Concerned about getting new dancers into your studio? About keeping your existing students happy? Nervous about your competitors? Completely understandable, but take heart. Using the online marketing strategies that highly successful dance studios are using, you can address these concerns and thrive.
A popular strategy is using image creation tools to easily create visually rich content. Incorporating super strong visuals into your dance studio website and social channels will grab visitors’ attention and share information in a way that is simple and easy to digest.
The idea of creating strong visuals is not new. We’re all accustomed to seeing lots of images on websites and social media. But despite their importance, it’s very common for photos and other graphics to be left until the last minute when we create new content. They can be seen as an afterthought, or even a nuisance. Website design and Facebook page launches are often delayed or even abandoned because of them.
At the very least, image-centric marketing can feel like one more time consuming “to do”. Well, keep reading! I’ll be sharing 8 free tools you can use to create marvelous images and graphics for your dance studio.
The Power of Images
The human brain is wired to respond to images. In fact, 90 percent of all information that we perceive and that gets transmitted to our brains is visual. Communicating through imagery means you can communicate more value, more quickly to visitors skimming your website or social media.
Happily, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to learn some simple tricks and techniques that will punch up your studio’s website and grab the attention of your social media audience.
Don’t get me wrong or let the pendulum swing too far – Text is super important! Many people still research and yes, READ, getting a full sense of a dance studio before making their decision to sign up for classes. It’s just that graphics, in conjunction with text, can provide visual examples, emphasize relevant points, and portray emotions that support your message.
Language takes more time to process than image elements. Consider the example below. From a website visitor’s perspective, would it be easier to understand a dance position that is described, or shown?
We not only more quickly absorb information that is visual – visual elements also affect us emotionally. Which of the following is more effective in portraying the warmth of a dance studio?
8 Best (and Free!) Image Creation Tools to Create Marvelous Images and Graphics for Your Dance Studio
1. Quozio.com
Quozio isn’t fancy, but it sure it easy to use. Just go to www.quozio.com and enter your quote or other text, and then press “Go.” They will automatically format it, but if you don’t like what they give you, you can easily select a different background.
Then, you can either right-click on the image and select “Save image as”, in order to add it to your website, or you can share it to your social networks. Easy & fun!
With Keep-Calm-O-Matic, you can create your own Keep Calm and Carry On themed posters. You can easily change the text (Keep Calm and Jeté On?), upload your own background photo and change the text color to coordinate with your studio’s brand palette. When you’re happy with your creation, you can share it on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, or buy products such as mugs, t-shirts and phone cases featuring your custom design from their online shop.
3. Stencil
Here is another awesome, free tool for making beautiful images of quotes and sayings. With Stencil, you can convert any highlighted text into an image. You can upload your own images, or use theirs. Once the image is created, you can download the image or share it on your social media accounts.
Their free account level allows you to create and save up to 10 images per month.
With QuotesCover, you select whether you’ll be using the image as an Instagram story, Facebook update, Twitter header, etc so you easily start with the appropriate size. After typing in your desired quote, you can change your font and background combination to suit your needs. A number of their options require an upgrade to a paid level, but the free level still offers enough flexibility to get many jobs done.
QuotesCover isn’t quite as simple to use as those above, but is still a valuable (and free!) tool with which to up your image game.
5. Canva.com
This graphics tool is just bad-ass (pardon my French). It gives you a ton of options – layouts, banners, grids, shapes, and frames – to get you going. With Canva, you have the option to create Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Instagram graphics, Facebook cover photos, and much more.
The user interface is wonderful to use, although it’s easy to spend a lot of time tweaking your image and text into the perfect combination. Some of their photos and templates cost $1 to use, but many are free. If you’re signed into Facebook, Canva can pull in your own photos, or you can upload photos from your computer.
6. Pixlr.com
Pixlr is a fantastic tool for those who want to edit their dance studio’s photos without delving into Photoshop or another high-end graphics program. It’s an internet based program (so you don’t need to download it to your computer).
And 2 Fun Options for Pinterest Lovers!
[Editor’s Note: Unfortunately Pinwords.com is no longer in existence… Try Canva or QuotesCover]
Simple and fun. When you are done with your graphic, you have the option to pin it, post it to Facebook, tweet it or email it to yourself.
Using visually rich content can help optimize your dance studio marketing efforts and give you an edge over competitors who mainly publish written content. Give one or more of these image tools a try, and improve your visitors’ website and social media experience!
Best wishes,
Stacey