What does your music studio brand say about you? Do you even have a brand? Of course, you do!

Has

anyone ever said to you, “I hear you’re the person to talk to about

piano lessons!” Maybe you’re filling your schedule (and even a long

waiting list!) through referrals alone.

Or maybe you’re having a hard

time getting new students and you need to advertise. What exactly are

you going to advertise? Where and to whom?

What does it mean to take music lessons with you?

Whether

you know it or not, you have a brand. The way you teach, the people you

teach, the method books you choose to use: all these and more define

you as a teacher and the type of student who is the best fit for your

studio.

Your music studio brand prioritises your strengths and is

honest about your weaknesses. It differentiates you, as a teacher, from

the other dozen piano teachers in your area.

Building your brand should be a conscious choice, but it doesn’t have to be an agonising one.

Find out more about membership at vibrantmusicteaching.com.

This is the vibrant music teaching podcast.

I'm Nicola Condon.

And in today's show, we're talking about branding.

Hello, beautiful teachers.

Great to be back with you again.

Today, we're looking at the area of music studio branding, or if you prefer to

look at it this way, teacher branding.

Even if you're working for another music school, you absolutely have a brand.

I know this can be a phrase that many teachers will balk out a little bit,

because it feels a bit like corporate speak or kind of jargon-y right.

When somebody talks about rebranding.

Kind of feels like maybe they're just going to waste a whole bunch of money.

And not do a whole lot with that.

Maybe that's just around me, but I think many people have that perception.

However your brand is actually something much broader than that.

In a way, much simpler than that.

And much more relevant to what we do as teachers.

So we're going to be going through the where the, what, the, how.

The who.

And the, when.

And the what else?

Of your teaching today so that you can discover your studio's brand.

And then manifest that in reality.

Here is what the definition comes up as one of the definitions

that comes up in Google.

When you search for what is.

Uh, brand or what is branding?

It says a brand is an intangible marketing or business concept that helps people

identify a company, product or individual.

People often confuse brands with things like logos, slogans, or other recognizable

marks, which are marketing tools that help promote good goods and services.

Now you may still be confused.

If that was my only introduction to what branding meant, I think I would be so.

Bear with me.

An intangible marketing or business concept.

It starts out right out of the gate with something that says, basically

we can't tell you what this is.

Right.

It's intangible.

What I'd prefer you to think of.

Is.

To take that recognize part out of the branding.

I think that's very useful out of that definition.

Recognize recognition.

And I'd like you to think of personality.

Your studio, you as a teacher, you have a certain personality.

You have a certain style way of doing things.

All of that contributes to what your brand is.

And then the brand assets, the logo, the colors, the fonts you choose,

the way your website looks, the way you do videos, all of that.

Communicates that personality or that style.

So a good example of this might be my own brand.

If you've been following us, if you're a member or if you read our blog.

And if you were say scrolling through Facebook or Pinterest.

And you see an image that's from our blog.

You're probably going to know that it's from us, right.

Without seeing the name.

Especially if you've been following us for a little while now,

maybe you would maybe wouldn't.

But there is something recognizable about the way we brand things, the way

things look that come from colorful keys or vibrant music teaching.

And that recognition is part of it.

But even if you don't expect people in your town to like see your font

and think of you recognize your logo, that might be a bit of a step too far.

Even if you don't expect that though.

If they see your logo, your font, the colors you use.

What connotations would they have in their head?

What feelings does it bring up for them?

That intangible that.

Is the brand.

That's what you stand for.

That's what you feel like in people's memories.

It's what.

They say.

To, um, their partner or their kids when they get in the car after

meeting with you for the first time.

If they're asked to describe you, what do they say?

They don't just say you're a music teacher.

They say something more in-depth than that.

And that's after they get to know you true, but it should be represented in how

your studio faces the world in the logo and the colors and all of that stuff.

The assets that we talk about.

Having a good sense of branding can give everything.

You do a cohesive look.

And this is something that I see as seriously lacking and a lot of

the websites that I visit studio websites, I used to do website reviews

as part of our weekly YouTube show.

We've moved on from those now, but you can look at the past

ones if you're interested.

And some of the things I would look for in those reviews.

Where consistency of colors, consistency of fonts.

And stuff like that.

Now what I'm really looking for there is have you picked a brand.

Bible have you break some assets that go for you?

Too often I visit these websites and they'd be all over the place.

Right.

There's different funds here and there and on an image.

There's another one.

And then there there's another one.

And then the footer, Hey, and other fund, or even the fonts that they are

using, even if they use them in multiple places, they're different sizes or

they've chosen a different font weight.

All of this stuff might sound a bit technical, but really

it's about keeping it simple.

If you just pick two fonts.

