Getting Men To Dance

Q: We've opened up a dance studio teaching Latin dances. Our biggest dilemma is how to advertise/promote effectively to attract men to our studio. We have plenty of women, but men are reluctant about learning how to dance, and women have no partners to dance with. What would your suggestion be?

A:The first thing you want to do is figure out what your message to the men should be. Ask yourself, and maybe some men in your life as an informal focus group, what would make a man want to learn to dance at your studio. What would motivate them? If the women are single, this could be easy, your message could be that it's a good way to meet women. If the women in your group are largely married, perhaps there could be some incentive to bring their husbands. Maybe Husbands dance free.

For examples sake let explore both avenues.

Ex. 1. Mostly Single Ladies: Thus advertising to single men. For this, you're going to need to use a persuasive type medium. Direct-Mail, Yellow Pages and Newspaper is out for persuading, you need an intrusive medium that is going to expose them to your message of "It's a great place to meet women" without them actively seeking it out since they're not already inclined to. For this you're going to need either radio or TV (Broadcast or Cable. The choice here is going to depend on what market you're in. If you're in a big market like DC, Miami, or NY, Broadcast Television and Radio are pretty much going to be unaffordable for you, but Cable TV should be affordable just about anywhere in the country. Radio might be a better bet in a smaller market, such as Pittsburg, or Charleston or Talahassee. Now you're going to want to pick radio or tv stations (and shows) that have a predominantly male audience, and your commercial should address why men would want to learn to dance. Don't worry about alienating the women as they are already actively seeking you out. KEEP YOUR MESSAGE TARGETED

Ex. 2 Mostly Married or Coupled Females. For this you need to make an incentive, like Husbands Dance free, or 2 for 1 for couples for the first month etc. For this you're going to want to use in-store signage, Flyers handed out directly to students and Direct mailed to existing customers, previous customers and lookers that are in the database you've hopefully created(if not create one right now).

Now without knowing what exactly your situation is, I'm guessing that you've probably got a mixed bag of single and coupled ladies as customers. No problem. Depending on your budget, either adopt both strategies or pick one and as your business grows then adopt the other strategy as well. If it were me in this situation I'd probably start with the direct mail / couples incentive program.