Advertising Tips

Most students hear about ESOL classes by word of mouth, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't advertise, as well!

First, consider your target audience. Are you hoping to attract international students? Trailing spouses? Immigrants? Refugees? Which levels of English will you offer? Will you have classes for men, women, or both? Will you offer childcare? Refreshments? Will your classes include the Bible? (If so, be sure to be clear about this when students are registering.) Choose the suggestions that you think will best work for your target audience.

While your advertisements should include information on when all of your classes will be held, be sure to highlight when your class registration night will be. This is the opportunity for students to be assessed and placed into classes and for you to get an idea of who your students will be for the term.

The following are some suggestions for advertising:

• Put up a large banner in front of your church (or close to the church on the street, if more visible) with "English classes" and the day and time. If you will have childcare, write that, too - it's a big draw!

• Print business cards with information about the class and carry them with you to give people you meet. Consider placing one in each church bulletin and asking all church members to invite people. You can order cards at www.vistaprint.com or a local print shop.

• If your church or English ministry has a Facebook page, consider paying for an advertisement to run for a few weeks or months. You can target particular groups of people who will see them in your area. Talk to cultural informants (people who know about the culture you'd like to reach) to find out if other social media platforms are largely used by the community. You can also create small graphic advertisement that can be texted or shared on WhatsApp, Viber, or WeChat (popular communication platforms).

• Add a page to your church's website with basic information about the program, like this one. Adding the words "free English classes" will help you be more easily found on a search engine.

• Create flyers and ask if you may hang them up in the following locations (you may need to spend some time on Google to find them!)

  • Ethnic restaurants, markets, churches, and community organizations. (If you need a list, check for local diversity offices, festivals, or organizations. A list for Roanoke is below.)

  • Other commonly immigrant-owned businesses, such as nail salons, dry cleaners, sewing shops, and more. Immigrants have a very high rate of entrepreneurship in the United States!

  • Grocery stores, public libraries, public schools, daycares, free clinics, community centers, car washes, laundromats, convenience stores, and money-wiring locations in your church's neighborhood

  • Apartment complexes where immigrants live (if you're not sure, start asking around!)

  • Refugee resettlement office

  • Public literacy program office

  • Bus stations and shelters

  • Places of work that employ internationals

  • College international student office and community college

  • If many of these locations are close to each other, consider coordinating an effort among all of your volunteers to visit them in the same day or week with advertisements shortly before classes begin. This will increase excitement and word of mouth.

  • When your volunteers go into these locations to ask to put up flyers, encourage them to get to know the workers and ask questions. For example: "Do you know anyone who might like to attend? Why do they need English?" (work, school, community, citizenship test, etc.)

Considerations for Creating Advertisements

• If you are writing the advertisement in English only, use few words, large text, and leave plenty of white space. This is less overwhelming to an English learner to read.

• The advertisement should include the location, date and time, some information about the class(es) (e.g., is it a class for conversational English? Academic English? Work English?), whether pre-registration is required (and how to do this), and a contact name and phone number and/or email. If the contact person is bilingual, list the languages that the contact person speaks.

• If your church is focusing on a particular language group(s), consider making your business cards in that language, or print double-sided cards, with one language on each side. You might also print flyers in multiple languages. Ask around to find someone who can translate; language teachers, bilingual students, and ethnic church members are all good options. (And remember these people, as you might want to ask them to help you with registration day!)

• On your flyers, consider listing the benefits to learners who attend, such as "improve your English; make new friends; build confidence..." etc. You might also include the fact that you welcome people of all backgrounds.

• Print a LOT of flyers and cards, and give them out liberally. You never know where things will get passed on!

• Keep a list of places you've posted information so you don't duplicate efforts and you can go back and update information if your details change. Consider holding an advertising planning meeting, in which volunteers divide up different locations to cover and report back on their interactions.

Note: some of these suggestions came from Teaching English in Church by William Bradridge and Louisa Walsh.