Retreat Leader Marketing Resources
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Turning your customers into repeat clients who come back time and time again to take part in your retreats, is so valuable. Aside from getting the opportunity to build a stronger relationship with each person, it is a sign they believe in your abilities as a retreat leader and organizer.
Repeat clients are some of your biggest fans, and will help you to build a retreat community by bringing along their friends and family. They will also give you great reviews, and let the world know how amazing your retreats are.
Quite simply, they are people you want on your side, and you should make every effort to ensure they keep coming back to you.
Steps To Build A Retreat Community and Gain Repeat Clients
1. Invest Energy Into Building Relationships
When people sign up for your retreat, they invest in an experience in the hope that it will meet their expectations. If it is a new client, you need to earn their trust before they will take this step.
On the other hand, clients who know you and believe in you, are happy to make this leap of faith based on their past experience.
They are also usually more than willing to share that positive experience with others and reassure them of your ability to lead an amazing retreat.
So you can see that it is import to make yourself available, as the best way to build a retreat community is to form relationships and earn trust.
This can happen in a few ways. If you see your clients regularly in class or the studio, then you likely have a great relationship already.
But even if you do see students regularly, use your email marketing and social media channels to send out daily, weekly, or monthly updates, news, tips, inspiration, promotions, etc. It is a way of staying relevant in their lives.
Talking to people one on one in your studio, or sending out digital communication is important to nurture and build on the relationships you have. Think about how you can use these channels to let clients get to know you better, and vice versa!
2. Remember That The Client’s Experience Starts Before The Retreat Begins
To build a retreat community means to take care of your clients every step of the way, including the time leading up to the actual getaway.
From the day they sign up, they should have an amazing experience. This should extend from processing the payment and booking to receiving an information pack and update notifications.
Another way to improve your client's experience is to hold a meet up prior to the trip date to introduce everyone.
Overall, you want to make the organization and communication leading up as seamless and enjoyable as possible. That way, attendees will arrive inspired and motivated, and already an advocate of your community.
3. Craft An Amazing Retreat Experience
If you want to build a retreat community that keeps clients coming back time and time again, you need to craft an amazing retreat experience.
Of course, there may be forces out of your control, which means they can’t make it to the next one. However, they will be more motivated to make the effort if they have a life-changing experience with you first time around.
As you know, there is a lot to consider when creating a transformative experience. You need to decide on a theme for your retreat, which everything else will center on.
After that, you need to find an amazing location that will speak to your attendees, so they have a magical time. You also need to design a retreat program that is fulfilling and will help attendees explore and develop their practice.
Where a person rests their head, and how they nourish their body to keep energized are significant factors for your retreat too. The venue you stay at needs to be able to cater to these requirements and fit in with the overall theme and intention for your students.
Most importantly, your students are on this journey to discover something about themselves and their practice. Be the confident teacher they need to lead them on this journey.
4. Seek Feedback Once The Retreat Is Over
The feedback you receive from students once the retreat is over, is vital to help you improve on the experience and grow your business. If you hope to build a retreat community that keeps returning, you need to show that you are actively looking for ways to create the best possible experience.
Now is the time that you can ask your clients to fill out a survey which seeks feedback about the experience. Ask them to comment on all the various aspects of the retreat, to see if it met their expectations.
You can also ask for a testimonial for your site or a review on one of your profiles.
It is up to you to take this on board and use it to craft an even better experience next time around.
5. Don’t Let It End There
It is so easy for your students to arrive back from a retreat and get caught up in the daily again. However, you can keep this feeling alive by sharing some ideas and tips of things they can do outside of the studio, and outside of a retreat. Mindfulness doesn’t always have to take place under your instruction.
Also encourage your clients to join your social media groups, where they can share photos or videos from the retreat, stay in touch with one another, as well as connect with you.
Final Thoughts
To build a retreat community where clients keep coming back, you need to put them first. Design an amazing experience from start to end, and show them why putting their confidence in you as a teacher is the best thing they could do.
The result will be valuable word of mouth marketing that will help to grow your wellness business.
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