Examples of marketing (good and bad) can be found everywhere. I always keep my eyes open when I drive around and check out what other businesses are doing in terms of marketing. With a little creativity and courage most marketing ideas can be applied to any number of businesses, including your yoga studio. Below is an example:

I have been driving past the practice of a particular dentist for over two years now. He works from a single storey house with a large front yard which is located on a main road near a set of traffic lights. Everybody who stops at the red lights will notice his various marketing activities.

The first thing he did was to display a massive, 1 metre tall, white plastic tooth – roots and all – on wheels outside his front fence. (Mind you it is chained to the fence!) I am sure I pass at least 6-10 dental practices on my way to work but could I tell you where the are? No! Do I know where the practice of Dr. Tooth is? You bet!

The next thing that happened was the appearance of a small billboard near the front fence. It stated in big bold red letters that this practice was open 7 days a week and that is was the ideal place for dental emergencies. This sign was up long enough for everybody to take note. For a while the sign disappeared and as it was close to Christmas, the dentist really got into the spirit of things – glittering tinsel would around the fence, flashing Santas on the roof, reindeers, fairy lights all over the place. Especially at night you couldn’t miss the place. The children love it.

To get the new year started the right way, the next sign reminded potential customers that there was no need to lose valuable work time to get your teeth seen to, you could conveniently arrange your check ups on weekends. Part of the advertising arsenal is yet another billboard mounted on a trailer which lists all available services, the telephone number, web address and Fax number. On the other side it describes the new technology used at the practice, digital x-rays and the like. This particular sign gets moved about a lot. It is white with blue writing – cool, clean and professional looking.

A couple of months ago (around September) the arrival of laser tooth whitening was announced on the billboard. Just letting everybody know that this service was now available. Over time more specific details were added – that it is really quick and only takes one hour of your time to have shiny pearly whites. A little stop sign and telephone number appeared. The price and the information that you will receive a massive discount getting your teeth whitened now was added recently.

Last week an extra sign went up underneath the bill board. It is time to buy gift vouchers for your loved ones. Dentist gift vouchers – who would have thought of that? Can you see how this ties in with the tooth whitening?

What can we learn from this dentist?
* Be visible, pick a clear, simple symbol, make it big – in this case the huge tooth – everybody will understand it and take note
* Make use of the passing traffic or trade, organise your material so the motorists or pedestrians can read it without too much effort.
* Use bold colours and large lettering. White background and simple primary colours work best.
* Put enough information to make it interesting but avoid overload.
* Put your information out in increments – get people curious.
* Change your signs often enough to keep people interested and make them take note.
* Keep the signs displayed long enough so the message has time to sink in.
* Have your signs or other advertising materials on wheels so it is easy to test different locations. You can see which one works best.
* Use the different times of year to tie in with your promotions, however far fetched it may seem to you. How about a plumbing gift voucher for mothers day? Or accounting gift vouchers near the end of the financial year?

What I would like you to take away from this article are some ideas. Remember to be successful people have to know that you are in business and what you offer. One time or another people will need your services. Who are they going to call? The business they remember. Make your business memorable and noticeable whichever way you can. People love to talk about unusual experiences they had in a particular coffee shop, restaurant or yoga studio!

Till next time,

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner

from

www.yogainahurry.com

Creating abundance – it is something everybody wants to do but lots of us somehow never quite get there. Charly and I talked to Iyabo Asani from www.coachiyabo.com who has some very interesting things to say about money, wealth and abundance.

Iyabo has been practising law for over 20 year and ran her own busy law firm. Outwardly she was successful at every level but deep down she knew that there was something missing. She described it as having too much and yet not enough at the same time.

This finally got her searching for her own inner truth and happiness. With the help of a life coach she discovered her inner genius and was able to become true to her own heart. A lot of what she said really resonated with me and is in total alignment with many yoga principles.

Here is what Iyabo had to say about discovering your own inner genius and creating wealth and abundance:

• Listen to the cry of your soul, stop hiding what you really want and need (in other words become authentic)
• Become true to your heart
• Once you are true to your heart, others will either move out of your way because they no longer resonate with your or they will join youon your path
• Unleash your creativity in whichever way you can (remember creativity is vast – in can incorporate every aspect of your being)
• Work on synergising and balancing your right and left brain, your chakra system and get connected with your higher self, spirituality or God (what better way to achieve this than to practise different aspects of yoga!)

Money is the tangible result of your inner genius. Apart from unleashing the inner genius it is essential to take good care of yourself, look after yourself and love yourself. Loving yourself is not selfish, it is all about valueing yourself. By placing value on ourselves money will flow towards us to add more value. We need to heal our relationship with money and to do this we need to heal the relationship with ourselves.

