Advertising to find new students for gun instruction business

[losangeles]

I'm trying this gun instruction business as an experiment. Man! --- I've been in a several startup businesses in my time and I've been successful in other ventures in "making that phone ring", but this one is a tough one to advertise.

I'm trying to reach out to newbies -- beginners and women. Advertising private lessons to learn at home or the office then to the range when they're ready. I put an ad in the LA Times classifieds every day for a full week now and tried online ads every day on Craig's List for also a week. Not one call.

Interesting in that I put an ad in Craig's List looking for a female model for a photo shoot with guns for promotional material. I got over 40 replies in one evening! (Makes me think I should try some kind of business involving female models --- because that phone would ring for sure!)

Maybe there's no market for beginners and women? Or I could be doing all this wrong. But I'm willing to experiment. I'm going to try a display ad in the sports section of a newspaper and see how that goes.

 

[losangeles]

BTW, does anyone know if there's an online forum for firearms instructors?

Thanks.

 

[Drav]

You may try putting up flyers somewhere your target audience will be -- like the supermarket, the mall, etc.

 

[SilentStalker]

I would be delighted to take a class but unfortunately you are, I am assuming since you were talking about an L.A. based paper, in California. LOL, I would love the opportunity but unfortunately you are waytoo far away . If you were in AL I could even throw some business your way. Too bad you are in CA.

 

[AirForceShooter]

can you hook up with the NRA?
They are on a very aggressive push to recruit female shooters.


AFS

 

[losangeles]

I've taken the NRA firearms instructor course in pistol. The other instructors don't have much luck either. The established ones have a relationship with ranges so they get business that way, but it isn't much. Since I have experience in mass marketing for other industries, I thought I'd try something different -- using methods that have succeeded for me in other fields.

Starting this weekend, I've contracted for a week of daily display ads in the sports section. We'll see how that works.

 

[jer1949]

I recently recieved (about a year), my NRA, Home Safety Instructor and Basic Pistol Instructor certifications. I agree it's difficult to get started but don't expect anyone to beat down your door until your name (and hopefully a good reputation), starts to get around. I am currently volunteering my time to other NRA instructors just for that purpose. To be known. The NRA will put your link/name on their web site,I believe,just for having their certifications. That is how found my initial instructor.

Also hanging around at the ranges and/or gun shops will help. Someone has already suggested posting bulletins around, but be careful of how you word them if you are wanting to teach NRA Certified courses.

If you stick with it, it will happen. I know this because I teach other, unrelated safety courses and it took me several years to gather a following. But now I actually turn down work at times, due to the volume.

Hang in there............good luck

 

[losangeles]

Jer1949, that's great to be able to turn down work. That means you must be doing pretty well.

I see your point about having to establish your reputation. I guess it's like with real estate brokers (and I've gone through that, too). There are some occupations that are relationship-oriented and by word-of-mouth.

However, I was trying to do something differently. Even with real estate, which is relationship oriented, I did make a dent with mass marketing. Because I know search engine optimization and other mass marketing methods, I was able to generate business from strangers.

 

[Trebor]

The problem with mass marketing for firearms training is that the pool of potential buyers is so small. There really aren't THAT many people interested in firearms training as compared to say weight loss programs. The trick is not just getting the message out. The trick is getting the message out in front of a receptive audience. Figure out where the people who are interested in training are likely to be and market there.

Whatever mass-market, non-targeted advertising you do needs to be cost effective in regards to the number of clients in brings in. Targeted ads in the sports section or flyers at gunshops are more effective than general ads in the classifieds.

One instructor I know used political style yard signs very effectively. He had a bunch printed up with "CCW Training," a picture of a handgun, and a phone number. He'd post them at busy intersections and replace them as needed. He'd also pull them out when property owners, etc, complained. He tracked where his students came from and said it was one of the things that really helped him get the business going. (I always thought it was kind of tacky myself)

Word of mouth plays an important role in this. There seems to be a "tipping point" where the smaller classes you've done start to pay off as previous students refer new students and your name becomes known.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'm told a fellow is doing very well in the same field in Colorado with ordinary newspaper advertisements.

Never overlook simple, obvious solutions.

 

[losangeles]

The problem with mass marketing for firearms training is that the pool of potential buyers is so small. There really aren't THAT many people interested in firearms training as compared to say weight loss programs. The trick is not just getting the message out. The trick is getting the message out in front of a receptive audience. Figure out where the people who are interested in training are likely to be and market there.

