11:30am – Finding & Keeping Students
Led by Lee Galloway, Beth Gigante Klingenstein, and Scott McBride Smith.
This session involved a lot of discussion as a group. Attendees raised their hands to share ideas for finding and keeping students. Here’s a few ideas that I jotted down:
- On your registration form, ask how the student heard of you. It’s important to know what ways of advertising are working and what is not!
- One teacher paid $50 for large magnets to put on her car with her studio name. She says people at supermarket and school parking lots have seen it and called.
- Ask yourself how you can expand your market to appeal to other groups (such as adults, homeschoolers, early childhood music classes, etc.).
- Be a donor at a local school auction (offer 1 month of lessons, and set out a stack of business cards).
- Offer a referral credit at a certain time of year, or all the time.
- Broadcast your studio recitals on local television (get parental permission first). Often, it’s free, and the teacher who suggested this said she was surprised at how many people watched their recital and wanted to have the same opportunity!
- Find ways to get your students out in the community. Play at local retirement communities, the library, the mall, local events, etc.
- Check with the local newspapers to see if they would be interested in doing a story.
