How Do You Advertise?


Advertising

Well for me! I will be teaching mostly One on One. My motto is total privacy guaranteed.

No One will know except you and me.

My card in my wallet in case anyone asks. My teaching is in a very secluded place with nothing but privacy.

I am now a walking Bill Board, and retired so my main focus is on teaching safety, and overcome firearm fears.

I include drinks, and lunch that is home made.

Friendship, and social interaction.

My class price $40 this gives me something to do in my old age.
 

I found my instructor/course through the NRA website. I think all I did was punch in my zip code and it came up with a choice within a certain radius. I imagine he paid NRA to have his listing posted. I liked it because it was a one day intensive course. I have friends who have done their CCW class through adult education, but it took several weeks of meeting once a week.
 
I have 2 gun shops and 1 pawn shop in my town, all good friends they hand out my business cards every time someone buys a firearm of any kind and it works pretty good. I also had a couple of flashing signs on a couple of major roads (at least until last week storm came through and destroyed them) I am in the process of getting a huge bill board sign that i hope will work good for me. The price seems a little high at first but if it brings in 3 people extra a month it will pay for itself.......Randy
 
All great suggestions. I can affirm that the holy trinity is a great start:

1. Business Cards.
2. Website (Online Brochure). Keep it current.
3. Networking with like minded professionals, does not have to be gun stores or pawn shops.

I can add:

4. Ask for referrals from every student.
5. Have a handout to give student that gives then a future free lesson when they bring a paying friend. You can use your imagination here.
6. Volunteer, do something for your community ... as mentioned above.
7. Local Services Classified Ads ... better than display ads and significantly less expensive.
8. T-Shirts ... wear them and give them away. Walking billboards.

You could go on and on and ... well you get the idea. Find the most successful small business in your area and copy one thing they are doing.

They already proved it works.

Regards,

Jeff
 
Internet website -- that is where I got my first gun lessons. I searched the web. Nowadays if you really like to advertise, join a social network like Facebook, Twitter, Google also has one...I think Luke (our mod) is with the latter. Because of bad experiences from people stealing my videos and still photos, I am not into those social networking stuff but I use my husband's Facebook account to advertise our convention. You would be surprise at how much traffic you can generate just in Facebook alone...Just my thoughts...
 
I just happened to notice the article in the classifieds so I called up and took the class and now carry constantly and practice as often
 
In my area, instructors use a variety of methods. I've seen:

Flyers at local events (e.g. in a booth at a Farmer's Market)
Web Sites
Becoming members of local clubs (become established and other members recommend friends)
The subsequent Gun Club web site
Classified ads
Posters at every place that sells firearms or ammunition in town
Small ads in the local paper
 
I agree with Horkos, as I advertise in the local Paper, gun shops and pawn shops, But I also hit the pavement and pass out plenty of buisness cards to the public and this really helps get the word out. People always rerly "we were just discussing this the other knight" Right now I have a banner hanging in the local Bowling Alley, and the employees are passing out my cards to anyone that aproaches with an interist in attending one of my ccp classes.
 
I honestly did not read many of the prior posts to see if this is already mentioned, but....

My favorite tactic is to go to the gun range do my shooting, with a pistol at say 30 yards. Let my accuracy be my proof that i know what i am doing with a pistol. Followed by looking for the shooters who have less than desirable accuracy. Give them a simple 10 second tip and let them see the difference.

Once they see the difference hand them a business card and tell them to call you when they are ready to learn more. The trick is to not say it in a way that is insulting/intimidating
 
I think everyone has come up with great ideas, I will be at a booth on Nov.5,2011 for the Friends of the NRA banquette, to advertise me services as well as pass out some buisness cards. We have quite alot of people turning out to our CCP classes,(Sept. 23.2011 there were over 90) so people aproach me often for training. I teach everything from Basic Nra Pistol up to C.A.R (Center Axis Relock) founded by the Late Great Paul Castle. My associates and myself also teach these shooting methods to SWAT departments and this really gets the word out. I look forward to reading some more great posts in the future. Thanks Guys.
 
