Small Business- How to cheaply promote Competitions? (Bellydance teachers)

bellyfester

Hello!

Ive tried searching the threads but can't seem to find what I am looking for, but apologies if there are already similar threads.

We have recently set up an Academy of Egyptian Dance and teach bellydance classes in Merseyside and Cheshire. We are trying to keep initial outlay relatively low as it is quite a niche thing and many dance teachers are currently struggling to get students anyway.

We have just set up a competition to win a month's worth of bellydance classes but aside from posting it on our website which is still in its infancy and not getting picked up yet by google, and indirectly linking to it on facebook, what is the best way to promote our competition? We have done flyering for our classes but would that be advisable for this internet based competition?

Basically any advice for a small business to promote its competitions for free would be greatly appreciated!


Many thanks

Savvy_Sue

You need to remove that link, I'm afraid.

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: Sorry, this site is free of advertising and we ask people not to advertise their own services/websites/ebay sales (please see this rule). If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.

pitkin2020

You should remove the link Savvy_sue not only is advertising its also a wix.com site lol.

Savvy_Sue

pitkin2020 wrote: »

You should remove the link Savvy_sue not only is advertising its also a wix.com site lol.

I cannot edit posts, nor can I delete posts unless someone is actually spamming ... I have, of course, reported it: forum team will either delete the link, or the post.

bellyfester

ooops it was a genuine mistake. I don't post to this forum often and I've not had reason to look at the business ones before as its a new enterprise. I just linked to it so people could see what I meant and how small scale we are, but i can see how that could be taken as advertising now (I wrote a similar post to dance forums but links are fine there)

There would be limited reason for me to spam to such a wide audience for something as niche as what we do.

I also don't understand the issue with wix? we are using that website as it was recommended as it was free. Is that somehow spammy?

My query is genuine and any advice would be appreciated and I'll remove the link.

pitkin2020

bellyfester wrote: »

ooops it was a genuine mistake. I don't post to this forum often and I've not had reason to look at the business ones before as its a new enterprise. I just linked to it so people could see what I meant and how small scale we are, but i can see how that could be taken as advertising now (I wrote a similar post to dance forums but links are fine there)

There would be limited reason for me to spam to such a wide audience for something as niche as what we do.

I also don't understand the issue with wix? we are using that website as it was recommended as it was free. Is that somehow spammy?

My query is genuine and any advice would be appreciated and I'll remove the link.

I don't think anyone thought you were genuinely spamming the site, not with only one link anyway. It was a genuine mistake.

Wix.com is great for personal sites, yes it is free but there are far better user and search engine friendly sites that don't cost the earth. Wix is a flash based site, takes ages to load and isn't all that friendly for search engines. Your site is ok for what it is but I think you will lose a lot of vistors purely from the load time of the flash.

Google for web site checking tools (http://www.graphicrating.com/2009/08/11/15-tools-for-testing-your-website/ a few there to get you started) they will give you an indication of errors on your site etc.

As for where to target apart from the obvious facebook a blog and leafleting I would get in touch with some of your smaller local gyms where they don't offer such classes. They advertise for you and in return you advertise them. Schools (if they are your target market) could be another avenue to explore.

podperson

Have you looked for other local business that are related - eg shops that sell exercise/dance wear, small gyms that don't offer dance classes and ask them to promote you and you will return the favour.
Local paper is probably good - if you can come up with an interesting/different angle to it then they will often run a piece for free.
Local radio - can be fairly cheap or again if they're having a quiet week you might be able to get them to feature you. Also depending on your target market student radio.
Gumtree is good for promotion - and free.
Could you do a demonstration somewhere - eg local fair/markets and then flyer afterwards. I've seen dance groups in our local shopping centre before now but am not sure how much they would have needed to pay for that.

paulwf

The bellydancing class local to us went around town with postcard sized flyers dropping them off in shops and cafes. The offer was the first class free with the flyer which is great as it gets people to try what you have to offer for free. As a result of that my gf now goes every week and her friend goes now and then. They took along a couple of other people that tried it and haven't gone back but it wouldn't have cost anything to have the extra couple of people attend one class.

So...it might be worth offering the first class free to anyone. Also strongly encourage current students to bring along their friends, and perhaps have a beginners or taster session once every couple of months. You could also put on a free demonstration at your local shopping centre to draw people over then give them a flyer.

That doesn't answer your question directly but is a real example of how promo can work. Also, while Facebook and Twitter are good for business (I use them all the time) as you are just looking to attract local people it would be worthwhile focusing on local promo efforts. You could probably reach more people in an hour handing out leaflets on the high st (you'll need council permission) than endless posts on Facebook.

bellyfester

Thanks for your replys! will look into the suggestions.

Looks like posting the link wasn't all bad as I got some wix advice
we have done flyers advertising our taster classes for £3.50 (so not free). Would that still seem expensive? also considering a bring a friend for free...

Overall we have posted ads on the free listing websites, left flyers in dancewear shops, and other shops, newsagents windows etc. We use dance studios linked to dance schools so have a bit of interest through them, done an advertorial, had a wee mention on local radio and I think thats it...

We have encountered a particular barrier- I have found that some places like the local gym has since taken down some of our our ads- not sure why, if it is based on preconceived ideas of what bellydance is and what we are NOT, and been met with a few pursed lips.

For short-term competitions specifically are there any other routes? Especially online e.g Online websites that focus on those kind of things? We are not willing to spend money on a facebook app to post it on our page, but we just link to it on our website.

Basically we are trying to reach out to a female adult demographic across a wide age range, and draw women in that may be sitting on the fence about trying it out (or do things like Zumba, which has negatively impacted on a lot of dance classes in this country and abroad).

paulwf

Sounds like you are doing everything right Promo is about plugging away time after time, it doesn't always have an immediate effect but sometimes takes time to build up.

Gyms might be taking your flyers down if they think it competes with their own classes?

Targeting slimming groups might be a good idea, they might let you do a demo or hand out flyers one week especially if you hand out their flyers at your classes. There's also some female only business groups where you could network and help promote each others' businesses.

SpinneyWitch_2

You need Loquax. It's an on line competitions listing service, so if you had the competition on your website you could also list it on Loquax.

Would it be worth talking to the local paper to see if they would be interested in offering a class, or series of classes free as a prize in one of their competitions. This could also be listed on Loquax.

There is also an online competitions group called uk.rec.competions - nowadays this can also be accessed via Loquax.

Hope this helps
Good luck with the new venture.