Things to Keep in Mind When Offering Freebies in Your Kids Yoga Classes: Adding Value Without Losing Out

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Many kids yoga teachers use free trials or taster classes in their marketing plan to get more work in nurseries or schools or to get more children in their clubs. But how do we make sure that this doesn’t feel like we are giving our services away for free and not being valued?

There are many reasons it can be great to give freebies or trial classes in our business, such as:

• To build ‘know like and trust’ to get people to know about us, like what we do and trust that we will do what we have promised!
• To give people an experience of working with us and what that might entail  this ‘try before you buy’ can help those who are considering working with us to see how it might work for them.
• To gain visibility and be known in our area for what we offer, even if the free offering doesn’t lead to someone booking with us- it may lead to a greater ‘awareness’ that we are there and might lead to bookings in the future.
• To get more children in our classes or more schools or nurseries to book us.
• To build our own confidence in delivering things, the more we practice a skill or a class the better we get at it. Offering a new service for free for a few times can be a great way to get comfortable with it before we charge.
• To gather testimonials or reviews. This is something that I am trying to get better at but it is really important!

 
What freebies could look like in a kids yoga business:
Clubs and workshops

• Bring a friend for free
• Bring a friend and each pay half
• First week / two  weeks are free

Schools and nurseries

• Free taster class
• Free assembly
• Free gift for a fundraiser
• Free parent session

 
 
As great as free offerings can be, I think there are some things to consider…

Don’t compare to others
Don’t offer because you think you should or because you have seen other kids yoga teachers offering the same, what works in one person’s business doesn’t necessarily work for you- it might not work for them either!!

Make sure what you are doing feels right for you.
 
How does this offer fit into your over- arching marketing strategy?
Why are you offering it?
To get more people to come to classes?
To raise visibility?
To launch a specific offer?
To build relationships?
 
What are your boundaries around the offer?
When you know why you are offering this ‘freebie’, you might want to think about:
Who are you offering it to? Everyone? Specific schools or in specific areas? Specific clubs or all of them?

How long are you going to offer it for? Is this something that you will always do, or are you just doing it until you have a certain number of people in your club?
Remember, this is your business and you get to decide and make the rules based on what works for you.

Be clear in your own mind about what you are offering, it can be useful to think about:

What are you happy to offer and what are you not happy to offer?
What is included and what isn’t?
When are you offering it?
Are there specific times of year that you will offer it?
 
Check in with your emotions
Sometimes when we offer a freebie we can be asked for more. This might look like a school asking for two free classes when you have offered one, or someone asking for a freebie at a time that you aren’t offering it.
It depends on how you feel, whether you would agree or not.

You might feel positive about it and be happy to extend your offer. Or you might not, either is ok!

Remember, this is YOUR BUSINESS- you get to do what works for you.
Never do anything that you are unhappy about. If you are getting a negative feeling about what you have been asked to do then don’t do it!

A freebie should feel like a gift, something you are happy to give, not something you are resentful about and if it begins to feel that way then say no!

A question that I love to meditate on when I’m asked to do something is:

“Does this feel heavy or light?”

You don’t need to give an immediate answer. Take some time to check in with your body about how this feels.
 
What next…
So, you’ve given a freebie, hopefully with some reason in mind. Now what?
Are you just going to leave it there? Hopefully not!

Think about your reason for giving a freebie and what steps you might take afterwards.
It can be useful to map this out before offering the freebie.

Some action steps you might take:

• Gather feedback 🎁get a free feedback form here you can edit it as you need and make it your own.
• If you are in a school or nursery, follow up with a meeting or chat with a decision maker Cerys Keneally talks about this in her free challenge
• Follow up with an email or chat.
• Give a leaflet / sticker something to remember you by, ideally with a logo, an email address and a weblink to your business.
• Invite the person to book with you, if the freebie was to gain interest for a club, handing out a letter that gives information about how to book the club can be useful here.

 
Review regularly
It is important that we regularly review what we are doing in our businesses, to check that it still aligns with who we are and how we want to show up in the world.

You might like to consider:

Does what once worked for you still work?
Have your opinions changed?
Do you want to add to your marketing strategy?

I tend to do this each season, having a ‘pause point’ where I reflect on what I am offering and whether it still works for me.
 
I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic.
Do you give freebies in your business?
Would you like to but are not sure where to start?

👩🏻‍💻If you would like to work with me to talk through anything in your yoga business, you can book directly here.
 
🎁Get the free feedback form here

Or email me at [email protected]