guitar instruction image
Mike G
I've recently decided to venture out and start up my own guitar instruction business but as the days go by my efforts seem to be plummeting, all i can think to do is put up flyers, but those dont seem to be qorking how do i get a good client basis, where do i look? What do i do?
Answer
I'm a mom who has looked for private voice lessons for my son. I also toyed with the idea of guitar, my dh plays, but thought I'd wait a bit on that for my son.
Who is your target customer? Kids and adults or ? Be sure you're advertising to your market.
I found two exceptional voice instructors through craigslist, both moved away after a year to do great things with their careers, but the friend of one is now my son's teacher and she's wonderful. See if craigslist is in your area and check out the competition. Put enough detail in the ad to make prospective clients want to call you, especially if you want to teach kids. I didn't even bother with ads that seemed too cryptic.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
MySpace and a website. Two of the guitar teachers I strongly considered had MySpace and another website. I think I found the websites through Google (guitar lessons, Los Angeles) and from craigslist. The voice teachers I chose did also. I like to gather as much info as possible, hear them, see if I like their vibe, see them, so by the time I speak to the teacher the first time, my mind is almost made up. Better to let people sell themselves on you, rather than you have to do it over the phone.
Also, word of mouth. Other musicians, friends, family. Put it out there that you're teaching. Tell everyone. I mean everyone. Have cards made up with your website url, phone #, etc on them.
After school program. Might be tough in this economy but you might try private schools. At my son's private K - 8 we have companies (very small to large) come in after school to teach chess, dance, mandarin, science adventures, etc. I don't know what the financial deal is with the school, like what percentage they get.
Also, there is a shelf full of flyers for lessons, etc in our school's office.
See if there is a newspaper specific to your market. In my area, someone started up a newspaper about a year ago and it's doing great. It's basically full of photos of local private school events, sports, charity events, restaurant review, parenting column, etc and it goes out free in the area. Parents love to look at their kids and know what's going on with other kids in the area. The ads target parents - camps, lessons, tutoring, etc.
Community college extension class - here are some at PCC as an example:
http://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1011&CategoryID=2&SubCategoryID=11
http://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1011&CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=3
The Acoustic Guitar classes may be gone, they have removed some classes since it's almost time for the Spring classes. They have both kids and adult classes. You can check on the website of the community college near you for info on doing a class.
Community and recreation centers may also have similar programs.
Post flyers at your local colleges, there are boards for that. Sometimes you have to get them approved in the office. At the bottom of the flyer, put your website url vertically a bunch of times and make cuts in between each one, so people can easily tear off your url to take with them. (Sort of like the flyer has fringe at the bottom.)
Let a friend who fits your target market look at your flyer, website, card, etc and critique if they think they're appropriate.
This is a really bad time to start up a business selling a *non-essential* service. But try not to get discouraged, there are always customers out thee, you just have to find them. Most of the ideas I gave you are very low cost.
Good luck!
I'm a mom who has looked for private voice lessons for my son. I also toyed with the idea of guitar, my dh plays, but thought I'd wait a bit on that for my son.
Who is your target customer? Kids and adults or ? Be sure you're advertising to your market.
I found two exceptional voice instructors through craigslist, both moved away after a year to do great things with their careers, but the friend of one is now my son's teacher and she's wonderful. See if craigslist is in your area and check out the competition. Put enough detail in the ad to make prospective clients want to call you, especially if you want to teach kids. I didn't even bother with ads that seemed too cryptic.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
MySpace and a website. Two of the guitar teachers I strongly considered had MySpace and another website. I think I found the websites through Google (guitar lessons, Los Angeles) and from craigslist. The voice teachers I chose did also. I like to gather as much info as possible, hear them, see if I like their vibe, see them, so by the time I speak to the teacher the first time, my mind is almost made up. Better to let people sell themselves on you, rather than you have to do it over the phone.
Also, word of mouth. Other musicians, friends, family. Put it out there that you're teaching. Tell everyone. I mean everyone. Have cards made up with your website url, phone #, etc on them.
After school program. Might be tough in this economy but you might try private schools. At my son's private K - 8 we have companies (very small to large) come in after school to teach chess, dance, mandarin, science adventures, etc. I don't know what the financial deal is with the school, like what percentage they get.
Also, there is a shelf full of flyers for lessons, etc in our school's office.
See if there is a newspaper specific to your market. In my area, someone started up a newspaper about a year ago and it's doing great. It's basically full of photos of local private school events, sports, charity events, restaurant review, parenting column, etc and it goes out free in the area. Parents love to look at their kids and know what's going on with other kids in the area. The ads target parents - camps, lessons, tutoring, etc.
Community college extension class - here are some at PCC as an example:
http://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1011&CategoryID=2&SubCategoryID=11
http://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1011&CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=3
The Acoustic Guitar classes may be gone, they have removed some classes since it's almost time for the Spring classes. They have both kids and adult classes. You can check on the website of the community college near you for info on doing a class.
Community and recreation centers may also have similar programs.
Post flyers at your local colleges, there are boards for that. Sometimes you have to get them approved in the office. At the bottom of the flyer, put your website url vertically a bunch of times and make cuts in between each one, so people can easily tear off your url to take with them. (Sort of like the flyer has fringe at the bottom.)
Let a friend who fits your target market look at your flyer, website, card, etc and critique if they think they're appropriate.
This is a really bad time to start up a business selling a *non-essential* service. But try not to get discouraged, there are always customers out thee, you just have to find them. Most of the ideas I gave you are very low cost.
Good luck!
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