Growth strategy
Owning the Costa Rica
retreat conversation.
Costa Rica is the most-searched yoga retreat destination on the planet — and the noisiest. This plan positions Casa Sereno as the default full-buyout compound for serious retreat leaders coming to the country: TikTok for reach, Instagram for trust, Facebook for conversion, all wrapped in a distinctly pura vida voice.
01 · Opportunity
Costa Rica is the world's #1 retreat destination — but supply is concentrated on the coasts.
Nosara, Santa Teresa and Tamarindo are saturated, expensive, and increasingly hard to reach in the rainy season. The Central Valley — 40 minutes from SJO, year-round dry, dramatically cheaper to fly into — is the underserved alternative. Casa Sereno owns Puriscal: a turnkey full-buyout compound with hotel-grade production and the soul of a private finca.
The Costa Rica angle
We don't sell a venue.
We sell a country.
Every piece of content leans into Costa Rica's existing brand equity — biodiversity, pura vida, blue zone longevity, dry-season sun while the northern hemisphere freezes.
Every post geo-tagged Puriscal / San José / Costa Rica. Bio-line and alt-text optimised for 'Costa Rica yoga retreat venue'.
Cross-promo with SJO transfer companies, La Sabana yoga studios, and Central Valley chefs and sound healers.
Bilingual captions (EN primary, ES secondary). Costa Rican slang dropped naturally — tuanis, mae, pura vida — never forced.
Push dry-season weeks (Dec–Apr) hard at northern-hemisphere audiences in Sept–Nov. Green-season offers for retreat photographers and small cohorts.
Lean into Costa Rica's eco credentials — solar, greywater, locally-sourced food. Apply for ICT Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST).
Press placements in Tico Times, The Costa Rica News, and yoga-vertical media (Yoga Journal, Wanderlust).
02 · Audience
Three personas, one buying decision.
The Established Teacher
Age 32–48 · US, UK, Canada
Pain · Has run retreats in Bali and Tulum — wants Costa Rica without the Nosara price tag or 5-hr transfer.
Hook · Cinematic Reels of the shala at sunrise + 'why Central Valley beats the coast' carousels.
The Rising Facilitator
Age 26–38 · LA, NYC, Berlin
Pain · First Costa Rica retreat — needs a venue that handles airport transfers, food, and visas-on-arrival logistics.
Hook · TikTok 'how to host your first retreat in Costa Rica' series + leader-led Q&A lives.
The Studio Owner
Age 35–55 · North America & Europe
Pain · Books an annual student trip. Wants Costa Rica's brand cachet with reliable wifi, water, and chef.
Hook · Long-form IG carousels + 'Costa Rica retreat planning' Facebook group case studies.
03 · Channel playbook
Three platforms. Three jobs. One funnel.
TikTok
Top of funnel · Discovery
TikTok is our reach engine. The algorithm rewards aesthetic, emotional, looped video — exactly what a Costa Rican jungle compound produces. Goal: 4M+ impressions/year, 25K followers in 12 months.
Cadence
5–7 posts/week, 15–45s
Format mix
40% atmosphere · 30% retreat-leader POV · 20% educational · 10% trending audio
Series concepts
- · "Sunrise at the shala" — howler monkeys + valley fog
- · "Costa Rica vs Bali" — honest comparison series
- · "Why Puriscal > Nosara" — 40 min from SJO, no rainy-season washouts
- · "Behind the chef" — gallo pinto, casado, fresh pipas
- · "Pura vida POV" — leader takeovers during retreats
- · Hashtag stack: #costaricaretreat #yogacostarica #puravida #retreatleader
Mid funnel · Trust
Instagram is where retreat leaders vet us. Grid = brand bible. Reels = reach amplifier (cross-post TikTok winners). Stories = liveness and trust. Broadcast Channels = direct line to our most engaged leaders.
Reels
4×/week, repurposed from TikTok
Grid
3 carousels/week, editorial
Stories
Daily, polls, BTS, UGC reposts
Carousel pillars
- · "Anatomy of a Costa Rica retreat week" (10-slide carousel)
- · "Central Valley vs Coast" — when to choose Puriscal
- · Geo-tagged posts (Puriscal, San José, Costa Rica) for discovery
- · Past-cohort highlights with leader testimonials + tags
- · Monthly "Available 2026 dates" availability post (dry season Dec–Apr first)
Bottom funnel · Conversion
No paid ads in year one. Studio owners and 35+ teachers live in Facebook Groups — we earn our way in by being genuinely useful. Group seeding, a private Casa Sereno community, and thoughtful long-form posts do the work that ads usually do.