I hear you Trebor! Maybe mass marketing isn't the way to go here. It's the standard targeted marketing. I guess my basic dilemma is this: The receptive audience tends to be the gun enthusiasts. I'd like to reach out to women and beginners and that's why I tried the "Learn to Shoot" message, which of course wouldn't interest the established enthusiasts. Going after the established enthusiasts probably means offering CCW or advanced type of events and training.

Oh well, I've got a week of sports section ads coming up. Maybe I can pickup some beginners there as the sports-oriented crowd, mostly men, would be a likely place to pickup beginners. (If there was a women's oriented sports magazine, maybe that's a place to advertise, but that one doesn't exist locally for me.)

 

[losangeles]

I'm told a fellow is doing very well in the same field in Colorado with ordinary newspaper advertisements.

Never overlook simple, obvious solutions

I'm giving that a shot, Standing Wolf, starting this week. I've got an ad in the sports section of a local paper. We'll see what happens.

 

[losangeles]

OK, now I've got 3 ads going. A 5-line classified ad in the LA Times going every day, for the last 2 weeks. An online Craig's List ad that's been running every day for 2 weeks. And now my first run of a 1-inch display ad in the sports section of another local newspaper yesterday, to run for a week; cost me $289. So far, not one reply.

Interesting in that my free ad online on Craig's List looking for a female model to pay $120 to pose for a photo for my promotional material got OVER 60 REPLIES IN 2 DAYS, and the requests still keep coming in.

I'm getting flooded with photos of attractive models (or wannabe models). But no gun business yet.

 

[Mannlicher]

losangeles asks:BTW, does anyone know if there's an online forum for firearms instructors?

From what I read on the gun boards, everyone thinks that they are an instructor.

 

[losangeles]

Mannlicher,

I'm trying this thing as a business venture test. I have plenty of experience taking a hobby, a casual interest, or just a whim, into a business. Examples include making a website selling $40 annual memberships to give information on saving on a car purchase from an auto auction, with a friend doing an online website letting people take an online traffic school for $15, selling scholarship info online for $40, credit repair, creating a website so real estate agents can pay to be listed --- and many more.

The common thread in all this is mass marketing and getting lots of people to reply. I try many different businesses (the Internet helps a lot) and drop those that don't work.

Before I go all out, I spend a little money and run a test to see if there's some kind of response. That's what I'm doing with this gun thing.

I was hoping for more response. If it would have done amazingly well, I'd staff up by hiring instructors. Of course, I'd join in too.

 

[DesertEagle613]

Have you considered advertising in smaller markets that more closely match your target demographic?

Have you tried arranging interviews with local papers? They're free

How about building relationships with local gunshop owners? They are the ones selling to first-time owners, after all. You should be able to get a lot of referrals that way.

How about arranging speaking engagements with local networking groups or communal organizations?

There's a lot of ways you can do this without blowing a lot of money on poorly-targeted mass advertisements.

Plus: how can you differentiate yourself from other trainers in the area? For example, I know that I'm having a hell of a time finding basic pistol classes on Sundays. There's a lot of Orthodox Jews in the LA area who would appreciate a Sunday class, I'm sure.

Stick with it, but you have to be smart about your strategy.

 

[PvtPyle]

In this part of the country it is word of mouth and having the dredentials to establish confidence in customers to even bother calling you. That said, once they call you, even if you have creds a mile long if you are not a good instructor, you bet your last dollar that THAT fact will get out.

Word of mouth has worked very well for us. We demo our simulator for folks, do some basic training and the word has spread like wild fire. Now we have team building exercises for big time corporations and now the local Military units have seen it and are trying to figure out how to pay for it.

We can also take the simulator to bigtime businessmen for personal training.

But just going in and giving some coaching is not exactly a value added service and will be very hard to get going. And a 5 line add is not much room to pitch your services. How many of your big money powerful people do you think read the local adds for services? How many of them even know that this type of service is out there or that they need it?

