Promoting Our Club
Make Them Feel Welcome
by Annette Grinnis, President
Spa City Bop and Swing Dance Club, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Some of the ways that we have promoted our Club is by putting flyers in Health Clubs, on bulletin boards at hospitals, schools.
We are from an Arts community and some members have done dance demos at the art events ... don't think it did us any good ... but we at least tried. These events had mostly out of towners attending; however maybe these visitors returned home and found a dance home. Who knows?
Word of mouth is the tops! We've always gotten the word that we are one of the friendliest groups around. Even though they were strangers, people have told us that we did so much to make them, even though they were strangers, feel welcome and to be a part of the crowd.
If dancing in a public place... you've got to,
 | work the room, looking for strange faces |
| let people know who you are and what you are doing, and |
| let them know about your club! |
Once new people come to your club,
| invite them back (we don't push membership), and |
| let them see if it’s something they want to be a part of |
People are going to talk, and it's better to have good things said about your club than bad things. I don’t want anyone to join our Club under pressure and then have them feel as though we milked them out of their monies. They have to come on their own and be a supporter because they want to...not because they feel they have to. That is my creed, and the way I feel about it.
This is what I strive towards with new prospective members:
| don’t rush them |
| make them feel welcome, and |
| give them the information they need to become a member. |
We also take advantage of our home town newspaper which will run free articles about special events. So when we have something special taking place we will run an article about the event and then add how the club was started, cost of membership, and list our website or contact information. This way folks know something about the Club. If they are interested, perhaps they'll attend our event or contact us to learn more.
Every week we have two ads that run in one newspaper. The first one tells about our dance lessons and when we hold them, and the another ad tells about our actual dance night. This is, of course, free for us and is a community service thing courtesy of the newspaper. Most newspapers offer something very simlar, and they also offer discounts on paid advertising for a non-profit organization.
Check the papers available in towns that are in close proximity to your club. A short drive is not much for most people, if they will enjoy themselves at the place where they are going. Of course we all know that they will once they arrive. ...Annette