030: Marketing Your Teaching Studio with Kelly Riordan

Today, we're thrilled to welcome Kelly Riordan, CEO and Co-Founder of Outside the Bachs, LLC, a program empowering musicians to build successful private music studios. Kelly, a thought leader in music business education, shares her expertise on how to effectively market your teaching studio. From creating a profitable lesson package to mastering authentic marketing strategies, Kelly’s insights are invaluable for anyone looking to attract and retain students in the competitive world of music education. Join us as we explore Kelly’s actionable tips and strategies that will help you elevate your teaching studio to the next level!

• Kelly introduces herself as the CEO and co-founder of "Outside the Bachs," an accelerator program for musicians to start or scale their private music lesson studios.
• Overview of "Outside the Bachs" and its focus on helping musicians with the backend structure, marketing, and creating duplicatable processes for their music studios.
• She shares her background as a clarinetist and her experience in teaching piano.
• Three-step process for enrolling students.
• Setting up a profitable lesson package before acquiring students.
• Importance of being transparent about pricing, including industry standards.
• Kelly advocates for organic marketing methods (unpaid), focusing on building relationships rather than relying on paid advertising.
• Advice on building relationships in a new location to attract students.
• Helpful tips on finding piano students.
• Leveraging local social media to attract piano students.
• Why elementary general music programs are valuable for finding new students who haven't yet chosen an instrument.
• Personal vs. studio social media presence.
• Some content strategies for business growth.
• Key mistakes in teacher marketing.
• Value of having a repeatable enrollment process and a professional approach in consultations.
• Kelly's general marketing advice and final strategy recommendations for music teachers.

Guest Links Mentioned

• Outside The Bachs Website
• Outside The Bachs YouTube Page
• Kelly Riordan's TikTok Page
• Kelly Riordan's Instagram: @kellyriordanmusician
• Facebook Group: Private Music Instructors, Piano Lesson Teachers, and Music Studio Owners

Today’s Guest

Kelly Riordan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Outside the Bachs, LLC - a program designed to give musicians the skills to create their own private music studios and deliver the highest quality instruction to their students.

Her work has brought her to the forefront in music business education. In addition to hosting The Outside the Bachs Podcast, Riordan presents regularly at conferences and universities, with recent appearances at The NAMM Show and The Ultimate Music Business Summit, in addition to lectures at the University of Tennessee, Miami University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Kelly Riordan holds a Master of Music (MM) in Performance and Literature from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Music from the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

About Rachel Ehring

Dr. Rachel Ehring is a pianist, teacher, music administrator, and lover of piano teaching gadgets. She holds a DMA in Collaborative Piano from the University of Colorado Boulder and a MM in Accompanying from the University of Kansas. She currently serves as Director at St. John’s Conservatory of the Arts in Orange County, CA. Previously, she held positions at Concordia University Irvine and Henderson State University. Rachel is passionate about empowering music teachers to create engaging and exciting lessons for students of all ages. When she isn’t playing the piano, you might find Rachel reading books with her son or walking her beagle Frieda.

• Visit her website at https://rachelehring.com/
• Visit her Instagram page: @rachelehring
• Visit her Etsy shop at Dream Lavender Music

TOPMUSICPRO MEMBERSHIP 14-DAY FREE TRIALThank you for tuning in!

Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching practice if it’s inspired you.

If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other teachers find our show.

Stay updated by subscribing to this show, and get automatic delivery to your device every time a new episode goes live! We publish on Fridays weekly.