In spiritual circles money is often considered “evil” or not desirable as the real riches lie elsewhere. This might be so, but plenty of money enables us to do a lot of good, to make the world a better place. How can we be of service if money worries eat away at our very substance, our health, our wellbeing?

 Some more important points that Iyabo mentioned:

• Reclaim your power over yourself – don’t let things or other people have power over you
• Set appropriate boundaries
• Reward yourself in little ways
• Learn to say no
• Get yourself a coach or mentor or enrol in a self development course to help you reach your goals faster

Listen to full interview here:

 

Are you interested in joining a 365 day course with Iyabo where you get daily emails, some audios, a group call once a week, access to a private forum and more? Click this link to find out more:

 http://stretchyourmindandbody.com/blog/coachiyabo

Till next time,

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

www.yogainahurry.com

It is Yoga Aid Challenge time again here in Australia! On Sunday 15th November yogis will take to their mats again to do “Salute to the Sun” for a good cause. To participate in an event or to organise your own go to

http://www.yogaaidchallenge.com.au

and find out what is happening in your area. The event has gone truly global and to find out what is happening in your country you can also go to this site. Yoga Aid Challenges are happening at different times of the year in different countries.

In case “Salute to the Sun” is too challenging for you – never fear, there are other ways of participating.

Till next time,

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

During today’s radio show Charly and I discussed relaxation, visualisation and meditation. Nowadays these terms are often used interchangeably and there is some confusion as to which one is which, whether it does matter in the long term which one you choose, which one you should do first, especially if you are just starting out on your yoga path.

Have a listen to our show to find out more. You might then be able to decide which is the best starting point for you.

Till next time,

Connie Your Yoga Partner

from

www.yogainahurry.com

Recently I started teaching a “Seniors’ Yoga Class”. The participants range from 50 and 80 years of age and are very enthusiastic about the new skills they are learning. Attendance is very steady at around 15  and there is one male participant amongst all the women. He asks me some interesting (and sometimes challenging) questions every week.

Last week his question was: “You have been doing Yoga for all these years – what did you get out of it?” Then he partially answered his own question by saying: “You are obviously very fit, strong and flexible – but what else did it do for you?”

I thought for a moment and told him that it really helps me to manage my stress and was getting me through some very difficult patches in my life.  Then it was time to start the class and I couldn’t elaborate any further. My student’s question really made me think. I came up with a lot more things as I was driving home and decided that it would be a good idea to share my thoughts with you as well.

For me personally the benefits of doing yoga for over 20 years have included:

• Stress – using various breathing techniques in very stressful situations, like before surgery.  The so called pre-op medication they give you to calm you down doesn’t work on me at all – but yoga breathing does
• Pregnancy – I did yoga and meditation daily throughout my pregnancy. It helped to control morning sickness.
• Childbirth – I had to be induced and an induced labour is known to be more strenuous than a “natural” labour because the breaks between contractions are much shorter. I got through with only breathing and mind control. The midwife commented after that she had never seen anybody go through induced labour with no pain relief.
• Parenting – I am doing my best to parent according to yogic principles, to stay calm and compassionate and impart those values to my child
• Business – I am doing business according to yogic principles. In a nutshell – not sweating the small stuff, creating quality product that is helpful and useful, teaching to the best of my ability, focusing fully on what I am doing, dealing with customers and students from the heart, no matter how challenging.
• Emotions – I am not pretending to be a saint, things “get” to me too, I have bad days and lose my temper occasionally, say things I regret later – but yoga has given me the tools and the ability to quickly and efficiently “pull” myself out of these negative emotions and get myself back on track.
• Intuition – yoga and the stillness it brings help me to access my intution. I can make decisions made on my inner knowing and go ahead with confidence. I very rarely do things that go against my intuition and when I do – guess what? They go terribly wrong, things end up in a mess.

As you can see, yoga has a profound impact on my life. It is a way of life for me. To apply it to all the situations mentioned above needs practice and perseverance. You cannot expect to do a 6 week yoga course and master everything. Under stress everything you learnt will “go out the window” very quickly. Old coping mechanisms will return.

I am also aware that yoga is not for everybody – it takes time and perseverance, it is well worth it but under certain circumstances it is simply impractical to devote a lot of time to your practice.  So I have distilled some of my experience and knowledge into a basic stress management book. This book teaches you some very basic techniques to get you out of your stressful situation quickly. Have a look here:

http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com/blog/tigerebook

Till next time,

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com