How to advertise After School Club

[Ali_SA]

Hi all,

I have set up an after-school club where we teach kids how to make video games and animations.
I'm having a difficult time advertising and marketing my business.

The thing is, millions of my (potential) customers go into these buildings called "School" every single day! So i know the distance between me and millions of potential customers is a simple gate, however right now it seems easier to break into a bank than go past that gate.

School's don't seem to care about any of our phone calls and e-mails, and never respond back to us.
So what we did try to do was to stand outside schools just before students are about to go home and hand out leaflets to them. Some schools didn't mind that, some schools nagged a bit and just let us get on with it (as we're on public streets), and some other schools actively tried to stop us (by either asking us to leave, or by taking the leaflets away from the students).

So my question is, what's the best way to advertise an after school program?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Mr D]

Parents.
Go where the parents are, advertise where the parents see or read.
What are you offering the school? Gain their interest rather than just wanting their time.

 

[Ali_SA]

Parents.
Go where the parents are, advertise where the parents see or read.
What are you offering the school? Gain their interest rather than just wanting their time.

How can I access the parents? Do you know of any parents meeting or gathering outside of schools I could visit?

My main job is being a university lecturer. So I can go to schools and do a talk on why studying games design can be a good career choice. But problem is, schools don't reply back. The process is:
1. I call the schools
2. Schools ask to send an e-mail
3. I send and e-mail and never hear back from them
4. Call the school back after a week, they say they will get back to me if they're interested (and they never do)

 

[AllUpHere]

Did you prepare any sort of marketing plan when starting the business?

 

[BenKirkwood]

Social Media is your friend here, get yourself a Facebook account, join some local area groups (my area has several gossip groups) You don't need to be too formal about ads. Make yourself a "Page" on FB where people can connect with you. Post some of the cool stuff the kids come up with - you'll be turning people away in no time.

 

[Ali_SA]

Did you prepare any sort of marketing plan when starting the business?

In all honestly, I didn't.
The way the business got up and running was from a very simple idea. We did some leafleting outside some school and got a number of reposes and that's how we got started. But the issue with that is, first of all you never know if the school would try to stop you for leafleting, and if they are OK with you doing so, only about a maximum of 5 students would get in touch (but of course we need much bigger numbers).

What would be an ideal marketing plan?

 

[Ali_SA]

Social Media is your friend here, get yourself a Facebook account, join some local area groups (my area has several gossip groups) You don't need to be too formal about ads. Make yourself a "Page" on FB where people can connect with you. Post some of the cool stuff the kids come up with - you'll be turning people away in no time.

What do you mean Local area groups? What would I be looking for on Facebook? You mean just look up "Gossip Groups in ......"?

 

[AllUpHere]

In all honestly, I didn't.


What would be an ideal marketing plan?

That's too broad a question to answer.
Make a start by researching the difference between push and pull marketing strategy. I have a feeling you are pushing when you'd have much more luck pulling.

 

[Mr D]

How can I access the parents? Do you know of any parents meeting or gathering outside of schools I could visit?

My main job is being a university lecturer. So I can go to schools and do a talk on why studying games design can be a good career choice. But problem is, schools don't reply back. The process is:
1. I call the schools
2. Schools ask to send an e-mail
3. I send and e-mail and never hear back from them
4. Call the school back after a week, they say they will get back to me if they're interested (and they never do)

You could leaflet the houses around the schools. You could advertise in the local press. Social media.
If you want the schools to get involved then make it worth their while. It sounds like you want them to do something and not offering anything to the school.

Perhaps the school isn't interested. So generate interest.

 

[BenKirkwood]

In my local Facebook region (and I'm sure its the same all over the country), there are groups for everything. My local "gossip" groups are full of whiners, people begging for help or whatever BUT they have a lot of members, it's not all negative conversations and most don't mind the odd post about your local business, especially if its related to the kids.

Some groups allow you to post an ad, some don't; it doesn't really matter - you asked how to get in front of the parents. You have a social business/club and in today's world, most of the parents, if not the kids themselves are social media junkies.

It's a quagmire of stuff to learn if you don't normally use social media yourself but only if you overthink it - you need do nothing more than join some of the local active groups and introduce yourself and your club - that's it, you'll be in front of more parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends than you can shake a stick at.

Prepare yourself! Create a "page" for your club so people can like and follow you. Go nuts posting all the positive outcomes. Get your club members and parents to share in their social circles.

Rinse and Repeat

I'm not saying this is the only channel you could use but I'd be surprised if you didn't spark a lot of interest.