For your whole website, it will look better than 99% of the websites add

there because simplicity is really king.

Or queen or emperor.

Or a prime minister or something elected.

Anyway.

Keeping it simple is going to go so far.

So we're going to take a look now at different aspects of your studio that

might influence your brand, but keep in mind that end goal of where we're going.

That we're aiming to have a clear and simple brand that has some.

Thought put into it.

Let's start with where you came from.

So, what were your own lessons like?

What was your teacher like growing up?

And are your lessons now different?

Or the same as the way you took lessons, the type of lessons

you got from your teacher.

Are they similar or different?

Are you carrying on certain traditions?

Are you flying in the face of other ones?

If you look up the about page on my colorful keys site.

So colorful keys dot I E, and that's kinda folkies colorful with, to use.

If you're not familiar, if you've ever been to the blog before.

So if you look up that site and you look at my about page, you'll see my story.

I started teaching lessons when I was a teenager, as many, many people do here.

And it was a suggestion of my own teacher.

She said, oh, you'd be ready to start teaching.

If we're looking for a side job, maybe consider getting into that.

So I put out some flyers, I started teaching.

And then.

I just taught the way I was taught or so.

A mixture of the three different teachers I had had maybe.

I taught the way I thought.

Generally was done.

I didn't think about it much more than that.

I did my best to be friendly.

And encouraging.

And follow roughly the path that had been tried before me.

Until I discovered the whole world of improvised.

And playing off the page and playing from lead sheets and all of these

things that had been totally left out.

And all of these things really outside of an exam system,

which is what I was so used to.

So that was my story.

That is how I got to where I am and got to what I think of as an inclusive.

And.

All rounder approach to music education.

Now your story might be different and your story might be much closer to what

your teacher taught you, but knowing where you came from and the differences and the

similarities is a great starting spot for understanding who you are as a teacher.

Which will lead you, understanding your teaching brand.

The next thing I want you to look at is what you teach.

I've mentioned a bit about my own teaching there a bit about generally what I teach.

But here you could dive into what specifically.

You teach your students another way to look at this is your teaching curriculum.

Although I know some teachers think that word is too big.

Gore needs to be so structured.

It can be looser than that.

It can be more of a roadmap.

Your curriculum, the method books you follow.

The genres you teach or the extra skills you include, like improv or.

Playing by ear or.

Any other skill that comes to mind?

That you include in your students' lessons.

Now I called these extra skills.

I kind of wish they weren't extra, but for now they are.

So, which ones do you include?

Which ones are you most passionate about?

That'll start to identify you as a teacher.

next you can think about how you teach.

Are you from with really high expectations because you know,

your students can achieve so much.

Are you bubbly and high energy?

Are you quiet and empathetic?

All of these could be fun.

You'll notice I didn't include fun in any of those lists because you can be.

Burn, but fun.

You can be bubbly and fun.

You can also be quiet and fun.

I'm actually quite a quiet person.

Maybe I don't always come across that way in videos or in podcasts.

Because I giggle all the time and things, but if you meet me in person, And you

should know from the videos are recorded.

The podcasts are recorded.

We have to boost the volume quite a bit.

Here.

I speak quite softly.

Um, And I am quite quiet in many situations, big groups, things like that.

So that's partly me, but I hope you'll agree that I'm pretty fun.

So you don't have to be one or the other.

Some good questions to get to the heart of your teaching style, how you teach.

Our to ask yourself.

How do you respond to students who don't practice?

What is your routine and lessons?

What's your most common phrase that you say in your lessons?

What does your body language look like?

This is just a random array of questions, but if you take it from the perspective

of going out of your own body, And looking down at yourself as a teacher,

to the best of your ability, we all have distorted views of ourself, but

if you could try to float up there and look down on yourself as a teacher.

What would you see?

What would you hear?

And what impression would you get?

Next.

I want you to look at who you teach.

So your current students say a lot about you as a teacher and your studio's brand.

You may have favorite students and parents.

Or another way to look at this is your happiest students and parents.

Because often really our favorites are the ones that are

happiest in lessons with you.

Because they do what you ask.

They don't.

Object to policies.

They are enthusiastic about being in lessons.

And that's because they love you as a teacher.

You are the perfect teacher for them.

So that's a great place to start.

Whether you want to look at it as the happiest students or the

favorite students, I think you'll arrive at the same students.

Among those favorite or happiest students tried to look at the

age groups that are most common.

The parents' backgrounds, their experience with music, they're

interested in other areas or type of jobs or that kind of thing.

The students' learning needs.

If there's any particular learning need, that's common among those students or in

your studio in general, such as ADHD or.

autism spectrum disorder or anything else?

And then also the experience level of the students.

Are they mostly advanced beginners?

