As a New Teacher, How Do You Find Piano Students?
So you’re ready to start teaching piano lessons! Only one problem…how do you find piano students? Let’s talk free marketing strategies that have worked for me.
Use Word of Mouth to Find Piano Students
I’m listing this one first because this is my personal number one source of new students BY FAR.
Word-of-mouth recommendations may seem like a marketing strategy for well-established teachers who already have a large roster of students and former students. And while it is certainly true that reviews and recommendations accelerate over time, new teachers can also get the word out about their services.
I recommend ordering business cards once you have your business website and email set up. Carry them everywhere with you. Hand them out to everyone. Tell everyone you are offering piano lessons!
I guarantee at least 50% of the people you mention this to will say something like, “Oh, my grandson’s next-door neighbor is thinking about starting piano lessons. I’ll take one.”
Fortunately for us piano teachers, piano lessons are incredibly popular and coveted! Get the word out there wherever you can, and the inquiries will start popping into your inbox.
Use Google to Attract Piano Students
If you have your business email address set up, your website is live, and you’ve ordered your business cards, the next thing I recommend setting up is your Google Business Profile.
What exactly is Google Business Profile? Open up Google search and type in “Mexican restaurants near me.” The first thing that comes up should be a special result box showing a few relevant businesses with an image, map, reviews, directions, phone number and address. Now imagine you’re a first-time visitor to your town. Wouldn’t this result box be incredibly helpful in deciding where to go or which restaurant to further research?
Most parents will hop on Google search first to start researching piano lessons. Optimizing your Google Business Profile will give you a chance to show up any time someone in your area searches for “piano lessons near me” or something similar. Position yourself to show up high in the search results and you’ll start receiving messages from interested parents in no time.
And if someone searches for the name of your business specifically, you control exactly what they’ll see in that helpful result box…
- You get to decide which image potential customers see first.
- You can post updates or promotions.
- You can give a welcome message summarizing your services.
And, best of all, interested customers can contact you in just a click.
Use Facebook to Find Piano Students
Of all the social media platforms, I have found Facebook to be the most successful marketing avenue for my lesson studio. Ultimately, you want to be present on whatever platform the parents of your potential students will be regularly active on. For me, that has been Facebook.
Here’s my nine-part strategy for finding new piano students on Facebook (Download the Free Facebook Marketing Checklist Here):
Step 1. Set up a Facebook business profile.
Add a profile image of yourself looking professional, create a banner image with your logo, and add your contact info.
Step 2. Join relevant Facebook groups
Join as many Facebook groups as you can where local parents may be active. Search in Groups for the name of your town (and surrounding towns) and the name of your neighborhood (and nearby neighborhoods). Request to join.
Step 3. Read only for two weeks.
I highly recommend getting a feel for a group before posting. Every group has its own rules about posts. Every group has unwritten rules about what kinds of posts fit it. You don’t want to swoop in and start advertising your services without doing your research! You will be permanently kicked out of the group if you ignore their rules, and that could cost you multiple potential future students. Just join and observe.
Step 4. Post pictures, videos, and updates to your own business page.
This will ensure that when your profile is found by potential customers, there is something to read. And it will make your business appear active and well-established.
Step 5. After two weeks, post an introductory post to each group.
Introduce yourself as new to the group. Include a picture of yourself looking friendly and welcoming. Casually mention in your brief description of yourself that you are a piano teacher. Leave it at that. (Do not yet promote your business or offer your services.)
Step 6. For the next two weeks, just read every post in every group waiting for an opportunity to offer your services.
In a place where local parents get together to ask questions and share experiences, it’s only a matter of time before someone will ask: “Does anyone know a good piano teacher in town?” Aha, here’s your chance! In the comments, politely introduce yourself as a local piano teacher currently enrolling students. Invite them to message you for more information.
Step 7. Create the perfect promotional post and upload it to your feed.
It can be a fancy graphic you create in Canva, or as simple as a picture of you with a brief invite to check out your services.
Step 8. Share your promotional post to any group that will allow this type of post.
READ THE RULES for posting on each and every group. Some groups do not allow this type of post at all and you will be kicked out if you do. Other groups ask that promotional posts are limited to one per week or one per month. And still others include limits that are more subjective, such as “give more than you take,” which just means contribute to the conversation and help others more than promote your business. This means you’ll want to remain a somewhat active contributor to the conversation before and after you promote yourself as a business.
Step 9. Create a schedule for periodically checking and engaging in all of your groups.
PRO TIP: You can open a Group and use the search to look for any post or comment containing the word “piano” or “lessons.” But remember to engage periodically in a natural, friendly and helpful way so you don’t just pop up to talk about your business and nothing else.
