Do you share studio newsletters with your music families? Please enjoy this guest post by Judy Naillon, and learn how using a studio newsletter to organize your thoughts and streamline communication with your music families creates efficiency, excellent communication skills, and informed parents who look forward to reading newsletters!

Communication

As an independent music teacher you may feel like you do enough already. However, it’s really important to market yourself in a variety of ways, especially if you don’t have a full studio or a waiting list. We all know the best and easiest way to get new students is by being so awesome that all of your current students will go to their friends and family and tell them why they should take lessons from you!

However, we often need to do more than that to grab the attention of prospective clients. If you are shy about letting parents know that you need more students, the studio newsletter is the perfect format to spread the word! It’s important to stay fresh in your client’s mind and remind them how amazing you are. That’s where studio newsletters can be a big help!

Spread the Word with a Studio Newsletter

We musicians tend to be creative, and we can also be a bit disorganized. That’s why it’s a great idea to give important information to your students in a monthly newsletter. We’ve all had that “Oops!” moment when we need to tell our students something important, but we remember the important thing the minute after the student leaves.

How can we overcome those “Oops!” moments? By setting aside some time at the end of the month to organize your thoughts and ideas for the next month you’ll turn yourself into a better and more organized teacher too. Parents will be happy to have information nicely laid out for them. Yes, some parents need and appreciate frequent reminders of the next recital, even though I give out all the dates in August.

(Also, now that I have my own child, I have sadly found out that I can be that parent with other activities! I have lost the T-ball schedule more than once and wished it had been emailed to me!)

In the past we could rely on social media outlets like Facebook to reach our clients; however, with the inconsistent way Facebook shows information now, it’s important to have personal communication with our families/clients in order to be sure the information gets to them.

Once you start sending a newsletter out it may be tempting to send out information the day you have it, but I would suggest no more than once a week and no less than once a month. You want the newsletter to feel special so that parents will want to open it!

Some suggestions to make writing your studio newsletter a breeze:

1. Have a section for important dates like group lessons and recitals and a student of the month section.
2. Remind students which practice contest is running and what “special week” was held last month (I do lots of quick bench games with matching songs and candy treats. For example, last week was ice cream week at my studio!)
3. Include something a little more personal. At the beginning of magazines there is often a special personal note from the editor. This is the vibe I’m going for.
4. Publish a few fantastic pictures of your students to remind them of what a fun and unique teacher you are and assure readership. Everyone enjoys seeing a picture of their kid highlighted, so be sure to include everyone throughout the year!
5. I convert each newsletter into .pdf format before emailing it. This way everyone can easily view the newsletter.

Where to get studio newsletter templates

You can find generic newsletter templates in programs like Microsoft Word, or find free programs; however, a better use of your time may be to purchase a newsletter template specific to the kind of teacher you are.

This year I asked the wonderful Melody Payne to create some extra special piano teacher newsletter templates, as I was unsatisfied with the generic teacher newsletters I had been using (and it’s nice to get a new theme every year too!). I’m so thrilled that she was happy to oblige and you can find her variety of fantastic templates, both music and non-music, here on her website.

Ways to share the studio newsletter

While it would be nice if everybody was comfortable using technology to view your studio newsletter, there are clients who need printed newsletters. Consider how many hard copies you need. (We all know how expensive color ink is!**) I usually print at least one to hang on my bulletin board and email the .pdf to my studio families. I send a text reminder to a few parents who don’t check email regularly to let them know that the newsletter email has been sent. (**Click here to learn how to save money on ink!)

If you have a website you can post your newsletter there too, which is a great way to let prospective new students see what you have to offer! However if you live in a very competitive area, you may want to save this information for your private students! You can view a sample newsletter at my website: https://violinjudy.com/students/current-students/

I hope these tips help you become a more organized and efficient teacher!

More blog posts about piano teaching resources:

• How to Use a Piano Teacher Digital Planner
• How to Use PDF Worksheets on Your iPad During Online Piano Lessons
• The Top 5 Items to Include in Your Piano Studio Policy

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