I definitely did my research and I came up at TeamUp is actually really great for dance studios. You have to get a little bit used to, but I think it went quite, quite fast.
Hi there, I'm Marius and I'm the manager of Oti and Marius Dance Studio. We're going to change the name now, but it was Oti Mabuse Dance Studio in London, northwest of London Park Royal. Being dancers, both of us for 20 plus years, it was kind of natural development. We lived in Germany before in Nuremberg and we wanted to open there dance studio before a few years ago and we had everything there then. And then we always like UK, and then Oti started to have more and more jobs, with Strictly obviously and with other TV productions. And then we moved slowly to the UK six years ago, time is flying.
And yeah, we wanted in April last year, exactly when the lockdown started to open our studio, everything was kind of set up, but not really. So actually it was quite good for us that we started later. So we managed to open end of September 2020, a beautiful studio which we rent out and it was partly done, so we didn't have to invest so much, which was very helpful at the beginning. And yeah, we started directly with TeamUp because I was I was doing a lot of market research in this direction. I didn't have so much experience. I mean, social media, of course, and all the social media marketing, they developed quite a lot in this direction. But we didn't really have proper software, which is easy to use. And yeah, I think it's it because you guys, you are answering quite fast. I must say, that was a big plus. You are very, very on it. So, yeah, it was of course very helpful, especially when you're stressed that you, COVID on top of opening a studio is not easy. So yeah, it was a quite, quite direct and fast relationship with you guys.
So I definitely did my research and I came up at TeamUp is actually really great for dance studios. You have to get a little bit used to, but I think it went quite, quite fast. Now I have my marketing team, which are helping quite a lot in having a better plan to make it a little bit easier to understand for the clients. Then, of course, you have the memberships, which are quite good and we developed now as a sort of hybrid membership, that the clients can also come one week if they want to come to the studio, three weeks stay home or the other way around. So we are trying to engage in this crazy online world, which, yeah, it's actually not too bad. People really liked it.
We started classes actually in March when the lockdown started. We started with Oti free classes on social media, on all social media platforms, and we really had a huge follower basis. And yeah, we were so happy to help. And then we saw how much people needed that. So we developed kind of in the dance studio in September then. But yeah, other tools, I would say, which are very nice, the On Demand one which we have to start to use now, but obviously have to prepare a bit. And we were just talking about it and you guys just had it on the page. And that's a new button right there. And we really, really enjoy that one too now.
And I think it's quite complex in the same time, it's made pretty simple, I would say, but it's very complex as well. But I would say that I mean, of course, it's more for probably fitness studios made in particular and all these small yoga and Pilates studios. I would say there are quite a lot in London, but yeah, I mean, for us, it definitely does the job. And definitely we get quite a lot. And I think our clients are happy as well, I've never gotten a negative comment about that.
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