your copy should have a natural and organic read. Google can pick up on when you’re trying to stuff your copy with keywords. This can ultimately hurt your SEO. Most likely when people look for music lessons, they’re going to Google “piano lessons near me.”
Bragging
I think a lot of people feel like they have to advertise how great they are. When you claim that you’re the best, when you claim that your lessons are of a certain quality; you’re bragging. People assume a brand will brag and boast and claim that you offer “the best music lessons”. Your competition probably brags in their sales copy. Anyone can claim they’re the best. Anyone can claim they offer “high-quality music lessons”. It’s just noise and savvy consumers tune it out.
If you want to broadcast the quality of your lessons, if you want to broadcast how great your lessons are, let your customers do it for you through testimonials.
Use Empathy Instead
Anyone can claim they’re the best, but not everyone can express empathy and can articulate what’s top of mind for their customers. You’re much better off trying to understand how your ideal customer thinks, what their worldview is, and tap into that in your sales copy. Statements that begin with, “Our hope for your child is…” sets the stage for empathy, for alignment. Statements such as, “Our music lessons are…” is setting the stage for bragging. Let your customers brag for you. And your customers are going to be able to be more expressive and persuasive than you can be.
If you’re going to brag about yourself, you’re still to tone it down a bit. You might just say, “Hey, we’re the best,” but your customers are going to talk about not only how you’re the best, but the impact and the transformation that their child experienced by taking music lessons at your studio.
Details
Some music schools simply describe what their music lessons are. “Our guitar lessons use a combination of traditional…:” Details can be “These are the days of the week that we’re open, these are the times, and this is how much it costs”. Facts and details. Nobody cares about that, not during the sales process. They care about that once they’re ready to buy or after they’ve bought, and now it’s time to schedule, or now it’s time to look at the pricing. Features and details appeal to the head. Sales are made in the heart.
You’re more likely to make the sale when you appeal to the customer’s heart. Sure, pricing might be top of mind for people. Some people might not be as concerned about it. And at some point, every customer wants to know, well, how much does this cost? But most likely, most customers want to know first is this for me? Does this look like something that is going to benefit my child?
Appeal To Heart Before The Head
Come right out on the transformation that your music lessons are going to provide their child. Once that is clearly established, the sale can be made. The details are important, but I would separate that. Either put it on a second or third paragraph on a page.
I like to feature this information on a whole separate page. I had a landing page just called “costs”. I had the other details there so that whenever someone landed on, say my piano landing page, all of the copy on the page was all about the child, the transformation. All of the copy was geared towards building alignment with my website visitor and appealing to their emotions. Buying is an emotional experience. When someone buys something, they’re thinking about how this object or this service, in your case, how it’s going to change their life. So focus on that in all your sales copy.
Selling The Idea of Playing Music
I see this one a lot, where music schools talk about how great it is to play music and how music will change a child’s life. That’s great. It’s true. But then where are YOU in the narrative? This is almost the opposite or the reverse of bragging. When you’re bragging about how great your music lessons are, you’re talking all about you. Me, me, me, me. When you’re selling the idea of playing music, you’ve completely removed yourself from the equation.
As Donald Miller says, “You should position yourself as the guide.” You’re the Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re the Yoda. You’re the wise sage. You’re the expert. You’re the authority. You’re going to help your customer achieve the transformation they desire through music. But you need to be a part of the equation. So when you come out with a sales copy that says, “Music helps children be better people. Music leads to happier kids,” that’s great. Parents already believe this. You’re repeating a belief that they have or a story that they tell themselves.
How to Appeal to Parents
All these stories might be true, but the message you want to get across is we are the ones that can help you achieve the outcome you desire. You do this by articulating the customer’s desire better than your competition. If your competition is saying, “Our music lessons are great, we’re the best in town,” but your website says, “We help kids discover their potential through music.” – that’s much more attractive to a parent.
When that statement is followed up with testimonials from parents, testimonials that reflect your claim, your claim of helping kids discover their potential, that becomes a powerful one-two punch. You make your claim as to how you help kids, and then your testimonials come in and back it up. Back it up, but even turn it up a notch. That’s where the customer then begins to brag about you and claim how great you are, and how happy their child is, and how eager their child is to practice each week, how eager their child is to go to their lesson each week, how it’s the one weel;u event that their child always looks forward to.
In Summary
To review, the five things you want to avoid, adjective overload. Pick one or two characteristics that you want to focus on and dig into that, as opposed to just throwing a bunch of words out there, hoping that a couple of them stick. Two, keyword stuffing. Google can penalize you for that. The most common keyword stuffing I see, and this is a very old school hack, Google could sniff it out in a second, is where you list at the bottom, “serving these different counties.”
Number three, bragging. Don’t brag about yourself. Everybody does it. Let your customers do it for you. Four, Details, save the details or keep them separate from the sales copy. The sales copy is an appeal to the heart. The details are just facts and information. They are more relevant after the sale is made. And number five, don’t sell the idea of playing music. Don’t try to convince your customers through your sales copy that playing music is a good thing to do. You’re now removing yourself out of the equation. Position yourself as the guide, as the expert, and as the authority. Position yourself as the person who’s going to help their child achieve the outcome that they desire.
