When I say email marketing, I am not talking about sending emails to anyone. I am talking about the importance of staying in touch with your current and past customers. I am talking about creating customer loyalty.   I am talking about positioning yourself as an “expert” that your customer can turn to with confidence!

As a general rule, I send a weekly email to my local swim school patrons.  HOWEVER, I keep that email short and to the point (unlike the email I am sharing below).   Don’t send your clients a lengthy newsletter that they are going to DELETE and miss your real message.   As a rule of thumb, keep your weekly email messages to three points or less.

There is a time and place to elaborate, to give more, to educate… just don’t do it weekly.   If you send something longer on occasion and it is educational, most of your readers will be curious if not anything else.  They will want to know why you have taken the additional time to write them… and they will read it.   This is your opportunity to make a statement, to  educate, and even to persuade your reader and get your critical message across!

Here is an example of one of those longer emails.  It has what I feel is a critical message to communicate to my local swim lesson parents, and it benefits their children:

Dear SLC Families & Friends:

Why are March lessons so important? Because if you start lessons now and continue in April and May–your child will get 24 lessons BEFORE summer arrives.

Why is that important?  Consider what your child could ACCOMPLISH before summer is here:

• Parent & Tot level Students – He/she could learn how to swim short distances and learn how to get back to the side of the pool if he fell in.
• Swim 100 level Beginners – He/she could learn how to swim across the pool
• Swim Strokes 200 level Swimmers – He/she could master freestyle with side breathing and backstroke–two of the most critical skills any swimmer ever learns!
• Adv. Swim Strokes 300 & 400 level swimmers – He/she could graduate from lessons– making him like a “black belt of swimming” (blue wristband) by summer, giving your child a complete set of swimming skills.

Why 2x per week?

Listen, 1x per week of swimming lessons is clearly 100% better than ZEROx per week, and 1x per week is a great way to maintain swimming skills over the winter and certainly make some improvement.

However, IF you increase the frequency of swim lessons/practice from 1x per week to 2x per week you will CLEARLY see a significant difference in the speed/rate of improvement. STUDY AFTER STUDY clearly suggest when you increase frequency, you increase the learning rate.

As a parent of three young boys–I UNDERSTAND HOW NICELY ONCE PER WEEK fits in our busy schedules and I am okay with that in the fall and winter. But when spring time comes, it’s time to increase the frequency. Learn to swim is so important for the safety of our children.

Soccer, Karate, Basketball, Gymnastics, Dance, etc. are all skills that are TERRIFIC for young children to be exposed to and learn. But if your child is going to master a musical instrument, excel at a sport, or if you are just trying to stay fit–-do you really think once per week is enough? How much weight will you lose if you diet and exercise once per week? If you really want your child to swim not only for fun and fitness, but for skills and safety–NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE A REAL COMMITMENT TO SWIMMING. There are no magic formula, but I can promise you that our Swim Lessons University curriculum is as efficient as can be!

What do I do with my own children? We dedicate 2x per week for swim lessons from March through October and have done that for all three of my boys since they were a year old. It works!

REGISTER YOUR CHILD TODAY! Swimming is the ONLY skill that could save your child’s life!

SwimmingSafercerely!

Jim Reiser, M.S. of Physical Education

Founder – The Swim Lessons Company

865-2629

www.swimlessonscompany.com

This blog is about marketing YOUR swim lessons…just to be clear. Now picture my four year old son playing basketball. While YOU may not agree with me that he could be the next Larry Bird yet, he is a great little basketball player for four years old. In fact, just today he scored 10 points in a 15-minute scrimmage! You are thinking, what does this have to do with swim school marketing?

Nolan plays basketball better than most of us market our swim schools. What do I mean? How so? He knows how to POSITION HIMSELF for SUCCESS. When the other team has the ball, where does Nolan go? He goes directly under the basket!!! My wife Heather asked him today after his game: “Nolan, why do you stand under the basket when the other team has the ball?” He said, “Well Mommy, that’s where the ball comes out! Then I can get it and I go make a basket!”

Are we positioning ourselves “under the basket?” Are we putting ourselves and our marketing materials under our customers’ noses? Or are we randomly advertising and hoping that a potential customer will find us? Think about it. If you put yourself in position like Nolan, you will not only earn more business, but you will save lots of wasted advertising dollars as well.

Here are a few of our most cost effective advertising and marketing strategies that will position you under the hoop!
1. Do Water Safety Presentations in preschools and elementary schools. At the end, you pass our your print materials as part of a water safety packet. Here is a Water Safety Presentation children, principals, and teachers love!
2. Set up a booth at Kids events, Baby Fairs, and Exhibits for children. Make sure to have your logo printed on stickers, tattoos, pens, and balloons to give away to potential customers.
3. Consider an ad in a local “parent magazine” dedicated for activities for children.
4. Get your current customers to tell their friends about you on their Facebook page. Their friends likely have children too, and they can include a link right to your website and it cost you nothing!
5. Go out of your way to create LOYAL CUSTOMERS who will rave about you to their friends. Take care of your own first, the friends and new customers will naturally follow.

SUBJECT:  LET’S BE FRIENDS!  I DISCOUNT LESSONS FOR MY FRIENDS!

Dear SLC Families & Friends:

That’s right!  I want to discount lessons for MY FRIENDS!  Especially those of my friends that VALUE the importance of “ongoing swimming instruction” which ensures children will not only learn basic skills, but they will learn to swim well!

In my opinion, every child should continue lessons until they receive the “I.M. GRADUATE BLUE BRACELET.”   That means they master all the skills in the Swim 100(Red) ,  Swim Strokes 200 (Yellow), , Adv. Swim Strokes 300(Green) , and Lifesaving Strokes 400 (Turquoise) so they can graduate to swim team.   AND if YOU DO value “ongoing swimming instruction,” I will reward you with a progressively higher discount for consecutive sessions, $10 off, $15 off, $20 off, $25 off, $30 off, etc.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

3  SIMPLE STEPS:

1.  SEND ME A FRIEND REQUEST and “Let’s be friends!” Here’s a direct link to my facebook page.

2.  POST on your facebook wall a suggestion to YOUR FACEBOOK FRIENDS to check out The Swim Lessons Company at www.SwimLessonsCompany.com or call us at 865-2629. Make sure to type in our website address so there is a hot link that will take them right to our site, and please make sure to tell them about your positive experience with us!

3. POST on our Facebook wall something similar. Any type of testimonial or thank you would be perfect!

That’s it!  Just CALL MY OFFICE at 865-2629 and let them know that you are participating in the FACEBOOK FRIENDS, CONSECUTIVE SESSION DISCOUNT!  All I ask is that you post a new testimonial on your page each time you receive that discount.   This is optional, but we’d love you to post pictures of your child in our lessons too!   Your friends will enjoy seeing your child learning to swim and improving his/her swimming skills!

As long as the sessions are consecutive, each consecutive registration gives you bigger savings! If you miss more than two sessions in a row, then you would start back at the original discount of $10.00.   I understand there are other things in life you have to do, i.e., vacations, other activities, etc.  But don’t forget, NO OTHER SPORT SKILL CAN SAVE A CHILD’S LIFE!

CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ON FACEBOOK!!!
SwimmingSafercerely!

Jim Reiser, M. S. of Physical Education

Founder – The Swim Lessons Company

www.swimlessonscompany.com

803-865-2629

p.s.  I will be posting videos on our facebook and youtube page that show what children can learn when they enroll with The Swim Lessons Company with Swim Lessons University Certified Instructors.   I appreciate you watching and “liking” those posts!