HTH Paul.

 

[CharlotteS]

Facebook ads are your friend here. I work with a lot of schools and basically thmeir target audience is also yours - we have run email, google and Facebook campaigns and by far Facebook always has the best impact

 

[jibbajabba]

What age group are you targetting?

 

[jibbajabba]

So council is your best bet and renting a room in the school then the school will be more open to having you advertise.
Parent associations are good.
what about the afterschool club in the school if they have one.

make your pitch about childcare as well, as much as parents love the activities they are very very aware of the extra hour to get the shopping in/start dinner etc

 

[ethical PR]

You have asked this question on here several times already and been given advice.

You have been advised that it is not a good strategy to annoy your key channel of advertising your service by standing outside the school and giving out leaflets when they don't want you to do this.

Why not invest in advertising in school newsletters, on school websites and by having a stand at school fairs.

You can also advertise in local magazines/websites aimed at families.

 

[deanpunchard]

You say you've called and emailed them, but have you been into reception and talked to someone?

I set up a football club for players, and never had any problems with the school. I printed out 100s of leaflets, and they gladly gave them to the classes and children.
Now of course I'm doing this 100% as a volunteer, and never take any money from this, so perhaps that's the difference.

But as has been mentioned, a lot of schools have advertising space in newsletters and websites.

Also, could you go into the schools and give a free demo? Perhaps an afternoon, get them excited, then give them details about the club.

Final thought, have you looked at the curriculum for the school. Does your class benefit the children and school? Could your class raise the grades of children in computing, science, maths, English, etc?

 

[BenKirkwood]

@Ali_SA I just found and skimmed through your previous threads on this same question. You've had some excellent and detailed answers to your question, so why ask it again, and again and again? Couldn't you just follow some of the excellent advice being given?

 

[Ali_SA]

What age group are you targetting?

We're targeting 9 to 16 year olds

 

[Ali_SA]

You could leaflet the houses around the schools. You could advertise in the local press. Social media.
If you want the schools to get involved then make it worth their while. It sounds like you want them to do something and not offering anything to the school.

Perhaps the school isn't interested. So generate interest.

Thanks for the reply.
We did try leafleting near by houses. Spent about £700 on that and the result was obtaining 2 students (each who would pay £150). So it was a loss and we stopped doing that.

I do offer schools something in return, and that is information (I'm not sure if that's not good enough?)
Being a University Lecturer, I have offered to go in and deliver a free lecture for their students and inform them about the industry. Maybe this isn't good enough to offer to them?

 

[Ali_SA]

Facebook ads are your friend here. I work with a lot of schools and basically thmeir target audience is also yours - we have run email, google and Facebook campaigns and by far Facebook always has the best impact

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.)

 

[ethical PR]

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.)

Have you advertised using any of the channels I have suggested in an earlier post.

I disagree with Charlotte just because FB might work for schools, who have an engaged audience. Doesn't mean it will work for you.

 

[Ali_SA]

You have asked this question on here several times already and been given advice.

You have been advised that it is not a good strategy to annoy your key channel of advertising your service by standing outside the school and giving out leaflets when they don't want you to do this.

Why not invest in advertising in school newsletters, on school websites and by having a stand at school fairs.

You can also advertise in local magazines/websites aimed at families.

Yes, which is why we've now stopped advertising by leafleting outside schools.

A lot of the advice I've got is to advertise on the school newsletters or websites. The thing I don't understand is, when I call schools and ask to do this, one of the 2 following scenarios happen:

1. I'm told to send an e-mail in with my request, and when I do I never get any responses back.
Or
2. I'm told they either don't have any advertisements/newsletters, or if they do it's not for third parties (i.e. just for the school alone).

How can I find out what schools have newsletters and are willing to include my club in it?

 

[Ali_SA]

@Ali_SA I just found and skimmed through your previous threads on this same question. You've had some excellent and detailed answers to your question, so why ask it again, and again and again? Couldn't you just follow some of the excellent advice being given?

You're right, I did get a lot of ideas for advertisement, and I tried them, but didn't get much.
In all fairness, it could be that I've done them wrong.
For example, leafleting houses, advertising on FB. Tried them all, spent a lot of money and didn't get much in return (got 2 responses from leafleting homes, and 0 from FB).

Which is why I'm here asking again.
Maybe I'm approaching the schools in the wrong way? When I send in e-mail, I address the headteacher/Principle, as they're they have the highest authority in schools (I understand there also governors, but should I be contacting them?), but the issue is, I never get a response back.

