If your retreats don’t fill up OR they do but you are not charging what they are worth, it could be because you are trying to help everyone, and in doing so, you are helping no one. In this video, I explain why this approach, while noble, fails.
The fact is…your retreat is not for everyone.
It’s crucial to be specific about who the retreat is for and what their transformation will be if you want to fill retreat spaces quickly, easily, and financially.
Transcription
You are in the wellness industry running retreats because you want to create a space for people to grow and transform. To give your clients the tools they need to cope through life be it through yoga, meditation, fitness or coaching.
You’re passionate about your retreat and the impact it can have on your clients. The problem is that you have trouble filling the spaces. Their excuses include not having time, being too expensive, and not being able to find someone to watch the kids for the week. The list goes on…
In truth, all of these are valid reasons, but they arise because of a disconnect between what you are offering and what they perceive as valuable.
As a result, the person you are trying to reach with your marketing doesn’t believe that your retreat will be able to help them.
What can you do to make sure your retreat reaches the people who need it most and cuts through the noise?
Niching down is something you’ve probably heard of before. It is a marketing concept that gets thrown around a lot. And a lot of people don’t really understand what it means let alone apply it to their business.
To be clear: Niching down means having a clear focus on who your ideal target customer is and aligning your marketing to match.
Most people have an idea of their ideal target customer – if I asked a yoga teacher running a retreat who it will benefit, they are usually pretty clear. This could be corporate women needing a break, busy mums, etc…
But they are so broad that their marketing communication is watered down…too generic.
When I tell them to focus on one segment, they worry that talking to only a small percentage will close the door to others. And I get that! But the reality if the more specific we are the more doors open. I’ve seen it work over and over again.
We need to step out of our comfort zone and be specific.
Why Niching Down In Your Retreat Marketing Is So Important + Examples
Let’s go through why it is important to be specific and I will share some examples too.
- If you want to help everyone with your yoga/wellness/coaching retreat your message gets lost and you help no one.
Example: Take a wellness retreat for women VS a Wellness retreat for recently divorced women needing to take time out, work through their emotions and learn the skills to cope.
By being more specific, you are clearer about where you can find your potential clients (collaborate with a divorce lawyer), you know what to say in your messaging, and you know how to tailor your retreat in terms of their experience and what their outcome will be.
- The retreat industry is very competitive – stand out with something you are exceptionally good at.
Example: There are literally thousands if not hundreds of thousands of retreats in the world. The online marketing space is full of every one of them trying to show up on Google’s first page. Social media is noisy…you are fighting to be seen and heard.
Why would someone book your retreat over your competitors? Instead of promoting a yoga retreat, focus it on yoga retreats based on location (e.g. the desert, SUP in the Mediterranean) or yoga retreat to master inversions.
All of a sudden you are not competing with the other +100 “wellness retreats” in your area – you are competing on a more granular level.
- Makes marketing so much easier!
Knowing who you are helping and their problems lets you tailor your retreat offering, you are able to speak directly to the person’s problems and build a connection with them.
By being specific you are then able to create content (blog articles, lead magnets, videos, podcasts) around your retreat experience. Google will love you for it and you get your potential client excited about what they will learn.
I bet FOMO (fear of missing out) crept up a little when you heard all of this, didn’t it?
Trust me when I say niching down is a far better and more efficient way of focusing your content, and your messaging and gives you clarity.
And before you go, if you want to know what I have on my to-do list when promoting a client’s retreat, download the Retreat Marketing Master Checklist for free.
I am a firm believer that systems and processes save us time and give us clarity to move our businesses forward.
When you use this master checklist in promoting your retreat, you’ll know WHAT to do and WHEN to do it.
From 90, 60, 30 days before the retreat starts plus what you should be doing during and after the event too!
Until next time, bye!