Tactics (organic only)
- · Active in 25+ groups: "Yoga Retreat Leaders", "Costa Rica Expats & Travel", "Wellness Entrepreneurs"
- · 4 weeks of value-first commenting before ever mentioning Casa Sereno
- · Long-form Facebook posts (800–1,500 words) — Group algorithm rewards depth
- · Private "Casa Sereno Hosts" Group — alumni + waitlist + Costa Rica logistics tips
- · Cross-post Instagram Reels to the FB Page for the older demo
- · Direct outreach: 5 thoughtful DMs/week to teachers fitting our personas
04 · Content engine
One shoot day. Thirty days of content.
Every active retreat is a production. We embed a videographer for one day per cohort, capture vertical and horizontal, and hand the leader a co-branded asset pack — they post for their launch, we post for ours.
Step 01
Capture
1 day on-site per retreat. Drone, gimbal, candid practice, food, golden hour.
Step 02
Cut
Editor delivers 8 Reels, 4 long-form, 25 stills, 1 hero film within 10 days.
Step 03
Schedule
Pre-loaded into Later/Metricool — 30-day calendar across all three channels.
Step 04
Co-brand
Leader gets watermark-free pack to fuel their student-facing launch.
05 · 12-month rollout
From soft-launch to fully booked season.
May–Jul · Foundation
Brand kit, content shoot in green season (lush jungle look). 60-post backlog. Launch all three channels. Apply to Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) sustainable-tourism listing.
1K IG followers · 5K TikTok views/post avg
Aug–Oct · Reach
Daily TikTok cadence focused on 'why Central Valley'. First two paid retreats become case studies. Pure organic growth — DM outreach, Group seeding, leader collabs.
5 inquiries/wk · 2 confirmed bookings for Dec–Feb
Nov–Jan · Scale (peak season)
Two comped influencer-teacher retreats during high season — full content shoots. Launch alumni Facebook Group. Partner with SJO transfer companies & local chefs for cross-promo.
15K IG followers · 25 inquiries/mo · 6 bookings
Feb–Apr · Lock-in
Annual recap film cut from peak-season footage. Open '27 calendar with early-bird pricing for Dec–Apr dry-season weeks. UGC library at 200+ assets.
70% of '27 dry season pre-booked
06 · In-house operating plan
Run it yourselves.
~15 hours a week, one operator.
The whole plan is designed to be executed by one person on-site (with occasional help from a guest teacher or staff member for filming). Below is the exact weekly rhythm, monthly cadence, equipment kit and software stack — plus what to do, when.
Weekly rhythm · ~15 hrs total
Plan the week. Outline 5 TikToks, 3 Reels, 3 IG carousels, 1 Facebook post. Pull trending audio.
Shoot day. Capture sunrise shala, food prep, golden hour. 60–90 short clips on the phone gimbal.
Edit in CapCut. Cut 3 TikTok/Reel drafts. Write captions in Notion.
Design 3 carousels in Canva. Schedule the week into Metricool.
Engagement hour: reply to every DM and comment. Repost UGC to Stories.
Community: post in 3 Facebook Groups, comment 20× on target accounts, send 5 cold DMs.
Review analytics. What hit? Note in Airtable. Refresh next week's plan.
Monthly cadence
Big shoot day with a guest or staff member. Drone flyover. Capture 80–100 clips for the month.
Publish 'Available dates' availability post + email blast to the list. Resurface the week's best post by re-sharing to Stories with a fresh angle.
Long-form: one IG carousel essay + one TikTok storytime. Outreach week — 20 DMs to teachers fitting our persona.
Recap: analytics deck, top-3 posts, 1 lesson. Plan next month's content pillars. Refresh hashtags.
Two-day photographer day for evergreen stills. Refresh website hero. Submit one PR pitch (Tico Times, Yoga Journal).
Hero film cut from peak-season footage. Open next year's calendar. Renew CST sustainability paperwork.
Equipment kit · one-off ~$2,400
4K 60fps, ProRes, Cinematic mode. Better than 95% of dedicated cameras for short-form.