 

[Ali_SA]

You say you've called and emailed them, but have you been into reception and talked to someone?

Also, could you go into the schools and give a free demo? Perhaps an afternoon, get them excited, then give them details about the club.

To be honest, I haven't tried going into schools much as I have a full-time job and it's difficult to find time to do that. However I have walked into 2 different schools, and both times I was given a piece of paper with an e-mail address written on it and was told to send them an e-mail, and when I did, there was no response back.

And the main reason I'm contacting schools is to go and provide a free demo/presentation, but the issue is not hearing back from the schools, or the schools completely ignoring my e-mails.

 

[Mr D]

Thanks for the reply.
We did try leafleting near by houses. Spent about £700 on that and the result was obtaining 2 students (each who would pay £150). So it was a loss and we stopped doing that.

I do offer schools something in return, and that is information (I'm not sure if that's not good enough?)
Being a University Lecturer, I have offered to go in and deliver a free lecture for their students and inform them about the industry. Maybe this isn't good enough to offer to them?

Its cheaper if you do it.

Information is nice, doesn't pay the telephone bill or the cleaning materials though.

Perhaps offer them a sign up fee for each student signing up? Get the school to sell you something.
The school may well get dozens of people wanting free access to students a week.

 

[fisicx]

Maybe I'm approaching the schools in the wrong way?

Yes you are. Schools get hundreds of offers every week. They already run a whole range of after school clubs any may not want another one.

It's not at all clear what you are offering. I'm assuming it's just you who will go to the school with all your equipment and and enhanced CRB and teach new skills for free. If that is the case you need to go to the school and offer your services. Anything else is pointless.

You might get an hour a week directly after the last period. Which means you would have to leave the university early to get to the school. Does your contract allow this?

 

[CharlotteS]

What type of campaign did you run - website visits? Or clicks and likes (if either of the latter that will not help you).

Was your ad appealing and did it explain what you do?

Have you advertised using any of the channels I have suggested in an earlier post.

I disagree with Charlotte just because FB might work for schools, who have an engaged audience. Doesn't mean it will work for you.

Not an engaged audience - this is brand new school needing intake for next year - so not existing parents.

However coming away from ad channels - is the product right - are prices ok - are the parents in your area around to take their kids at the times you provide etc?

It sounds like a fab club btw!

 

[ethical PR]

What type of campaign did you run - website visits? Or clicks and likes (if either of the latter that will not help you).

Was your ad appealing and did it explain what you do?



Not an engaged audience - this is brand new school needing intake for next year - so not existing parents.

However coming away from ad channels - is the product right - are prices ok - are the parents in your area around to take their kids at the times you provide etc?

It sounds like a fab club btw!

The difference is Charlotte every parent needs to send their child to school. As parents we have an interest in knowing what schools are available. We don't need to send them to an after school club.

 

[ethical PR]

To be honest, I haven't tried going into schools much as I have a full-time job and it's difficult to find time to do that. However I have walked into 2 different schools, and both times I was given a piece of paper with an e-mail address written on it and was told to send them an e-mail, and when I did, there was no response back.

And the main reason I'm contacting schools is to go and provide a free demo/presentation, but the issue is not hearing back from the schools, or the schools completely ignoring my e-mails.

I am sorry you are having such a struggle. Schools will normally bite your hand off if you offer to pay for advertising so I am not sure why they are not open to this.

Have you also asked about taking a stall at school fairs and advertising in local parenting magazines/websites?

 

[Jeff FV]

As teacher, I am a busy, busy bee.

I have books to mark, lessons to plan, data to enter, work to scrutinise, fights to stop, parents to placate ....

I get hundreds of unsolicited emails a week. Responding to yours won’t ease my workload, but may well increase it.

That’s why schools are not replying to your emails. To you, your offer is the most important thing in the world, to the schools and teachers, it’s not

 

[Mr D]

The difference is Charlotte every parent needs to send their child to school. As parents we have an interest in knowing what schools are available. We don't need to send them to an after school club.

Except the many thousands who don't send their kids to school because they are home schooled. Plus the kids who don't attend school because of being homeless or not wanting to go.

 

[ethical PR]

Never miss a chance to be pedantic do you @Mr D .

About 30,000 children are home schooled each year.

8.2 million attend school.

By law every child has to attend school whether they are in temporary accommodation or not.

Again numbers who don't attend at all are small.

 

[Ali_SA]

You might get an hour a week directly after the last period. Which means you would have to leave the university early to get to the school. Does your contract allow this?

