It’s the new year! Hooray! A time for set new yearly expectations for yourself and your business. If you’re a yoga studio owner, you’ve probably started brainstorming ideas for how you are going to increase your membership this year. You haven’t been?!? No worries. Sit down with your marketing team as soon as possible and start “spitballing” ideas about potential new ways to attract members to your yoga studio. There are thousands of good ideas out there, you just need to pick a few and focus on them. To give you a little head start, we here at FitnessTexter have you put together three simple ways to get a nice membership boost this year. Enjoy!

Send Out Member Surveys to Figure Out the Best Time Slots

Have you and your management team sat down to figure out the most profitable class times? Have you sat down and figured out the least profitable time slots? There’s a good chance that you have some classes that are barely full, yet you’re still paying your teachers. Review your class participation numbers and figure out which classes are making money and which are losing money. Also, think about sending out a survey to your users to figure out which classes fit their schedules. You might find that a grand majority of your users only want early morning and evening classes. Great! Get rid of those mid-day classes and cut costs. There are many free survey tools as well: SurveyMonkey for example. You can even survey your current members on what they like and dislike about your business. Anonymous surveys are a really nice way to get honest (sometimes painful) feedback from your current members. They’ll tell you things you never thought about your business before.

Have a Bi-Weekly Bring-a-Friend Day to Increase Membership

Does your studio currently have any bring-a-friend promotions? If not, you’re missing out on a huge chance to get some new members. Lots of studios are doing it these days. Most of your students probably talk about your studio with their non-yoga friends. A bring-a-friend pass is the best way to get those non-yogi people into your studio to give it a try. Let all your current members know that they have 2 free passes each month to bring ANYONE they want. Maybe they’ll bring their mom when she’s in town, or maybe they’ll bring their BFF who will sign up to become a member because she loved your classes so much. You won’t be losing any money, but you’ll definitely be getting more people in the door, busier classes, more member interaction and hopefully a healthy boost in monthly paying members.

Consider Offering Service-Industry Discounts

Let’s face it, yoga just keeps getting more and more expensive. In Denver, the largest corporate-owned studios are charging upwards of $120/month for unlimited yoga. Sorry, but for your average middle-class worker, that’s just a bit too much money to spend on yoga, when you still have to pay your phone bill, car insurance, rent, food, etc. Your wealthier clients might not even bat an eye at these kind of prices, but there are plenty of service-industry employees that would love to do yoga but can’t. Offer a discounted-rate for servers, cosmetologists, bartenders, cabbies, etc. Anyone who is working for tips would be a good indicator. $120/month when you’re making 60K at a downtown office job isn’t much, but when you’re serving tables for $4/hour plus tips, it’s a lot, especially if you have a slow month.