Adventures in Promotion
Master’s Musings, February 2022
We were all happily surprised when the FCEA got off to such a successful start in its first year. Our classes were full, our students were appreciative and enthusiastic, and, despite my recurring nightmares, the technology worked pretty well. Being that I’m a Capricorn with a strong Saturn, our early success actually made me nervous – I had been anticipating that first year as sort of a trial run. To that end, we really didn’t advertise for fear of being overwhelmed. But everything mushroomed anyway, and the angels who watch over astrology took good care of us. We were off to a good start. We trained five more tutors, and hired three new staff people, and looked forward to 2022 being a big year.
Jeff Parrett suddenly needing to leave his leadership position threw us all a curveball. I’ve spoken elsewhere of our great debt to Jeff and I don’t want to rehash that here. Simply said, his leaving triggered a major scramble – hiring those three new staff people to replace him was part of it. We’re still reeling a bit from his departure, but Carlos Velazquez (our tech guy), Paula Wansley (our accountant), and Penelope Love (our communications coordinator) are finding their feet. With their help, I believe that the school will be fine – even if Catie and I really could use a vacation! No vacation for either one of us though – we’re staying busy. The new semester is rolling along. The new tutors are doing well. And the new crop of students are energetic and engaged – but we wish we had more of them!
We were poised to grow, but we didn’t. It’s not that the classes are ghost towns – far from it. But we thought this would be a bigger year than last year, and it’s not. We’re down about 15% – not a huge shortfall, and the year isn’t over yet, plus Jupiter is still triggering the FCEA’s Piscean Sun and Moon. Read on! We’re doing something about it.
Here’s the issue in a nutshell:
With all the transitional chaos I just described, there was one ball we dropped – or rather, one ball which none of us had time to deal with. That was advertising, which is of course mission-critical to our growth. The FCEA is still one of the best-kept secrets in the astrological community. That’s something we need to change.
Around the holidays when we saw our numbers were low, I quickly made a three-minute promotional video for social media. Most of you probably saw it. We recruited as many of you as we could to help share it. The video worked. Our numbers quickly went up. A little advertising goes a long way, it seems. Here’s a link to it if you want to see it or share it:
https://www.facebook.com/619131770/videos/353621172820873/
Since then, we’ve been brainstorming about ways to get the word out about the school. We want to make a video of testimonials from our students. That would give the school a boost, but it would also show its friendly face to the community.
Naturally, word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind, so please spread the word whenever that feels appropriate to you.
I did an interview a couple of weeks ago with Ophi and Tali Edut – the AstroTwins of Astrostyle.com. They’ve become dear friends over the past year or so. They are also absolute masters of advertising. Last I heard, their website gets 12 million visitors a month. Our interview – which was really more of an enthusiastic conversation – was long and wide-ranging, but I did manage to get a word in about the FCEA near the end. That made me happy since I know that video will reach a lot of people. If you feel like watching the interview or sharing it with anyone, here’s a link:
https://astrostyle.com/astrotwins-2022-convo-with-astrologer-steven-forrest/
On May 15, I’ll be doing a short presentation about the road I took to becoming a professional astrologer for OPA, the Organization of Professional Astrologers. It’s my favorite of the big astrological organizations, so I was happy to help them out. In return, they unexpectedly offered me a little “thank you” in the form of a full-page ad in their elegant online journal. I used it to plug the FCEA as well as my books. The ad will run in their March Equinox edition. The target date for digital release to OPA members is March 20 and the general public release on their website will be April 1. Here’s the advertisement:
As you read these words, Penelope Love and I are working on another big promotional project for the school. This one promises to be a big help, and it will be an ongoing effort, not a “one-shot” like the OPA ad. We plan to take a few of the questions that have come up in the Student and Member Zoom calls over the past year or two and offer them to the public for free as “teasers” on social media. People will learn some astrology from them, but they’ll also get a sense of how evolutionary astrology is different and how the “culture” of the FCEA actually operates. And maybe some of them will feel drawn to learn more about the school. Here’s the opening screen – the photo is from one of the old Apprenticeship Program masters’ classes I used to run my living room.
We need your help though! On some of these Q&A videos, we want to show your smiling faces. To do that legally, we’ll need signed release forms. The problem is that I don’t know all your names, so please if you recognize yourself (or anyone else!) in these two screenshots, please shoot me an email at steven@forrestastrology.center and connect your name with the number or the letter. We’ll get back to you with a release form – or if you don’t want your face in the video, just let us know. We can make sure that you’re not visible.
All in all, we are very optimistic about the future of the FCEA. With our new tutors and staff, we have a terrific team in place – but we have a lot more “mouths to feed” too. We are also committed to keeping the fees for the school as affordable as possible. To do all that, we need to grow – not “hugely,” but significantly. This is just a little update about where we are in that process. There’s more to come, and more that we’ve never even thought of yet. Let us know if you have any ideas. As we get back on an even keel, we anticipate that the second half of 2022 will be good for us.
Please do help us spread the word! When it comes to letting people know about what we are doing, you, the students and members of the FCEA Community, are our ace-in-the-hole. Thanks for your help – and thanks for carrying the sacred torch forward. In the end, that is really what it is all about.