Thread: Tell me about your successful class flyers

I'm about to design some general purpose flyers that advertise the classes taught by my dance company.

I'm interested to hear what you think has worked best for you in terms of photography to use? Big glamorous photo of instructor(s) in full costume? Or a still-glamorous but sportier photo of you in fashionable practice togs? (like sharifwear, melodias, etc)

I'm wondering if the latter might not allow women to envision themselves taking a belly dance class. The full costume makes the dancer seem larger than life, which is good for performances but maybe not so much (or even detrimental) for class advertisement.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of myself or co-instructors in anything but costumes. But we do have a nice photo of us wearing bedlahs with bell-bottom pants -- I think this might be the best thing I have right now.

Thoughts?

I use a rather small picture of me in a Beledi dress on the back. I do a trifold that also has pictures of the studio and students in action. Seems to allay some fears. I talk about the various classes offered and what they should wear to class. I have used the NikkiJ cartoon for the front cover. Seems to make the whole thing friendly and non threatening. My target market is mature ladies who want a bit of exercise.

We've never managed to produce what we thought was an effective flyer, sorry. Folks TAKE them, but they seem to use them mostly as souvenirs :)

Originally Posted by maurazebra

We've never managed to produce what we thought was an effective flyer, sorry. Folks TAKE them, but they seem to use them mostly as souvenirs :)

Okay, I should have said posters instead of flyers, because we're going to hang them up at restaurants, stores, etc. more than leave stacks of them around for people to pick up. The are only going to be 8.5X11 though, so they will be cheap and we can cover more area with them for the buck.

I don't have a huge amount of data, but it *seems* like hanging posters has been one of the only ways we're getting student recruitment, besides just word of mouth.

Out of all the phone calls about belly dance classes I've received this year, most of them have started out "I saw your classes advertised on a flyer..."

And a few "I found you on the internet..." (this generally comes from students who move here from somewhere else who already belly dance)

I think there should always be an element of glamour in there, because many people take up bellydancing to get away from their mundane lives and want a bit of the fantasy. Having said that, you don't want to be so supermodel that it feels cometely inaccessible. My favorite images have been a headless torso of me in my bestest bedlah. Or a 3/4 shot of me in costume with a big flourishing veil. In both photos I look healthily shapely (courtesy is sucking in my gut!) and I've attracted ladies of all sizes and ages to class.

Having said that, I really can't say that fliers have worked very well for me of late, but all non-web advertising seems to be getting less effective.

I think the single most important thing is to use a good quality and flattering image, whether in hotted up sharifwear, bedlah or otherwise.

Oh, I'd like sharifwear and smiling women of all shapes and ages in a press release! That's where you want to say, "We can all do it!" I think a flier should put your best foot/face/bootie forward.

I'm thinking about using this photo:

I like the photo! I think you look friendly, varied and like 'real' people, while at the same time being glamorous and recognisably bellydancery!

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

I like the photo! I think you look friendly, varied and like 'real' people, while at the same time being glamorous and recognisably bellydancery!

Ditto.

I, too, like that picture. Glamorous and professional, but accessible.

i like that pic too. i would do something in photoshop with the chunks missing from the floor though

Originally Posted by raqFariha

i like that pic too. i would do something in photoshop with the chunks missing from the floor though

Definitely. I missed that somehow when I was doing touch ups.

Thanks everyone for your input.

PS - where did those bra-and-belt sets come from? My girls want something similar.

those are pharaonics great loops. there was a thread recently about the quality of newer v older....

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

PS - where did those bra-and-belt sets come from? My girls want something similar.

yep, Pharonics great loop. I got the teal one from the swap page here, and my colleagues all bought theirs from dahlal.

We are in the process of transitioning to everyone having a gold great loop. I bought mine at bellydancestore

They seem to flatter every figure type...g.:..g.:

it might be too much in one flyer but what about having both images? A professional "you can aspire to be me" photo (everyone loves costumes) and a photo of your class with students

I have done a postcard with me in costume with splashy writing on the front, then me in a yoga pose with all the pertinent info on the back. I don't know how much business I got off the actual postcards, but they looked nice and it hit a variety of markets.

Great photo ladies! You look beautiful!