| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
whatthefunk
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 130
Location: Japan
|
 Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:17 am Post subject: Advertising idaes?? |
 |
|
My school is having problems getting new students. My coworkers and superiors are standing around with their thumbs up each others asses so I have taken it upon myself to get new students. But I have no idea what to do. Any ideas?
So you can help me out, heres some stats about my school:
*We teach all ages of kids and adults
*We have five branches scattered along the main train line in the area
*There are three native teachers and five japanese teachers who travel to the different schools teaching at one school a day
*We team teach...the japanese teacher for 30 min, a native teacher for 30 min
*The president is a tight ass so there isnt much money to be spent
Can you help me out?? Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
spidey
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 382
Location: Web-slinging over Japan...
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
If I may ask a question first...?
What is the focus of the administration of your school? Is it money or students?
Usually schools that provide quality teaching to its students, don't have enrollment problems.
Sorry that's two questions...
S |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whatthefunk
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 130
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
| spidey wrote: |
If I may ask a question first...?
What is the focus of the administration of your school? Is it money or students?
Usually schools that provide quality teaching to its students, don't have enrollment problems.
Sorry that's two questions...
S |
Im wondering that question too especially since there seems to be no administration. My president wants to have 300 students by april (that means we need 85 more) but that is not going to happen especially since he doesnt advertise at all. I want to get 35 by april cause then I get a raise... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spidey
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 382
Location: Web-slinging over Japan...
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| How long has the school been around? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whatthefunk
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 130
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| spidey wrote: |
| How long has the school been around? |
About 6 years... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spidey
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 382
Location: Web-slinging over Japan...
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hmmmm...you would think that after 6 years that they would be running things fairly smoothly.
I don't agree we them putting the illness on you to find them students. That's not what you were hired to do. They seem to have their priorities mix up.
If you feel that this school really has a lot potential, then you should stay. Otherwise, focus on providing quality teaching for the duration of your contract and then move on.
The best advertising is "Quality Product along with Quality Service". Sounds a bit cliche but it's the truth.
Good luck
S |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It doesn't take a genius to figure that if you don't advertise, you are likely going to go out of business. My old school did minimal advertising and prayed that this would save them money in outgoing costs and keep the place above water. Serious thought hidden there.
I would caution you in doing anything that is not sanctioned by the school. The obvious and simplest things to do are make flyers and post them in high traffic areas. Again, I caution you against doing this unless your school approves.
Does the school have a web site? They could advertise on it. If they don't have one, make one.
Don't want to spend money making packages of tissue to hand out in high traffic areas? Make more flyers and stand on the corner yourself.
Sounds like my old school. Penny wise and pound foolish. How can they offer you a raise if they won't advertise for students? Be wary of sudden changes in the organizational structure. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
Set up some meetings with a small advertising agency (or a large one- depending on how much money the school is willing to put into it). There are five schools, that's a chain.
Get real advertising people to help with the advertising (otherwise you could end up with the language school equivalent of a restaurant/gas station ad that reads "EAT HERE AND GET GAS!!!" which was a real ad for a place at one time).
To not do so is the same as getting people who have no training whatsoever in TEFL/TESL etc writing the curriculum for the school because marketing decisions, budgetary confines, media buys, PR tie-ins (if it can be afforded) are all issues to consider.
Plus, actual career copywriters make sure there aren't typos in things like the headlines (like a thread title here on Daves). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whatthefunk
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 130
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Glenski wrote: |
It doesn't take a genius to figure that if you don't advertise, you are likely going to go out of business. My old school did minimal advertising and prayed that this would save them money in outgoing costs and keep the place above water. Serious thought hidden there.
I would caution you in doing anything that is not sanctioned by the school. The obvious and simplest things to do are make flyers and post them in high traffic areas. Again, I caution you against doing this unless your school approves.
Does the school have a web site? They could advertise on it. If they don't have one, make one.
Don't want to spend money making packages of tissue to hand out in high traffic areas? Make more flyers and stand on the corner yourself.
Sounds like my old school. Penny wise and pound foolish. How can they offer you a raise if they won't advertise for students? Be wary of sudden changes in the organizational structure. |
Thats what I keep telling the higher powers, but they wont listen to me. They are focusing all their attention on reorganizing my schedule and trying to get the teachers to change their lessons. But they dont seem to understand that out of all the students that come in to see a model lesson, we get about 90% of them. Our lessons are obviously ok.. The problem is that we only get one or two students a month to come in for a model lesson which means we need better advertising.
I have handed out about 3000 fliers and put another 5000 in mail boxes...not a single call from them.
My president, who I really sometimes wonder about, spent tons of cash making a net-school about six months ago that has alredy gone under because he invested all his money into it before he had any students lined up. So we have all these fancy web sites up, but i have no idea what they say....ill ask him if they advertise for our english school. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whatthefunk
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 130
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 3:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
Set up some meetings with a small advertising agency (or a large one- depending on how much money the school is willing to put into it). There are five schools, that's a chain.
Get real advertising people to help with the advertising (otherwise you could end up with the language school equivalent of a restaurant/gas station ad that reads "EAT HERE AND GET GAS!!!" which was a real ad for a place at one time).