Smooth walking shots through the shala and gardens. Built-in tracking for solo shoots.
Sub-250g (no Costa Rican drone licence needed). 4K HDR. The valley aerials sell the venue.
Crisp audio for teacher interviews and 'pura vida POV' talking heads.
Edits 4K in CapCut/Final Cut without lag. Optional if a recent laptop exists.
Time-lapses of valley fog and golden hour. ND filters tame Costa Rican midday sun.
Indoor food shots and rainy-season interior content.
Clean product-style shots of mats, journals, ceremony objects.
If existing iPhone and laptop are already owned, the additional kit lands around $1,300. Buy from Amazon US and ship via Aeropost to San José, or pick up on a US trip — Costa Rican retail markup is 30–50%.
Software stack · ~$110/month
Mobile + desktop video editing. Auto-captions, trending templates.
Carousel design, brand kit, magic resize across formats.
Schedule TikTok, IG, Facebook from one calendar. Best-time-to-post insights.
Content calendar, caption library, persona docs, SOPs.
Inquiry CRM, content tracker, UGC library.
Email nurture sequences and broadcast newsletters.
Native FB/IG management, scheduling, and inbox in one place.
Native analytics, trending audio access, scheduling.
One-tap presets for consistent feed colour grading.
Bio-link with availability calendar + inquiry CTA.
How to actually post
TikTok
- 01Open the app (don't upload from desktop — algorithm penalises it).
- 02Use TikTok's native editor for the first 3 seconds, even if edited in CapCut.
- 03Add 3–5 hashtags max. Mix one big (#yoga 80M), one medium (#costaricaretreat 200K), one niche (#puriscalcostarica).
- 04Always add trending audio at low volume under your main audio.
- 05Post 6–9pm Costa Rica time (peak US evening).
- 01Reels: cross-post from TikTok but re-upload natively (not via share button) to avoid watermark penalty.
- 02Carousels: 10 slides, 1080×1350. First slide = hook, last slide = CTA + save reminder.
- 03Stories: 5–8/day. Use polls, sliders, question stickers. Save best as Highlights.
- 04Geo-tag every single post: Puriscal, San José, Costa Rica.
- 05Reply to every DM within 12 hours — IG rewards conversation depth.
- 01Set up Facebook Page + link to Instagram via Meta Business Suite.
- 02Join 25 target Groups. Spend 4 weeks giving value before posting anything self-promotional.
- 03Write long-form Page posts (800–1,500 words) — the algorithm rewards depth and dwell time.
- 04Cross-post Instagram Reels to the Page so the older demo sees them.
- 05Launch a private 'Casa Sereno Hosts' Group at month 6 for alumni + waitlist.
Skills to build (free resources)
- ·CapCut basics — Justin Brown / Primal Video YouTube series (4 hrs)
- ·Short-form hooks — Dan Koe + Alex Hormozi free posts (2 hrs)
- ·Drone safety + cinematic moves — Drone Film Guide YT (3 hrs)
- ·Community building & DM outreach — Justin Welsh free playbook (3 hrs)
- ·Lightroom mobile presets — @milamoursky tutorials (2 hrs)
First 30 days · checklist
- ·Day 1–3 · Order kit. Set up Meta Business Suite, TikTok Business, MailerLite, Metricool.
- ·Day 4–7 · One-day brand shoot. Build Canva brand kit + 12 carousel templates.
- ·Day 8–14 · Batch-shoot 30 short videos. Edit 15. Schedule 30 days of posts.
- ·Day 15–21 · Launch all three channels same day. Email past contacts + warm network.
- ·Day 22–30 · Join 25 Facebook Groups. Send 20 personalised DMs. Review what's hitting.
07 · The funnel
From scroll to signed contract in 21 days.
Step 01
Discover
TikTok / Reels
Watches a 30s shala video
Step 02
Vet
Instagram grid
Scrolls 9 posts, reads carousels
Step 03
Inquire
DM or website form
Asks about Feb dates
Step 04
Tour
Zoom call + sample week
Sees the proposal deck
Step 05
Book
Contract + 30% deposit
Locked into calendar
Ready to see the deck in detail?
Get in touch and we'll walk you through the full creative library, channel benchmarks, and quarter-by-quarter execution plan.
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