Use Instagram to Find Piano Students
Remember I said: You want to be present on whatever platform the parents of your potential students will be regularly active on. I suspect that in the next few years more parents will be regularly active on Instagram and less active on Facebook. And likely in the next decade, the shift will be from Instagram to TikTok or whatever the next platform turns out to be!
Personally, I have only received a couple of new student inquiries through Instagram directly. But that’s not including the people who may have found my account and then later Googled my business name to contact me.
Being Present on Instagram
I do think there is a lot of value in having an Instagram that is periodically updated. Because it’s a popular platform, potential clients may be inclined to click that little Insta-icon on your website or elsewhere to get a better sense of who you are, what type of teacher you are, and what sort of business they would be giving their money to.
Beyond that, you can also tap into the lives of the parents you want to reach. You can find information and updates about the local schools, follow other local business, possibly find similar businesses to collaborate with, or stumble upon a local parent actively seeking a piano teacher.
Instagram Marketing Strategy
Similar to the Facebook Marketing Strategy above, create a great-looking business profile with your website’s URL linked in the bio. Post a few pictures of you, the studio, your piano, etc as well as giving little snippets about the piano lesson world and you as a piano teacher.
Search for people and groups to follow that would be relevant to the local music scene and local parents. Check back periodically to add a post to your own account and check out the accounts you follow. Comment here and there when it seems fitting. Find new connections organically.
Use NextDoor to Find Piano Students
Lot of people are on NextDoor to keep their ears to the group about neighborhood happenings. And people love supporting local small business owners, not to mention the convenience of finding a piano teacher around the corner.
Set up a business profile and join your local neighborhood. NextDoor does offer paid promotion/advertising to business owners, but you don’t have to use the paid features. You can post and engage and make connections. Become an intricate part of your own neighborhood and the potential piano students will just start popping up!
Use Flyers to Attract Piano Students
This seems old-fashioned, but when I first started my independent piano lessons studio, I put up flyers in all of the local coffee shops and grocery stores. And I did get some inquiries from this!
Use Canva or your favorite design program to whip up an eye-catching flyer advertising your piano lessons. Include your website URL and an easy way to contact you (phone number or QR code work great for people on the go).
In the world of business, we often talk about ROI, which stands for Return On Investment. I do not feel that driving around town all day to hang up flyers has a very high ROI. It’s not something I continually do for my business now that it is more established. However, when you’re first starting out, making one run of flyers around town may just help you get those first couple of students.
Use Paid Online Services to Attract Piano Students
I’ve saved this suggestion for last because I believe you can likely gain all of the students you desire through free, organic outreach. However, if you have money to invest or you find that free marketing platforms are not working as you had hoped, signing up for a paid student referral system can potentially fill up your schedule much faster.
Here are some of the top paid platforms to find students:
- Thumbtack
- Lessons.com
- Angie’s List (now called Angi)
- Bark
These platforms charge a fee for each student referral you accept. Once you pay the fee, you can contact the customer and take it from there.
Be sure to read the fine print. You want to stick to services that connect students to teachers. Platforms like Superprof and TakeLessons require that payments go through their system. You want the referral, but then you want to form your own business relationship with the customer from there.
Feeling Overwhelmed?
That was a lot! To be clear, you do not need to implement all of these suggestions at once to be successful. Start with one or two platforms that sound the most promising to you. See how it goes and add another if needed once you’ve mastered your first and second strategies.
If you’re not sure where to start, I’ve intentionally listed these suggestions in order from most successful for my business to least successful considering all factors and the ROI (return on investment) for each venture.
How Did You Find Me?
Once you’ve put yourself out there, you should start to get some inquiries coming in. How exciting! Your first potential students.
Make it a habit to ask each inquirer, “How did you find me?” This will give you priceless feedback on which platforms are bringing in your potential customers. And most people are more than willing to share how they came across your business.
Conclusion
To Summarize, here are seven ways you can find piano students:
- Word of Mouth
- Google Business Profile
- Facebook Groups
- NextDoor
- Flyers
- Paid Services like Thumbtack and others
You can do this! My encouraging word to you is that it gets SO MUCH easier as you grow. Getting your first student is literally the hardest part of the marketing journey! So once you’ve reached that milestone, celebrate, my dear teacher friend.
I opened the doors to my independent piano lesson studio nearly a decade ago, and I can honestly say that now my marketing strategy is zilch, nada, nothin’. I literally do no outreach or marketing. And the reason is that, now that I’ve helped countless students and grown my business, my current and former students do all of my marketing for me. How wonderful is that?! Every week, my inbox receives another “So and so told us you’re a great piano teacher and we’d like to sign up for lessons” email!
I don’t say this to brag, but to inspire you. You can get there too. I hustled to get those first few students. I kept hustling for the first year. The second year. But then it got a little bit easier. And then easier. And easier. And here we are today.
Comment below! Which one of these marketing strategies would you like to learn more about?
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