At The Studio Director, we pride ourselves in simplicity and customer service to maximize benefits for all stakeholders. Thus, the best way to run a pilates studio is in a way that makes the owner’s life easier, makes the customers happy, and ultimately makes the business more profitable.
Here are our top tips on the best ways to run a pilates studio:
Develop a Mission and Vision
Before doing anything with your pilates business, developing a mission and vision statement and understanding why your pilates studio exists is important. Once you have clarity around your mission and vision statement, you can make strategic business decisions more easily.
For example, suppose your mission involves helping working moms stay fit and manage their stress. In that case, business decisions will be drastically different than if your mission involves helping senior citizens stay healthy and mobile.
Create a Welcoming Environment
Once you have a clear vision and mission for your pilates studio, it’s time to think about the environment you want to create for your studio. When making these decisions, you’ll want to consider your target market’s demographics and competitive factors. For example, if your target market includes working mothers, it would make sense to have a convenient location for working mothers (perhaps near their work or homes).
Additionally, you could add special features to make your studio more welcoming and convenient to your target market. For instance, if you specifically target working mothers, you could consider adding pilates classes early in the morning (before work) or late into the evening (after work). You’d also want to pick a location that is well-lit and safe for clients to enter the studio when it’s dark outside.
Take Advantage of Trends to Increase Revenue
One factor differentiating good and great pilates studios is how well they integrate current trends into their business. By understanding what is trending and what the market demands, you can stay ahead of the competition and increase your market share. Here are some key trends for 2023 that you can take advantage of right now:
- Wall Pilates Workouts: According to Google Trends, “wall pilates workouts” search volume has increased by 700%.
- Live Pilates Classes Online: According to Google Trends, “live pilates classes online” search volume has increased by 450%.
- Standing Pilates for Seniors: According to Google Trends, “standing pilates for seniors” search volume has increased by 400%.
Taking advantage of these trends is a great way to set yourself apart and get noticed in the marketplace. Current trends can also help you determine unique marketing strategies or additional revenue streams you could pursue.
For example, if “pilates exercises” are trending, you can create content online for this search term and share it on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube to increase your brand’s awareness and more traffic to your website. If you gained awareness nationwide, you could create memberships for people to watch live pilates classes online instead of having to come into the studio, thereby creating an additional revenue stream that doesn’t drastically increase your overhead.
Hire the Right Pilates Instructors
If you’re clear on the type of pilates studio you want to create, the trends you want to take advantage of, and the types of clients you want to serve, you should use that information to ensure you hire the right instructors. For example, if you want to work towards creating a virtual pilates empire, it would make sense to hire pilates instructors that were charismatic and comfortable in front of the camera and feel comfortable with technology.
Leverage Technology to Streamline Operations
One of the best ways to run a pilates studio is to do it in a streamlined way. Luckily, modern technology makes streamlining operations easy. Here are the best areas you can leverage technology to streamline operations in your studio.
Billing
Billing is a great place to streamline your operations. With The Studio Director’s pilates studio software, online billing is easy and automatic for you and your pilates clients. Even better, automatic billing provides recurring revenue stream for your pilates studio and makes working with your company easier for your customers.
Class Management
If you don’t have an app to use to manage your classes, now is a great time to get one so your customers can see and manage their classes with the push of a few buttons. Not only do customers love the ease of virtual class management, but it can make it easy for you to see trends from the data from your studio and help you manage instructors’ schedules.
Communication
Engaging current customers is one of the easiest ways to maintain and grow your studio’s revenue. In the past, costly mailers and flyers would have to be sent out. However, now, you can leverage technology like pilates studio software from The Studio Director to communicate with customers frequently using text and email.
The Bottom Line
There are many ways to run a pilates studio, but the best way starts with a clear mission, incorporates trends to stay relevant, and streamlines operations with technology. Ultimately, the final results include maximized customer satisfaction and profitability.
