How to Launch your First Retreat

Great! The time has come to launch your retreat! Exciting times!

Here, you will find everything you need to know to plan everything well in advance and launch your first retreat successfully.

1. Start six months in advance

Yes! A successful launch needs to start well in advance. Think movies at the cinema. Think creating hype and anticipation for a unique experience. Don’t leave it for the last minute. Share the excitement and plan ahead.

Start talking about it to your students and your friends. Start sharing posts about it on social media and sending emails. Whenever someone expresses an interest in your retreat, ask for their email so you can reach them when the time comes. The more people talk about it, the better.

Always work on expanding your email list because it’s the one tool that enables you to reach students directly and share information on a personal level.

2. Organize your Application Process

You can have an online Application Form on your website, or you can have people book with you directly. If your site is all set, you can create a Landing Page for the retreat and have Apply Now as your call-to-action.

An app like Typeform can help you organize everything. Google Forms is another free tool you can use for collecting applications and organizing leads. I recommend using either tool to make things easier for you. As a bare minimum, you need to have a spreadsheet where you collect names and contact details, and make notes of the booking stage for each person. Things can get really complicated with direct bookings. If, however, you decide to take bookings directly, you need to decide on the process. You can accept payments via PayPal (which charges a fee) or Venmo (which is free). You just need to share a link with people, and then they can pay their deposits.

Other good options that could help you with your application and provide a link for people to pay deposits are Retreat Guru, Book Yoga Retreats, and WeTravel.

Whichever method you use, make sure to include all the information, in case the retreat involves service work, international travel, and any vigorous activities.

3. And now for the actual LAUNCH

The actual launch of your retreat needs to come in stages that warm people up and build up the excitement leading to launch day. You want them to jump at the opportunity to book their place the moment they receive their invitation.

The best you can do during the time leading up to the launch is to prepare all your marketing material in advance—before you actually launch—so that you can fully concentrate on launching and engaging when the time comes.

7 days before

Time to promote your retreat. Post about your retreat and nothing but your retreat. Don’t risk talking about anything else because some of your followers might miss the retreat information—with the funny algorithms and all.

Send lots of photos from the location, talk about your WHY, tell your story, and share your excitement about the realization of your vision. Make them dream about being there with you.

4 days before

Keep up the good work. Start sending emails as well and keep posting every day until the day of the launch. Social media is your tool for this.

1 day before

The excitement mounts up! Almost there. To make your offer even more enticing, give a special discount to your hot leads and your VIP subscribers, if they book right then and there. Give them 24 hours to reserve their spot before your retreat becomes available to your full list and all your social media followers.

Launch Day

This is it! Post your retreat everywhere and provide links to your landing page. Send emails to your list and reach out personally to everyone who ever expressed interest. Now your retreat is live! It’s happening! You still have six months to go, but the sooner the places are filled, the better!

Wrapping Up

Launching your retreat is all about creating excitement and sharing the news well in advance. This will help you organize everything on time and maintain your sanity. Organizing your first retreat is challenging enough. If you need some help organizing everything, you could team up with a venue like the Yoga Loft where people really know their stuff and can help you with anything, from launching your retreat to food and transportation. As a first-timer, it’s best to work alongside an experienced team with a community vibe that lives and breathes yoga.