To not do so is the same as getting people who have no training whatsoever in TEFL/TESL etc writing the curriculum for the school because marketing decisions, budgetary confines, media buys, PR tie-ins (if it can be afforded) are all issues to consider.
Plus, actual career copywriters make sure there aren't typos in things like the headlines (like a thread title here on Daves). |
We had a professional advertiser make our fliers and they look nice and have no typos, but they have failed to get any new students. We ordered 20,000 of them and I told my president that they are a waste of time before he ordered them, but he didnt listen. Weve handed out about half and have had no calls from them. I think our money would have been better spent with advertisements on the train or in a local newspaper my self... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 4:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
My suggestion about flyers was half tongue-in-cheek. To imagine that you could actually attract a large percentage of clients by handing out leaflets is shotgun thinking. Only if you distributed a huge number (more than you have, I would think) would you get the proper return.
The fact that you got ZERO responses means something significant.
1. The flyers are not reaching the right people.
2. Despite lack of typos, the information on the flyers is not attractive. This could mean prices or the types of courses or the format.
My school used to haul carloads of catalogs to various places and distribute them. Places like universities. It's much like fishing. If you go where the fish are, you will have a better chance of catching one. Handing flyers out on the street is pretty aimless.
The fact that your employers have their heads in the sand is an indication of where your company is going. You have been warned. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| I think our money would have been better spent with advertisements on the train or in a local newspaper my self... |
Exactly. That's what I mean about getting actual advertising people. Maybe I should add getting the people who are footing the bill to listen to them. Agencies have people whose only job is doing media buys. People in ad agencies are really media savy- they know exactly what works in what area for what target within what price range (agencies that don't will go under- not that there aren't many other reasons for an ad agency to go under). If your school is located right by a train station, get a billboard in the station (like, oh, 90% of the city stations right by a Nova or AEON or any of the other big names). But if you go to an ad agency or especially if you go to a freelancer and tell them you want a flyer, then that's what you get. A flyer. It's like airing a commercial on a radio station once, it doesn't work.
Handing out flyers, no matter how well designed (are we talking low cost black ink on photocopy paper flyers, or expensive heavy weight full glossies in colour?) are not going to work. Scattergun affect as Glenski mentioned. Also, flyers,especially the two tone photocopy paper syle I described come off as junk mail. It doesn't matter how many you hand out, you might as well do the indie band in Toronto thing and staple gun them to a telephone pole.
And the number one reason to get an ad agency is going to be for help in positioning the product, which requires a campaign, not a single one off like a flyer. If the school is far from a station, that's a problem (it's hard for people to get to). But if it's near a station and there is a big name franchise there too, then that's a problem too (Which would you buy-"Coca-cola" or "Kako-Kalo Cola-product"?) Your school has to figure out what sets it aside from all the other language schools (you'll notice most billboards have the Blond hair, blue eyed poster-child with the subtle or not so subtle, "Meet good-looking foreigners while learning English in a fun atmosphere" message). Meeting with an ad agency is expensive, but really, that's what they do, if the client lets them. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Eleckid
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 102
Location: Aichi, Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 1:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
My boss is also quite stinchy & focuses more on money than students (they only care about adult students & not care so much about kids, maybe cuz they assume that the kids don't usually complain about the quality of the lesson??). Another thing is probably cuz adult students pay more money than the kids, & for adults, we get a lot of private lessons, which are even more expensive.
Anyway, my school is small & has 3 branches. Here are some ways which my boss advertised:
- she hired a woman who does all the paper advertisments for us. We have a little section in the newspaper & monthly local ad booklets. These ad booklets & newspapers are free & everyone in our area gets them in our mailbox.
- we have a website, made by me, so obviously it was cheap. The website link is on all ads.
- in every ad, we got like some special discount.
- during our campaign month (March), we have some free trial lesson coupons in a coupon ad booklet (which is also free & we get them in our mailbox).
- sometimes we also put up coupons at our door for students to take for their friends (word-of-mouth tactic)
- our lessons fee is a little cheaper than other eikaiwa. It also has many dif lesson choices or packages (ex. if one kid joins our school, the rest of their family members do not have to pay any membership fee).
- in each of our ads, we got pics of the teachers or a pic of some event or even a pic from a lesson. There's also a short intro of each teacher (name, what Univ, where they're from, & some good points about them).
- finally, we make our own flyers & hand them out as well as putting them in ppl's mailboxes.
There's probably more but these are the ones I know. My boss is always busy dealing with dif ads. Hope it helps~ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ryry
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 7
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject: Internet |
|
|
1)Go to adwords.google.com
2)open an account using keywords on google
Obviously you will need money to do this, but you can set a daily budget. You can also track how many people click to your site and then how many of those fill out a form or join a list.
I suggest this since you mention you already have websites up and running.
I completely agree that fliers are a waste of time. You could hand out a million and get nothing.
Oh, and you might want to set up tracking of where leads come from. Everytime a potential student comes in, get the staff to have him/her fill out a brief form re: how he/she found out about the school.
I bet you will found out that most referals are word-of-mouth, which means the teaching is probably fine... but also means all other advertising efforts are not working.
Ryry |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
