Simpedia

Gordon Harvey, Australia

When I started teaching Simply Music some years ago, I spent about $3,000 on advertising, which over about three months attracted about 30 students. I’ve always budgeted for about $100 in advertising costs per enrolment, so this result was perfectly satisfactory for me. I would have been happy enough spending more, maybe up to $200 per student, based on the fact that I’d recover even this much within two months of teaching, knowing that the student is likely to continue for at least 1-2 years. Of course, how long it takes to recover advertising costs would depend on other costs involved with running your studio, so it’s good when planning advertising to be clear about the bigger picture, specifically how much actual profit do I make from each student, after deducting rent, Education Fees, etc.

From memory, in those days, advertising worked out to about 10% of my total revenue. I think this is reasonable compared to most businesses.

The main advertising I did at that time was in my local community newspaper. Like others in recent ECL’s I arranged an article, which generated the best response. The paper arranged the article because I had spent a substantial amount on other ads. Not every newspaper will do this. 

I also did letter box drops which I found to be less effective. Other teachers have reported similar results. It’s true, though, that there is a lot of variation from area to area. The only way to know is to try.

I also committed to a Yellow Pages display ad, which came out several months after my initial advertising campaign ended. Nowadays the Yellow Pages is the only advertising I do and it’s always worthwhile even though it’s very expensive here in Melbourne, a large city. We make it more cost effective by having several teachers share the cost, but even so we try to arrange the cheapest ad that will attract the eye. This will depend on what else there is in the classification. If there are no other display ads in the edition, I’d arrange the cheapest option that will allow for a logo and a few lines of text. I’m not sure, Patty, what you mean by “secondary”, but if there is more than one version of the Yellow Pages in your area, it’s essential to make sure you’re with the most popular one.

As you suggest, the main issue with the Yellow Pages is that you’ll get lots of individual enquiries from it over the year, rather than a rush at one time. I favour a big advertising push over a relatively short period, so that it’s easier to arrange FIS’s and co-ordinate effective numbers for shared lessons. My favourite time is around late January/February when kids are returning to school. Obviously this will be different in North America. Nevertheless, I’m happy to take students through the year in dribs and drabs via the Yellow Pages, even if it’s harder to arrange shared lessons. Although it’s not ideal, there usually seems to be a way to manage them, such as waiting lists, or starting students in individual lessons with the understanding that they’ll move in with an appropriate shared class when one becomes available.

This is a big topic which many people will have strong views about. I’d recommend scouring the FAQ and Transcript Library for more advice from teachers with a wealth of experience advertising their studios.