Is it a whole mix?

Some of those will shed light on what your studio's brand is

and what kind of studio you run.

And some will come out with answers all across the board.

And won't tell you anything because it's clearly not part of

what makes your studio different.

If you end up teaching roughly all ages that equal proportions.

Well, that doesn't tell you anything.

But if you find that you're teaching a lot of preschoolers and that they're

in your happiest student category, Well, you can see that people have been

gravitating towards you for that reason.

Next let's look at when and where you teach.

Consider the lesson formats you teach in like solo lessons, the length

of those lessons or buddy lessons like mine or partners or groups.

Is there different structures that you offer to students?

Um, what do you do the most frequently?

Also consider your schedule.

Some teachers teach morning time lessons, and that could be part of your

brand that you teach before school.

Or that you teach online and you teach at all times of the

day in different time zones.

Also consider your location.

Yes.

Even if it's at home, that doesn't mean it's not special or different.

I TJ to my home.

And that still is part of my studio's brand.

I actually.

Sometimes when I'm daydreaming.

Or just imagining possible futures.

I shouldn't say daydreaming because it's not like a specific goal of mine, but if I

was to get a commercial premises, I don't know that I would be able to maintain.

To the same degree that homey feel.

And I do think there's something valuable in that, in the fact that students are

coming to my house and yes, it means.

They get distracted by asking me about my dog or something like that.

But it also means they feel like they're coming into someone's home.

That's a very different experience than going to a commercial premises.

I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it has a different vibe.

Doesn't it?

So your location can say something about you as a teacher, too.

And lastly let's consider what else you offer.

Do you do recitals?

Do you do group workshops?

Do you have a lending library in your studio or gains lending library?

Do you have a warm-up area that students can come in and

warm up before their lessons?

Do you have a sibling waiting room?

do composing projects every year and produce a book like we do in my studio.

What else do you do that sets you apart from other teachers?

All of these things all together are going to go into your brand.

And understanding your brand or your studio's personality

or your teaching personality.

will help you to have a physical manifestation of these things.

Try to summarize the personality of your studio as you would a friend.

For instance, you might know someone named Moira.

Who loves going to parties and doing improv.

That's the acting kind, not the musical kind.

And karaoke nights.

Maybe you'd describe Moira as being bubbly, energetic, and outgoing.

Those three words.

Now, if we tell you that Moira is bubbly, energetic, and echoing, you don't know

that she loves going to parties doing improv and singing on karaoke nights.

But when you.

Have start with those three words and then you learn that she does

those three things you think.

Yeah.

That fits.

It doesn't go against it.

Sean on the other hand, loves reading books.

Getting coffee in the park with a friend and playing badminton.

Sean would be described as considered thoughtful and collaborative.

So, again, you don't know from the fact that he's considered thoughtful and

collaborative, that he enjoys reading books, going, getting coffee in the parks.

I'm playing badminton.

But the two things fit together.

So what three words would describe the way your studio feels or its personality.

And then once you have that, What does that look like as a picture?

as a color?

As a font.

This might seem like a harder step to some of you.

But if you have that clear personality mind, and let's say we start with fonts.

Go on to fonts.google.com free font site for websites.

When you go there, scroll through the fonts without selecting

anything, any of the filters.

And just look at the front and say, Does that match that personality.

If I saw that, what I think.

This or do they jar with each other?

You might even, you can type in.

Font sites like that.

You can type the words you want it to display as a sample.

Type your three personality, words, or brand words.

And see if the thing's coming up, the fonts coming up.

If they match with what they're saying.

You will get different feelings from different things.

And there's no one right answer.

If you employed 10 super-duper swanky branding consultants, they would not

come up with the same font choice.

So you can't do this wrong.

You can only look at what feels right to you.

And.

This stuff really.

Isn't advanced music theory level.

Okay.

You just look at it.

If it has Sarah ifs, which are those little, coordinate things on

the font, it'll tend to look a bit.

More old-fashioned or a bit more.

Upscale or different words like that.

So maybe that won't match.

If you want to be.

Fun and preschooler orientated.

Right?

Go with your gut.

You're one thing this week.

Is twofold.

If you already have brand assets.

I want you to go out and ask some people what, three words

they think of when they see them.

These would be people who haven't seen your studio's website or logo before.

So do your best to find people in your life or strangers.

If that's more your style.

Who haven't seen them and ask them.

What personality would you say this business has?

If you don't have any of these kinds of brand assets.

Pick your three personality brand words.

And then pick a set of three colors to represent them.

I hope you enjoyed this exploration of branding and that you go

away and do your one thing.

Let me know how you got on with it and your thoughts on branding in the

vibrant music studio teachers group on Facebook, and I'll catch you next week.