Yes I could do that, that won't be an issue. ?I guess the only thing left to try is to physically visit schools to ask to speak to someone.

To be honest, today on my way to work I saw this school and thought I'd stop by and go in and see what they say. I did and asked to speak to the Principle/Head teacher. I was told she has a busy schedule with meetings and won't be able to see me. I asked to speak to the deputy and he as also busy. Asked to speak to the "Career" people and they said they're going to be busy today and just took my number and said they will call me when they can.
So waiting to see if they do, and if they do I will let you guys know.

 

[Ali_SA]

What type of campaign did you run - website visits? Or clicks and likes (if either of the latter that will not help you).

Was your ad appealing and did it explain what you do?


However coming away from ad channels - is the product right - are prices ok - are the parents in your area around to take their kids at the times you provide etc?

It sounds like a fab club btw!

It was to visit website. Which is what I mentioned earlier to have been edgy, because for example if FB said 500 people clicked on it, on my website's traffic it would only show about 100 clicks.

Well our price is £15 a session (but we take the payment of 10 sessions in advance) and each session is 1.5 hours. This is because student's need to learn a particular set of skills to carry on in the course, so when we book a student in, we can't sell that space to another person after 3 weeks for example.
However compare to other trainers, we're by far the cheapest. Other companies I've seen charge about £400 to £500 for a week (for example during half term, etc.)

I know the model we're following work, because students who come, first of all, they absolutely love it, and they keep on going and sign up for more sessions. And parents don't have an issue bringing them in (and tbh a lot of them come on their own as they're old enough to do so.)

 

[Ali_SA]

Have you also asked about taking a stall at school fairs and advertising in local parenting magazines/websites?

I have asked about school fairs, but it just goes into the whole topic of "e-mail" issue.
They say "send us an e-mail with what you'd like to display, etc. and we'll get back to you when the next school fair is scheduled" and so on, but they never do.

As for magazines, I haven't tried it, but I did spend big money or websites, such as netmums. But tbh I didn't get a single response.

 

[Ali_SA]

As teacher, I am a busy, busy bee.

I have books to mark, lessons to plan, data to enter, work to scrutinise, fights to stop, parents to placate ....

I get hundreds of unsolicited emails a week. Responding to yours won’t ease my workload, but may well increase it.

That’s why schools are not replying to your emails. To you, your offer is the most important thing in the world, to the schools and teachers, it’s not

So as a school teacher, what would you suggest to be the best method to approach schools?

 

[Ali_SA]

Except the many thousands who don't send their kids to school because they are home schooled. Plus the kids who don't attend school because of being homeless or not wanting to go.

To be honest, I have to admit, home schooled children are a great audience to target. And I have done so by advertising on their FB groups and I've got good response from them.
However, due to their very limited numbers, I can now see that I'm not getting any more interest from home schooled children any more. That's because those who were interested have already gotten in touch.

Also, not to mention that (regardless of targeting home schooled students or not) there are some issues which would make people not want to attend, such as living too far, not being able to afford the courses, the timings not matching what they already have planned and so far.
So in case of the low number of home schooled children, the audience that would actually want to attend becomes even smaller.

 

[Ali_SA]

BTW everyone, I highly appreciate all the time and effort you're all putting in to help me out here, really appreciate it.

 

[Mr D]

Never miss a chance to be pedantic do you @Mr D .

About 30,000 children are home schooled each year.

8.2 million attend school.

By law every child has to attend school whether they are in temporary accommodation or not.

Again numbers who don't attend at all are small.

I prefer the term 'accurate'.
And wasn't talking about the ones in temporary accommodation. I was talking about the homeless. Pretty sure someone living in an abandoned warehouse is probably not concerned about breaking the law in not attending school. They are a small group, usually hard to find by the authorities.

And I did refer to the thousands who home school.

 

[ethical PR]

I have asked about school fairs, but it just goes into the whole topic of "e-mail" issue.
They say "send us an e-mail with what you'd like to display, etc. and we'll get back to you when the next school fair is scheduled" and so on, but they never do.

As for magazines, I haven't tried it, but I did spend big money or websites, such as netmums. But tbh I didn't get a single response.

NetMums is national so not relevant and their local forums don't have enough traffic to be useful. You need the very localised parenting/family magazine which also have a website and which are given away in schools, libraries etc.

 

[Mr D]

NetMums is national so not relevant and their local forums don't have enough traffic to be useful. You need the very localised parenting/family magazine which also have a website and which are given away in schools, libraries etc.

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.