How's Business?

I overheard a riding student – an adult man – telling his instructor that he had no idea there was so much to learn to be able to ride a horse. He used to think you just get on and ride. She laughed and agreed that there was a lot to learn. Nothing is quite as easy as it looks, and that includes figuring out how to best market yourself as a horse trainer or riding instructor.

A nationally known trainer who recognizes that she needs help with her marketing talked to me last week. She has years of training experience and a good following. She’s been written up in national magazines, and has done plenty of demos and expos. But she’s not getting the volume of clients that she once did, and she recognizes that just talking to more people isn’t the answer. The shotgun method – putting her ad or name out there for the masses — gets her a lot of traffic. She gives away lots of brochures and talks to lots of people, which takes up lots of time. But only a small percentage of the people that she’s spent time with are even potential clients.

She expressed her frustration well. “Maureen, I need to redo my outdated brochure, but I don’t want to become a graphics or print expert in order to determine who to hire and what I need the brochure to say. And I’d like a website, but I don’t even want to learn about web design in order to hire a designer who might do something that looks like me. It’s overwhelming, so my marketing efforts are on hold.”

As trainers, we become experts in everything from feeding horses to trailering, from working with a shoer to buying enough hay to get us through winter, from teaching children to dealing with aging horses. Add to that blanket fit, manure disposal, and on it goes. And that’s before we even sit on a horse.

Some trainers have a natural gift for marketing, too. But my experience is that most really don’t like promoting themselves. It feels like hard sell, and they’d rather be riding. They want to train or teach well, but they don’t want to have to brag about themselves to get business. So they stick to well-worn advertising paths because that’s what everyone else seems to do, even though it doesn’t get them where they’d really like to be.

Prior to becoming a magazine editor, my field was marketing in the horse industry, including having been marketing director for Breakthrough Publications. But I also consulted with lots of professionals, helping them to see their unique strengths and to position themselves in the industry. In other industries, it’s referred to as “brand development.” Developing and understanding “your brand” is key to having a successful business.