Advertising to find new students for gun instruction business

[losangeles]

OK, I'm going to stop the sports section ad. One week and no replies. It was a fair test, so it wasn't money completely wasted. Now I just won't do it again.

 

[atek3]

threadjack alert...

anyone know of anyone teaching the NRA pistol instructor certification class in the SF bay area?

thanks,
atek3

 

[atek3]

Try taking out an ad in the LA weekly or LA Alternative... many liberals would love to learn to shoot but are so far removed from crazy gun nuts that they have no idea where to begin... target them.

atek3

 

[rayra]

Try targeted advertising in the local community-based magazines.

I live in a relatively conservative region in Los Angeles, receive a local magazine chock-full of home-related services and local issues / news. IRC, I've seen an ad in it for a local instructor, who runs some classes at the local ranges and hotel conference room. He's also apparently done well enough to run commercials on our local cable network (running on major channels, not tucked out of sight on the public-access channels)

His name is Richard Stefani - http://www.sdfirearms.com/default.asp

Despite Los Angeles being roughly half conservative (based on Presidential and Governor election results), and being stuffed with guns, the gun owners here are very much 'under the table'. Firearm businesses have long been harassed by City and county government. Of the dozen firearms businesses I used to patronize in the San Fernando Valley / northern half of Los Angeles, I don't think there are three of them still operating / worth a damn. And don't even get me started on what K- and Walmart have done under California's pressures.
I'm in Santa Clarita Valley and there is not a single firearm store here - a conservative region with something around 200,000+ people and still growing steadily, yet the only such business up here closed their doors a couple years ago.
We are under siege here, and gun owners general behaviour reflects it.

There is the Oak Tree Gun Club south of us in the Newhall pass, which does have a nice gunstore attached to it, but it is not convenient at all. Other than it, I have to drive nearly 30mi into either Glendal or Reseda to reach a place for anything besides cheap ammo at Walmart.

I've been contemplating such a Training / Traininer course myself, I routinely train acquaintances and I think I have enough of a word-of-mouth network to kick-start such a business as a sideline. It just doesn't seem to be a business with many potential clients, here in L.A.
Compounded by the block on CCW, as well. In fact, Stefani's business seems more tailored to the 'FL CCW by Mail' seekers.

 

[phorvick]

My market is completely different, being in MN, near ND, where getting a permit to carry is very easy as these are shall-issue States. It also helps business (but not the firearms carry community) that ND and MN do not have reciprocity with one another (meaning that there is a nice market for cross certifications.

I have decent succes (defined as not losing money) in the paper...twice a week. Been doing that for a year. One week is not nearly enough time. A gun class is not a snap decision...it is not unusual for me to ask about "why" they came to me and a common answer is that "I saw you ad a few months ago and it got me thinking, and I was glad the ad was still there ..."

Also, offering free Media Day classes is both good PR with that community and good business. I have had nice write ups in our local paper and also local college.

I offer NRA classes, but do not get much call for them; it is the CCW classes that typically are busy. Also, I do not wait until a minimum number want a class; I will do one-on-one.

Also, knowing what is needed in the firearms community is essential. Here, given the cost of a ND resident obtaining a MN permit so they can legally cross the border is expensive. What alternative? Utah! I have excellent success doing the Utah class for permits.

You might want to work on getting Utah approved. That might be a market for CA residents.

Good luck!

 

[Trebor]

Phorvick,

Tell me more about your "media day." I've been considering doing something similiar. I think I'm going to start by inviting a couple reporters I know to attend one of my regular NRA PPITH classes.

I would like to do a media-shoot specifically though. How do you set yours up? What do you cover? Do you mix classroom and shooting, or is it all on the range? What kind of turnout and coverage do you get? Any info you can give me that would help me design and run my media-day would be appreciated.

Rob

 

[phorvick]

I prepared a flyer and mailed to all media ...radio..tv...print...offering a no charge NRA First Steps Class (which includes range time). The offer needs only to be picked up by one outlet (and it was...the biggest) and a photographer and writer came. They had a great time and had a nice article in the paper...total circulation of the paper would be in excess of 100,000.

Did that in itself generate any calls or business? Not sure...it is not the "one" magic thing that works, it is the cumulative effect.

I also did the same to three local colleges; and, the biggest (about 11,000 students) accepted and we had three staffers and a photographer and they did a great article. I also offer Crim Justice students a 50% discount.

After every class I mail out thank you letters and brochures; I also test market by including a business card with a 10% discount coupon on the back to see if any of those come back. Some have.

Join newsgroups, local on-line communities. Offer to to a CommEd class (I have one coming up in March). You can afford to "give" your services away to start. It is good practice on conducting classes and you can then get some word of mouth out.

Now, the bad news. There are only a handful of instructors that likely make any real meaningful $$. I do "ok", but there are lots of expenses, and lots of time involved. Go into instructing with the hope of having fun and supporting the gun rights community and it will be very rewarding. Going in to say I will hope to make some ammo money and maybe score a gun at times, great. But, going in to make meaningful money...that is tough and mostly unrealistic.

 

[losangeles]

Try taking out an ad in the LA weekly or LA Alternative... many liberals would love to learn to shoot but are so far removed from crazy gun nuts that they have no idea where to begin... target them.

Atek3, hmmmm, I see your point. I think I'll give this LA Weekly thing a try....

 

[losangeles]

You might want to work on getting Utah approved. That might be a market for CA residents.

Phorvick, thanks for your insights. I actually have that Utah CCW plan in the long-term.

I attended another instructor's Utah CCW class a couple months ago. He had about 30 students in class (Internet advertising, I think), and with fingerprinting services & notary on that same afternoon, he was charging almost $200. So that's $6,000 for an afternoon of work. Even with sharing for the fingerprinting & notary, that's still not bad. The actual instruction is 2 1/2 hours on a Sunday afternoon. He runs it once a month.

My background is in the Internet, and I'm considering doing an Internet type of Utah CCW thing. I see there are a couple of other instructors doing this. But first, I need to get all the prerequisites to apply for Utah CCW instructor certification.

 

[losangeles]

Security guard certification

I don't want to get too verbose here, but one other long-term possibility I'm looking at is California security guard certification.

In Cali, security guards are required to get a guard card from the state (with requisite training). And it's even more training for a firearms permit. PLUS, security guards seem to be a lot -- there's huge demand (although these poor guys don't get paid much). A certified gun instructor can position himself to offer this training after some application, registration, certification, etc.

With such huge demand (I can see this by looking at the employment magazines) for security guards who need certified training, there has to be a good business possibility here for enterprising instructors.

 

[Grape Ape]

Try talking to the local martial arts schools. You'll find that some will tell you that their art is so cool that their students don't need guns and some will be rational. The rational ones might be willing to post a flier or talk to their students (disarm/retension seminar?). Maybe you could even give each other's students a discount.

What about a table at gun show (if CA still alows them)? Ofcourse you would have to spring for some brochures and maybe a banner...

 

[losangeles]

I'm considering the martial art schools for advertising. However, I'm going to try to angle the owner, hoping to present gun lessons as a supplement to his services. In exchange, I'll give a referral fee of some type. Maybe even being generous to give a dollar amount per hour that his referral gets lessons with me.

 

[Edmond]

I don't know if you'd have to give him a referral fee. What you could do is an exchange of services: you refer people to him in exchange for him referring people to you.