Simpedia

Dorothy H., AU

I began with four students, which quickly grew to 12 after advertising in a few school newsletters and our local community newspaper. I then decided to do something bigger and more expensive, which was published in another magazine/newspaper which is distributed to every home on the North Shore of Sydney. This ad consisted of an 8 x 10 cm block ad, a short write-up, and a photograph of me at the piano with a student. The ad cost me $495 for just one issue, and has brought me 20 inquiries so far. Out of these, I now have nine new students. This puts the student acquisition rate at $55, which I feel is very good since it takes less than two lessons for that to be covered. And as each student should generate an annual income of about $1575 ($35 per lesson, over 45 weeks), I am naturally very pleased with the outcome! I have also learnt that it is good to keep advertising even in places which have brought very little response. As Gordon pointed out in the last chat session, research has shown that people usually need to see an ad two and a half times before they decide to respond! I still get calls from the ads that have been running since February, and have recently gained five students from this source as well.