8 Opportunities to Expand Your Studio Business
As an audio professional, you know that there are ups and downs in studio bookings and work. While your audio production studio is vital for artists and businesses to complete professional recordings and mixes, there may be growing competition in your area for similar services.
In some situations, the traditional method of doing business may not be effective today. In order to gain new clients and drive new business revenue, it’s important to find creative ways to connect with the community.
Check out the following 8 opportunities to expand your studio business for growth and greater revenues.
1.
Hold an Open Mic Night
Hosting an open mic night can be a great way to grow your studio business by connecting with local musicians. Consistently providing opportunities for artists in your community to perform supports both your brand as an audio professional and the local music scene – everyone wins!
If you are interested in starting your own open mic night on a consistent basis, consider partnering with your local Arts Council or similar groups. Many cities already have a department that focuses on bringing more opportunities in the arts to the community, and you can build a relationship and pitch the idea to collaborate on an ongoing open mic event to support their initiatives, while also benefitting your own studio.
You can also find venue sponsors or even local businesses as prize sponsors for the ongoing event. It’s a great way to get your studio name out there and begin building community connections!
Sonido Software can help you organize and manage your events and contacts! From creating event signup forms, to tracking event dates, your event expenses, and how many new clients come to you from events, Sonido can keep your studio events more organized.
2.
Email Outreach
We sometimes think of email as an outdates means of communication. But the truth is, it’s a cheap (and sometimes free) way to build a list of contacts and regularly share news, events, promotions and more. Email is still a very relevant and effective option for driving new business.
That said, having a system in place to keep track of your clients’ contact information is critical. Dedicated email marketing platforms allow you to build your contact lists, create emails from templates or from scratch, and schedule communication sends. Some email platforms also allow you to create more complex automated email campaigns that can be very effective.
You can automate the creation of contacts in your email list using Sonido Software. By simply using Sonido, new contacts and clients can quickly and easily be added straight to your email platform.
3.
Studio Meet-and-Greets
Hosting a one-time or regular studio meet-and-greet event is a fantastic way for the community to get to know you and your studio space. If you have a great studio space and you want to showcase your abilities, this is a great opportunity to bring people in the door in a less intimidating environment.
You may want to consider offering some simple food and drinks and/or music entertainment to encourage interaction and help others feel comfortable. If the event is done right, you can bring in a considerable amount of foot traffic in a short period of time, which can directly lead to new client opportunities through studio bookings, or event indirectly lead to new leads through word-of-mouth based on the attendees experiences.
Remember that you can use Sonido Software to manage such an event and track attendees' contact info, event spend, and more.
4.
Focus on Social Media
Building an effective and consistent social media presence can be incredibly important to your business! Creating engaging content to promote your studio is one of the best ways to directly reach clients and stay top-of-mind, especially in a competitive market. Consider connecting with local artists, other studios, music venues, businesses in your community and others to build a community.
While consistent social media communications are key to establishing a presence, don’t feel overwhelmed with the idea of posting multiple times a day; start with a social media platform that you feel comfortable with, such as Instagram or Tik Tok, and build a realistic post schedule that works for you. Create content around an ongoing theme – whether that’s a spotlight of studio clients and projects, a focus on your studio environment and gear, or a mix of elements that showcase your level of professionalism and services.
Stories are a great way to offer time-based promotions and offers, while Reels are a great way for people to get to know your personality and work. You can start small and grow your efforts as you become more comfortable.
5.
Build Music Connections
There’s a decent chance that others in your local music community are more connected than you are, and you can benefit a great deal in building relationships.
Are you connected with the local venues? Venues often cater to the same target audience that your business is looking for, and they usually don’t compete with your services. Venues are a great opportunity to build relationships that are mutually beneficial. You can share the names of new artists and tag the venue in social posts that highlight exceptional talent that you are working while, while the venue can refer artists and bands to your studio for audio production work.
You can also connect with local talent agencies. These agencies may need audio production services from time to time, and you could be their first pick; the talent signed to the agency can also use you for audition recordings and other services that would benefit your studio.
Other audio production studios can also be a great source for driving new opportunities. While we typically think of other studios as competition, some studios specialize in certain genres or have very full schedules – you could be their point of referral in either of these situations. Keeping close relationships with others in the community is a great way to open doors to new opportunities.
6.
Search for Fringe Opportunities
When we think of potential clients, we often think of music artists. Connecting with these artists is a great plan, but expanding your reach to other fringe opportunities can be even more lucrative.
There are a lot of businesses in your community that can also benefit from the services you offer. Maybe some businesses want to start a podcast, but don’t know where to begin; maybe others need professional voiceover recordings for their internal or client training videos and they need assistance; or maybe some need to record advertisements and jingles.
Begin building relationships with local businesses in general. You could put together a brief one-page outline of services that you offer to local businesses – you never know what opportunities may be revealed simply by asking how you can help support their business.
Sonido Software allows you to build a list of all these people and companies in a contact list. You can easily document conversation notes, set reminders to follow up with them, and more - all designed to help you effectively manage these relationships.
7.
Repeat Clients
Retaining clients is the optimal way to build a good reputation and stay busy. Creating positive experiences and outstanding results with people who already trust you can lead to repeat business and more effective referrals.
But it’s often easier said than done. There are a lot of factors that go into building such trust between you and your clients. This can range from your personality and how you connect with the client, to your studio environment, cleanliness, comfort and level of professionalism, and more.
Strive to create a comfortable environment where your clients receive the professional results that they are expecting, and don’t be afraid to ask your clients to share their experience with others.
8.
Ask for Reviews
It’s a great idea to have your clients provide an honest review of their experience working with you after a session. Building a Google Business (Maps) profile for your studio and directing your clients to your page to leave a review is a great first step. Not only will others find the reviews in looking up your studio business, but you can also use the positive reviews in your own marketing – social posts, on your website, and more!
There’s nothing wrong with asking for a 5-Star review from your clients. If you are providing your clients a 5-Star experience and results, simply ask them to give you a 5-Star review in return at the end of the session.
Whether your studio has been in business for a few months or many years, there are often opportunities that you can take advantage of in building your business for growth. This list is just a short selection of options that you can explore in growing your studio business.
Sonido Software is a specialized studio management software package that helps make many of these steps even easier. From keeping track of music artists and local companies, to organizing your studio booking and managing client payment, and much more – Sonido Software is the preferred studio management solution for audio studios of all sizes.
Learn more about how Sonido can help your studio business to grow and effectively drive new revenue.