PDTSS here. I am a newbee here.
I have a Defensive Shooting School here in Colorado Springs,CO. I have tried radio advertisement it coast me $1800 for a two months, two time a week. I had only One call, and they did not take the course. I've tried Flyers at gun shops, gunsmiths, Outdoors Sportsman Warehouse, Liquor Stores, yo name it i have tried it.
I did a survey and I ask on the app where or how did you here about Precision Defensive Shooting School? The largest amount was, drum roll pls. WORD OF MOUTH, coming in second,was the internet, third was the Gunsmith shop.
If you are good,then folks will talk about you and recommend your school. There are no other schools around here that teaches what I do, Every one with a school around here teaches the NRA courses, nothing wrong with that.Most teach Theory we teach REALITY. We all my instructors are X. Spec Ops, we have know what it is like, when you in danger your life depends on how you have trained, how to beat the adrenaline dump. We train folks for the real world,defensive training not TARGET PRACTICE. People see we are a different school and love it, because we care about them. Check my web site at pdtss.com and get an Idea on a web site, Good Luck. Sine-Pari
 
I'll echo everything the previous posters have stated.

I do not have business cards, fliers, that I give out to people, because most of my business is from word-of-mouth. Making sure your students are safe, learn the material, feel confident, giving them more than expected, and teaching them things they didn't consider will make them wanting more. For instance teaching them how to shoot on while their backs is rarely taught in introductory classes, and have made my students want to take additional classes.

Something that really helps out is I give my students my phone number, a dedicated number that is forwarded to my cell. I tell my students to call me for any questions they may have. This has helped me tremendously in getting referrals.

Advertisement in newspapers, or on radio stations and television stations as advertisements aren't the best option in my opinion. People generally tune out advertisements in my opinion. A little known secret is to run the advertisements as stories or interest pieces. Not all newspapers, radio or television stations will do it but the majority will. This can cost more than a regular advertisement, but can get you better returns.

Another option is to volunteer your service to journalists for interviews on shooting incidents, crime, and the politics of gun control. Be careful what you say, because it may make or break your business when the journalist decides to only run a five second soundbite after you prefaced the broad question for thirty seconds. Also, if you only provide technical advice, don't get any face time, and aren't quoted then tell the journalist you don't need your named mentioned - it may help you build a positive relationship with the media as not having a hidden agenda, or being a possible advertiser.

You won't automatically have your phone ringing off the hook, but it will get you exposure time which is always good in my opinion.
 
G50AE said:
Wearing your CCW Instructor's Badge out in public is a free option for advertisement.
Click to expand...

I am not a pin or badge type of guy, but NRA does have instructor baseball hats and shirts. I got a couple of students when they noticed my instructor baseball style hat. There has been some controversy about wearing anything that might suggest the probability that you are carrying. I have come to the conclusion that about the only people who would notice this would be someone looking for an instructor, law enforcement, or other trained individuals who understand and practice situational awareness. I don't think that your average citizen or bad guy fall into those categories and that most folks are walking around in condition "white".
 
Although I'm an NRA Instructor, and have use of their website for advertising, I find it limiting. Citizens don't exactly know a lot about the NRA or the great work it does. Due to my small class sizes, as well as conducting non-NRA courses also, I just wasn't getting much in he way of business using their website. This is a great one and free as well as GunLinkinfo.com & Handguntraining.net. I've gotten most hits using this one. I also order my cards from Vistaprint.com that has other products (such as the magnetic door ads I use to advertise) that you can get with your logo. The door magnets were only $13.00 ea. (I got one for the back of my Durango) and I got 4 calls in two days. Also started my own web site (which is still a work in progress) Link Removed that I mention a lot when answering a forum question that my site might have relevant info on. Once I got my (wix $4.00 mth) webstie and running I went from 1 listing on google search to at least on item on first 9 pages of google. I also had car decals for all my family cars as well as t-shirts $ 20.00 no minimum. Shop around if ya go the no minimum route on shirts. Some of the art work is better than others. When funds permit I'll be going with a good company that requires an order of 12, but are high quality and great art work. All are low cost, effective ways to spread the word.
 
I teach the Utah concealed carry class and post classes on AR15 and I have my own website. It didn't cost much, was easy to set up and is now one of the first that pops up when folks do a Google search.
 
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