How to advertise After School Club

[ethical PR]

Don't forget free local papers - presumably delivered to every home. The OP doesn't need to find the parents if a friend or relative sees an ad and mentions it to the parent.

There is little point advertising in a free local paper, when there are advertising channels that directly target the audience the OP wants to reach.

The family magazines I mentioned are available at leisure centres, schools, libraries, GPs etc exactly the sort of places frequently by families and are also available online. They have weekly e-newsletters which are also a useful way of the OP getting his message across.

As a parent of school age children, I can't remember the last time a friend or relative said "oh I saw this great after school club advertised in the local freebie, XXX must try it".

Oh yes I can....never !

People see things and if it's not relevant to them normally forget about it fairly quickly.

 

[Mr D]

Great you have family magazines local to your area. Been years since I last saw one in any area. Perhaps some areas no longer do them.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I think this has only been mentioned once, but got lost in all the posts.

I am assuming you, and any of the people that come into contact with the children at your after schools club, have been DBS checked?

This is really important, and unless you state this a lot, it might go some way to showing why you've not had any interest.

It's like UK travel companies are legally required to provide an ATOL certificate when any money is taken for a booking. Yet, look how they all mention "ATOL protected" on their adverts.

 

[Richard Glynn]

Schools are bombarded with people selling to them. You're just getting lost in the noise. Don't t take it personally!

I think you might be failing in the 'what's in it for me' message. And you don't currently have a compelling story to share. Both these things can be sorted easily.

I'm not clear on where you host the club. Most after school clubs are hosted at the school. And the organisation gives the school a kick back.

There are loads of other smart ways to market this idea. And it sounds like a great idea.

Look at other after schools clubs in other sectors - sport, theatre, dance etc. How have they marketed their business? Adapt and improve on their best proven ideas.

Instead of trying to sell your after school clubs - launch a campaign to unlock the digital creativity in the next generation.

Collaborate with other businesses like IT equipment manufacturers. Collaboration = endorsement. Use this as a hook for a media story. Launch your first pilot club. Share the results. Teach the kids to produce a digital animation advert FOR the school.

What is your story? Why do you care about digital animation skills so much? What makes you so credible? What is your purpose? (Hint: It's not to make money) Tell that story.

And read Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestly. It will tell you everything you need to know.

(I could go on! )

Good luck,

Richard

 

[KindaichiShota]

Effective discussion which I was looking for.

 

[VD Media]

Maybe I've been doing it wrong.
I've spent about £500 on Facebook Ads, and never got a single response. And it's quite strange, because Facebook's statistics on how many people have clicked on my ad is very different to how many people have visited my website (FB stats are a lot higher).
Maybe I've used it wrong, but I've been very careful to target a very specific audience (i.e. age, location, etc.)

First of all, in order to properly keep track of your clicks and visitors with Facebook Ads, you need to install the Facebook Pixel on to your website. Also there are many aspects to the ads that are crucial with targeting. Many things are missed when targeting specific things. For example most people will only pick English speakers, but not people who live in these areas. This includes people that are visiting which would definitely not be interested in your services. Or another example, include mobile users. What if these users are on the go? They will forget about your ad. So targeting mobile users connected to WiFi means they are likely stationary and will have time to look over your project properly. If you need any help with that let me know.

And in regards to your program, doing an actual partnership with these schools would probably be the best idea. You could do some kind of revenue share or pay them a fee for them to distribute the club in their Newsletters, Magazines etc. But you'd need to somehow get a meeting with the Marketing Director or CEO of the school. Their contact details are often online - whether that's on the school website or on LinkedIn. If it earns them money and brings value to the school then its a win-win. Hope that helps.

 

[Cristina Stan]

I'm having a difficult time advertising and marketing my business.

The best way to start advertising a new business is to create a marketing strategy, like Define your Target Market:
1. Who are they? In your case, most of your audience are parents, but not necessarily. Share your product (after school club) with all the parents you know, schools, friends, friends of the friends, relatives, neighbors. It is amazing how what we need come from places where we expected less.
2. What do they do? What your potential customers do? Do they choose for an after school program? If they do, find out where, find out your competition products, things that will help you get in front with the offers that You have
3. Where do they hang out? Could be online like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, or like a coffee shops, malls, events, school "parties" Join the places where they hang out. For example, you could join a Facebook group regarding after school programs, or a group full of mums.
4. What do they want? What most of the parents wants for their child? You could come up here with the benefits that your club has it. How your after school club will help my child? What are the offers? What do you bring good to me, so i could sign up my child to your club?
5. What is stopping them from getting it? Maybe they can not afford it, maybe it's a financial wall that stop them. And you can come here with some offers. Or maybe they don't wanna sign up their child to make a video game and animation club. And here you can show them how this exercised improve their children growth.

Once you target your market and answered yourself to all these question (i'll recommended to write them down), you can start advertising your new business. This is only a basic marketing strategy that it can be used.

You can advertise your business for free or paid. The only difference is the time between your start promoting until you will start see some results.