Marketing
With the introduction of social medias, is there a need to pay to market yourself?
Was there a need prior to social media?
If you are supplying value for money lessons, you have a good reputation, and are running a professional outlet for lessons, it's probably likely that your expenditure for gaining new pupils is very minimal.
The industry on the whole is a self promoting business.
You take on a pupil, they like what you do, their parents are happy with what you do, and once that pupil passes (ideally on their first attempt) they recommend you to all their friends and family.
With the introduction of social media, if you are falling short on delivering a full working week or you needs to fill your diary, usually just a quick advert (for free) on a social media site will gain you enough pupils for the next few months.
The bigger multi-national companies will obviously need to promote themselves much further, as the demand to fill all their instructors diaries will be much greater.
But those instructor who are on their books are paying a franchise fee for them to do this on their behalf. There truly should not be an excuse for an instructor paying franchise fees to be worrying about getting pupils. If you are not being supplied them adequately, then you either need to speak with your franchise and request them or if none are forthcoming consider moving franchises or going independent.
I understand that some franchises are now putting it within their contracts that they DO NOT guarantee pupils for you.
On this basis, i would seriously consider whether you should be going with them in the first place. The fees for some of these franchises can be quite considerable and if they are not supplying pupils for you then what are they actually doing for that money?
My best advice here is ensure you FULLY READ THE SMALL PRINT FIRST!
If you feel the need to market yourself but don't have readily available funds to do so, consider doing something that will get noticed which can be put into a local newspaper.
Now we're not saying go out and do something stupid, that will probably lose you your licence to teach.
What you could do is promote something like an event, offer your services for a couple of weekends at a fete to promote road safety, or theory sessions at a school, support a local football club to get your name around. Go into a college and offer a free talk or advice.
In the past I made waves with the local newspaper and the highways agency about the appalling state of road marking and road signs, especially being in a test centre area. I gained facts and figures about how many driving test had been failed due to these factors, and over the previous 16 years the failures for driving test because of these 2 issues were always constant in the top ten driving test fails for all of those years. My complaint to the highways agency, local council, a local MP and the local newspaper, got me a lot of publicity. Over the following 3 months after the road markings and signs were sorted out, our local test centre became the No.1 driving test centre in the UK for passes.
That moan, and spending a little time doing my homework got me a lot of publicity for free.
So there is always ways of marketing yourself for free, if you put your mind to it.
On a final note regarding marketing, and this is a grey area depending on interpretation.
The understanding of it to me is very clear but others can read DVSA's terminology in a totally different manner.
If you are a PDI, it means you will have a sponsor. That Sponsor is responsible for supplying you pupils.
If you are not getting pupils it is your responsibility to notify your sponsor so that they supply you with more.
YOU ARE allowed to advertise your SPONSORS details anywhere giving their information.
YOU ARE NOT allowed to advertise yourself using your own details anywhere, especially on places such as your car or any social media sites.
Any details that might make people aware that you are a trainee instructor must be directed toward your Sponsor, and they will then pass that pupil on to you.
If a member of the public ask whether you are a ADI or PDI you must notify them that you are an ADI or PDI whichever one it may be.
Once you have fully qualified, you may remain with your sponsor, but you are then permitted to advertise yourself as an ADI and also use your own details to gain pupils as well as from your sponsors if that is what you want, although i would still suggest that if you are with a sponsor that their terms and conditions allow you to do so while you are still with them.
