Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Advertise A Private Art Institute

Posted by ev_stylianou on 9/8/2013 at 4:05 PM ET 250 Points
I am an an art educator/artist and I just got fired from a community college i was working for 2 years. Therefore I decided to open an art institute and I would like to advertise it. How can I attract students of all ages to enroll and get the word out? The problem is that everyone is cutting off art classes and for this reason I have lowered my prices to the point of thinking the reason for doing this. It's still hard to attract people. I gave out flyers and share my flyer on FB but it's not enough. I feel that if I don't advertise it soon enough during September I will loose out from the whole year. Do you have any other solution?
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  • Posted by Moriarty on 9/8/2013 at 4:21 PM Accepted
    Let's put this the other way around. The one thing that artists are good at is communicating through the medium of the image. What you now need to do is do it face to face, as it were, or through the medium of words. Not necessarily your best medium, you do have a head start in that you're already an artist.

    Let's forget that bureaucrats are cutting art classes. They didn't know what they were when they were at school anyway. They don't know now. That doesn't mean that everyone else thinks this way. Anyway, you were a teacher - think of the positive things that were said to you, think of the successes you had with people. Gather them all up, phone a few (or write/email them) and get a few more responses. Put 'em all together and you should have the basis for a pretty good flyer.

    If you've gotten a Facebook page, you can buy advertising for it. You can find more about this at Perry Marshall's website - and you can do his test here https://isfb4me.com and you can sign up for his Facebook series. It's very good. If you need advertising, this will propel you, and propel you fast. It's not that expensive and you can chat with those who come to your page and give them the idea that you really are their art teacher!

    Remember too to think about the objections people have. They may not be your best customer anyway, so be honest about this. The people who really appreciate the things you'll do for you won't mind at all - in fact, they'll appreciate the honesty in a world full of get-rich-quick artists.

    What was it that Mel Brooks said? "Ars est pecuniam"? ;-)
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 9/8/2013 at 6:28 PM Member
    "How can I attract students of all ages to enroll and get the word out?"
    You can't suddenly attract everyone to you. Start by talking to people who are likely to be interested, and find out what it would take for them to enroll. Is it price? Specific classes? Placement assistance? Online classes? Special teachers?

    Also - instead of trying to "do-or-die" in September, realize that not everyone operates on a September enrollment. For example, can you offer classes at local community centers, business enrichment programs, public/private schools, senior centers, etc?
  • Posted on 9/10/2013 at 6:44 PM Accepted
    You need to first zero in on a more specific target audience. "Students of all ages" includes a billion people or more. Don't even try to reach all of those folks. Identify a more reasonable (and much narrower) target audience and learn all you can about them.

    Once you've done that, develop a simple marketing plan for that audience. Come up with a business name based on your Positioning Statement. Create a simple website. That sort of thing.
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