Thread: Creative advertising help?

I'm excited. I've been given the okay to teach a 6-week session of level 1 beginners under my instructor's dance school name. She is doing some advertising for the class as part of her regular advertising program, but, we've been having a hard time getting new students because of the economy, and that class has been struggling in terms of enrollment.

My new class starts in about 10 days, and I'm trying to think of creative, **free** ways to advertise. Any ideas?? How do ya'll who have lots of students advertise? Are there some sources that seem to work better than others? We live in a college town & I feel like we ought to be getting some college students, but surprisingly, we really don't!! How are we missing the boat on that?? I have no money to pay for advertising, so I have to rely on hers and on my free, creative thinking.... (and your creative thinking, now...)

Thanks for any ideas....

If you're in a relatively urban area, try Craigslist.org. and/or posting fliers on the campus/around town.

Originally Posted by whitneync

If you're in a relatively urban area, try Craigslist.org. and/or posting fliers on the campus/around town.

I just did Craigslist yesterday, I'm hoping that might be helpful. I plan to post fliers on campus, also.

I wonder how best to reach sororities and so forth? It just seems so strange that we don't get more college ladies... Well, maybe most can't afford it, but surely some of them can. Lessons aren't expensive compared to ballroom, etc...

You could list an event on Tribe, Facebook or MySpace.

Sometimes local newspapers have free classifieds online and sometimes publish them too...

One more thing, colleges usually have a list of sororities, etc, with their addresses and other contact info. Send them a flyer introducing yourself and telling them about your class and requesting that they spread the word or post the flyer in the sorority's domain. Offer a discount to bring a friend!

Facebook seems like a great idea.

I've had GREAT success with free calendar listings in the local paper in my area.

My college had outdoor bulletin boards along the walkways where anybody could post notices about anything. Carry pushpins and flyers and walk around the campus or ask if there are community bulletin boards.

I live in a small town - so this worked for me.

I printed up one page flyers and walked into every bank, hair salon, dress shop, flower shop & business I could think of where women worked/shopped and asked if they would post it in their window, for their customers or in their lunch room, for themselves. It worked quite well for raising awareness.

I also posted on the bulletin boards at the grocery store, the high school and the post office. (and the library)

Cost= ink, paper, time.

Wonderful ideas, some of these have proven to be very successful and I'm inspired to try others.

Also, a dance school hafla or party event where your students are encouraged to invite friends/family who might be interested in taking lessons would be a great way to market and promote your studio. You could showcase the studio troupe, top dancers, classes, solos, and/or have open dancing, bring your own food and drinks, and have a great time!

I don't know if this would be feasible for you to organize within 10 days, but it might be an option to explore for future sessions.

Good luck!


Khalida

Originally Posted by AnnaTX

One more thing, colleges usually have a list of sororities, etc, with their addresses and other contact info. Send them a flyer introducing yourself and telling them about your class and requesting that they spread the word or post the flyer in the sorority's domain. Offer a discount to bring a friend!

This is a good idea. I wondered about this, but didn't know if that kind of solicitation is legal?? I guess it never hurts to ask if they will distribute flyers...

You are all right on. I am pretty shy about advertising so I just need to develop a backbone & hit the pavement. I posted a measley 2 flyers yesterday...ha... but this weekend I'm doing a campus "blitz" with flyers. Wish me luck (crosses fingers)

I live in a college town and the students rarely sign up for classes (but that is probably a unique situation for us because the university belly dance club offers free classes ).

The college does have a variety of listservs though... most of them are open to anyone... so you might look into that also...

Send out a press release to your local newspapers, television stations, and radio stations. They use it as filler and it's free. Make sure you list an ending date on it as well as the usual who-what-when-where, etc.

If you're marketing to students, make sure you offer discounts! Students like to flash their student cards and get 10 or 15% off class prices.