I see so many posts online where people are asking about how to market their retreat, how to run ads and how to join retreat marketing affiliate programs.
The truth is, you don’t need to use ads (they’re expensive and not guaranteed to work) and you don’t need to rely on other people (who don’t even know you) to help you sell your retreat.
If you have a killer offering and an audience of people whose radar you’re already on, let’s talk about how to market to them for free.
1.) 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Once you’ve got your sales copy written and your site up, tease your audience letting them know to be on the lookout for an exciting announcement. Announce your retreat a couple days later and let them know to be on the lookout for your killer early bird deal. Announce that a day or two later.
2.) 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀: These will be a little different depending if you’re a studio owner or an independent teacher, but I like to offer a BIG discount for the first 3-5 sign-ups, then a smaller discount if they purchase by the 9 month mark (for international), then a smaller discount if they purchase by the 6 month mark. For domestic retreats, just cut these timeframes in half.
3.) 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: I get more sign ups from newsletters than I do from social media and in-person announcements combined. I send about 2 newsletters a month (more if an early bird date is coming up) and make sure the headline is eye-catching so they open it.
4.) 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮: Let me first say that I repurpose my material all the time. I post stories every other day, a content post once a week and I utilize facebook events, as well (if you tag @everyone you’ll alert everyone who was invited about your announcement).
5.) 𝗜𝗻-𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻: I announce in my classes every week for the first month and then every other week afterwards (more if there’s early bird dates coming up).
6.) 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀: I will reach out to people through emails or DMs if I think they’ll be interested. There’s something about getting a personal invitation from your teacher that is sometimes all it takes for a student to sign up.
7.) 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲: I give myself a year to plan for an international retreat (you should too). My goal is to get my minimum amount of needed sign-ups by the 6-month mark so I’m not scrambling at the end to find people.
8.) 𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗔𝗙: What could I possibly mean by this? I had to get over one of the biggest fears that a lot of retreat leaders have: annoying people/losing followers/unsubscribes with promotion. If people unfollow/unsubscribe/get annoyed, they weren’t coming on your retreat in the first place so good riddance! I promote allllll the time and I’ve occasionally lost followers/subscribers, but I didn’t even know who they were. My people support me and what I offer and those are the people I want to keep around.
👉🏼And because I can promote shamelessly, 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 versus waiting until the end. You can do this too!
Ultimately, promotion is just a piece of the puzzle, but I love to help new retreat leaders feel prepared for every aspect of the planning/creating/executing process.
✨Are you ready to take your offerings to the next level?
How I Sell My Retreats Without Paid Ads
