Thread: Ok so how do you find is the best way..

... to promote your class.
Recently I get more enquiries from internet links than from the newspaper ads.
Probably just as many from personal referals.
Does anyone here promote themselves through Health initiatives?
Demonstation?
Any other ideas?

-getting links to your site through a lot of other sites
-Google ad words
-dancing at community events and bringing flyers
-postcards strategically placed around the community
-referrals from other dancers you've built relationships with (showing support to other dancers in the community can sometimes bring real support in return).
-consistency in class offerings
-putting on a show that you promote heavily as a one time event, then drawing people in through that

These are the things I think are most effective for building a class draw...but patience helps. I've been working on building my classes and I've done all these things but the last so far. Slowly but surely, I think it's working.

I get lots of class referrals from other students. They want their friends to do a class with them--so I remind students when a new session is starting, and ask them to have their friends sign up.

Postcards or flyers in the community, like Shems mentioned, are very effective. Stores that sell belly-dance-like clothing or accessories might be willing to keep a stack of 1/4 sheet flyers on the counter, or put a flyer in the window, for example. College campuses and bookstores are also good places to hang flyers. Also, if there is a local guild or a teacher who sponsors halfas, make sure your flyers are there, too. And, be sure to support the local guild or haflas, by coming to perform, watch, or vend, advertise in their newsletters, etc.

For me, promoting on Tribe does a lot, as well. I also do occasional e-flyers to past students and/or people who've inquired about classes.

internet listings / profiles
inquiries from people who see my shows
print ads only in local belly dance association publications

I host a (womens only) Belly Dance Boogie Party in my city, (one in the spring and the other in the fall) to help promote the dance and my classes...g.: My community is about 20 years behind the times, so I try to make the evening as educational and fun as possible especially for the women who have perhaps never seen the dance. I have a large screen projector to show vintage/traditional/American/props etc. dvds for the first 30 minutes while people arrive. I do a 15 minute dance routine and try to recruit other dancers to perform pieces as well. I set up a sound system with great ME pop and techno music which appeals to just about anyone who likes to dance. I provide a hummus and tabbouleh bar with veggies, pita and olives. Cash bar. Our local vendor sets up a table of items to sell and our door prize for the evening is a hip scarf. Twice during the evening I have mini lessons (about 15 minutes each) to show the ladies a few BD moves that will create a little choreography by the end of the night. We run through the mini choreo several times so they feel like they've learned some thing new when they leave. We have a lot of laughs and the women really seem empowered and less self conscious at the end of the evening. I have comment cards, lesson info and a guess book to collect e-mail addresses of of the participants, some of them have actually registered for the next session of classes that night. I charge a $10 admission fee (to cover costs) and often get 60-85 women, some of whom have been attending for 3 years now. Some of them drive from communities up to 45min away! I often see mothers and daughters, Red Hats, birthday parties, showers, divorce parties and women just looking for a fun and "guy free" night out. ..l;,

Originally Posted by lizajuk

... to promote your class.
Recently I get more enquiries from internet links than from the newspaper ads.
Probably just as many from personal referals.
Does anyone here promote themselves through Health initiatives?
Demonstation?
Any other ideas?

I found my teacher on the internet.

Originally Posted by Zahrah65

I host a (womens only) Belly Dance Boogie Party in my city, (one in the spring and the other in the fall) to help promote the dance and my classes...g.: My community is about 20 years behind the times, so I try to make the evening as educational and fun as possible especially for the women who have perhaps never seen the dance. I have a large screen projector to show vintage/traditional/American/props etc. dvds for the first 30 minutes while people arrive. I do a 15 minute dance routine and try to recruit other dancers to perform pieces as well. I set up a sound system with great ME pop and techno music which appeals to just about anyone who likes to dance. I provide a hummus and tabbouleh bar with veggies, pita and olives. Cash bar. Our local vendor sets up a table of items to sell and our door prize for the evening is a hip scarf. Twice during the evening I have mini lessons (about 15 minutes each) to show the ladies a few BD moves that will create a little choreography by the end of the night. We run through the mini choreo several times so they feel like they've learned some thing new when they leave. We have a lot of laughs and the women really seem empowered and less self conscious at the end of the evening. I have comment cards, lesson info and a guess book to collect e-mail addresses of of the participants, some of them have actually registered for the next session of classes that night. I charge a $10 admission fee (to cover costs) and often get 60-85 women, some of whom have been attending for 3 years now. Some of them drive from communities up to 45min away! I often see mothers and daughters, Red Hats, birthday parties, showers, divorce parties and women just looking for a fun and "guy free" night out. ..l;,

Wow, that's a brilliant idea, and sounds like so much fun (though probably a deal of work to organise). How do you advertise this event? What sort of people come - is it mostly women who have a link to bellydance (such as via a friend), or complete novices?

I've had about 10 so far, so it gets easier to organize each time. I put up posters around town, let current BD students know, shamelessly hand out mini flyers (a shrunken down 1/4 size version of the poster) to any woman I come across. I will drop off posters to work places that tend to have a lot of women working there eg. retail stores, seniors residents, banks, schools. I run an ad on the radio 3 times a day for 4 days prior to the event which is reasonably priced at about $75. I also look for any free ad space in the local daily paper and community event publications and make sure to invite a female journalist or two..g.: Most of my students attend, but the majority of the women are novices looking for a fun night out. There is never any pressure to participate, so some women might just want to check it out the first time around. I try to make the evening as inviting, fun and relaxed as possible. Age ranges from 14 (with mom) to 84!

I've had a better than I expected response from the following:

- press release to local newspaper (you can't guarantee that it is printed, or printed on time, but this seems to generate the most enquiries for me. I'm also still getting enquiries from a local news article published 2 years ago that was also put up on the internet!)
- local tourist information office (!)
- noticeboard at local Morrisons
- noticeboard at local library

My website seems to generate very few enquiries for classes, but more for gigs.

I think a lot of this kind of thing depends on local circumstance and/or chance. For instance - I've been putting up posters in Morrisons for the last couple of years, and it was only this year (when I was thinking I wouldn't bother the next time) that I got two or three new students via that route. The local paper is a good one if you can swing it, because I find that people cut out the article or announcement about classes and pass it onto others.