 

[losangeles]

Thanks, DesertEagle and Pvt Pyle. Sound advice. I appreciate that as I'm dabbling in this thing and seeing if there's an opportunity. It's not one of those slam dunk fields and requires some ingenuity and hard work, I see. I've been lucky in some other fields where the underlying demand was there just waiting to be tapped and a clever idea turned the spigot of business right away. This one reminds me more of my prior attempt at real estate where referral and word-of-mouth are key and thus take time (although I was able to tap into a niche of Internet marketing to out-of-towners looking to relocate --- so it was possible to be successful without prior relationship building.)

I'll keep plugging away at it and see if I can brainstorm ideas to generate business.

 

[akodo]

good luck with this venture.

Regarding targeting your prospective audience. True, there are a lot of women out there and lots are getting into shooting, however, this isn't the only new audience. We as a country have urbanized and suburbanized and middle-class ized. There are LOTS of 15-30 year old men who have never gone hunting, fishing, shooting, or have been exposed to firearms. There now 50-60 year old fathers may well have been exposed to this stuff, but somehow along the way in providing a cul-de-sac posh home, skateboards, new cars at 16, etc etc, a lot of this stuff got left behind.

Go to where this market is. For one, try hanging flyers at your local gun store, especially if you can get into sporting goods stores, not 'pure' gun stores. Does your mall have a theater it it? Approach the mall about hanging up fliers (or just do it, if you see other flyers on the walls). The third area I'd see about hanging flyers in is stores that specialize in videogames. I think you'd have a lot more success exposing your add to the 20 year old going to view the latest action flick or buy the latest first person shooter.

 

[Edmond]

This is a cool thread. I'm getting my NRA pistol certification this weekend and I'm looking forward to teaching newbs on how to shoot.

 

[Mauserguy]

In my experience, advertising in papers is a waste of time. People don't look at the ads much anymore. Also, the average age of newspaper readers is increasing. It's something like 65 now, which means you are not likely to reach many females of an age where they want to learn about guns. Lastly, why are you even looking at that liberal rag, the LA Times? Only lefties take the times.
Mauserguy

 

[Waitone]

For what you are trying to do, I don't think the mass market model is appropriate. I think it more matches a distribution model where you would sell to the seller. In other words move one step back up the sales chain and market yourself to those who sell to the gun buy or user. The number of decisions nodes drops waaaay down (particularly in CA). That allows you to focus on a geography and work out a relationship with the sellers who sell.

So instead of servicing a group of trigger pullers you are now interested in influencing a group who services the trigger pullers. At a minimum I'm thinkin' gunshops, ranges, and accessory stores. As pointed out earlier you need to carve out your own niche. Interesting observations is that you have done model calls. Consider marketing to the sells as someone who can teach new-to-the-sport females.

 

[losangeles]

Waitone, that's an interesting concept of developing relationships with businesses higher in the distribution chain.

These few ideas would be consistent with your idea, and I'd like to consider them:

1. Gunstores
2. Sporting goods store
3. Martial arts store (not in the distribution chain, but has possible related product)

I'd consider giving a referral fee for each client. I'll just outright provide an amount per hour of lessons. If I charge $50/hour, I can give a $10/hour referral for as long as the referred client is a client. That would be generous, I think, and would be incentive for the other businesses to refer clients.

 

[c_yeager]

Post fliers at your local community colleges and universities. Thats the perfect target for this sort of training. These are people who are already conditioned to take classes, have just moved out of home, and generally are open to new ideas.

Be carefull with your advertising though. If you target women TOO overtly you are going to come off as a creep who is looking for a date. Correction, you will come off as an obviously armed creep looking for a date. Be carefull with your wording.

The fact of the matter is that if you advertise as a begginers firearms class many of your respondents are going to be women anyways even if you dont specifically mention that you are seeking them as students. Through some bizzarre bit of macho brain chemistry men are very hesitant to sign up for a begginer's class in anything, especially something as manly as shooting a gun. I have met more men than i can count who consider a basic level of instruction to be a direct insult against their masculinity. This is why I will no longer help men to shoot properly, they already know everything.

 

[red headed stranger]

Desert Eagle613 wrote:

"I'm having a hell of a time finding basic pistol classes on Sundays. There's a lot of Orthodox Jews in the LA area who would appreciate a Sunday class, I'm sure."

I am new here, but I was able to find a Sunday pistol class taught by Greg Block. His website is firearmstraining.com Both my wife and I found it informative and enjoyable. At the end of the basic class you can also take the test for your handgun safety card.