Yoga Teachers, Self-Promotion is an Act of Service

I’ve been a business mentor for Yoga Teachers long enough to know that self-promotion is a sticky subject. And if you really think about it, why wouldn’t it be?

I’ll speak for myself when I say that my past experience with sales people has been wildly uncomfortable, annoying, and downright icky. All this to say, I come to these teachings with a level of empathy and understanding.

I know you just want to be a yoga teacher. You really don’t want to be a salesperson.

So I come to you today with an unpopular opinion… Self-promotion doesn’t require you to be a sales person.

Think about it: Self-promotion is a service to your students. It can be a reciprocal relationship where you give value, cultivate community, build trust. In turn, people invest in you and what you offer.

Once you find a way to market your services that works for you (this is important), it becomes sustainable for everyone involved. You sew the seeds but you aren’t the only one who reaps the rewards.

When I talk about marketing, I am not talking about selling to your students non-top.

It’s not only about the product you offer, it’s about the transformation you provide.

Creating content and sharing it with people can be an act of service. It can be an act of love. You’re stepping forward to say, “I believe in myself and what I am offering.” Your students step forward to say, “I believe in you and what you’re offering.” It is by far the most rewarding and humbling work I’ve ever done.

When you take the leap into creating a yoga business you love, the people who support you are your parachute. You can choose to engage that parachute at any time. All you have to do is take the leap, take up some space, and take action towards your vision.

If you stand on the edge of the mountain forever thinking about taking the leap, you let your inner critic win. You let doubt win. You let ‘what will other people think’ win.

I truly want everyone to win. So let’s talk about how.

It’s time to start thinking about your self-promotion and marketing as another way to serve your students outside of the classroom.

Here’s how your marketing content can seamlessly provide value, cultivate community, build trust, and SELL OUT your offers:

In order to break free from the selling-only mindset behind your marketing, it’s important to learn how the heck to serve them through your marketing.

We do this by going beyond primarily sending out our weekly class schedule and upcoming events. Again, remember the transformation you provide.

So what do we share instead?

Allow me to introduce you to the 4 content types that convert potential clients into actual clients.

(It feels important to mention that content can be applied to many different mediums: think videos/reels, feed posts, IG stories, polls, emails, blogs, the list goes on… Get creative and most of all, teach what you know and what you are already practicing yourself.)

1. Provide Value Through Education

Educational content gives your audience a glimpse of the transformation you offer. This content gives them an easy win. When creating educational content, I like to ask myself, “What does my client need to hear today?” and create from that place.

Here are educational content ideas:

• Teach them modifications
• How to incorporate yoga into their day
• How to get into a specific pose
• Alignment tips for a pose
• Share your favorite at home practice sequence
• Help them start healing a part of the body

Some prompts that might help inspire your next education post:

• What injuries get in the way of your practice? How do you modify that injury during class and at home?
• How is yoga showing up in your life right now? What challenges are you facing on your mat? At home? At work? How are you dealing with it?
• What poses are you working on in your classes right now? How do you cue them? What’s the correct alignment?
• What home practice sequence do you do for a morning stretch? To recharge your energy? To settle before bed?

Ultimately these education posts are bringing SO MUCH value to your audience. They will start to see you as an authority on the topic you teach and they will look forward to seeing your face pop up in their feed.

2. Cultivate Community Through Conversation

In my experience, the best way to cultivate community is by getting to know the people in the community. And how do we get to know people? By asking questions.

Conversation starting content is amazing for many reasons:

• You get to talk to your audience on a deeper level. Anytime they answer a question you ask, you can respond with more questions. This prompts deeper thought and understanding between all parties.
• Another reason it’s so wonderful is because these questions can act as audience research. If you’re wanting to market a new program, get familiar with their struggles by asking. If you are creating a new program, make sure everyone wants it by asking. You get the point!
• It gets everyone engaged and seeing your posts. People love talking about themselves — it’s just a fact!

Here are conversational content ideas:

• Ask about their current situation
• Ask about their desires
• Ask about their needs
• Ask about their goals
• Ask about their frustrations
• Ask them about their values

Some prompts that might help inspire your next conversation post:

• What are you currently doing for _____?
• If you could use one word to describe your________, what would it be? [i.e. morning routine, handstand practice, wellbeing, health, etc.]
• What’s your #1 challenge with ______?
• What frustrates you about ______?
• How long have you been dealing with ______?
• What’s stopping you from ______? [what they want]
• What’s the perfect solution look/feel like for you?

You can get really creative with the questions you ask. These will up your engagement like crazy and give you lots of helpful information about the clients you serve!

3. Build Trust Through Connection

The first two points here are fabulous ways to start building a deeper connection with your audience. If you are looking to go even further, let me introduce you to a few more content types that you can implement today to nurture that connection even more.

Here are connection content ideas:

• Client testimonials
• Sharing the journey and transformation of your clients
• Behind the scenes
• Benefits and results
• Quotes
• Stories
• Sharing your journey and transformation

Some prompts that might help inspire your next conversation post:

• What clients have you worked with in the past? What does their journey look like? What does their transformation look like? Would they be willing to share a testimonial that you can share in your content?
• What does creating a class look like? What about creating a playlist? What’s your personal practice look like? How do you implement props, music, essential oils, and other tools to enhance your practice?
• What are some quotes, poems, or stories that are inspiring your practice right now?
• What has your journey looked like? How did you feel before yoga? How do you feel now?

Consistently showing up to share these amazing stories, transformations, and giving clients a glimpse behind the scenes are incredibly powerful.

This builds a trust in your brand, your expertise, and you as a person. That is invaluable for self-promotion.

4. Sell Out Your Offers Through Invitation

Now that you are:

• Providing value to your clients
• Cultivating community
• and building trust

It’s time to reap the rewards of your marketing. Ultimately we want people to sign up for what you offer so that you can spread the practice of yoga to more people, do what you love, and get paid. Getting paid and being supported in this way only carries your vision forward that much more.

So, let’s invite some people to participate in what you offer!

I am going to give you the easiest, most attainable way to do this in your content. Introducing the Call to Action…

A Call to Action simply invites your audience to take the next step after they’ve taken in a piece of content. With all of the ideas above ^ you can simply add a “P.S…” and give them an action to take.

Do you want them to follow you? “P.S. Follow me for more tips on how to do X, Y, or Z”

Do you want to reach a broader audience? “P.S. Share this post with a friend who could use some help on ____ right now.”

Do you want them to sign up? “P.S. Comment below if you are interested in joining and I’ll get you the details.”

It really is as simple as that. I encourage you to regularly invite your audience to participate in the transformation you offer. Don’t make it ambiguous… Step into your masculine energy and invite them so they can step into their masculine energy and take action towards working with you.

That’s what I want for you ^

Wanting more?

Ultimately, this blog post should give you a multitude of ideas for how to start framing your content so that you are serving AND selling; in a way that aligns with your soul.

At Yoga Teacher CEO, we always say that self-promotion is a mix of soul and strategy.

If you want support on bringing your Yoga Business to life, join us in the group and take advantage of the amazing tools and resources that I’m making for you.